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

by Rick Atkinson

  Street by street, building by building: “Aachen: Military Operations in Urban Terrain,” 26th Infantry Regiment Association, 29–30; “Battle Experiences,” Apr. 15, 1945, NARA RG 407, ML #248, box 24148 (perforated each building); Beck, 384 (beehive charges); Wheeler, The Big Red One, 339 (bulldozers piled rubble); “Battle Experiences, Twelfth Army Group,” Dec. 5, 1944, NARA RG 337, AGF OR, no. 173 (No. 2 green bean can).

  Three captured German streetcars: “1106th Engineer Group South of Aachen,” n.d., Stanhope Mason papers, MRC FDM, 1994.126; “Aachen: Military Operations in Urban Terrain,” 26th Infantry Regiment Association, 6; Daniel, “The Capture of Aachen,” lecture, CO, 2nd Bn, 26th Inf, n.d., Quantico, Va., 15–16 (“Surrender or get fried”); “1st Division World War II Combat Achievements Report,” chapter XXV, “Aachen,” 2nd Bn, 26th Inf, Oct. 14, 1944, MRC FDM; Stanhope B. Mason, “Reminiscences and Anecdotes of World War II,” 1988, MRC FDM, 1994.126, 226 (collect mattresses).

  Another lethal legacy from the Italian campaign: Mayo, The Ordnance Department, 301 (capable of keeping pace); author visit, Sept. 25–27, 2009; “Clearing the Area South of the Railroad Tracks,” n.d., Stanhope Mason papers, MRC FDM, 1994.126 (seven rounds down Hindenburgstrasse).

  Across the city the Americans crept: Middleton, Our Share of Night, 349, 354 (“fucking bastards”).

  As the house-to-house ruination proceeded: “1st Division World War II Combat Achievements Report,” chapter XXV, “Aachen,” 2nd Bn, 26th Inf, Oct. 8–9, 1944, MRC FDM; Marshall, ed., Proud Americans, 224 (Not even a radio antenna); SLC, 302 (“have to close that gap”).

  Hodges also castigated the XIX Corps commander: Farrington, ed., Cowboy Pete, 9, 13, 21, 103.

  “Every hour seems interminable”: Kingseed, From Omaha Beach to Dawson’s Ridge, 209–10.

  “I’ve calloused my emotions”: corr, Joseph T. Dawson to sister, Sept. 19, 1944, MRC FDM, 1991.65.

  “His face is bony”: Heinz, When We Were One, 39 (“large ears”), 20 (“Just move the ones”).

  Bruno and the Swinging Tigers: Alosi, War Birds, 91.

  “We could hear them singing”: Wheeler, The Big Red One, 340.

  By ten A.M. several Tigers had churned uphill: “Attack on G and I Companies,” 16th Infantry, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI; Clay, Blood and Sacrifice, 216.

  “Situation very critical”: Kingseed, From Omaha Beach to Dawson’s Ridge, 212–15; Heinz, When We Were One, 49 (“thrown against the door” and Judy Garland sang); Clay, Blood and Sacrifice, 216 (P-47 fighters).

  “Much moaning and groaning”: “Attack on G and I Companies of the 16th Infantry Regiment,” n.d., Stanhope Mason papers, MRC FDM, 1994.126.

  “If higher authority decides”: OH, James K. Woolnough, 1971, W. D. Macmillan and William M. Stevenson, SOOHP, MHI, 18.

  As the enemy attacks grew feebler: “Attack on G and I Companies of the 16th Infantry Regiment,” n.d., Stanhope Mason papers, MRC FDM, 1994.126; Heinz, When We Were One, 223, 41–42 (“He doesn’t know why”).

  At 4:15 P.M. on Monday, October 16: SLC, 306; Marshall, ed., Proud Americans, 241 (sixty-three of ninety panzers).

  The tally for G Company: Kingseed, From Omaha Beach to Dawson’s Ridge, 219–20 (“somewhat shattered”); Heinz, When We Were One, 223 (“We died right here”).

  In keeping with the Führer’s wishes: “Aachen: Military Operations in Urban Terrain,” 26th Infantry Regiment Association, 40 (“We shall fight”); “Clearing Area South of the Rail Road Tracks,” 26th Inf, n.d., and blueprint, map, Palast Hotel, “Aachener Quellenhof,” NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI; Register of Graduates, U.S. Military Academy, class of 1938 (John T. Corley).

