In case this is helpful to anybody, I'll pass it along. It comes from Stephen E. Ambrose's *Citizen Soldiers / The U.S. Army From the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany,* Chapter 4 "To the Siegfried Line, August 26--September 30, 1944," p. 116: On the west bank, an improbable scene in World War II--a council of war held by four generals on a high bank in sight of the enemy. Also present were Col. Bruce CLARKE [surname caps added], commanding Combat Command A of the 4th Armored Division, and Lt. Col. Creighton ABRAMS, commanding the 37th Tank Battalion. ABRAMS was a 1936 graduate of West Point; he was two days short of his thirtieth birthday. The generals were worried about sending ABRAMS's tanks over the pontoon bridge. The bridge might be destroyed by German artillery, as the Germans now had good observation on it. The tanks could be cut off. Besides, the bridgehead was so constricted the Shermans wouldn't be able to maneuver. And the tanks were short on fuel. Finally, the generals asked CLARKE and ABRAMS for their opinion. "Well,' CLARKE replied, 'I can't fight the Germans on this side of the river.' Pointing to the high ground on the other side of the river, ABRAMS told his superiors, 'That is the shortest way home.' Go for it, the generals replied. At 0800 ABRAMS led the way for the Shermans. They rumbled over the bridge, deployed into fighting formation, and began blasting the Germans with their cannon and machine guns. As the enemy fell back, infantry from the 80th Division crossed and joined the attack. By nightfall, they had regained the position held the previous day.