Countdown to D-Day

by Peter Margaritis

  Then there is the weather. Weather predictions for early June are not favorable for an invasion either, despite a full moon scheduled for less than a week into the month. If a storm hits, he might be able to make a last quick trip to Germany. He had been planning on going home for a few days in June for weeks now, and it seemed as though conditions might accommodate him.

  He has three reasons for the trip. First, he wants to arrange a private audience with the Führer. He does not have an appointment, but he can easily get one. Field marshals after all, have full access to the Führer. Among other things, Rommel is going to try to convince him to let him take control of Sepp Dietrich’s I SS Panzer Corps. Still a part of OKW reserves, it is garrisoned far inland, and cannot move without orders from the Führer. Rommel wants to place the divisions at various locations much nearer to the coast. And if they are his to command, they can be released much faster, and thus more quickly react to an invasion. One of the divisions, the 12th SS, he would put at the base of the Cotentin peninsula.

  And while his shopping list is out, he will also renew his request that the Führer order the other three regiments of Pickert’s III Flak Korps, as well as a Nebelwerfer brigade, be moved west of the Seine into the Normandy area. If the enemy lands there, these few units will be critical. If the enemy lands near the Somme estuary, he can reinforce the area from all sides. And of course if the enemy lands at the well-defended Calais area like the High Command expects, they will not stand much of a chance.

  On a private note, he wants to try to reason with his old mentor; to let him see how badly the war was getting. Normally, Keitel would sense this and try to block or delay his immediate access. But this time he is going around the back door, through his friend, General Schmundt, the Führer’s army adjutant.

  His second reason for going on leave is personal and quite simple. Lucie is having her 50th birthday (he himself is 52). She’ll be one year older on Tuesday, June 6. His present to her will be that new pair of fancy shoes from Paris that he had promised her back on May 3, when he had asked for her shoe size.

  His last reason for leaving is to just rest and mentally recuperate; to relax before having to deal with the intense commitment to the upcoming epic Allied invasion.

  Today, there are two prominent visitors at the château. General Guderian’s elder son, Major Heinz Günther Guderian, comes for lunch. Close to his father and following in his footsteps, he has risen through the officer ranks of the German Army, including becoming part of the General Staff. Indoctrinated into the Panzerwaffen, often near or with his father, he has witnessed and taken part in the blitz campaigns that had made Heinz senior a legend in the German Army. The major, now nearly thirty, is now the Operations officer of the newly created 116th Panzer Division.1

  In the afternoon, Sepp Dietrich stops in to discuss the status of the panzer divisions. Dietrich is happy that the 1st SS joined him last month. He now has three divisions under his command: The 1st SS, 12th SS, and 17th SS Panzergrenadier. Dietrich reports in about how the panzer units are building up in strength, detailing the accomplishments they have made so far. To help him, Rommel instructs his staff to transfer another hundred men from the 100th Panzer Reserve.

  Rommel confers with Dietrich about deployment, stressing that he wants to not only get firmer operational control of the panzers, but also to move them. He tells Dietrich that he will try to persuade the Führer to let him move 12th SS from the Evreux area to the base of the Carentan peninsula. Dietrich admits that he does not mind, although he laments that his corps command would then be really spread out—from Belgium to Carentan to the Loire River Basin. Rommel sympathizes, but insists that it is necessary. There is no armor backup for the western part of Normandy.

  Later that day, Rommel and Intelligence Chief Staubwasser have a short meeting on a number of intelligence reports that have come in from Fremde Heeres West. They agree that their estimates of Allied strength are far too high. Because of this and other factors, Rommel feels that there will be only one major landing, and not a diversion followed by the main one, as OB West and OKW have believed up until now.

  They discuss the probability of a preliminary airborne assault. Jodl and OKW are convinced that the Allies will preface their landing with a large one. High Command feels they can only effectively land in the late afternoon or around sundown. The amphibious landing would then come right afterwards, at night. It makes sense. If they land at night, the German gunners will have difficulty picking out their targets, thus reinforcing the low-tide landing theory.

