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

by Rick Atkinson

  In his spare office aboard Bayfield: “Conference on the Operations of the VII Corps,” May 16, 1946, SLAM, MHI, box 2; Collins, Lightning Joe, 200–201 (“I had to put my foot down”); CCA, 329. Historian Joseph Balkoski believes 4th ID casualties for June 6 were “certainly over 300.” Balkoski, Utah Beach, 322.

  “It is our good fortune”: “War Diary of Force ‘U,’” June 5–6, 1944, SEM, NHHC, box 82, folder 46.

  Hell’s Beach

  Fifteen miles southeast of Utah: IFG, 110–11 (Spanish galleon); ALH, 21; “Beach 46—Omaha, Tidal Curves,” n.d., CARL, N-7374E; “Operation Report Neptune,” Provisional Engineer Special Brigade Group, Sept. 1944, NARA RG 407, ML #951, box 24198, 57; CCA, 18; 1st ID, HI; “Operation Report Neptune,” Provisional Engineer Special Brigade Group, Sept. 1944, NARA RG 407, ML #951, box 24198, 60 (two knots to three).

  That Norman tide: IFG, 138; “The Invasion of Normandy,” USNAd, vol. 5, 566; Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 41 (twenty feet deep), 22; Royce L. Thompson, “American Strength in D-Day Landings,” n.d., CMH, 2-3.7 AE.P-5; “Strategy of the Campaign in Western Europe, 1944–1945,” n.d., USFET, General Board study no. 1, 25 (without stranding the boats); Drez, ed., Voices of D-Day, 53 (only half an hour).

  OVERLORD’s plan called for nine infantry companies: Omaha Beachhead, AFIA, 42; Buffetaut, D-Day Ships, 101. The nine included a Ranger company.

  To minimize the risk of German shore fire: Yung, Gators of Neptune, 216; Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe, 264; IFG, 124. Fourteen hundred tons of naval shells fell at Omaha, one-third the bombardment weight at much weaker Kwajalein Island. “Amphibious Operations: Invasion of Northern France,” CINC, U.S. Fleet, Oct. 1944, NARA RG 407, ML #252, 2–27.

  The German defenses were fearsome: “Comparison of British and American Areas in Normandy in Terms of Fire Support and Its Effects,” Army Operational Group Report no. 292, Aug. 14, 1945, UK NA, WO 291/270; McManus, The Americans at D-Day, 305 (“murder holes”); OH, J. D. Small, June 23, 1944, NARA RG 38, E 11, U.S. Navy WWII Oral Histories, 9 (“like huckleberries”); Drez, ed. Voices of D-Day, 283 (“New England town hall”); “The Invasion of Normandy,” USNAd, vol. 5, 512; IFG, 114–15 (aerial photos).

  Also undetected and unexpected: Hinsley et al., British Intelligence in the Second World War, vol. 3, part 2, 842–43; Benjamin A. Dickson, “G-2 Journal: Algiers to the Elbe,” MHI, 119 (radio blackout); Fritz Ziegelmann, “The 352nd Infantry Division,” FMS, #B-432, in Isby, ed., Fighting the Invasion, 122–24 (requisitioned milk), 194–95, 202; Bennett, Ultra in the West, 45; Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 48–49; Beevor, D-Day, 93; Zetterling, Normandy 1944, 277–79; Holt, The Deceivers, 578; Foot, SOE in France, 386–87 (British tricksters).

  If the Omaha defenses had been thinned: Murray, “Needless D-Day Slaughter,” MHQ (spring 2003): 26+; Hinsley et al., British Intelligence in the Second World War, vol. 3, part 2, 842–43; Balkoski, Beyond the Beachhead, 67, 78; Clay, Blood and Sacrifice, 201 (odds of three to five).

  For those who outlived the day: “Greek lyric,” epigram, Ridgway, Soldier (this high thing).

  “utterly inhuman noises”: memo, Cleave A. Jones, July 4, 1944, NARA RG 498, UD 603, ETO HD, box 1, SLAM 201 file; Baumgartner et al., The 16th Infantry, 1798–1946, 84 (gas capes); OH, J. D. Small, June 23, 1944, NARA RG 38, E 11, U.S. Navy WWII Oral Histories, 9 (“It’s yours”).

