The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945

by Rick Atkinson

  A new Manual of Therapy: memo, Office of the Chief Surgeon, Mar. 28, 1944, James B. Mason papers, HIA, folder 1 (morphine poisoning and whole blood); Cosmas and Cowdrey, Medical Service in the European Theater of Operations, 182; Paul R. Hawley, OH, John Boyd Coates, Jr., et al., 1962, MHUC, 54 (carbon dioxide tanks).

  But whole blood would keep: Cowdrey, Fighting for Life, 245; “The Evolution of the Use of Whole Blood in Combat Casualties,” U.S. Army Medical Department, Office of Medical History, http://143.84.107.69/booksdocs/wwii/blood/chapter3.htm; Cosmas and Cowdrey, Medical Service in the European Theater of Operations, 175–76, 193; Gellhorn, “The First Hospital Ship,” in Reporting World War II, vol. 2, 151.

  On Tuesday, May 23: “Stories of Transportation,” vol. 1, Frank S. Ross Papers, HIA, box 20, 203; memo, W. H. S. Wright to Henry Stimson, July 25, 1944, NARA RG 337, E 54, AGF top secret general corr, folder 319.1 (“One Way”); A. C. Doyle’s Sir Nigel, chapter 13, in Wilson, ed., D-Day 1944, 197 (“We sat on a hilltop”).

  Mothers held their children: Watney, The Enemy Within, 20, 49 (“boomerang” and “girl-saint”); Ziegler, London at War, 1939–1945, 278–79 (“half empty”); Fussell, Wartime, 109 (Whore’s Lament).

  By late in the week: Moorehead, Eclipse, 100 (“Civilians must not talk”); Burgett, Currahee!, 69–70 (German uniforms); Watney, The Enemy Within, 63 (Cherbourg); Scannell, Argument of Kings, 121 (diversionary attack); Ziegler, London at War, 1939–1945, 282 (death beam); AAFinWWII, 92 (icebergs); Wilson, ed., D-Day 1944, 198 (“shock kept the wounded”); Longmate, The G.I.’s, 316 (“Don’t be surprised”).

  Security remained paramount: Hinsley and Simkins, British Intelligence in the Second World War, vol. 4, 250–54 (“certain defeat” and 600,000 monthly visitors); Stafford, Ten Days to D-Day, 15 (“handsome”); “History of SHAEF, Feb. 13–June 6, 1944,” July 1944, NARA RG 319, 2-3.7 CB 8, 14–19; Gilbert, D-Day, 67; CCA, 270 (counterintelligence agents).

  Camouflage inspectors roamed: “Chief Engineer’s Report on Camouflage Activities in the ETO,” Nov. 15, 1945, Howard V. Canan papers, HIA, box 3; “Concealment and Display of Camps,” Plan FORTITUDE, section II, “Implementation,” n.d., Thaddeus Holt papers, MHI, box 8 (Garnished nets); “Camouflage,” historical report #18, Aug. 1945, CEOX, box X-32, folder 18, 38 (“tone-down paint”); “The Concealment Aspect of Beach Group Work,” Camouflage Development and Training Center, Farnham, U.K., Sept. 22, 1944, CARL, N-5122, 4–5 (Standard Camouflage Color 1A); “Marshalling [sic] for OVERLORD,” CE, Dec. 1945, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #547, 28 (“contours”).

  Deception complemented the camouflage: “History of SHAEF, Feb. 13–June 6, 1944,” July 1944, NARA RG 319, 2-3.7 CB 8, chapter 3 (“strategic dispositions”); Howard, Strategic Deception in the Second World War, 110–11 (Pas de Calais); http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.mod.uk/aboutus/dday60/fortitude.htm* (“Bigbobs”).

  The British genius for cozenage: Hinsley and Simkins, British Intelligence in the Second World War, vol. 4, 239; Penrose, ed., The D-Day Companion, 58–59; Hesketh, Fortitude, xi–xiii, 46–52; Howard, Strategic Deception in the Second World War, 114, 131 (German hallucination); Hinsley, 118–19, 450; Holt, The Deceivers, 561–62; James, The Counterfeit General Montgomery, 53–66 (strutted about).

  As May slid toward June: LSA, vol. 1, 369 (waterproofing); Beck, 317 (fifty-four inches); Thompson, The Imperial War Museum Book of Victory in Europe, 10 (“wren’s tail”); VW, vol. 1, 137 (Sherman tank); Gilbert, D-Day, 104 (white stripes); Howarth, Dawn of D-Day, 126; Drez, ed., Voices of D-Day, 64 (push brooms).

  Soldiers drew seasickness pills: Royce L. Thompson, “D-Day Personal Loads,” OCMH, Dec. 4, 1951, CMH 2-3.7 AE P-11; Cawthon, Other Clay, 42 (“braying”); memo, Cleave A. Jones to G. S. Eyster, SHAEF, July 17, 1944, NARA RG 498, UD 603, ETO HD, SLAM 201 file, box 1 (“skunk suits”).

  “We’re ready now”: TR to Eleanor, May 30, 1944, TR, box 10; Ross, 695 (quartermaster box).

  “I am a free man”: John M. Thorpe, “A Soldier’s Tale, to Normandy and Beyond,” Nov. 1982, IWM, 84/50/1, 80; Airborne Museum, Ste-Mère-Église, V-mail shown to author by curator Phil Jutras, May 1994 (“If I don’t come out”); corr, May 30, 1944, Joseph T. Dawson collection, MRC FDM, 1991.65, box 3 (“destiny of life”).

