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

by Rick Atkinson

  With Deux Mètres urging him on: LO, 427–30; De Lattre de Tassigny, The History of the French First Army, 458–64, 491 (“merry-go-round”); SC, 460–61 (“national interest of France”); Wyant, Sandy Patch, 193 (“Penny politics”).

  “The good and upright Devers”: Salisbury-Jones, So Full a Glory, 197; Yeide and Stout, First to the Rhine, 365–68 (seventeen thousand men); Reuben E. Jenkins, “The Battle of the National Redoubt,” n.d., Jenkins papers, MHI, box 1, 15; Willis, The French in Germany, 20–21; memo, JLD, Apr. 27, 1945, JLD papers, MHI (“an absurdity”); LO, 430–31; OH, JLD, Aug. 1971, Thomas E. Griess, YCHT, box 110, 26–27 (“trying to be Napoleon”).

  This opéra bouffe: LO, 430–31; Seventh Army war diary, Apr. 26, 1945, MHI, 678 (predatory French colonial troops); Botting, From the Ruins of the Reich, 22–23 (“Hens and women”); Wyant, Sandy Patch, 193 (“Situation in Stuttgart”); memo, JLD, Apr. 27, 1945, JLD papers, MHI (“What can you do”).

  “Stuttgart is chaotic”: De Lattre de Tassigny, The History of the French First Army, 491.

  Devers drove into the city: diary, JLD, 6th AG, Apr. 27, 1945, MHI; LO, 432–33. Clinics in nearby Tübingen reported treating hundreds of rape victims, and a substantial number of women in Konstanz sought abortions for pregnancies resulting from French assaults (Bessel, Germany 1945, 117).

  “French procedure in occupying”: Wyant, Sandy Patch, 193.

  Eisenhower now intervened: LO, 432–33; Chandler, 2657–59; Yeide and Stout, First to the Rhine, 366.

  But with a war to finish: OH, Philippe de Camas, French First Army, Oct.–Dec. 1948, Marcel Vigneras, NARA RG 319, E P-100, RR background files, FRC 5; Yeide and Stout, First to the Rhine, 365 (execution of a few rapists); diary, JLD, 6th AG, Apr. 27, 1945, MHI (“much better”).

  Patch’s legions meanwhile pressed south: LO, 427–30; Walker, German National Socialism and the Quest for Nuclear Power, 1939–49, 158; Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, 609–10.

  Bickering over the French occupation zone: Willis, The French in Germany, 20–21; Porch, The Path to Victory, 601 (“often on the same side”). De Gaulle would write after these disagreements, “The roses of glory cannot be without thorns”; Truman said of the French leader, “I don’t like the son of a bitch” (Fenby, The General, 746).

  Ten miles northwest of Munich: Mollo, “Dachau,” AB, no. 27, 1980, 1+; KZ-Gedenkstätte Dachau, Stiftung Bayerische Gedenkstätten, http://www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.de/index-e.html (200,000 prisoners); Gellately, Backing Hitler, 217 (170 subcamps); corr, JLD to SHAEF, May 4 and 6, 1945, NARA RG 498, ETO SGS classified gen’l corr, file 383.6/9, box 88 (thirteen thousand had died).

  On a chilly, sunless Sunday: “History, 157th Inf Regt, Apr 1945,” NARA RG 405, E 427, WWII Ops Reports, 345-INF (157)-0.3; Robert H. Abzug, “The Liberation of the Concentration Camps,” in Liberation 1945, 38 (“flower beds and trees”); Joseph M. Whitaker, asst. IG, Seventh Army, “Investigation of Alleged Mistreatment of German Guards at Dachau,” June 8, 1945, NARA RG 338, box 7; “The Train Ride into Hell,” 1998, Pierre C. T. Verheye papers, HIA; Whitlock, The Rock of Anzio, 357–64 (“sons of bitches”).

  “That’s the only thing the guy owns”: Flint Whitlock, “Liberating Dachau,” in The World War II Reader, 368–69.

  Howling inmates pursued: The Seventh United States Army in France and Germany, vol. 2, 832.

  “They tore the Germans apart”: Garland, Unknown Soldiers, 393.

  “We stood aside and watched”: Palmer and Zaid, eds., The GI’s Rabbi, 178; Carroll, ed., War Letters, 275–77 (sticks and rocks); Joseph M. Whitaker, asst. IG, Seventh Army, “Investigation of Alleged Mistreatment of German Guards at Dachau,” June 8, 1945, NARA RG 338, box 7 (crushing skulls and battalion surgeon refused); OH, John A. Heintges, 1974, Jack A. Pellici, SOOHP, MHI, 370 (“strewn all over”).

