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

by Rick Atkinson

  Troubles he had: Ruge, Rommel in Normandy, 228; VW, vol. 1, 307; memoir, J. S. W. Stone, n.d., LHC, folder 5, 54 (“funk holes”).

  “Militarily things aren’t at all good”: Liddell Hart, The Rommel Papers, 491–93; Davis, Carl A. Spaatz and the Air War in Europe, 460 (six thousand half-ton bombs); BP, 120 (forty minutes); Moorehead, Eclipse, 145 (“nothing more to see”); Aron, France Reborn, 106 (Eight thousand French refugees); VW, vol. 1, 316 (a single battalion).

  On any given day now: Liddell Hart, The Rommel Papers, 496, 486–87 (Only 10,000 replacements); BP, 181 (80,000 artillery rounds); Ruge, Rommel in Normandy, 213–19 (“bleeding white”); James Hodgson, “The Battle of the Hedgerows,” Aug. 1954, NARA RG 319, OCMH, R-54, box 8, IV-5 (1.6 million German casualties).

  That bloodletting had intensified: Gilbert, The Second World War, 544; Megargee, Inside Hitler’s High Command, 210; Erickson, The Road to Berlin, 228 (shuffle through Moscow).

  Rommel’s disaffection grew: Lewin, Rommel as Military Commander, 230; Young, Rommel, the Desert Fox, 165 (“without the least regard”); Speidel, We Defended Normandy, 84–85 (dangerous talk); Beevor, D-Day, 326–30 (would consider taking command); Barnett, ed., Hitler’s Generals, 200 (Rundstedt had been removed); Günther Blumentritt, ETHINT 73, Jan. 8–11, 1946, MHI, 2–4 (“make an end to the whole war”); Carver, ed., The War Lords, 197 (250,000-mark gratuity); CCA, 447 (“I will be next”).

  Rundstedt’s successor: MMB, 282–83 (Cunning Hans); Barnett, ed., Hitler’s Generals, 404–5; Speidel, We Defended Normandy, 120–22 (“obstinate self-will”); Keegan, Six Armies in Normandy, 240 (“couldn’t be grimmer”); Liddell Hart, ed., The Rommel Papers, 486–87 (“growing worse every day”); VC, 179 (Kluge had endorsed).

  Fried eggs and brandy: Ruge, Rommel in Normandy, 233; “Rommel’s Accident,” AB, no. 8 (1975): 42+; Luther, Blood and Honor, 229 (“Who do you think”).

  During a conference at St.-Pierre: Belfield and Essame, The Battle for Normandy, 149; McKee, Caen: Anvil of Victory, 256 (efforts to conceal the noise); Germany VII, 596–97 (still expected in the Pas de Calais).

  Dietrich agreed that an attack seemed imminent: Daglish, Operation Goodwood, 83–86; Liddell Hart, The Tanks, vol. 2, 362 (ear pressed to the ground); Irving, The Trail of the Fox, 417–18 (“I obey only you”).

  The car raced east on Route D-4: Fraser, Knight’s Cross, 510. Conflicting claims were advanced for this action. The British official RAF history credits Spitfires of Squadron No. 602, flying from airfield B11. Saunders, Royal Air Force, 1939–1945, vol. 3, 121.

  Slugs stitched the left side of the Horch: “Rommel’s Accident,” AB, no. 8 (1975): 42+; Young, Rommel, the Desert Fox, 170–71 (Rommel lay in the roadbed).

  He was grievously hurt: Brown, Bodyguard of Lies, 743–44; “Rommel’s Death Reported,” (Melbourne, Australia) Argus, Aug. 23, 1944, 16.

  Not for weeks would Reich propagandists: Bodo Zimmermann, 1946, FMS, #B-308, MHI, 121–22.

  Rommel was right about the Allied attack: Trafford Leigh-Mallory, “Daily Reflections on the Course of the Battle,” July 18, 1944, UK NA, AIR 37/784 (“Aircraft were spread out”); McKee, Caen: Anvil of Victory, 258–59 (“little dots detach themselves”).

  The first bombing wave alone: D’Este, Decision in Normandy, 371; “Operation Goodwood,” Oct. 1946, (U.K.) Military Operational Research Unit, report #23, CARL, R-14999, 15, 22 (twenty-five pounds of high explosives); Watney, The Enemy Within, 217 (“canopy of noise”); Copp, ed., Montgomery’s Scientists, 85; VW, vol. 1, 338–39 (“unalterable dignity”); Liddell Hart, The Tanks, vol. 2, 366–67 (“Move now!”); Daglish, Operation Goodwood, 11 (biggest tank battle fought by Britain).