  They remembered the red splash: Cawthon, Other Clay, 51–53; Lebda, Million Miles to Go, 81–82 (“wind-driven hail”); Alan Anderson, ts, n.d., 467th AA Bn, NWWIIM (“corn cobs”); diary, Jack Shea, ts, Nov. 1, 1944, NARA RG 407, CI, 29th ID, box 24034, 17 (size of shovel blades); Howarth, Dawn of D-Day, 134 (“wicked living things”); Scannell, Argument of Kings, 152 (“insectile whine”); Gaskill, “Bloody Beach,” American Magazine (Sept. 1944): 26+ (frightened animals); AAR, 146th Engineer Combat Bn, June 30, 1944, CEOH, X-37A (spoons); Whitehead, “Beachhead Don,” xxii (barked knuckles); W. Garwood Bacon, ts, n.d., 7th Naval Beach Bn, NWWIIM (eardrums).

  “walking in the face”: Pogue, Pogue’s War, 67; Gaskill, “Bloody Beach,” American Magazine (Sept. 1944): 26+; Howarth, Dawn of D-Day, 155 (“dying scream”).

  Army and Navy engineers: OH, John T. O’Neill, 299th Engineer Combat Bn, June 9, 1944, NARA 407, E 427, ML #2210; Beck, 308, 320; “Combat Engineering,” CE, ETOUSA, Dec. 1945, report no. 10, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #547, 10–16 (all drifted left); Omaha Beachhead, 42–43; AAR, 299th Engineer Combat Bn, July 1944, NARA 407, E 427, ML #2210 (Team 14’s landing craft); McManus, The Americans at D-Day, 340 (“V for victory”); Fowle, ed., Builders and Fighters, 438 (Seven died in Team 11); AAR, 146th Engineer Combat Bn, June 30, 1944, CEOH, X-37A (“like fence posts”).

  Demolitionists shinnied up pilings: Field Order No. 35, 1st ID, Apr. 16, 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427, 301-3.9; Fowle, ed., Builders and Fighters, 438 (the fuse man’s fingers); Howarth, Dawn of D-Day, 134 (“cluster of bees”); Fane and Moore, The Naked Warriors, 56–58 (engineers screamed); Yung, Gators of Neptune, 187; Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 143 (only six of sixteen gaps); OH, W. M. Hoge, CO, Provisional Brigade Group, July 3, 1944, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #493C; CCA, 317; IFG, 138n.

  The fiascos multiplied: Keegan, Six Armies in Normandy, 135 (“like toads”); Lewis, “Landing Craft,” lecture, Sept. 18, 1944, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, box 199, 18; Drez, ed., Voices of D-Day, 234 (nine inches of freeboard); OH, Robert K. Skagg, 741st Tank Bn, June 18, 1944, NARA RG 407, AFIA, 2-3.7 BG (of thirty-two Shermans); Howarth, Dawn of D-Day, 147 (“a certain gallantry”).

  Artillerymen also struggled: Marshall, “The Mobility of One Man,” IJ (Oct. 1949): 6+ (eighteen sandbags); “111th FA Bn on D Day,” n.d., NARA RG 407, AFIA, 2-3.7 BG (“unseaworthy”); Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 239 (“I can still hear”).

  Two infantry regiments washed: Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 28–29, 161 (“lose heart”); OH, 116th Inf, Co A, n.d., NARA RG 407, AFIA, 2-3.7 BG; Marshall, Battle at Best, 54–55 (“inert and leaderless”); Kershaw, The Bedford Boys, 144–51 (“didn’t get to kill”); Drez, ed., Voices of D-Day, 213 (“like hay”).

  “a venetian blind being lifted”: Baumgarten, Eyewitness on Omaha Beach, 17; Balkoski, Beyond the Beachhead, 125 (LCA-1015); S. L. A. Marshall, “First Wave at Omaha Beach,” Atlantic, Nov. 1960, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1960/11/fir*; Drez, ed., Voices of D-Day, 209 (“he sat down”); Ryan, The Longest Day, 176 (safety pins); Richler, ed., Writers on World War II, 508 (“I run on”); Cawthon, Other Clay, 57 (“a debacle”).

  “the greater portion of the dead”: Baumgartner et al., The 16th Infantry, 1798–1946, 107; Pogue, Pogue’s War, 87 (rank insignia); William Haynes, Co. E, 16th Inf, HI, box 24242 (“big and little stuff”); Lebda, Million Miles to Go, 81–82 (“twenty thousand bullets”); Capa, Slightly Out of Focus, 139–40 (“Es una cosa”).

  The four-hundred-ton LCI 85: AR, LCI (L) 85, June 24, 1944, NARA RG 38, CNO, 370/45/3/1, box 1102; AAR, Company A, 1st Medical Bn, n.d., NARA 407, AFIA, 2-3.7 BG; Clay, Blood and Sacrifice, 195–96 (White bandages); Kenneth C. Davey, “Navy Medicine on Bloody Omaha,” in “Sixth Naval Battalion 1998 Reunion,” MRC FDM (“we could hear”).