  At the same hour, the vanguard: Brig. Gen. John H. Linden, 42nd ID, “Report on Surrender of Dachau Concentration Camp,” May 2, 1945, and 1st Lt. William J. Cowling, III, 42nd ID, “Report on Surrender of the German Concentration Camp at Dachau,” May 2, 1945, John H. Linden papers, HIA, box 1; Flint Whitlock, “Liberating Dachau,” in The World War II Reader, 368–69; Howard Cowan, Associated Press, “32,000 Liberated from Dachau Prison Camp,” Apr. 1945, John H. Linden papers, HIA, box 1 (“amidst a roar”).

  “I haven’t the words”: Eliach and Gurewitsch, eds., The Liberators, vol. 1, 45; Palmer and Zaid, eds., The GI’s Rabbi, 178–83 (dusted with DDT); OH, Paul D. Adams, 1975, Irving Monclova and Marlin Lang, SOOHP, MHI (“I wouldn’t bother”).

  The Seventh Army inspector general: memo, DDE, “Mistreatment of Prisoners of War,” July 18, 1945, NARA RG 498, ETO SGS classified gen’l corr, 383.6, box 51.

  At least twenty-eight SS men: Joseph M. Whitaker, asst. IG, Seventh Army, “Investigation of Alleged Mistreatment of German Guards at Dachau,” June 8, 1945, NARA RG 338, box 7; Whitlock, The Rock of Anzio, 388–89 (four U.S. soldiers); Garland, Unknown Soldiers, 395–97 (Others believed); memo, Charles D. Decker, “Report on Results of Investigation into Mistreatment of Prisoners of War by U.S. Forces,” Dec. 31, 1945, NARA RG 498, ETO SGS classified gen’l corr, 383.6, box 51 (“violation of the letter”). The 45th Division would be transferred to Third Army; beginning in Sicily, Patton had evinced no zeal for war crimes prosecution of U.S. soldiers.

  “I’m on night duty”: Wandrey, Bedpan Commando, 204–5.

  As a specially designated “Führer City”: Stafford, Endgame 1945, 242; SC, 456 (“Nazi beast”); AAR, XV Corps, June 1, 1945, Wade H. Haislip papers, HIA, box 1. Commanding the 20th Armored Division in the assault on Munich was Maj. Gen. Orlando Ward, rehabilitated after being relieved by Patton of division command in Tunisia two years earlier.

  “Window by window” shelling: The Seventh United States Army in France and Germany, vol. 2, 834–37; LO, 437; Kershaw, Hitler, 1936–45: Nemesis, 840 (“I am ashamed”).

  Three hundred miles north: OH, Vasily Ustyugov, Apr. 1995, Fred Hiatt, Moscow, a.p. (Iron Crosses); Read and Fisher, The Fall of Berlin, 465 (roasting an ox); OH, Hans-Jürgen Habenicht, Apr. 1995, author, Berlin (excrement and urine); Beevor, Berlin: The Downfall, 1945, 388–92 (“post-mortal”).

  Far below the Reich Chancellery: Read and Fisher, The Fall of Berlin, 290; Kershaw, Hitler, 1936–45: Nemesis, 827–28; Fest, Hitler, 778–79.

  Twelve years and four months: Kershaw, Hitler, 1936–45: Nemesis, 841; Erickson, The Road to Berlin, 609 (“that’s the end”).

  Henchmen wrapped the two bodies: Toland, Adolf Hitler, 890; Beevor, Berlin: The Downfall, 1945, 358–60 (“chief’s on fire”); Ryan, The Last Battle, 498 (“burning bacon”).

  “binding for all soldiers”: Bessell, Germany 1945, 121.

  Fifty miles due west along the Elbe: Stenbuck, ed., Typewriter Battalion, 34–47; OH, Alvan C. Gillem, Jr., XIII Corps, n.d., CJR, box 44, folder 18, 5–7.

  Simpson agreed to accept: Stenbuck, ed., Typewriter Battalion, 34–47; LO, 465; OH, Alvan C. Gillem, Jr., 1972, Eugene Miller, SOOHP, MHI, box 1, 69–70; Beevor, Berlin: The Downfall, 1945, 397 (“quite a few people”).

