Eisenhower polled his lieutenants: Kingston McCloughry, Direction of War, 138–39 (“No part”); Stagg, Forecast for Overlord, 102 (“we must postpone”).
At that moment the lights failed: Kingston McCloughry, Direction of War, 138–39 (“Jesus!”); Three Years, 560 (Sunday papers).
Banks of gray cloud: J. H. Patterson, ts, n.d., IWM, 05/491, 1/7, 3 (“spindrift was flying”); IFG, 80–81 (“pyramidical waters”); Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 257 (HORNPIPE BOWSPRIT); memo, W. H. S. Wright to Henry Stimson, July 25, 1944, NARA RG 337, E 54, AGF top secret general corr, folder 319.1 (frantic blinkering).
But bombardment squadrons from Belfast: Naval Guns, 26; S. C. Donnison, diary, June 3, 1944, IWM, 94/50/1 (“three-quarter gale”); History of the Second World War (periodical), part 65, 1974, 1796; “The Invasion of Normandy,” USNAd, vol. 5, 395–96; Yung, Gators of Neptune, 176; “Memorandum of Record,” June 4, 1944, Arthur S. Nevins papers, MHI (“somewhat out of hand”).
As anchors dropped and engines died: Rick Atkinson, foreword, Instructions for American Servicemen in France During World War II, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008, v–xiii; Collier, Fighting Words, 159 (“Encore une verre”); Medicine Under Canvas, 77th Evacuation Hospital, 1949, 120 (“mama-oiselle”); Collins, Lightning Joe, 196–97 (“Holy God”); Liebling, Mollie & Other War Pieces, 175 (“If God be for us”); Linderman, The World Within War, 238 (“twenty dollars a card”); A. J. Liebling, “Cross-Channel Trip,” in Reporting World War II, vol. 2, 136 (“Voltaire used the same gag”); Ambrose, Pegasus Bridge, 67 (Stormy Weather).
the “D” in D-Day: AAR, 146th Engineer Combat Bn, CEOH, box X-37A. There are various explanations for the term; some authorities assert it was first used in an Army order in 1918, with the “D” used as a code letter rather than an abbreviation.
The strange, tempestuous Sunday: Kersaudy, Churchill and De Gaulle, 338–47.
The sad story was this: Eden, The Reckoning, 525–26 (greeted De Gaulle on the tracks); “History of SHAEF, Feb. 13–June 6, 1944,” July 1944, NARA RG 319, 2-3.7 CB 8, 55–57; “The War of Will, Words and Images,” n.d., Wallace Carroll papers, LOC MS Div, box 1, 18–19; Kersaudy, Churchill and De Gaulle, 346–47 (“in chains if necessary”); Fenby, The General, 638–39; Beevor, D-Day, 21 (“gangster”).
No sooner had Churchill stormed: Eisenhower, General Ike, 147 (Deux Mètres); Dallek, Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 1932–1945, 462 (“balancing a chip”); “Memorandum of Record,” June 4, 1944, Arthur S. Nevins papers, MHI (he revealed to De Gaulle); Aron, France Reborn, 27 (“your forged notes”); Fenby, The General, 638–39; Coles and Weinberg, Civil Affairs, 699 (“violation of national sovereignty”); “History of SHAEF, Feb. 13–June 6, 1944,” July 1944, NARA RG 319, 2-3.7 CB 8, 55–57 (French liaison officers); “Preparations for D-Day,” n.d., C. D. Jackson papers, DDE Lib, box 3; De Gaulle, The Complete War Memoirs of Charles de Gaulle, 559; Chandler, 1907; Davis, Soldier of Democracy, 494 (“I cannot follow Eisenhower”).
“there is no room in war for pique”: Foot, SOE in France, 386; Beevor, D-Day, 21 (“treason”); Fenby, The General, 641–42; memo, John J. McCoy to GCM, Apr. 26, 1944, GCM Lib, box 76, folder 3 (“Frog File”); Roberts, The Storm of War, 488 (the hand that fed him); Reynolds, In Command of History, 456 (“not a scrap of generosity”); Ferrell, ed., The Eisenhower Diaries, 118 (“sorry mess”); memo, W. B. Smith to Hastings L. Ismay, Jan. 23, 1944, NARA RG 331, SHAEF SGS, Geog Corr, box 108 (“Joan of Arc complex”); Ambrose, The Supreme Commander, 386 (“To hell with him”).