  Operation GOODWOOD massed three British and Canadian corps: “Operation Goodwood,” Oct. 1946, (U.K.) Military Operational Research Unit, report #23, CARL, R-14999, 7, 18–22; VW, vol. 1, 329–30, 336; TSC, 186–87 (“draw the main enemy forces”).

  That modest, credible battle plan: Callahan, Churchill & His Generals, 214–15; B. L. Montgomery, “Notes on Second Army Operations,” July 15, 1944, National Archives of Canada, RG 24, vol. 1054 2, file 215A21.016(9) (“engage the German armor”); BLM to A. Brooke, July 14, 1944, Alanbrooke papers, LHC, 6/2/27; Beevor, D-Day, 321 (“Russian style” breakthrough).

  Montgomery had overegged the pudding: AAR, “Operation Goodwood,” 1945, UK NA, CAB 106/959, 4–8; “Lessons from Operation Goodwood,” July 1944, UK NA, AIR 37/858; Liddell Hart, The Tanks, vol. 2, 360–61; Daglish, Operation Goodwood, 31–32 (titanic battle); Chandler, 2003–04 (“burst into flames”).

  “to paint his canvas in rather glowing colors”: OH, M. Dempsey, March 8, 1951, G. S. Jackson, UK NA, CAB 106/1061; OH, M. Dempsey, Mar. 28, 1952, B. H. Liddell Hart, UK NA, CAB 106/1061 (“did not take Eisenhower into his confidence”); Hamilton, Master of the Battlefield, 760 (“had to be overconfident”).

  “like a fleet raising anchor”: Daglish, Operation Goodwood, 101–03; AAR, “Operation Goodwood,” 1945, UK NA, CAB 106/959, 4–8 (one vehicle every twenty seconds); “Operation Goodwood,” Oct. 1946, (U.K.) Military Operational Research Unit, report #23, CARL, R-14999, 5 (long fields of fire), 15, 22; Watney, The Enemy Within, 217 (“angry women swishing”); Liddell Hart, The Tanks, vol. 2, 363–64 (three hundred yards every two minutes); William Steel Brownlie, “And Came Safe Home,” ts, n.d., IWM, 92/371, 18 (“grey wall of shellbursts”); VW, vol. 1, 340–41 (rail embankment).

  Torrid orange sheaves: Daglish, Operation Goodwood, 131; OH, Hans von Luck, with author, Mar. 3, Apr. 7, 1994, Hamburg; Luck, Panzer Commander, 157 (“like torpedoes”); AAR, “Operation Goodwood,” 1945, UK NA, CAB 106/959, 4–8 (“great difficulty in locating”); Baynes, The Forgotten Victor, 203–4 (sixteen Shermans stood burning); Rosse and Hill, The Story of the Guards Armoured Division, 42.

  Many more tanks soon burned: Belfield and Essame, The Battle for Normandy, 155; Liddell Hart, The Tanks, vol. 2, 362–63; “Operation Goodwood,” Oct. 1946, (U.K.) Military Operational Research Unit, report #23, CARL, R-14999, 18; “Lessons from Operation Goodwood,” July 1944, UK NA, AIR 37/858 (smokeless powder); Howard and Sparrow, The Coldstream Guards, 1920–1946, 268 (“Violent, impassable fire”).

  “Some tank crews are on fire”: John M. Thorpe, “A Soldier’s Tale, to Normandy and Beyond,” ts, Nov. 1982, IWM, 84/50/1, 96–98; William Steel Brownlie, “And Came Safe Home,” ts, n.d., IWM, 92/371, 19 (“burnt and injured men”); Arthur, Forgotten Voices of World War II, 337 (“horrible graveyard”).

  “Operations this morning a complete success”: VW, vol. 1, 344–46, 355–57; BLM to DDE, July 18, 1944, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 83 (“Am very well satisfied”); Fraser, And We Shall Shock Them, 335 (pure fantasy); McKee, Caen: Anvil of Victory, 278 (“Second Army attacked and broke through”); “Caen: The Big Break-Through,” (U.K.) Daily Mail, July 19, 1944, 1.

  “E worried”: desk calendar, July 19, 1944, Barbara Wyden papers, DDE Lib, box 1; VW, vol. 1, 347–50 (“groaning with enemy”); Copp and McAndrew, Battle Exhaustion, 124–25 (“men who were still alive”); Rosse and Hill, The Story of the Guards Armoured Division, 46 (“tropical violence”); Howard and Sparrow, The Coldstream Guards, 1920–1946, 270 (rum rations).