  In Italy, an offensive: Willmott, The Great Crusade, 429–30; Weinberg, A World at Arms, 818 (Po River); Philip Hamburger, “Letter from Rome,” May 8, 1945, in The New Yorker Book of War Pieces, 479; Fisher, Cassino to the Alps, 524; GS VI, 121 (Army Group C).

  Along the Continent’s northern lip: In the final two months of the war, Canadian troops used flamethrowers in three thousand operations (Brig. Gen. Alden H. Waitt, chemical warfare service, “Summary Report of Situation in ETO,” July 5, 1945, NARA RG 337, E 16, OR, 210.684, GHQ AGF G-3, box 2).

  the starving Dutch had been reduced: Hastings, Armageddon, 411–14; Gander, After These Many Quests, 315 (“hinged-bottom coffins”).

  Allied engineers also feared: historical report, SHAEF G-5 mission in Netherlands, July 14, 1945, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #219, 4–14; “Brief Historical Outline of the Occupation of N.W. Holland by 1 Canadian Corps,” n.
d., NARA RG 319, 2-3.7 CB 8, SC background files; corr, Brig. Sir Geoffrey Hardy-Roberts, May 6, 1945, LHC (“five years of repression”).

  “They left like tramps”: Gander, After These Many Quests, 314, 324–25.

  Farther east, where four British divisions: VW, vol. 2, 316, 337–38 (quarter of a million prisoners), 353; Stafford, Endgame 1945, 280 (“looting, drinking”); Chandler, 2652; LO, 464 (two hours before the Red Army).

  “Welcome Americans”: Stanhope Mason, “Reminiscences and Anecdotes of World War II,” 1988, MRC FDM, 1994.126, 250; VW, vol. 2, 332 (“situation in Czechoslovakia”); LO, 456–58 (between Pilzen and Karlsbad); SC, 454.

  Austrian partisans seized Innsbruck: Marshall, A Ramble Through My War, 259 (Viennese orchestra); LO, 469–71; Royce L. Thompson, “Military Surrenders in the European Theater,” June 30, 1955, CMH, 2-3.7, AE.P-28, 58 (positioning of flags); Martin, Blow, Bugle, Blow, 167 (“internal security”).

  At almost the same hour, Devers: memo, R. E. Jenkins, May 7, 1945, Reuben E. Jenkins papers, MHI, box 1; LO, 471–72.

  Few locales were more freighted: David Ian Hall, review of Hitler’s Mountain, JMH (Jan. 2009): 310+; “Obersalzburg,” AB, no. 9 (1975): 1+ (beehives).

  As a gift for the Führer’s fiftieth: Beierl, History of the Eagle’s Nest, 103; “Das Kehlsteinhaus,” http://www.kehlsteinhaus.com/ (Otis elevator).

  RAF bombers on April 25: “Obersalzburg,” AB, no. 9 (1975): 1+; Osborne, “Return to the Berghof,” AB, no. 60 (1988): 50+; Walden, http://www.thirdreichruins.com/obersalzberg.htm; Nicholas, The Rape of Europa, 320 (Bormann’s collection); Mitchell, Hitler’s Mountain, 120–21 (set fire to the house).

  Flames still licked: OH, John A. Heintges, 7th Inf, 1974, Jack A. Pellici, SOOHP, MHI, 379–85; White, From Fedala to Berchtesgaden, 278–80; Mitchell, Hitler’s Mountain, 127 (“You’ve had Paris”). Both French troops and U.S. paratroopers soon found a way into the town.

  Despite bombing, arson, and plunder: Osborne, “Return to the Berghof,” AB, no. 60 (1988): 50+; Philip Hamburger, “Letter from Berchtesgaden,” June 9, 1945, in The New Yorker Book of War Pieces, 497–99 (ice cream tubs); Mitchell, Hitler’s Mountain, 132 (toilet seat); Rapport and Northwood, Rendezvous with Destiny, 747 (light fixtures); AAR, T-Force, n.d., 6th AG, G-2, Boris T. Pash papers, HIA, box 4, file 6 (situation maps); Strong, Intelligence at the Top, 291–95 (“coat hangers”).

  RAF bombs had spared: Philip Hamburger, “Letter from Berchtesgaden,” June 9, 1945, in The New Yorker Book of War Pieces, 500–501; Beierl, History of the Eagle’s Nest, 116, 144–48; White, Conquerors’ Road, 61–62 (“on the spit”); Rapport and Northwood, Rendezvous with Destiny, 747 (guides).