At 9:30 P.M. the supreme commander again: Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe, 224–25 (“unexpected developments”); Charles C. Bates, “Sea, Swell and Surf Forecasting for D-Day and Beyond: The Anglo-American Effort, 1943–1945,” 2010, a.p., 15–16 (H.M.S. Hoste); “Report on the Meteorological Implications,” June 22, 1944, UK NA, CAB 106/976, 9–11.
Eisenhower polled his subordinates: Bates and Fuller, America’s Weather Warriors, 94; “Memorandum of Record,” June 4, 1944, Arthur S. Nevins papers, MHI.
For a long minute: CCA, 272–74; Crosswell, Beetle, 622; George E. Creasy, OH, Feb. 4, 1947, FCP, MHI; Kingston McCloughry, Direction of War, 138–39 (“We’ll go”); Stagg, Forecast for Overlord, 112–15 (“Don’t bring any more”).
Across the fleet: “So appears this fleet majestical / Holding due course to Harfleur,” Henry V, act III, prologue, 16–17.
“Up anchor!”: Naval Guns, 23–28; Wilson, ed., D-Day 1944, 110; Moorehead, Eclipse, 105 (“Ships were heaving”); Roskill, White Ensign, 371; “War Diary of Force ‘U,’” June 5, 1944, SEM, NHHC, box 82, folder 46; John A. Moreno, “The Death of Admiral Moon,” n.d., a.p. 225+ (“England expects”).
By midmorning the heavy skies: Brown, Many a Watchful Night, 12 (“tropical in its colors”); Stafford, Ten Days to D-Day, 264 (chalk cliffs); John F. Latimer, n.d., NARA RG 38, E 11, U.S. Navy WWII Oral Histories (“one’s eye for beauty”); Liddle, D-Day by Those Who Were There, 91 (“Road to the Isles”); Sylvan, 8 (Rome had fallen).
Leading the fleet: VW, vol. 1, 67–69; “Report by the Allied Naval Commander-in-Chief, Expeditionary Force,” Oct. 1944, NARA RG 407, ML #624, box 19117, 144; Wilson, ed., D-Day 1944, 109; “The Invasion of Normandy,” USNAd, vol. 5, 437–39; “Navigational Aspects of the Passage and Assault in Operation OVERLORD,” Nov. 1944, bulletin Y/39, COHQ, CARL, N-6530.18, 1–3; Howarth, Dawn of D-Day, 202–3 (“street lamps”).
As the invasion convoys swung: Belfield and Essame, The Battle for Normandy, 83 (“all ways at once”); Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 176 (Lousy Civilian Idea); Lewis, “Landing Craft,” lecture, Sept. 18, 1944, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, box 199, 12–13; IFG, 84; Howarth, Dawn of D-Day, 145 (“an ominous impression”); Settle, All the Brave Promises, 6 (“swallow a pork chop”).
For those who could eat: AAR, “Report on Operation Neptune,” HQ Co, CT 16, June 16, 1944, NARA RG 407, 2-3.7 BG, AFIA; Cawthon, Other Clay, 48 (“edge of eternity”); Thompson, The Imperial War Museum Book of Victory in Europe, 27–29 (“in case you stop one”); Gaskill, “Bloody Beach,” American Magazine (Sept. 1944): 26+ (“Happy D-Day”); McKee, Caen: Anvil of Victory, 141, 360 (“Bring me my bow of burning gold”); Sommers, “The Longest Hour in History,” Saturday Evening Post (July 8, 1944): 22+ (stripped each bridge); Heinz, When We Were One, 10–11 (“dress blues”); diary, Cyrus C. Aydlett, June 6, 1944, NWWIIM (“Mr. Whozits”); Lankford, ed., OSS Against the Reich, 56–57 (punching bag).
“The first six hours”: Wilson, ed., D-Day 1944, 207; diary, Jack Shea [Cota aide], Nov. 1, 1944, NARA RG 407, CI 81, 29th ID, box 19138, 4–5 (“You’re going to find confusion”).
“The government paid $5 billion”: Robert K. Skagg, 741st Tank Bn, OH, June 18, 1944, NARA RG 407, 2-3.7 BG, AFIA; corr, Philip Cole to Ralph Ingersoll, Apr. 21, 1946, Thaddeus Holt papers, MHI, box 1 (“alone and conspicuous”).
“We are starting”: TR to Eleanor, June 3, 1944, TR, box 10; Renehan, The Lion’s Pride, 236–37; Balkoski, Utah Beach, 180 (“I’ll see you tomorrow morning”).