  At seven A.M., as mortars pummeled: “1st Division World War II Combat Achievements Report,” chapter XXVI, “Farwick Park, Aachen,” 3rd Bn, 26th Inf, Oct. 14, 1944, MRC FDM; “Clearing Area South of the Rail Road Tracks,” 26th Inf, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI (exchange of grenades); Robert G. Botsford, “The City of Aachen,” in Stanhope B. Mason, “Reminiscences and Anecdotes of World War II,” 1988, MRC FDM, 1994.126 (hunting-scene oils); SLC, 316 (ten thousand marks).

  The colonel instead had packed his bags: SLC, 316; Whitehead, “Beachhead Don,” 273–74 (“They marched smartly”); “Aachen: Military Operations in Urban Terrain,” 26th Infantry Regiment Association, 42 (“do it in our hearts”); Knickerbocker et al., Danger Forward, 266 (“I don’t believe in miracles”).

  Nearly twelve thousand Germans had been captured: SLC, 317–18; Wheeler, The Big Red One, 342.

  “These bitter tragic months”: Wheeler, The Big Red One, 342–43. Promoted to major, Dawson would return to Europe to work with the OSS. An oil industry geologist after the war, he died in 1998.

  Also sent home was General Corlett: corr, ONB to DDE, Oct. 19, 1944, Charles H. Corlett papers, MHI, box 1 (failing health); Farrington, ed., Cowboy Pete, 104–5 (“plain heartbreak”); OH, George I. Forsythe, 1974, Frank L. Henry, SOOHP, MHI, 212 (“sasses the army commander”); Berlin, U.S. Army World War II Corps Commanders, 6 (Oklahoma National Guard soldier); http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/M/MC033.html.

  No one would take the waters in Aachen: Robert G. Botsford, “The City of Aachen,” in Stanhope B. Mason, “Reminiscences and Anecdotes of World War II,” 1988, MRC FDM, 1994.126 (“none of the grace”); Carpenter, No Woman’s World, 165 (“dead as yesterday” and “the dead from my house”); Heinz, When We Were One, 226 (83 percent); Reporting World War II, vol. 2, 546–47 (“These ruins”).

  A plump, sooty man wandering the streets: Whiting, The Home Front: Germany, 178–79 (“Gebt mir fünf Jahre”); Robert G. Botsford, “The City of Aachen,” in Stanhope B. Mason, “Reminiscences and Anecdotes of World War II,” 1988, MRC FDM, 1994.126 (graveyard uprooted); Edsel, The Monuments Men, 142–44 (formed a fire brigade).

  “We can force the Boche to their knees”: corr, JLC to M. S. Eddy, Oct. 24, 1944, JLC papers, DDE Lib, box 3, 201 file; “U.S. Military Government in Germany: Operations During the Rhineland Campaign,” 1950, CMH, 8-3.1 DA5, 34–35, 138; Whiting, The Home Front: Germany, 178–79 (curfew was imposed); Alosi, War Birds, 134 (“clipping details”); “Pigeon Report,” AFHQ G-2 to SHAEF G-2, March 12, 1945, NARA RG 331, SGS, Entry 15, box 112 (“falconry unit”).

  “We come as conquerers”: “U.S. Military Government in Germany: Operations During the Rhineland Campaign,” 1950, CMH, 8-3.1 DA5, 34–39, 55a, 57, 105–6; TSC, 356–57 (“not as oppressors”).

  An Army study also concluded: Lerner, Psychological Warfare Against Nazi Germany, 276–79.

  “first German city to be taken”: Knickerbocker et al., Danger Forward, 402.

  “Do Not Let Us Pretend We Are All Right”

  The autumnal struggles at Arnhem and Aachen: ALH, 142; Cundiff, 45th Infantry CP, 207 (“We have them licked”); Royce L. Thompson, “Proposed CCS Directive to Eisenhower to End ETO War in 1944,” Jan. 19, 1950, Historical Section, CMH, 2-3.7 AE.P-9 (“playing everything for a conclusion”); OH, W. B. Smith, Sept. 14, 1945, OCMH WWII Europe Interviews, MHI (fight in the Pacific).

  “We have facing us now”: Chandler, 2208.

  “Most people that write to me”: ibid., 2288.