  Göring’s booty proved: OH, John A. Heintges, 7th Inf, 1974, Jack A. Pellici, SOOHP, MHI, 394–95, 406–7; White, From Fedala to Berchtesgaden, 278–80 (eighteen thousand bottles); “The Goering Collection,” OSS, Art Looting Investigation Unit, Consolidated Interrogation Report no. 2, Sept. 15, 1945, Hermann Goering papers, HIA, box 1, 171–73; Rapport and Northwood, Rendezvous with Destiny, 749; Nicholas, The Rape of Europa, 314, 344 ($500 million); White, Conquerors’ Road, 74 (“Ah, war!”).

  The Reichsmarschall himself: AAR, Robert C. Stack, 36th ID, n.d., Texas MFM (entourage); diary, John E. Dahlquist, May 9, 1945, and scrapbook; A. I. Goldberg, Associated Press report, May 9, 1945; Life, May 28, 1945, 30+, all in Dahlquist papers, MHI; corr, Alexander M. Patch, Jr., Oct. 16, 1945, Patch papers, USMA Arch, box 1 (marshal’s baton).

  “Well, bugger me”: Collier, Fighting Words, 194–95.

  An American major subsequently invited: Kesselring, The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Kesselring, 291; Taylor, Swords and Plowshares, 107 (“historical character”).

  A Great Silence

  “The lovely colors of the countryside”: Moorehead, Eclipse, 259–62, 285.

  Tommies fished unconventionally: Thompson, Men Under Fire, 148–51; Stafford, Endgame 1945, 11 (hospitals); Col. T. G. Lindsay, “Operation Overlord Plus,” n.d., LHC, 66–69 (fine maps).

  At 11:30 A.M. on Thursday: “Surrender Negotiations,” n.d., UK NA, CAB 101/330, 4–5.

  “I have never heard of you”: Hamilton, Monty: Final Years of the Field-Marshal, 1944–1976, 501–2; John Keegan, “The German Surrender,” in Hollinshead and Rabb, eds., I Wish I’d Been There, vol. 2, 307 (“rehearsing this”).

  Undaunted, Friedeburg: Moorehead, Eclipse, 282–84; “Surrender Negotiations,” n.d., UK NA, CAB 101/330, 6 (“usual way”); VW, vol. 2, 339.

  Calling for a map: Moorehead, Eclipse, 284; Hamilton, Monty: Final Years of the Field-Marshal, 1944–1976, 501–4 (tongue-lashing); Francis de Guingand, “Notes for the Chief of Staff,” May 3, 1945, LHC, 2/4/2 (“delighted to continue”); De Guingand, Operation Victory, 453–55.

  At five P.M. on a rainy Friday: Thompson, Men Under Fire, 148–51; John Keegan, “The German Surrender,” in Hollinshead and Rabb, eds., I Wish I’d Been There, vol. 2, 311 (“with the doings”); Moorehead, Eclipse, 285–86 (“We will go and see”).

  The answer was yes: diary entry, May 7, 1945, Harold S. Frum, “The Soldier Must Write,” 1984, GCM Lib (Donuts); Moorehead, Montgomery, 223 (“a good likeness”).

  “It was a grey evening”: Moorehead, Eclipse, 286–87.

  Friedeburg and his comrades rose: Hamilton, Monty: Final Years of the Field-Marshal, 1944–1976, 512–13.

  Once all German signatures: Moorehead, Eclipse, 288–89; “Surrender Negotiations,” n.d., UK NA, CAB 101/330, 6–7; Thompson, Men Under Fire, 152–53 (“concludes”).

  “The tent flaps”: “German Surrenders,” AB, no. 48 (1985): 1+; VW, vol. 2, 340 (“It looks as if”).

  Foul weather on Saturday: SC, 486–87; Strong, Intelligence at the Top, 273 (fresh collar); Three Years, 825–26 (twenty minutes).

  Smith and Major General Strong: Crosswell, Beetle, 918.

  Smith walked down the hall: Three Years, 825–28, 834; Summersby, Eisenhower Was My Boss, 237 (“let-down”).

  “I really expected”: Eisenhower, Letters to Mamie, 250.

  A new negotiator arrived: Doenitz, Memoirs, 462–63; OH, Kenneth Strong, May 15, 1963, CJR, box 95, folder 5, 2 (“fight the Russians”).