Far inland, at more than a dozen airfields: Saunders, The Red Beret, 148; Thompson, The Imperial War Museum Book of Victory in Europe, 33 (“a good stamp”).
American paratroopers smeared: Davis, Soldier of Democracy, 481; Rapport and Northwood, Rendezvous with Destiny, 82 (minstrel act); corr, Charles L. Easter to Marion Page, July 7, 1944, USMA Arch (“$10,000 jump”); Albert Hassenzahl, VHP, AFC/2001/001/5222 (“I’m not going to die”); Burgett, Currahee!, 77–78; Otis L. Sampson, “Destination,” n.d., JMG, MHI, box 12 (brass-knuckle grip); Carl Cartledge, 501st PIR, ts, n.d., NWWIIM (“one for pain”); Alosi, War Birds, 57 (Carrier pigeons); Astor, June 6, 1944, 128 (trimmed the margins).
“We look all pockets”: Simpson, Selected Prose, 119; Fauntleroy, The General and His Daughter, 107 (“I have tried”); diary, May 25 and June 5, 1944, JMG, MHI, box 10.
“Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area”: Chandler, 1908.
Just afte
r six P.M.: Eisenhower, Eisenhower at War, 1943–1945, 252–53; Holt and Holt, Major & Mrs. Holt’s Battlefield Guide to the Normandy Landing Beaches, 45 (“It’s very hard really”); Beevor, D-Day, 27 (“The idea, the perfect idea”).
At aircraft number 2716: manifest, aircraft 2716, in “D-Day Experience of Eugene D. Brierre,” ts, March 1998, NWWIIM; Taylor, General Maxwell Taylor, 77; Taylor, Swords and Plowshares, 75–76; Crosswell, Beetle: The Life of General Walter Bedell Smith, 623 (“light of battle”); Holt and Holt, Major & Mrs. Holt’s Battlefield Guide to the Normandy Landing Beaches, 45 (“I hope to God”).
Red and green navigation lights: Drez, ed., Voices of D-Day, 72–73; corr, Charles L. Easter to Marion Page, July 7, 1944, USMA Arch; Tapert, ed., Lines of Battle, 157–58 (“Give me guts”); McNally, As Ever, John, 42 (crew chiefs); Burgett, Currahee!, 80 (“Flap your wings”); Rapport and Northwood, Rendezvous with Destiny, 79–80 (“Stay, light”).
“Our flag bridge is dead quiet”: Naval Guns, 31; John F. Latimer, ts, n.d., NARA RG 38, E 11, U.S. Navy WWII Oral Histories, 12 (“trying to slip into a room”).
Small craft struggled: notes, Force O, n.d., NARA RG 407, 2-3.7 BG, AFIA (“Men sick”); Keegan, Six Armies in Normandy, 135; Chalmers, Full Cycle, 223 (thirty degrees); “The Invasion of Normandy,” USNAd, vol. 5, 405–8; McKernon, Corry, 32 (“Seasick”).
CHAPTER 1: INVASION
The Far Shore
The singing stopped: Robert H. George, “Ninth Air Force,” 1945, AFHRA, study no. 36, 62–63; Baedeker, Northern France, 161 (famed for cattle); Rapport and Northwood, Rendezvous with Destiny, 85 (“Say hello”); Wright and Greenwood, Airborne Forces at War, 50–58.
Then France vanished: Taylor, Swords and Plowshares, 77; Drez, ed., Voices of D-Day, 64–69 (“lighted tennis balls”), 136 (“keg of nails”); 101st AB Div, CI #223, July 11–29, 1944, NARA RG 407, E-427-A (jinking); Carl Cartledge, 501st PIR, ts, n.d., NWWIIM (“thick enough”); John C. Warren, “Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 1956, AFHRA, historical study no. 97, 45.
Even as the cloud bank thinned: corr, Michael C. Chester to JMG, Mar. 30, 1959, JMG papers, MHI, 1–5; 101st AB Div, CI #223, July 11–29, 1944, and “Operation of 507th PIR,” n.d., CI #170, NARA RG 407, E 427-A; Gerald J. Higgins, 101st AB Div COS, OH, Feb. 5, 1946, SLAM, MHI, box 2 (bundles got stuck); “Report of Investigation of Operation NEPTUNE,” Aug. 9, 1944, Air Inspector, HQ, USSAFE, NARA RG 498, ETO, SGS, 333.5 (failed to descend to the specified jump height of 500 feet); Astor, June 6, 1944, 144–45 (“anything in my jump pants”); corr, Charles L. Easter to Marion Page, July 7, 1944, USMA Arch (“wall of flame”); Tapert, ed., Lines of Battle, 157–58 (“a thousand years”); Guy Remington, “Second Man Out,” in The New Yorker Book of War Pieces, 340 (burning shreds); Beevor, D-Day, 63 (“watermelons falling”).