  Eisenhower now commanded fifty-eight divisions: SLC, 378, 388, 390; Chandler, 2168 (“in a bad state”); TSC, 296 (insufficient means to support them); LSA, vol. 2, 13 (no more than twenty divisions).

  To further explain his plight: Chandler, 2281–85; “G-4 History,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #553A-C, 82; Cooper, Death Traps, 239 (enemy depot in Liège).

  The most desperate need was for ammunition: Chandler, 2281 (two tons every minute), 2311n; “Ammunition Supply for Field Artillery,” n.d., USFET General Board study no. 58, NARA RG 407, E 427, 97-USF-0.3.0, 8–9 (incessant rationing), 24–27 (“complete collapse”); LSA, vol. 2, 247–48, 255–56 (Patton wanted sixty); Waddell, United States Army Logistics, 45 (“silence policy”).

  The shortfall partly reflected an inability: LSA, vol. 2, 269, 274, 255–56 (
largely on the defensive); “Ammunition Supply and Operations, European Campaign,” USFET General Board study no. 100, NARA RG 407, E 427, 97USF-0.3.0 (25,000 man-hours); Eiler, Mobilizing America, 410 (“Firepower for Eisenhower”).

  One senior American general believed: “Ammunition Supply for Field Artillery,” n.d., USFET General Board study no 58, NARA RG 407, E 427, 97-USF-0.3.0, 28–29 (“saved many lives”); corr, Brig. Gen. John H. Hinds to Maj. Gen. Orlando Ward, July 6, 1951, NARA RG 319, E 97, background papers, LSA, vol. 1, box 6 (thousands of tons were stacked); Charles K. MacDermut and Adolph P. Gratiot, “History of G-4 Com Z ETO,” 1946, CMH, 8-3.4 AA, 86–87 (actual number was less than 100); “G-4 History,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #553A-C, 56, 87–88 (246 cargo vessels); LSA, vol. 2, 128 (floating warehouses).

  The War Department, trying to supply a global war: Charles K. MacDermut and Adolph P. Gratiot, “History of G-4 Com Z ETO,” 1946, CMH, 8-3.4 AA, 87–89 (“no further commodity-loaded ships”); “G-4 History,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #553A-C, 92 (Bronze Stars).

  If only Antwerp were free: corr, BLM to H. Crerar, Sept. 13, 1944, M-523, National Archives of Canada, RG 24, vol. 1054 2, file 215A21.016(9) (“We have captured a port”); minutes, Sept. 22, 1944, conference, SHAEF forward war room, 2:30 P.M., Arthur S. Nevins papers, MHI (“indispensable prerequisite” and “matter of urgency”); Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe, 534 (sent his chief of staff); Chandler, 2202 (“terribly anxious”), 2212 (“must retain as first mission”); Crosswell, Beetle, 726.

  Montgomery had assigned clearing the Scheldt: VW, vol. 2, 59–67, 70–71, 104–7, 116; SLC, 220–21.

  “We need this place more than we need FDR”: corr, Sept. 23, 1944, Everett S. Hughes papers, LOC MS Div, box II:3, folder 4.

  Dempsey’s Second Army continued to look beyond the Rhine: Love and Major, eds., The Year of D-Day, 152n; Danchev, 600 (“Antwerp must be captured”); Callahan, Churchill & His Generals, 220 (“I was wrong”).

  But in October 1944, the field marshal displayed: ONB to C. Hodges, Sept. 23, 1944, “Memoranda for Record,” 12th Army Group, NARA RG 407, ML #205, box 24143 (Ramsay warned that to clear the Scheldt); Chalmers, Full Cycle, 251 (“not taking this operation seriously”); Love and Major, eds., The Year of D-Day, 151 (“I let fly”); corr, BLM to DDE, Oct. 9, 1944, DDE Lib PP-pres, box 83 (“he makes wild statements”). Eisenhower denied getting “wild statements” from Ramsay (Chandler, 2216).

  “I can not agree that our concepts”: TSC, 293.

  Unchastened by the destruction: Pogue, George C. Marshall, 475 (“overwhelming egotism”).

  “Our advance into Germany may be delayed”: LSA, vol. 2, 107; Chandler, 2215n (high winds that very day).

  “This reemphasizes the supreme importance”: Chandler, 2215.