  On the other hand, having thought about it, Rommel comments that he feels OKW has underestimated the effectiveness of his new beach obstacles—his “devil’s garden.” When they had started on them back in December, the Atlantic Wall construction had not been too far along. But his people have made considerable strides in the last few months. He reasons that for the many Allied landing craft to first get around the many new and different types of barriers, high tide or low tide, they would have to see what they were doing. Clearing the way would be a considerable undertaking. The critical point though, is that the enemy will have to get a large number of men and supplies ashore very quickly before the Germans can react effectively. Naturally, the best time do that is during the day. Hence, a daylight landing.

  “No matter what Berlin says,” he comments thoughtfully, “the engineering part of the amphibious landing would probably start at or just before low tide, and in daylight, to clear the beaches for the landing craft.” He pauses and thinks about that. “That means though, that the airborne assault would have to come the night before. And since they would need some light to see where they are dropping, there would have to be moonlight…” Otherwise, they would not be able to hit their objectives properly. The men would be scattered all over the countryside.

  He lets that sink in. A morning landing so that preliminary engineer pathfinders could clear some corridors through the obstacle belts would imply an airborne assault the night before. And it would have to be a moonlit one, because landing at night would be hazardous enough for the paratroopers. Dropping a large force down in pitch blackness would severely cripple their ability to organize and to be effective—two critical elements the airborne troops would need in their plan if they had any hope of achieving their objectives before the Germans had time to react and neutralize them.

  Staubwasser agrees that this sounds logical.

  Rommel stares at a map of his belts of beach obstacles. Suddenly, possibly coming from his Fingerspitzengefuehl, 2 Rommel wonders if the enemy might actually plan a low-tide landing to better circumnavigate them.

  It makes some sense. Still, all those months of working on high-tide obstacles... Well, no matter. They were not wasted. The higher belts would still hamper landing activities and supplies coming in at high tide and some of those coming in at low tide. Right now though, he has to concentrate on a possible low-tide landing.

  “When are the next periods of good moonlight and low tides at dawn?” he asks.

  Staubwasser consults the charts. The next combination is coming up soon, between June 5 and 7. The one low-tide period at dawn would be between the 12th and the 14th, but without a good moon.

  “Then we should stay on alert up to and during those periods.”

  Staubwasser mentions Rommel’s trip.

  “Well, it’ll just have to wait—unless of course, the weather is bad.”

  “I would think that they would need at least a week of good weather,” says Staubwasser.

  Rommel figures on them requiring at least four or five days straight. So now all he needs to go home is bad weather on the 5th.

  As if in answer to Rommel’s wish, that evening, a fierce thunderstorm covers the area.

  ***

  Generalmajor Max Pemsel spends a good part of his day updating and then analyzing the latest maps of the Seventh Army beach areas. Defense construction is improving, but not fast enough. Shortages are plaguing them, and the quality of many for
mations is questionable at best.

  There are so many foreigners now in their units, many of whom were once enemies. Over a quarter of their troops are Russians, with some 23 Östentruppen battalions stretched out along the Channel coast. In Marcks’ 84th Corps alone, eight of them are Russian. This has caused a number of problems, some political, some logistical. Even communicating with them is difficult. And truth be known, against an Allied landing, they probably will not put up much of a struggle, if any. Rommel has grumbled to Pemsel more than once that one of his biggest problems is where to put the damned Russians. Von Rundstedt on the other hand, was glad that he had started using them back in 1942.3

  Regarding armor, Seventh Army only has two panzer battalions. The 213th is made up of old, obsolete French equipment, totally useless against an aggressive, modern force. No worries though, Pemsel thinks sarcastically. It has been sent out to the Channel Islands, where it will be useless once the landings began. The other, the 206th, is located on the western side of the Cotentin peninsula. It has about four dozen panzers, all of them obsolete.4

  Unit transport is lacking, and so many units have had to resort to horses, bicycles, and motorbikes to move supplies. Those regimental commanders lucky enough to have command cars (usually old, beat-up French vehicles) are restricted because of fuel shortages to using them only once or twice a week. To partially remedy this, Rommel and Dollmann have thought out three contingency plans for the invasion.

