COLLECTION SUMMARY SHEET GEORGE C. MARSHALL LIBRARY COLLECTION: Lucian K. Truscott, Jr. Papers MANUSCRIPT NUMBER: 20 INCLUSIVE DATES: 1918-1966 ACCESSION NUMBER: 20,85-10 RESTRICTIONS: None DONOR: Lucian K. Truscott, III LOCATIONS: Vault-upper level, map case DATE OF GIFT: 1966, 1985 COLLECTION REGISTER AVAILABLE: Yes SIZE: 10 linear feet BIOGRAPHICAL/HISTORICAL FEATURES: Lucian King Truscott, Jr. (1895-1965) was born in Chatfield, Texas. After teaching in Oklahoma schools for six years, in 1915 Truscott was assigned to Ft. Logan Roots Officers Training Camp. In 1917 he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Officers Reserve Corps. From there he served at a series of Southwestern and Western camps including Scofield Barracks, Hawaii; Camp Douglas, Arizona and Marfa, Texas. Fifteen years at Ft. Riley. Ft. Leavenworth and Ft. Myer as both iI1;structor and student prepared Truscott for his World War II service. In 1942 he was assigned to duty in the European Theater of Operations with headquarters in London, England, and in March 1943 was named Commanding General, 3rd Infantry Division, serving in this capacity in North Africa and Sicily. " I In January 1944 he became Deputy Commandy of the VI Corps, and in March of that year took command of the Corps in Italy. He later moved with it to France and in December 1944 he was announced as Commanding General of the Fifth Army in Italy. In October 1945 he succeeded General Patton as Commanding General of the Third Army in American Occupied Germany. FORMS OF MATERIAL: Correspondence Aides Diaries Memoranda Diaries Telephone Transcripts Clippings Operation Plans Memorabilia lvlaps Photographs MAJOR CORRESPONDENTS: Omar N. Bradley Charles Hill Jones Mark W. Clark Geoffrey Keyes Jacob L. Devers George C. Marshall Dwight D. Eisenhower Severence A. Milliken Thomas T. Handy George S. Patton SUBJECTS: ANVIL SLEDGEHAMMER BOLERO TORCH CRAFTSMAN Blacks in Military DIEPPE RAID 92nd Buffalo Division DRAGOON ARRANGEMENT: Chronological by phases of Truscott's career; personal correspondence and financial material precedes the military records. Ms 20 Accession 85-10 TRUSCOTT, Lucian K., Jr., 1895-1965, Papers, 1918-1966, 10 linear feet. Biogr~phical Sketch Born on January 9, 1895, in Chatfield, Texas, Truscott grew up there and in Oklahoma. From 1911 he was a teacher in various small schools in Oklahoma. On the entry of the United States into World War I in 1917 he enlisted in the army, and aft.er attending an officers' training camp in Arkansas he was commissioned a reserve second lieutenant of cavalry in August and commissioned in the regular cavalry and promoted to first lieutenant in October. From 1919 to 1921 he was stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, advancing to captain in 1920, and from 1922 to 1925 he was with the 1st Cavalry at Camp Douglas, Arizona. He graduated from the Cavalry School, Fort Riley, Kansas, in.,1926 and, promoted to major, remained there as an instructor for five years. In 1931-1934 he was with 3rd Cavalry at Fort Myer, Virginia. By 1936 he was a lieutenant colonel, and after his graduation from the Command and General Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in that year he again remained as an instructor. In September 1940 he was assigned to the 13th Armored Regiment at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and in July 1941 he was attached to the staff of the IX Corps area at Fort Lewis, Washington. Promoted to temporary colonel in December 1941, he was assigned in the latter month to the Allied combined staff under Lord Louis Mountbatten. After studying the training methods used by British commandos, he recruited and trained a brigade of Rangers along the same lines, devel­ oping a small corps of tough, highly motivated shock troops. On August 19, 1942, he led his Rangers in a joint cross-Channel raid with commandos on the French port of Dieppe, an action that cost heavy casualties and taught vital lessons in amphibious techniques. In November, promoted to temporary major general, he led a special task force in the capture of Port Lyautey (now Kenitra), French Morocco, from Vichy French forces during the Allied invasion of North Africa. After a period as field deputy to General Dwight D. Eisenhower he took command of the 3rd Infantry Division in March 1943. The 3rd landed in Sicily on July 10 as part of General George S. Patton's Seventh Army and led in the capture of Palermo and Messina. On September 18 it went ashore to reinforce the Allied beachhead at Salerno, Italy. Biographical Sketch (continued) On January 22, 1944, as part of the VI Corps under General John P. Lucas, the 3rd Division assaulted the beach at Anzio. In February Truscott succeeded Lucas in command of the VI Corps. After withstanding furious German counterattacks the VI Corps finally broke out of the Anzio beachhead in May and drove toward Rome. After rest and