  By 8:30 A.M. the Omaha assault: McManus, The Americans at D-Day, 327; Cowdrey, Fighting for Life, 248 (“Face downwards”).

  Two large boats burned furiously: AR, LCI 91, June 10, 1944, MMD; Robert E. Walker, “With the Stonewallers,” n.d., MMD (soles of his boots); AR, LCI(L) 92, Sept. 2, 1944, NARA RG 38, CNO, 370/45/3/1, box 549 (champagne corks); “Actions Group, CT 116,” n.d., John P. McKnight papers, HIA, box 1; Seth Shepard, “The Story of the LCI(L) 92,” June 25, 1944, MMD, 9–12; Drez, ed., Voices of D-Day, 223 (“Terror seized me” and “shipwreck”).

  Only where escarpment: 2nd Ranger Bn, AAR, July 22, 1944, and “A Narrative History of the Second Ranger Infantry Battalion,” n.d., both in Robert W. Black collection, MHI, box 3; CI, 2nd and 5th Ranger Bn, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427-A, folder 337; IFG, 126–29; Ryan, The Longest Day, 182–84.

  “ripped-open dirt”: Heinz, “
I Took My Son to Omaha Beach,” Collier’s (June 11, 1954): 21+; “Amphibious Operations: Invasion of Northern France,” CINC, U.S. Fleet, Oct. 1944, NARA RG 407, ML #252, 2–11 (Texas’s 14-inch barrels).

  Rangers hauled themselves over the lip: Interview, Leonard G. Lommell with author, May 2008; OH, Leonard G. Lommell, 2nd Ranger Bn, Mar. 16, 1993, NWWIIM; Kingseed, Old Glory Stories, 198–99; author visit, May 2009.

  Back on Hell’s Beach: Knickerbocker et al., Danger Forward, 212–13 (“They’ll come swarming”); FCP, “The 25th Anniversary of D-Day,” Congressional Record, June 25, 1969, E5246+ (“couldn’t look back”); Kingseed, From Omaha Beach to Dawson’s Ridge, 145–49, 163 (“The limitations of life”).

  From the gray deck of the command ship: Pyle, Brave Men, 246; CBH, June 3 and 6, 1944 (First Army war room); Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 252–53; Hastings, OVERLORD, 92; memoir, William Puntenney, 29th ID, n.d., MMD, 40–41 (“bunch of hogs”).

  At a plotting table in the center: Hanson W. Baldwin, “Getting the D-Day News Out,” in Mason, ed., The Atlantic War Remembered, 394; ONB, OH, 1975, Charles Hanson, MHI, VII, 22 (“get ground quickly”); Astor, June 6, 1944, 212–13 (expected the two assault regiments); Bradley and Blair, A General’s Life, 243–44 (Photographers were forbidden).

  “Lincolnesque”: “Doughboy’s General,” Time (May 1, 1944): 23+; Pyle, Brave Men, 210–11 (“he spoke so gently”); Liebling, “Five-Star Schoolmaster,” New Yorker (March 10, 1951): 40+.

  Few could resist the biography: OH, ONB, Oct. 14, 1946, FCP (sodbuster twang); Liebling, “Five-Star Schoolmaster,” New Yorker (March 10, 1951): 40+; “Doughboy’s General,” Time (May 1, 1944): 23+; CBH, June 3, 1944 (two flasks of brandy); Wertenbaker, Invasion!, 77 (“If there’s a bird”), 85–93; ONB, OH, 1975, Charles Hanson, MHI, II, 11, 24–26, 52–53 (“guidance from God”); DOB, 96, 114–15; AAAD, 485–86.

  Perhaps. But a few wondered: C. B. Hansen, “General Bradley As Seen Close Up,” NYT Magazine, Nov. 30, 1947, 14+ (“superior”); Blumenson, The Battle of the Generals, 37 (“mediocrity”); Blumenson, Patton: The Man Behind the Legend, 1885–1945, 216 (“Has a strong jaw”); Murray, “Needless D-Day Slaughter,” MHQ (spring 2003): 26+ (Bradley’s design); “Doughboy’s General,” Time (May 1, 1944): 23 (“tommyrot”). I’m grateful for the insights of Prof. Allan R. Millett on this topic.

  Now he was not so sure: Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 271–77; Astor, June 6, 1944, 212–13 (“this is carnage”).

  Not for some hours would Bradley learn: Miller, Division Commander, 5–14; diary, Jack Shea [Cota aide], ts, Nov. 1, 1944, NARA RG 407, CI, 29th ID, box 24034, 14–17 (hugging wooden groins).

