Documentary - No Bridge Too Far

[Walt's Daughter]

Just spoke to Steve Erickson last night, and I am so glad to have them on board for the documentary.

 

One of the voice-overs is this wireless broadcast by Ernie Pyle. They are going to record it "old-style", meaning making it sound like an old wireless. Ain't that cool! Can't wait to hear how it turns out.

 

This is the script:

 

Oran, Algeria (by wireless) – Ernie Pyle – Chapter Two – Slides 50-52

 

“Men who bring our convoys from America, some of whom have just recently arrived, tell me the people at home don't have a correct impression of things over here.

 

Merchant Marine officers who have been here a couple of days are astonished by the difference between what they thought the situation was and what it actually is. They say people at home think the North African campaign is a walk away and will be over quickly; that losses have been practically nil; that the French here love us to death, and that all German influence has been cleaned out.

 

If you think that, it is because we newspapermen here have failed at getting the finer points to you...

 

...In Tunisia, for instance, we seem to be stalemated for the moment. The reasons are two. Our army is a green army, and most of our Tunisian troops are in actual combat for the first time against seasoned troops and commanders. It will take us months of fighting to gain the experience our enemies start with.

 

In the second place, nobody knew exactly how much resistance the French would put up here, so we had to be set for full resistance. That meant, when the French capitulated in three days, we had to move eastward at once, or leave the Germans unhampered to build a big force in Tunisia.

 

So we moved several hundred miles and, with the British, began fighting. But we simply didn't have enough stuff on hand to knock the Germans instantly. Nobody is to blame for this. I think our Army is doing wonderfully – both in fighting with what we have and in getting more here – but we are fighting an army as tough in spirit as ours, vastly more experienced, and more easily supplied.

 

So you must expect to wait a while before Tunisia is cleared and Rommel jumps into the sea...

 

...There are an astonishing number of Axis sympathizers among the French in North Africa. Not a majority, of course, but more than you would imagine. This in itself is a great puzzle to me. I can't fathom the thought processes of a Frenchman who prefers German victory and perpetual domination rather than a temporary occupation resulting in eventual French freedom.

 

But there are such people, and they are hindering us, and we over here think you folks at home should know about three things:

 

That the going will be tough and probably long before we have cleaned up North Africa and are ready to move to bigger fronts. That the French are fundamentally behind us, but that a strange, illogical stratum is against us. And that our fundamental policy is one of soft-gloving snakes in our midst.”