  The offensive had liberated another thirty-four square miles: “Operation Goodwood,” Oct. 1946, (U.K.) Military Operational Research Unit, report #23, CARL, R-14999, 15, 22; AAR, “Operation Goodwood,” 1945, UK NA, CAB 106/959, 4–8 (Canadian First Army vanguard); Daglish, Operation Goodwood, 170, 183 (panzer forces were lured); Reynolds, Steel Inferno, 186–87; Liddell Hart, The Tanks, vol. 2, 369. Most of the lost British tanks were soon repaired or replaced. “Operation Goodwood,” Oct. 1946, (U.K.) Military Operational Research Unit, report #23, CARL, R-14999, 15, 22.

  After nearly seven weeks: TSC, 189–93; Everett S. Hughes to wife, July 22, 1944, Hughes papers, LOC, box 2; VW, vol. 1, 353 (“Allies in France Bogged Down”); Daglish, Operation Goodwood, 11 (“limited meaning”); Trafford Leigh-Mallory, “Daily Reflections on th
e Course of the Battle,” July 28, 1944, UK NA, AIR 37/784 (“The fault with us”).

  “Then we must change our leaders”: “Excerpts from Diary, D/SAC,” July 21, 1944, NARA RG 319, TSC background files, 2-3.7 CB 8; Orange, Tedder: Quietly in Command, 271 (“I do not believe”); Tedder, With Prejudice, 566; Kershaw, Hitler, 1936–45: Nemesis, 693 (at least two hundred others); Warlimont, Inside Hitler’s Headquarters, 477; Evans, The Third Reich at War, 642–43; Megargee, Inside Hitler’s High Command, 222 (stiff-armed Nazi Heil). Martin Gilbert put the number of executed at more than five thousand (The Second World War, 558). Andrew Roberts reports that fifty-eight hundred linked to the plot were arrested in 1944, and a similar number in 1945 (The Storm of War, 482).

  “What do your people think”: D’Este, Decision in Normandy, 398; Chandler, 2020(n) (“get on his bicycle”), 2018–19 (“Time is vital”), 2026 (“I could lie down”).

  The Bright Day Grew Dark

  Wearing the West Point bathrobe: corr, Chester B. Hansen to wife, n.d., CBH, MHI; diary, CBH, July 28 & 12, 1944, MHI, box 4 (sedatives at bedtime and “biggest thing”); Pyle, Brave Men, 213 (“frightful country ahead”); Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 330; OH, ONB, June 7, 1956, CBM, NARA RG 319, OCMH, 2-3.7, box 184; Whitehead, “Beachhead Don,” 136 (long beech twig).

  “Take all the time you need, Brad”: OH, M. Dempsey, March 28, 1952, B. H. Liddell Hart, UK NA, CAB 106/1061; OH, J. Lawton Collins, 1972, Charles C. Sperow, SOOHP, MHI, 195 (bocage copse); Weigley, Eisenhower’s Lieutenants, 162–63; memo, B. L. Montgomery to ONB, July 21, 1944, NARA RG 407, ML, box 24143; DDE to ONB, July 24, 1944, in BP, 331 (“Pursue every advantage”). The attack sector chosen by Bradley also avoided the area’s larger rivers. Prados, Normandy Crucible, 86.

  That advantage lay mainly in airpower: Davis, Bombing the European Axis Powers, 386; Carafano, After D-Day, 102 (more than one hundred howitzers); Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 341 (fifteen hundred heavies); AAFinWWII, 231 (swatch five miles wide); diary, CBH, July 19, 1944, MHI, box 4 (bomb every sixteen feet).

  Very little in Bradley’s vision appealed: Report of Investigation, Aug. 14, 1944, HQ, USSAFE, Frederick L. Anderson Papers, HIA, box 84, folder 10, 1–2, 5–6; “Handbook for Bombardiers,” TM 1-251, March 31, 1941, Frederick L. Anderson Papers, HIA, box 93; “Use of Heavy Bombers in a Tactical Role,” Oct. 1944, SHAEF, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, box 94 (Only if the planes attacked perpendicular); report, signature illegible, July 27, 1944, UK NA, AIR 37/762 (“between the Army’s legs”).

  Bradley agreed to pull his assault battalions: BP, 220–21. An AAF colonel reported warning Bradley that 3 percent of the bombs would fall short, but he mistakenly believed that Bradley had acceded to a perpendicular flight path, whereas Bradley still believed the bombers would attack parallel to the road, which would make “short” drops less risky. OH, John R. De Russey, Eighth AF liaison officer, Sept. 9–12, 1947, NARA RG 319, CCA background files.

