In the shadow of Monte Cassino on January 21-22, 1944, the U.S. 
Army's 36th "Texas" Division tried to cross Italy's Rapido River. 
The rout of this former National Guard unit from Texas was one 
of the worst defeats Americans suffered on the battlefields of 
World War II, one that prompted veterans to present charges of 
incompetent leadership before Congress.

In Bloody River, first published in 1970, Martin Blumenson 
presents his view of how the "personal equation" figured into 
the debacle.  Focusing on the generals responsible for the 
ill-fated attack, Blumenson traces key points in the personal 
profiles of the diffident 36th Division commander Fred L. Walker; 
Gen. Mark "Wayne" Clark, the imperious commander of American 
ground forces; and the tactful and tactically gifted former 
cavalry officer Gen. Geoffrey T. Keyes, commander of II Corps 
and Walker's immediate superior.

Walker, serving under the younger Clark and Keyes, witnessed the 
destruction of villages and the exhaustion of the non-Regular 
Army soldiers in his division. Blumenson argues that Walker, 
relatively far down the chain of command, saw his soldiers' and 
the civilians' suffering and lost confidence and respect for 
his superiors and constantly questioned their fitness to devise 
appropriate strategy and tactics.

Despite reports of the severe situation in the Rapido Valley, 
General Clark, responsible for ensuring the success of the Anzio 
landing, would not cancel the 36th Division's supporting attack 
across the Rapido. In two days, the two front-line infantry 
regiments of the division suffered severe casualties, as did the 
attached units of engineers, quartermaster troops, and 
artillerymen. Meanwhile, General Clark's Anzio landing was 
accomplished with relatively little resistance. Blumenson argues 
that Walker's pessimism about the Rapido attack plan may have 
permeated his troops and robbed them of their will to win.

This concise survey of the command situations that led to the 
Rapido tragedy should be of interest to all readers who wish to 
learn the high-priced lessons of war in affordable and accessible 
form.

"This readable and engrossing study is highly recommended."
—Choice

"The influences which [these generals] exerted on the operations 
are here assessed impartially and with none of those emotional 
overtones which are all too often allowed to blur the analysis 
of defeat."—Times Literary Supplement




MARTIN BLUMENSON is the author of numerous books on 
military history and World War II.


Number Sixty-three: Texas A&M University Military 
History Series