  Pistol in hand, he sang tuneless: Kershaw, The Bedford Boys, 155; John C. Raaen, Jr., “Sir, the 5th Rangers Have Landed Intact,” ts, 2000, MMD, 28–29; McManus, The Americans at D-Day, 333; OH, 116th Inf, March 25, 1945, NARA RG 407, AFIA, 2-3.7 BG; diary, Jack Shea, ts, Nov. 1, 1944, NARA RG 407, CI, 29th ID, box 24034, 18–22 (“Medico, I’m hit”).

  Up the bluff they climbed: diary, Jack Shea, ts, Nov. 1, 1944, NARA RG 407, CI, 29th ID, box 24034, 19–22, 29; OH, 116th Inf, March 25, 1945, NARA RG 407, AFIA, 2-3.7 BG.

  “Where the hell have you been”: OH, 116th Inf, Mar. 25, 1945, NARA RG 407, AFIA, 2-3.7 BG.

  “a final stubborn reserve”: Howarth, Dawn of D-Day, 161; Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 346 (“unwilling soul”), 262 (“Watch it”); “16-G on D-Day,” n.d., NARA RG 407, AFIA, 2-3.7 BG (stepping stones); diary, Stanley Bach, First Army, NARA RG 407, AFIA, 2-3.7 BG (“Fire everywhere”); OH, Joseph Dorchak, Co B, 2nd Ranger Bn, HI (“shot the corpse”).

  A dozen destroyers—some so close: IFG, 143; OH, Maurice F. McGrath, 116th Inf, Sept. 20, 1944, a.p. (“pick them out”); Buffetaut, D-Day Ships, 108 (knocked the tower into the nave); Karig, Battle Report: The Atlantic War, 327 (“simply champion”).

  “coagulating haphazardly”: CCA, 324; “Operation Neptune Report,” Provisional Engineer Special Brigade Group, Sept. 30, 1944, CEOH, box X-24, 91–93, 93n (“Men believed ours”); Wheeler, The Big Red One, 277–82; Omaha Beachhead, 82–83, 87 (“Troops formerly pinned”).

  Cota continued his charmed day: Omaha Beachhead, 95; diary, Jack Shea, ts, Nov. 1, 1944, NARA RG 407, CI, 29th ID, box 24034, 23; Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 278 (“Come on down here”).

  That left the British and Canadians: WaS, 46–48; IFG, 183 (four times longer); Howarth, Dawn of D-Day, 170–71 (half a dozen gadgets).

  In other respects, “the bitches”: Drez, ed., Voices of D-Day, 293; “Force G and 50 Division,” bulletin Y/36, Nov. 1944, COHQ, CARL, N-6530.16, 19–23 (engine rooms flooded); Hastings, OVERLORD, 105–6 (Centaur tanks); Vian, Action This Day, 138 (two battleships and a monitor); Thompson, The Imperial War Museum Book of Victory in Europe, 56 (“large packs of grouse”); VW, vol. 1, 197 (ninety shore guns); author visit, Crépon, May 25–29, 2009; “Casualties and Effects of Fire Support on the British Beaches in Normandy,” Army Operational Research Group (U.K.), report no. 261, n.d., NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, box 451, 5 (“not just disorganized”).

  During the run to shore: Hastings, Winston’s War, 393; diary, S. C. Donnison, June 6, 1944, IWM, 94/50/1 (“thick as syrup”); Thompson, The Imperial War Museum Book of Victory in Europe, 48, 60; “An Account of the Assault by an Infantry Battalion,” bulletin Y/44, Feb. 1945, COHQ, CARL, N-6350.22, 5–6; J. H. Patterson, ts, n.d., No. 4 Commando, n.d., IWM, 05/491, 1/7 (“Jerusalem”); Hills, Phantom Was There, 178 (“The Beer Barrel Polka”).

  Closest to Omaha lay Gold: Roskill, White Ensign, 377; “Report on the Battle of Normandy,” Royal Engineers, n.d., CARL, N-5785 (only two boat lanes); “An Account of the Assault by an Infantry Battalion,” bulleting Y/44, Feb. 1945, COHQ, CARL, N-6350.22, 9; Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe, 270–72; Ryan, The Longest Day, 188 (“Perhaps we’re intruding”); WaS, 46–48 (Port-en-Bessin); VW, vol. 1, 178, 193 (all four brigades).

  On the eastern lip of the Allied beachhead: VW, vol. 1, 185.