  Montgomery would assert: VW, vol. 2, 95 (“hardly justified”); corr, BLM to DDE, Oct. 9, 1944, DDE Lib PP-pres, box 83 (“You can rely on me”); corr, BLM to Canadian First Army, M-530, Oct. 9, 1944, National Archives of Canada, RG 24, vol. 1054 2, file 215A21.016(9) (“port will take priority”); SLC, 220; VW, vol. 2, 85.

  “Nothing that I may ever say or write”: Chandler, 2216.

  “It may be that political and national considerations”: VW, vol. 2, 85–88.

  “The questions you raise are serious ones”: Chandler, 2221–24.

  The threat could hardly be misconstrued: VW, vol. 2, 92, 103, 109.

  “You will hear no more”: corr, BLM to DDE, Oct. 16, 1944, DDE Lib PP-pres, box 83.

  a newer model from Detroit was somewhere: Chandler, 2265.

  With Kay Summersby behind the wheel: Summersby, Eisenhower Was My Boss, 191; Chandler, vol. 5, chronology, Oct. 13–14, 1944; Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 432–33 (“I must have shot a dozen”).

  Bidding farewell to king and comrades: Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 433.

  “has not visibly aged”: Eisenhower, Eisenhower at War, 1943–1945, 489; Chandler, vol. 5, chronology, Oct. 14, 1942, and Oct. 14, 1943.

  Yet even Time’s omniscience: John P. Roche, “Eisenhower Redux,” NYT Book Review, June 28, 1981 (“calculating quality”); Larrabee, Commander in Chief, 419 (“veiled man”); Wilson, ed., D-Day 1944, 212 (“far more complicated”).

  He would never be a Great Captain: Ambrose, The Supreme Commander, 610 (Cannae), 338 (“chairman of the board”); D’Este, Eisenhower: A Soldier’s Life, 467 (exceptional political instincts); Kingston McCloughry, Direction of War, 168 (“genius of getting along”).

  He was by temperament a reconciler: Graham and Bidwell, Coalitions, Politicians & Generals, 193; VW, vol. 2, 92; Kingston McCloughry, Direction of War, 168 (“shrewd without being subtle”).

  “no one knew better than he”: Churchill, Triumph and Tragedy, 31; DOB, 50 (“solve problems through reasoning”).

  “We’ve now been apart”: Eisenhower, Mrs. Ike, 226.

  The miles slid past, and with them the day: Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 432 (steam-heated stone buildings); OH, William H. Simpson, 1971, Thomas R. Stone, SOOHP, MHI; OH, James E. Moore, 1984, Larry F. Paul, SOOHP, MHI, 111; “Brief Historical Survey of the War Years in Luxembourg,” National Museum of Military History, http://www.luxembourg.co.uk/NMMH/waryears.html* (germanized); David Lardner, “Letter from Luxembourg,” in The New Yorker Book of War Pieces, 399–401 (and conscripted ten thousand). Lardner was killed in Aachen a week after writing this article.

  Bradley’s office on the Place de Metz: MacDonald, A Time for Trumpets, 71; author visit, June 4, 2009; A Walk Through Luxembourg, tourist booklet, n.d., 2–3, 24, 29.

  Here in the dining room: Summersby, Eisenhower Was My Boss, 191; Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 433.

  The Worst Place of Any

  The Belgian town of Spa: Baedeker, Belgium and Holland, 249–53; PP, 632–33 (Hindenburg concluded); Keegan, The First World War, 417–19 (fantasize about unleashing the army).

  Now GIs hauled the roulette wheels: Andrew T. McNamara, “QM Activities of II Corps Through Algeria, Tunisia & Sicily and First Army Through Europe,” 1955, PIR, MHI, 149; Benjamin A. Dickson, “G-2 Journal: Algiers to the Elbe,” MHI, 171 (triple bunks); Knickerbocker et al., Danger Forward, 333 (“take the ‘hit’ out”); William A. Carter, “Carter’s War,” 1983, CEOH, box V, 14, XI, 25 (eleven drinking water sources), 27 (grand ballroom with mirrors); Marshall, ed., Proud Americans, 258 (horsemeat); OH, Charles G. Patterson, First Army AA officer, 1973, G. Patrick Murray, SOOHP, MHI, 118 (monthly consignment); Sylvan, 155 (hilltop mansion), 154 (clatter of a V-1); Medicine Under Canvas, 138 (Gaslight and A Guy Named Joe); Middleton, Our Share of Night, 344 (“song had been taken prisoner”);

  Lieutenant General Courtney H. Hodges moved: Wishnevsky, Courtney Hicks Hodges, 10–13 (“#10 Blue”); MacDonald, A Time for Trumpets, 188 (“pessimistic”); Sylvan, 119 (“a little too sad”).