  1.If Normandy is attacked, the following will be routed to the landing area: all available Seventh Army mobile forces, to be moved by rail and when close enough, by road; one division from each of the coastal areas of St. Malo and St. Nazaire; and one reinforced regiment from each of the bodenständige divisions in Morlaix and Lorient. Eventual reinforcement of the beachhead area will come from the army group panzer reserve and some additional seventeen divisions, some from interior sectors.

  2.If Brittany is invaded, singular plans to move reinforcements by rail will be implemented. They specify specific routes, rest areas, supply points, contingency paths for detours, and special instructions for bottlenecks and gorges. Special traffic control units and Aufgang Kommandos will expedite movement to the western coast. These plans have been reinforced through training, drills, and practice exercises these last few months. Of course, with the Allied bombers hitting the railyards and trains, execution of these plans seems questionable.

  3.If another area outside Seventh Army’s area of responsibility is invaded, a third set of similar movement plans will be initiated to get as many units to the fighting area as possible.

  Pemsel will later go over these invasion contingency reaction plans again with his staff.

  ***

  An enemy air raid today destroys a section of the Luftwaffe communication trunk

  between Paris and Rouen. Teleprinter and phone lines between Paris and Rouen, Rennes, and Caen will be out for at least three days.

  1Ironically, when the war ended, Guderian and his son found themselves prisoners of war in the same camp (Allendorf, and then Neustadt). The son noted with surprise how his father, now freed of the tense, critical responsibilities that he had carried daily in the war, took up gardening with relish. He also began playing bridge for the first time in his life, and, as his son later recalled, “did so light-heartedly.” In a fitting tribute to his father, Heinz Günther in 1967 also became Inspekteur der Panzertruppen in the West German Bundeswehr.

  2A sixth sense or instinct, something that had served Rommel well in North Africa.

  3Von Rundstedt had proposed using Russian POWs back in October 1942 to flesh out his units, “if no political or other reasons are opposed to this move, which I cannot judge.” He reasoned that the Russians were “satisfied with very little,” and so would be easy to feed and find quarters for.They were on the whole simple individuals, and as such were not swayed by effective propaganda.In addition, no Russian POW spoke French, so he would be a good deal easier to control. In conclusion, von Rundstedt said simply, “If he does not behave, he can simply be shot.”

  Technically, Östentruppen units were usually classified as either infantry or cavalry types and deployed as such. Thus, an Öst Bataillon was an infantry battalion that was usually composed of an odd mixture of Russians, Hungarians, Latvian, and Polish prisoners of war or deserters.

  4See footnote for May 6.

  June 1944

  Thursday, June 1

  It is just after 8 a.m. at OB West in St.-Germain-en-Laye. The staff is busy taking care of a number of details. The most important is Generalfeldmarschall von Rundstedt’s upcoming inspection tour. Near the end of last month, the old man had informed them that he was going to review part of the Seventh Army coastline in early June. So they started to plan his itinerary, with several stops that would include various towns in Western France. Today, they are finalizing the journey.

  Itinerary for June 6, 1944

  1030 OB West motorcade will leave St.-Germain-en-Laye heading for Dreux.

  1115 Brigadeführer Fritz Witt, commanding the 12th SS Panzer Division

  Hitlerjugend, will meet the motorcade at the outskirts of Dreux and guide

  them through his division’s assembly area, Laigle, and on towards Argentan.

  1130—1200 The field marshal will inspect several units along his route.

  1230 Generalmajor Edgar Feuchtinger, commanding the 21st Panzer Division, will

  meet the motorcade at the Argentan exit and guide them through the Fleurs area.

  1300 Stop for a brief lunch with a unit of the 21st Panzer.

  1330 Back on the road again. The motorcade will drive to Vire, and then continue

  on towards 84th Corps headquarters at St. Lô.

  1600 Arrival at 84th Corps headquarters. The headquarters will arrange for the

  motorcade’s meals and quarters.

  Evening Brief staff discussion with corps and divisional commanders.