  Eisenhower left Bushy Park: Chandler, vol. 5, 155; corr, T. Smith to family, June 17, 1944, Thor M. Smith Papers, HIA; Williams, “Supreme Headquarters for D-Day,” AB, no. 84 (1994): 1+; Stafford, Ten Days to D-Day, 178 (three telephones); “Normandy, 1944–1973,” AB, no. 1 (1973): 2 (Georgian mansion); Kingston McCloughry, Direction of War, 138 (nautical almanacs).

  “The intensity of the burdens”: Overy, Why the Allies Won, 158; Three Years, 558 (“jitters”); Richard Collins, SOOHP, 1976, Donald Bowman, MHI, II, 16; R. H. Winecke, CI, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, folder 170; E. T. Williams, “Reports Received by U.S. War Department on Use of Ultra in the European Theater,” SRH-037, Oct. 1945, NARA RG 457, E 9002, NSA, box 18, 2; memo, H. R. Bull to W. B. Smith, May 26, 1944, NARA RG 331, E 1, SHAEF SGS, box 76.

  Such a robust force: diary, Oct. 14, 1944, N. T. Tangye, IWM, P 180 (“nincompoop”); Blumenson, The Battle of the Generals, 141 (“peculiar knack”); CCA, 186 (“speculative operation”); Ambrose, Eisenhower: Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect, 1890–1952, vol. 1, 303 (“futile slaughter”); VW, vol. 1, 139 (“two airborne divisions”).

  “soul-racking problem”: Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, 263; CCA, 279.

  Emerging from his canvas hideaway: Ambrose, Eisenhower: Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect, 1890–1952, vol. 1, 303; Chandler, 1894 (“It must go on”).

  A leafy hilltop: VW, vol. 1, 67–69; IFG, 77; CBH, June 3, 1944, box 4, MHI (Late spring warmth); memo, W. H. S. Wright to Henry Stimson, July 25, 1944, NARA RG 337, E 54, AGF top secret general corr, folder 319.1 (barrage balloons).

  Soldiers still braying and bleating: Cawthon, Other Clay, 48; Pogue, Pogue’s War, 55 (“If any of you fellows”); E. Jones, ts, n.d., IWM, 94/41/1, 4 (“real white bread”); Balkoski, Utah Beach, 66–67; memoir, Ralph Eastridge, 1995, NWWIIM (“a man could have jumped”); D. K. Reimers, “My War,” June 4, 1944, MHI, 67 (“which was Clara”).

  As always where land met sea: Pogue, Pogue’s War, 47; ETOUSA pamphlet 370.5, Jan. 1944, Charles E. Rousek papers, MHI (“Preparation for Overseas Movement”); “War Diary of Force ‘U,’” June 2, 1944, SEM, NHHC, box 82, folder 46 (Eighteen LCTs); Lewis, “Landing Craft,” lecture, Sept. 18, 1944, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, box 199, 9 (immersion rate); AR, Don P. Moon, Force U, June 26, 1944, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #217 (ships were overloaded anyway).

  The deadweight included: “History of SHAEF, Feb. 13–June 6, 1944,” July 1944, NARA RG 319, 2-3.7 CB 8, chapter 3; Wilson, ed., D-Day 1944, 204 (“annoying and mysterious”); Pogue, Pogue’s War, 92 (“sparse and gray of hair”); Tobin, Ernie Pyle’s War, 205 (“scarecrow”), 164–67 (“All I do is drink”).

  “I’m no longer content”: Miller, The Story of Ernie Pyle, 321–30; Tobin, Ernie Pyle’s War, 221 (“fucking throat”), 168 (“too late”).

  In claustrophobic holds: Harold S. Frum, “The Soldier Must Write,” 1984, June 1, 1944 entry, GCM Lib (“I love my fellow man”); Liebling, Mollie & Other War Pieces, 177; Brown, Many a Watchful Night, 10 (On Augusta); Marshall, ed., Proud Americans, 138 (“old uneasiness”).

  More than five hundred weather stations: R. J. Ogden, “Meteorological Services Leading to D-Day,” Royal Meteorological Society, Occasional Papers on Meteorological History, July 2001, 2, a.p.; Stagg, Forecast for Overlord, 51 (reconnaissance planes); Charles C. Bates, “Sea, Swell and Surf Forecasting for D-Day and Beyond: The Anglo-American Effort, 1943–1945,” 2010, a.p., 6 (British beach watchers); Charles C. Bates, e-mail to author, Nov. 11 and 23, 2007; Hogben, “The Most Important Weather Forecast in the World,” London Review of Books 16, no. 10 (May 26, 1994): 21+.

  Each Allied invasion constituent: J. M. Stagg, “Report on the Meteorological
Implications,” SHAEF, June 22, 1944, CARL, N-11359.

  Eisenhower had never been fortunate: Chandler, 1761; Eisenhower, Eisenhower at War, 1943–1945, 248; Charles C. Bates, “Sea, Swell and Surf Forecasting for D-Day and Beyond: The Anglo-American Effort, 1943–1945,” 2010, a.p., 13–15 (Cyclonic disturbances); diary, Kay Summersby, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 140 (“very depressed”).

  At 4:30 A.M. on Sunday: Ryan, The Longest Day, 48; Botting, The Second Front, 62; “Memorandum of Record,” June 4, 1944, Arthur S. Nevins papers, MHI.

  “A series of depressions”: “Report on the Meteorological Implications,” June 22, 1944, UK NA, CAB 106/976, 9–11; Stagg, Forecast for Overlord, 124 (depression L5); Bates and Fuller, America’s Weather Warriors, 1814–1985, 92–94 (“quite impossible”).

  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 after 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”).