  “nothing more than tools to be used”: Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 154; Pyle, Brave Men, 214 (“I’ve spent thirty years”).

  Pyle spent Monday night, July 24: Pyle, Brave Men, 296; Tobin, Ernie Pyle’s War, 199 (“your own small quota”); Cawthon, “July, 1944: St. Lô,” American Heritage (June 1974): 4+ (“they area”).

  Now he had returned to the front: Field Order 44, 305th Bomb Group, July 25, 1944, NARA RG 18, AAF WWII, 190/58/17/1, box 925; “Investigation of Bombing of Ground Troops,” Aug. 16, 1944, FUSA IG, NARA RG 338, FUSA AG gen’l corr., box 216; BP, 222–23 (Allied white-star insignia); corr, J. H. Phillips to Ray E. Porter, WD, May 6, 1944, James H. Phillips papers, HIA (geometric design).

  “like kids at a football game”: Carafano, After D-Day, 119; Nichols, ed., Ernie’s War, 333; Tobin, Ernie Pyle’s War, 195 (“heavy rip”).

  Not much had gone right with COBRA: “World Battlefronts, Western Front,” Time (Dec. 4, 1944) (three barometers).

  Flying from Stanmore: Sullivan, “The Botched Air Support of Operation COBRA,” Parameters (March 1988): 97+; Davis, Carl A. Spaatz and the Air War in Europe, 470–72; AAR, 305th Bomb Group, July 24, 1944, NARA RG 18, AAF WWII, 190/58/17/1, box 925 (“not to bomb short”); memo, “Bombing Errors Committed on the Normandy Battle Front, 24 July 1944,” HQ, Eighth AF, July 30, 1944, Frederick L. Anderson papers, HIA, box 84, folder 10 (chaff bundle smacked the nose); “The Effectiveness of Third Phase Tactical Air Operations,” AAF Evaluation Board, Aug. 1945, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, box 15; “Investigation of Bombing of Ground Troops,” Aug. 16, 1944, FUSA IG, NARA RG 338, FUSA AG gen’l corr, box 216 (“As a fiasco”).

  Bradley’s fury knew no bounds: Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 347; Bradley and Blair, A General’s Life, 278–79; memo, ONB, July 25, 1944, in diary, CBH, MHI, box 4 (At 10:30 P.M. he phoned Bradley); T. Leigh-Mallory to ONB, July 19, 1944, UK NA, AIR 37/762 (had left that meeting early); BP, 229–37.

  From his farmyard redoubt: Tobin, Ernie Pyle’s War, 198; Pyle, Brave Men, 298–301 (“Goddammit”).

  The star-crossed 30th Division took more casualties: Hewitt, Workhorse of the Western Front, 36–37.

  “that awful rush of wind”: Sullivan, “The Botched Air Support of Operation COBRA,” Parameters (March 1988): 97+; History of the 120th Infantry Regiment, 35–36 (Bombs entombed men); Alosi, War Birds, 64 (cows into trees); Regan, Blue on Blue, 166–67 (“beating you with a club”); “Investigation of Bombing of Ground Troops,” Aug. 16, 1944, FUSA IG, NARA RG 338, FUSA AG gen’l corr, box 216 (body part); “Operations of 30th Infantry Division, 24 Jul–1 Aug 1944,” n.d., CMH, 8-3.1, part 5, 6–7 (“American Luftwaffe”).

  Just over fifteen hundred heavies dropped: Sullivan, “The Botched Air Support of Operation COBRA,” Parameters (March 1988): 97+; BP, 236–37 (three dozen bombed American troops); AAFinWWII, 233–34 (forty-two medium bombers); Juliette Hennessy, “Tactical Operations of the Eighth Air Force,” 1952, AFHRA, historical study no. 70, 53–56 (Red marking smoke); diary, July 25, 1944, Hoyt S. Vandenberg papers, LOC MS Div, box 1 (five-knot southerly breeze); Sylvan, 68–71; diary, CBH, July 25, 1944, MHI, box 4 (corpse was spotted sixty-five feet away); DDE to GCM, July 26, 1944, GCM Lib, box 67, folder 10 (“I warned him time and again”); Individual Deceased Personnel File, Lesley J. McNair, a.p. under FOIA, U.S. Army Human Resources Command, Dec. 2008 (“6 Lt. Gen. stars”).

  By the time the last medium bomber flew off: BP, 222–23; Pyle, Brave Men, 301 (“Anybody makes mistakes”).

  “That’s a job for artillery”: Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 349.