  Itinerary for June 7, 1944

  0800 OB West motorcade will leave St. Lô and drive to Coutances. A stop for an

  inspection of Östentruppen in the 752nd Regiment.

  0900 Inspection of the 635th Öst Battalion and then the 521st Security Battalion.

  0930 Continue on from Granville through Avranches, Pontorson, Mont-St.-Michel,

  and Dol. After crossing the 84th/74th Corps boundary, the 77th Division

  commander will guide the motorcade on to St. Malo.

  1200(about) Inspection of the SS Geologist battalion.

  1330 Short lunch.

  1400 Inspection of St. Malo defense installations.

  1430 Leave St. Malo and drive on to Dinard. 77th Division will provide auto and

  ferry transportation.

  1500(about) Inspection of defense positions up to and including St. Brieuc.

  1630 Continue on to 2nd Fallschirmjdger Corps headquarters at Quintin. General

  der Fallschirmjäger Meindl’s staff to provide meals and quarters.

  Evening Brief staff discussion with unit commanders.

  Itinerary for June 8, 1944

  0930 OB West motorcade will leave Quintin to inspect 2nd Fallschirmjäger Corps

  units on its way to Lôudeac. From there, on to Merdrignac.

  1030 The 5th Fallschirmjäger division commander, Generalleutnant Gustav Wilke,

  will meet the motorcade at the west exit of Merdrignac and lead them through

  the division’s assembly area. Inspection of various units and preparations against paratroop landings will be made.

  1300 Brief lunch at the airborne divisional headquarters in Bourges.

  1400 Short rest.

  1500 Motorcade to continue on to Fougères, Mayenne, and then Alençon.

  1700 Arrival at the military government headquarters #916 in Alençon for the

  night. The headquarters will provide security, meals and quarters.

  Itinerary for June 9, 1944

  1030 OB West motorcade will leave Alençon and d
rive to Dreux.

  1300 Arrival back at St.-Germain-en-Laye.

  Additional details

  •The motorcade will consist of two automobiles and eight men—two drivers, three guards, the Commander-in-Chief, Oberst! Cullmann, and the field marshal’s son, Leutnant von Rundstedt.

  •Assignment of vehicles, drivers and guards, as well as their weapons and ammunition, will be made by OB West commandant. The paymaster will provide for ration cards and travel allowance.

  •Only those representatives and officers mentioned in the orders will take part in the various parts of the inspection trip.

  •The quarters of the Commander-in-Chief on the Rue AlexAndré Dumas will be guarded inconspicuously while he is away.

  •Responsibility for security, meals, and quarters on the trip will be that of the unit where the Commander-in-Chief is staying.

  Von Rundstedt himself is in his quarters at his nearby villa, looking over the latest roster of his armies. At present, including the eight divisions in Holland and Belgium, he commands some six dozen divisions, 1 plus dozens of odd battalions. Of his total force, over half of them, 34 to be exact, are considered bodenständige, or static reserve. They can at best only be used in limited, fixed defensive operations. Two of his divisions are airborne, without any airdrop capability, of course. Though the remaining 23 are considered fit for combat, only about 13 are actually mobile infantry.

  He grunts softly. The term “mobile” here is being used in the loosest sense of the term. It usually covers a wild mixture of any sort of transportation, from horse-drawn wagons, to bicycles, to motorbikes, and a wide ad hoc variety of old pre-war cars and trucks, along with a light smattering of actual supply trucks and a few prime movers.

  He turns his attention to his armor. In addition to the infantry units, he has nine panzer divisions and one panzergrenadier division. Both he and Rommel can be thankful (not to mention relieved) that their mobile forces have been built back up again. Most of their missing panzer divisions, sent off to save the East, have finally been returned to France to nurse their wounds and to prepare for the invasion.A few smaller components are either still in transit or getting ready to move west, but the bulk of the panzers are back. Actually, von Rundstedt had never really objected too much to sending units eastward, and even had volunteered to send divisions to Russia a number of times when things there looked especially critical. After all, he had been a principal commander on the Eastern Front for nearly a year. In fact, he would just as soon look at a map of the Eastern Front as one of Western Europe.