“I pulled up my knees”: Astor, June 6, 1944, 142; Balkoski, Utah Beach, 112, 134.
Operation ALBANY: “Notes on Utah Beach and the 1st Engineer Special Brigade,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #359A, 53–54; “Interview with Dr. Simon, Carentan,” Sept. 1, 1945, SLAM, MHI, box 2; Ruppenthal, Utah Beach to Cherbourg, 3; Balkoski, Utah Beach, 53–54; memo, “Glider Operation NEPTUNE,” 82nd AB Div IG, Aug. 4, 1944, MBR papers, MHI, box 21.
At four A.M., as thousands: Beevor, D-Day, 71 (“ravens”); OH, J. Milnor Roberts, Jr., SOOHP, 1982, HIA, box 1, 72–74 (“shoot an arrow”); “Operation MARKET: Air Invasion of Holland,” n.d., Hq, IX Troop Carrier Command, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, Act R, A-66, box 48, 56; Paul M. Davis and Amy C. Fenwick, “Development and Procurement of Gliders,” Mar. 1946, AFHRA, study no. 47, 164–67; John C. Warren, “Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 1956, AFHRA, historical study no. 97, 61 (rarely if ever flown at night); Lewis E. Johnston, ed., “The Troop Carrier D-Day Flights,” 2003, a.p., 64 (“typewriter keys”); Blair, Ridgway’s Paratroopers, 222, 235 (Rommel’s asparagus); Albert J. Randall, First Airborne Surgical Team, ts, June 8, 1945, “Medical Department Activities in ETO,” Office of the Surgeon General, NARA; Astor, June 6, 1944, 160; Ryan, The Longest Day, 128–39; Otis L. Sampson, “Destination,” ts, n.d., JMG papers, MHI, box 12, 12 (“bees out of a hive”).
Of more than six thousand jumpers: “Rough draft of Gen. Maxwell Taylor’s report,” with jumpmaster reports, 101st AB Div, July 1, 1944, GCM Lib; Capt. R. H. Brown, HQ, 506th PIR, NARA HI (telephone books); “Employment of 75mm Pack Howitzers,” WD Observer Bd, Aug 1, 1944, CARL, N-7344; McNally, As Ever, John, 44 (“men lying in the straw”).
“L’invasion est arrivé”: Two versions of this anecdote can be found in Baldwin, Battles Lost and Won, 268, and Drez, ed., Voices of D-Day, 92; Taylor, Swords and Plowshares, 79–81 (“Allez me tuer”); author visit, May 2009; John C. Warren, “Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 1956, AFHRA, historical study no. 97, 42; corr, Maxwell D. Taylor to SLAM, Feb. 25, 1946, SLAM, MHI, box 2; Gerald J. Higgins, 101st AB Div COS, OH, Feb. 5, 1946, SLAM, MHI, box 2; Ruppenthal, Utah Beach to Cherbourg, 22.
Five hours after leaping: Balkoski, Utah Beach, 123–25.
“Wir fahren gegen England”: Howarth, Dawn of D-Day, 90–92; author visits, May 1996 and May 2009, including Musée Airborne exhibits; Jutras, Sainte-Mère-Église, 11; Holt and Holt, Major & Mrs. Holt’s Battlefield Guide to the Normandy Landing Beaches, 49–50 (listening to the BBC).
“almost no chance to sustain”: “Capture of Ste. Mère Église,” Regimental Study No. 6, n.d., CMH, 2–8.
Alas, the drops in Operation BOSTON: Gilmore, ed., U.S. Army Atlas of the European Theater in World War II, 18–20; memo, “Glider Operation NEPTUNE,” 82nd AB Div IG, Aug. 4, 1944, MBR papers, MHI, box 21 (Less than half of the following gliders); JMG, “Account of D-Day,” ts, n.d., JMG papers, MHI, box 12; AAR, JMG, Aug. 16, 1944, “Debriefing Conference—Operation NEPTUNE,” CARL, N-12198; Booth and Spencer, Paratrooper, 179–81; AAR, “508 Regiment After the Drop,” n.d., MMD, 26–29 (“he could not take any prisoners”).
Of the division’s three parachute infantry regiments: Howarth, Dawn of D-Day, 93.