  A crack shot and big-game hunter: “Precise Puncher,” Time (Oct. 16, 1944): cover story; OH, Mildred Lee Hodges (widow), 1973, G. Patrick Murray, SOOHP, MHI, 12 (“sissy”), 40 (dash of bitters); OH, Charles G. Patterson, First Army antiaircraft officer, 1973, G. Patrick Murray, SOOHP, MHI, 18; Miller, Ike the Soldier, 705 (“I wish everybody”); corr, Walter E. Lauer, CG, 99th ID, May 8, 1963, MHI, Maurice Delaval collection, box 13 (“Unexcitable. A killer”); Wishnevsky, Courtney Hicks Hodges, 187–88 (“a Georgia farmer”), 52 (“sir”); OH, ONB, [1966?], Kitty Buhler, MHI, 45–47 (“very dignified”).

  First Army was the largest American fighting force: Beetle Smith called him “the weakest commander we had” (OH, W. B. Smith, May 8, 1947, FCP, MHI).

  Capable enough during the pursuit: Hogan, A Command Post at War, 288–90 (illness, fatigue); corr, David T. Griggs, advisor to secretary of war, Feb. 22, 1945, to Edward L. Bowles, AFHRA, 519.161-7 (“a little confused”); SLC, 619–20 (“lacking in vigor” and “pretty slow”), 21–22 (platoon dispositions); LSA, vol. 2, 349 (“least disposed to make any attempt”); Bolger, “Zero Defects: Command Climate in First U.S. Army, 1944–1945,” Military
Review (May 1991): 61+ (rarely left Spa and “refused to discuss orders”); Sylvan, 144 (Hobbs never laid eyes on him), 76 (“quicker to keep smashing ahead”).

  Peevish and insulated: Hogan, A Command Post at War, 184–85, 288–89.

  Of thirteen corps and division commanders relieved: The initial First Army firings were of course under Bradley before he relinquished command to Hodges. Bolger, “Zero Defects: Command Climate in First U.S. Army, 1944–1945,” Military Review (May 1991): 61+.

  “like a mendicant”: Pogue, Pogue’s War, 111–12.

  “Aggressive, touchy, and high-strung”: Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 180 (“Critical, unforgiving”); Bradley Commentaries, CBH papers, MHI.

  Three rivalrous figures: Hogan, A Command Post at War, 28 (“Captain Bligh”), 32 (Tubby); Bradley Commentaries, CBH papers, MHI; Benjamin A. Dickson, “G-2 Journal: Algiers to the Elbe,” MHI, 150, 197 (Iago); Baldwin, Battles Lost and Won, 497; Dickson obituary, Assembly, Sept. 1978.

  “slightly angry bafflement”: Baldwin, Battles Lost and Won, 318.

  “The enemy has continued to reinforce”: Chandler, 2257–59.

  Canadian First Army troops had captured Breskens: The Breskens Pocket dissolved on Nov. 3. The British I Corps under the Canadian army included a British infantry division, the U.S. 104th Infantry Division (as of Oct. 23), and Polish and Canadian armored divisions. VW, vol. 2, 107, 111–13; SLC, 215–29.

  “three general phases”: Chandler, 2257–59.

  First Army’s capture of Aachen: “Approach to and Crossing of the Rhine, 18 Oct. 1944,” 12th Army Group, G-3, NARA RG 407, ML, box 24143; OH, “Hürtgen Forest,” 28th ID, Nov. 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folders #74–77 (the most promising frontage).

  Four compact woodland tracts formed the Hürtgen: Rush, Hell in Hürtgen Forest, 17; Pogue, Pogue’s War, 272 (regulated logging); Heinz, When We Were One, 141 (“picture forest”); Currey, Follow Me and Die, 108 (“worst place of any”).

  The Hürtgenwald had been fortified: Rush, Hell in Hürtgen Forest, 19; McManus, The Deadly Brotherhood, 62 (sowed mines); Weigley, Eisenhower’s Lieutenants, 366 (four days to move a mile); SLC, 337–40 (4,500 casualties); Pogue, Pogue’s War, 272 (“Battle of the Wilderness”).