I don't know what was the matter with him." Despite his wealth of battlefield experience and years of military schooling, Middleton had only limited experience in conducting pursuit operations, and was a bit overwhelmed by them. Ultimately he allowed his armored divisions some autonomy in their operations, while using his infantry to clean up pockets of resistance en route to Brest. His estimates of enemy strength turned out to be much more accurate than those provided to him by Patton, and Patton ultimately acknowledged Middleton's value as a corps commander by presenting him with a Distinguished Service Medal within seven weeks of calling him "dumb" in his diary. Battle for Brest After the breakout from the Cotentin Peninsula, VIII Corps followed the Brittany coast westward en route to Brest, the port of Middleton's arrival and departure from Europe during World War I. As the corps passed St. Malo, Middleton turned his 83rd Division on the town, resulting in the capture of 14,000 Germans following a lengthy battle. Patton had already directed the corps' 6th Armored Division under Major General Bob Grow to move on to Brest while Middleton was still cleaning up in St. Malo, which fell on 17 August. Grow had arrived outside of Brest on 7 August, and met stiff resistance once there. The city, housing important German submarine pens and extensive machine facilities, was defended by three elite German divisions and several powerful 90-millimeter guns which were capable of destroying most of the armor in the 6th Armored Division. The siege of Brest required infantry, and once the 2nd Infantry Division under Major General Walter M. Robertson arrived, the armored division was released back to Patton for other operations. Also joining VIII Corps for the siege was the 8th Division commanded by Major General Donald A. Stroh and the 29th Division, a National Guard unit from Virginia, commanded by Major General Charles H. Gerhardt. Middleton also had a cavalry group and two ranger battalions commanded by Colonel Earl Rudder who later became president of Texas A&M University. The city was well organized for defense, and in the Battle for Brest Middleton's units went about capturing it methodically. The defense of the city was under German Generalleutnant Hermann Ramcke with whom Middleton carried on a dialog during the siege. Ramcke sent Middleton a map showing where several hundred American prisoners were being held in the city, but also