  “Ramp down”: Hastings, OVERLORD, 103; Ryan, The Longest Day, 186 (“Bash on”); “Report on the Battle of Normandy,” Royal Engineers, n.d., CARL, N-5785 (cleared no beach obstacles); Collier, Fighting Words, 161 (“shoulders hunched like boxers”); Arthur, Forgotten Voices of World War II, 313 (“drowning in their own blood”); Liddle, D-Day by Those Who Were There, 12–13 (“Beach a shambles”); D’Este, Decision in Normandy, 129 (within thirty feet); VW, vol. 1, 186, 194–95; Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe, 278.

  Even so a kilted piper with a dirk: Millership, “Scots Piper Dodged Bullets,” Reuters, June 1, 1994; Burns, “Bill Millin, Scottish D-Day Piper, Dies at 88,” NYT, Aug. 19, 2010, B9 (“Highland Laddie”); Holt and Holt, Major & Mrs. Holt’s Battlefield Guide to the Normandy Landing Beaches, 202 (“Get down”); Arthur, Forgotten Voices of World War II, 316–18 (“parade-ground style”); Liddle, D-Day by Those Who Were There, 189–90.

  The wind-whipped tide and a bullying current: VW, vol. 1, 179–83; VC, 100–106; Collier, Fighting Words, 164 (“Traitors!”).

  Despite such setbacks: Keegan, Six Armies in Normandy, 141 (half the number expected); Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe, 275 (two miles inland); Saunders, The Red Beret, 153; Ambrose, Pegasus Bridge, 125; author visit, Crépon, May 25–29, 2009; Isby, ed., Fighting the Invasion, 199.

  Reporters were told to expect: Ryan, The Longest Day, 196–97; Drez, ed., Voices of D-Day, 297–301 (“cycle like mad”).

  Yet the day seemed undimmed: author visit, Crépon, May 25–29, 2009; Ryan, The Longest Day, 206 (holding up trousers); Ambrose, Pegasus Bridge, 109 (French women who emerged); Howarth, Dawn of D-Day, 228 (Norman dialect); Thompson, The Price of Victory, 253 (antique gramophone).

  A Conqueror’s Paradise

  As if in pursuit: AAFinWWII, 159 (twenty-six bridges); Irving, The Trail of the Fox, Horch photo; Douglas-Home, Rommel, 205; Barnett, ed., Hitler’s Generals, 198 (youngest but most celebrated); Fraser, Knight’s Cross, 457 (“C’est Rommel!”).

  He had driven home to Herr
lingen: Liddell Hart, ed., The Rommel Papers, 470–71; Ryan, The Longest Day, 237–38 (“If I was commander”).

  At 9:30 P.M., with little left: Ryan, The Longest Day, 15; author visit, La Roche–Guyon, May 30, 2009, and “A Visit to La Roche–Guyon Castle,” brochure.

  “How peaceful the world”: Fraser, Knight’s Cross, 471–73; Beevor, D-Day, 40 (“conqueror’s paradise”); Camille Pissarro, “A Square in La Roche–Guyon,” Alte Nationalgaleri, Berlin; www.musee-imaginaire.de/lesesaal/renoir/biografi.html*; www.artchive.com/artchive/B/braque/castle.jpg.html.

  On the chalk cliffs: Irving, The Trail of the Fox, 334, 345–54, 392.

  Clacking typewriters: Speidel, We Defended Normandy, 53 (Edict of Nantes); Irving, The Trail of the Fox, 372–74 (“He’s very calm”).

  There was much to be grim about: CCA, 275; Germany VII, 586 (“There are no signs”); Lewin, Rommel as Military Commander, 223 (away from their posts); war diary, Seventh Army, June 6, 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427, ML #2201 (“not a major action”).

  Not until that fantastic armada: Horst Boog, “Invasion to Surrender: The Defense of Germany,” in Brower, ed., World War II in Europe: The Final Year, 120 (German aircraft losses); Germany VII, 328–30 (319 serviceable planes and dropped their bombs prematurely); Keegan, Six Armies in Normandy, 143; Davis, Carl A. Spaatz and the Air War in Europe, 414; Wieviorka, Normandy, 207 (American planes were gray).

  “The enemy, penetrating our positions”: war diary, Seventh Army, June 6, 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427, ML #2201.

  “the fighting animal”: Carver, ed., The War Lords, 274; Barnett, ed., Hitler’s Generals, 299; MMB, 462–63; Isby, ed., Fighting the Invasion, 48 (“re-win great fame”).

  Hitler’s decision in November 1943: Keegan, Six Armies in Normandy, 60–61, 65 (“Once defeated”); Germany VII, 512; Liddell Hart, ed., The Rommel Papers, 458 (“zone of death”), 464 (“The enemy will have a rough time”).