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operations was undoubtedly that which forbade the delegation of any mission to a subordinate unit,
especially tactical units such as divisions, if it could be performed by Corps Headquarters or Corps
Troops.... 'Can do' was the standing order, and the bold solution, if not rash, was invariably preferred to
the cautious solution. Informality was the keynote of all staff relations, and practicality the touchstone
of all decisions...." When XII Corps entered combat the headquarters personnel had trained together,
with far less than average turnover, for 17 days less than two years. They performed their jobs in an
atmosphere of energy and aggressiveness, and not without a certain grim humor, which could be
remarked by the most casual observer. Units of all types coming into the Corps have left evidence that
they could sense the difference in the quality of the support and direction they received while in the
Corps.
The success of XII Corps, then, may perhaps be attributed in large measure to a threefold good
fortune. The organization was forged and welded by a group of general officers among whom each one
was an outstanding expert in the particular service he was called upon to give the Corps. It had an able
and exceptionally well-trained staff. And its efforts were founded solidly on the superlative fighting and
technological capacities of the American Ground Force soldier, unquestionably the greatest all-round
warrior of the modern world. It is not surprising that with teamplay between such elements the corps
made a record for itself on which every former member can well be extremely proud.
Two men who fought with XII Corps have summed up the matter in the own individual ways, as
compactly and exactly as it is any work stated in the Chronicle to follow. Major Pierre L. Vivet, French
liaison officer with the headquarters throughout combat, road as he prepared to return to civilian life
after the war was over:
"To all my friends in Paris who eagerly keep on asking: 'What do you think of the American
Army?' ... I simply answer: 'The US people are soldat qui s'ignore.'"
And Pfc Walter C Reed, with the XII Corps Headquarters MP Platoon during the fighting, put it
this way in September of 1945: "Well, one thing you can say, we all got along together pretty good in
Corps -- the officers and men. We didn't have much trouble between them. We got along pretty good
together, I think."
The account which follows is primarily a record of teamplay by many fine American
organizations composed of citizen-soldiers who could impress a French officer with their expertness in
the art of war, and even more with the easy, and unselfconscious quality of their soldiering. It is as a
record of these units, made up of such individuals, "getting along pretty good together" in successful
prosecution of the greatest enterprise of our times -- that this chronicle of the XII Corps, Spearhead of
Patton's Third Army, is presented.
G.D.
New Hope
Pennsylvania
December, 1946
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