“with eyes open”: Ryan, The Longest Day, 114–17.
Lieutenant Colonel Edward C. Krause: Wills, Put on Your Boots and Parachutes!, 82; AAR, 3rd Bn, 505th PIR, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI #170; “Capture of Ste. Mère Église,” Regimental Study No. 6, n.d., CMH, 2–8; Balkoski, Utah Beach, 152.
“I am in Ste. Mère”: Marshall, Night Drop, 18; CCA, 289; Balkoski, Utah Beach, 113 (first town in France).
By dawn, 816 planes: Balkoski, Utah Beach, 113; Blair, Ridgway’s Paratroopers, 236–37 (only one of six regiments); John C. Warren, “Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 1956, AFHRA, historical study no. 97, 36, 59 (advance weather plane); Ruppenthal, Utah Beach to Cherbourg, 15 (“not an unmixed evil”); McNally, As Ever, John, 44 (wires snipped); Wills, Put on Your Boots and Parachutes!, 88 (lie on their backs).
an American light bomber flew: AAR, “Reconnaissance in a Tactical Air Command,” 10th Photo Group, XIX Tactical Command, Ninth AF, 1945, CARL, N-9395.
Fifty miles to the east: Arthur, Forgotten Voices of World War II, 301–2 (stuffed moose head); VW, vol. 1, 156.
Two parachute brigades: VW, vol. 1, 149–50; Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe, 234–35; Shannon and Wright, One Night in June, 52; Saunders, Royal Air Force, 1939–1945, vol. 3, 108 (only seventeen dropped); Saunders, The Red Beret, 159 (wrapped around his legs).
Less fortunate were the men: Thompson, The Imperial War Museum Book of Victory in Europe, 41; Liddle, D-Day by Those Who Were There, 76 (tea bags), 81 (“silken circles”); Shannon and Wright, One Night in June, 83 (Dives muck).
Amid calamity came a celebrated success: Urquhart, A Life in Peace and War, 49 (Saxon king); Holt and Holt, Major & Mrs. Holt’s Battlefield Guide to the Normandy Landing Beaches, 217–19 (“Flying Morgue”); Liddle, D-Day by Those Who Were There, 66 (spiked with rum); Ambrose, Pegasus Bridge, 5–13 (“Cow Cow Boogie”); Chatterton, The Wing
s of Pegasus, 138; Thompson, The Imperial War Museum Book of Victory in Europe, 36 (“a giant sheet”); Howarth, Dawn of D-Day, 46–47.
“Anything that moved”: Ambrose, Pegasus Bridge, 76–83.
One platoon commander fell dead: Holt and Holt, Major & Mrs. Holt’s Battlefield Guide to the Normandy Landing Beaches, 217–21 (asked in vain to be shot).
Across the Orne and Dives: Chatterton, The Wings of Pegasus, 140–41; Howarth, Dawn of D-Day, 64 (double bed); Ryan, The Longest Day, 108–9 (“They got my mate”); VW, vol. 1, 155.
Perhaps the most perilous mission: VW, vol. 1, 154–55; By Air to Battle, 85 (banded pigeon); Shannon and Wright, One Night in June, 83 (sixty lengths of bangalore).
“I went in with 150”: Liddle, D-Day by Those Who Were There, 75.
First Tide
Ship by ship: “War Diary of Force ‘U,’” June 5–6, 1944, SEM, NHHC, box 82, folder 46; IFG, 87; Buffetaut, D-Day Ships, 75; Robb, The Discovery of France, 312 (Norman pirates); Colville, Footprints in Time, 161 (“War in these conditions”); Colville, The Fringes of Power, 492.
On the pitching decks below: John C. Raaen, Jr., “Sir, the 5th Rangers Have Landed Intact,” ts, 2000, MMD, 1 (watched for mines); Liebling, Mollie & Other War Pieces, 188 (“a passion”); Alter and Crouch, eds., “My Dear Moon,” no pagination (“extra systoles”); Reynolds, How I Survived the Three First Wave Invasions, 89 (“The mind can wander”); Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 111 (“when a bullet hits you”), 163 (Horace’s Satires).
At two A.M. the ship’s loudspeaker: Capa, Slightly Out of Focus, 139 (white jackets); Liebling, Mollie & Other War Pieces, 204 (tinned beef); Arthur, Forgotten Voices of World War II, 305 (“superb 1812 brandy”); K. G. Oakley, “Normandy ‘D’ Day 1944,” ts, n.d., IWM, 96/22/1, 1–2 (“Do not worry”).
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