  “I fired three rounds and they all bounced off”: Hewitt, Workhorse of the Western Front, 37; History of the 120th Infantry Regiment, 37 (“Just his legs”); BP, 246 (no more than a mile); Kenneth W. Hechler, “VII Corps in Operation COBRA,” n.d., CMH, 8-3.1 AK, part 2 (“enemy artillery was not touched”).

  Africa veterans like Eisenhower and Bradley: Reardon, ed., Defending Fortress Europe, mss, 179 (“worn out”); BP, 240 (flipping tanks); James Hodgson, “Thrust-Counterthrust: The Battle of France (21 Jul–25 Aug 44),” March 1955, NARA RG 319, R-58, 20–21 (“half-crazed soldiers”); Spayd, Bayerlein, 167 (“Everything was burned” and “Only the dead can still hold”); “Air Power in the ETO,” USFET General Board study no. 56, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, 97-USF5-0.30, 16–17 (70 percent of his men). An Eighth Air Force study put German physical casualties at less than 10 percent. Kenneth W. Hechler, “VII Corps in Operation COBRA,” n.d., CMH, 8-3.1 AK, part 2 (“conveyor-belt bombing” and “feeling of helplessness”).

  Unaware of the size of the American host: Kenneth W. Hechler, “VII Corps in Operation COBRA,” n.d., CMH, 8-3.1 AK, part 2; Bennett, Ultra in the West, 43; Hinsley, 500 (thirty Allied divisions).

  “The front has, so to speak, burst”: James Hodgson, “Thrust-Counterthrust: The Battle of France (21 Jul–25 Aug 44),” March 1955, NARA RG 319, R-58, appendix, 30.

  Collins had massed 120,000 troops: Kenneth W. Hechler, “VII Corps in Operation COBRA,” n.d., CMH, 8-3.1 AK, part 2; “List
of Weapons Available to VII Corps for the Attack of July 25,” Aug. 4, 1944, NARA RG 407, AFIA, 2-3.7 BG (six hundred artillery tubes); “Artillery in Operation Cobra,” n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, ML #2229 (140,000 rounds); Cooper, Death Traps, 51–52 (rugged tusks); Mark J. Reardon, “Conquering the Hedgerows,” ts, 2009, a.p.; Mayo, The Ordnance Department, 254–55 (oxygen acetylene cylinders); AAFinWWII, 239–41 (“hazing the Hun”).

  Collins had not planned to launch: Persons, “St. Lô Breakthrough,” Military Review (Dec. 1948): 13+; OH, J. Lawton Collins, 1972, Charles C. Sperow, SOOHP, MHI, 196–99; Collins, Lightning Joe, 242–43; BP, 246; Hewitt, Workhorse of the Western Front, 41 (feeling for booby traps).

  With the new day, the American onslaught: Doubler, Busting the Bocage, 58 (“Russian style”); Weigley, Eisenhower’s Lieutenants, 155 (under three minutes); “Operations of 30th Infantry Division, 24 Jul–1 Aug 1944,” n.d., CMH, 8-3.1, part 5, 18 (sunken road to St.-Gilles); BP, 253–54, 275 (killed the Das Reich commander); Seventh Army documents, July 26, 1944, NARA RG 407, ML #488, box 24154 (seven punctures); Hart, Clash of Arms, 390 (abandonment of two Panther companies); Kenneth W. Hechler, “VII Corps in Operation COBRA,” n.d., CMH, 8-3.1 AK, part 2 (no further reinforcements).

  “Rem”—remnants: Benjamin A. Dickson, “G-2 Journal: Algiers to the Elbe,” MHI, 130; BP, 250–51 (“busted wide open”).

  French farmers flitted: Schrijvers, The Crash of Ruin, 194; George E. McIntyre, “As Mac Saw It,” ts, n.d., MHI, 273–74 (copies of Life); Hastings, OVERLORD, 261–62 (“holes in his head”).

  On Friday enemy forces leaked to the rear: BP, 278–79, 287 (“Things on our front really look good”).

  Ahead lay Avranches: Abram et al., The Rough Guide to France, 389; BP, 308 (“We face a defeated enemy”), 323 (“It’s a madhouse here”), 333 (ten thousand tactical air sorties).

  Ministers of Thy Chastisement

  Down metalled roads and farm lanes: Liebling, Mollie & Other War Pieces, 232; Pogue, Pogue’s War, 193 (scolding dawdlers); Belfield and Essame, The Battle for Normandy, 228 (grayed their hair); Lee Miller, “The Siege of St. Malo,” in Reporting World War II, vol. 2, 233 (“Cartier clips”).