  “You tell them”: Three Years, 830–31. Dönitz’s stalling was credited with allowing 1.8 million German soldiers to surrender to the Western Allies rather than the Soviets. A substantial majority of the 10 million total German prisoners-of-war ended up being held by the West (Bessel, Germany 1945, 124–25).

  “Eisenhower insists that we sign”: Doenitz, Memoirs, 462–63; SC, 487 (“Full power”).

  SHAEF typists for days: Crosswell, Beetle, 921–22.

  In the absence of firm instructions: ibid., 916–17; Mosely, “Dismemberment of Germany,” Foreign Affairs (Apr. 1950): 487+; OH, Philip E. Mosely, n.d., CJR, box 43, folder 10, 3–4. The diplomat Robert Murphy asserted that Smith had simply forgotten about the EAC version (Diplomat Among Warriors, 240–41).

  He opted instead for a third, abridged document: Counsell, Counsell’s Opinion, 149–50, 151–53 (pecking at a typewriter); memoir, John Counsell, n.d., CJR, box 43, folder 3, 110–16; Ziemke, The U.S. Army in the Occupation of Germany, 1944–1946, 257–58; Mosely, “Dismemberment of Germany,” Foreign Affairs (Apr. 1950): 487+ (“enabling clause”).

  “Get ready, gentlemen”: White, Conquerors’ Road, 115.

  “The effect of make-believe”: Crosswell, Beetle, 922. Some of the nameplates can be found in the Sidney H. Negrotto papers, MHI.

  Strong laid a copy: SC, 488.

  Purple circles rimmed his eyes: White, Conquerors’ Road, 115; Summersby, Eisenhower Was My Boss, 240 (“Ja. Ja”); Strong, Intelligence at the Top, 282 (“You will officially”).

  “I suppose this calls”: Ambrose, Eisenhower: Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect, 1890–1952, vol. 1, 407.

  “The mission of this Allied force”: Chandler, 2696.

  The sharp odors of soap: narrative, end of war, CBH, n.d., and diary, May 7, 1945, CBH, MHI. />
  Bradley climbed from the bed: Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 554 (“D+335”); narrative, end of war, CBH, n.d., and diary, May 7, 1945, CBH, MHI (“our troubles”).

  “For the first time”: “Reports by U.S. Army Ultra Representatives with Army Field Commands in the European Theater of Operations,” NARA RG 457, E 9002, NSA, SRH-023, box 14; Wheeler, The Big Red One, 381–82 (21,000 Purple Hearts); Clay, Blood and Sacrifice, 238 (“It’s about goddamn time”); PP, 696 (Peace still held); Allen, Lucky Forward, 394 (“rivers in Japan”); Codman, Drive, 299 (strode from the command post).

  As word spread: Linderman, The World Within War, 231 (“mad, dangerous”); Mitchell, Hitler’s Mountain, 135 (“like a hailstorm”); “Personal Diary,” May 6, 1945, JMG, MHI, box 10 (“This is it”); Heinz, When We Were One, 152 (drank a toast).

  “curiously flat”: Moorehead, Eclipse, 305.

  “I should be completely joyous”: Christen T. Jonassen, “Letter Written on V-E Day 1945,” n.d., Columbus WWII Round Table collection, MHI, box 1.

  “I am in a let-down mood”: diary, JLD, May 5, 1945, MHI.

  “We did not know”: Heinz, When We Were One, 150, 157.

  “Lights scintillated”: Robert E. Walker, “With the Stonewallers,” n.d., MMD, 118.

  Darkness enfolded: Forrest Pogue wrote, “We knew the war in Europe was over … because the lights came on in Pilzen and in every village near us” (Pogue’s War, 381).

  EPILOGUE

  The Daily Mail in London: Gilbert, The Day the War Ended, 88.

  No matter that word of the Reims ceremony: “Infractions of Press Censorship,” telephone transcript, SHAEF and WD, May 7, 1945, 4 P.M., NARA RG 331, E 1, SGS, file 000.73, box 4 (ticker tape); SC, 527–28; Voss, Reporting the War, 193–96.

  But Stalin remained adamant: Gilbert, The Day the War Ended, 92–98; SC, 491–92 (Eisenhower dispatched); OH, Arthur Tedder, Feb. 13, 1947, FCP, MHI (noisy haggling); Summersby, Eisenhower Was My Boss, 250–52; De Lattre de Tassigny, The History of the French First Army, 518; Clayton, Three Marshals of France, 119; author visits, Karlshorst, Nov. 1995 and Sept. 2009; Three Years, 836 (“easier to start”).