retraining, the VI Corps, then consisting of the 3rd, 36th, and 45th divisions, formed part of General Alexander M. Patch's Seventh Army in the landings at St. Tropez and St. Raphael on the French south coast on August 15. Promoted to temporary lieutenant general in September, Truscott remained with the VI Corps until December, when he returned to Italy to take command of the Fifjth Army from General Mark W. Clark. Under his command the Fifth, part Clark's 15th Army Group, launched a final major attack in the spring of 1945 across the Po valley, taking Bologna on April 21 and driving on until the German surrender of May 2. The Fifth Army was inactivated in October 1945 and Truscott then succeeded General Patton in command of the Third Army in occupation duty in Bavaria. He returned to the United States in May 1946 and retired from the army in October 1947. In May 1951 he was named an adviser to the U.S. high commissioner for West Germany. In 1954 he published Command Missions, and in July of that year he was given an honorary promotion to general, retired, by act of Congress. Truscott died in Washington, D.C., on September 12, 1965. From Webster's American Military Biographers. Scope and Conten~ The Lucian K. Truscott, Jr. Papers span the period 1937-1966. There are two groups of papers: personal papers and military records. The personal papers fall into several series: correspondence, financial records and related material. The military records are arranged by subgroups relating to phases of Truscott's army career: European Theater of Operations Headquarters, Third Division, VI Corps, Fifth Army, Third Army, and War Department Screening Board. Within each of these subgroups the documents fall into several seri~s: correspondence, radio messages, operations, memoranda and related material. Also to be found are three series of memorabilia, clippings and photographs which are mainly military in nature. Little about Truscott's life prior to World War II can be found in this collection. The personal papers consist mostly of correspondence from 1941 to 1953. Much of this corr.espondence is between Truscott and his wife Sarah R. Truscott during the war years. Also to be found is Mrs. Truscott's personal correspondence with family and associates (excluding Lucian K. Truscott, Jr.). In addition there are letters of condolence written to the Truscott family on the death of General Truscott. Other material in the personal papers consists of trip narratives written by Mrs. Truscott in 1951 and 1952 and diaries written by both Truscotts from 1956 to 1965. These diaries are mostly summaries of daily events with Mrs. Truscott's being more extensive than General Truscott's. Financial records round out the personal papers and pertain almost exclusively to the purchase, renovation and sale of the Bluemont Virginia f9'~J;>!' they owned from 1947 to 1951. The exception to this is a ledger book ~f monthly accounts kept by Truscott from 1933 to 1941 and 1957 to 1965. Truscott's military career is well documented in this collection. A series of general correspondence precedes the career oriented subgroups and consists of letters to and from some of the leading figures of World ~var II. Included are Omar Bradley, Jacob Devers, Dwight D. Eisenhower, George C. Marshall, Thomas Handy, George S. Patton and others. This correspondence concerns both military planning and personal matters. Also to be found are letters regarding events Truscott attended and arrangements for a variety of visits. Within each of the army career subgroups the material is much the same. There are orders, battle plans campaign reports, telephone message summaries, minutes of meetings, memoranda and speeches. Much of each subgroup concerns plans for operations including TORCH, SLEDGEHAMMER, BOLERO, ANVIL, CRAFTSMAN, and DRAGOON. Truscott's post war army career is also documented. The Bavarian occupation material is brief and similar to the above mentioned material; telephone transcripts, speeches and memos. Material from the War bepartment Screening Board consists of correspondence and reports as well as decisions made by the board. S and Content continued From 1942 until June 1947 Truscott had his aides keep a dairy of daily happenings. These seven volumes are also included in the collection. They provide a running commentary on Truscott's actions during battle as well as stateside. The remaining three series are memorabilia, clippings and photographs. Among the memorabilia can be found an autograph book with an original Bill Mauldin cartoon, a scrapbook containing reviews of andcongratulatory about Truscott's Command Missio~~ and a variety of other items. Clippings from major newspapers document Truscott's promotions and military maneuvers. These have been arranged by phases of his career. The photographs are of both family and friends as well as places Truscott visited or was stationed dud.ng the war.