16. GCM to DDE, December 28, 1943, 4 Papers of George Catlett Marshall 210.
17. Butcher diary, December 29, 1943, EL.
18. Sir Frederick Morgan, Overture to Overlord 15 (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1950). The acronym “COSSAC” stood for chief of staff, supreme Allied commander.
19. Butcher diary, EL.
20. First Impression of Operation OVERLORD, made at the request of the Prime Minister by General Montgomery, 1.1.44. Montgomery Papers, British War Museum, London.
21. Winston S. Churchill, Closing the Ring 445 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1950).
22. FDR to DDE, December 22, 1943, United States Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1943, vol. 2, Europe 195 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1964). Cited subsequently as 2 FRUS, 1943.
23. FDR to WSC, December 22, 1943, Kimball, 2 Churchill and Roosevelt 626.
24. Colonel Warden [WSC] to FDR, December 23, 1943, ibid. 630.
25. FDR to DDE, December 26, 1943, 2 FRUS, 1943 197.
26. John S. D. Eisenhower, General Ike 157.
27. Charles de Gaulle, 2 War Memoirs 241.
28. Butcher, My Three Years with Eisenhower 473.
29. “Please convey to the President my earnest recommendation that this assurance be accepted as satisfactory,” Eisenhower cabled Marshall on December 31, 1943. The next day, Admiral Leahy replied that “the assurances given by De Gaulle are acceptable to the president as satisfactory,” 3 War Years 1644–45.
30. De Gaulle, 2 War Memoirs 241.
31. GCM to DDE, December 28, 1943, 4 Papers of George Catlett Marshall 210.
32. DDE to GCM, December 29, 1943, 3 War Years 1632.
33. GCM to DDE, December 29, 1943, 4 Papers of George Catlett Marshall 215.
34. DDE to GCM, December 30, 1943, 3 War Years 1641–42.
35. GCM to DDE, December 30, 1943, 4 Papers of George Catlett Marshall 220–21.
36. Kay Summersby Morgan, Past Forgetting 166.
37. Montgomery, Memoirs 189. Also see DDE, Crusade in Europe 217; 3 War Years 1653.
38. MDE interview, EL, quoted in D’Este, Eisenhower 478.
39. Butcher, My Three Years with Eisenhower 467.
40. Ambrose, 1 Eisenhower 280.
41. John S. D. Eisenhower, Strictly Personal 51.
42. DDE to W. B. Smith, January 5, 1944, 3 War Years 1651.
43. W. B. Smith to DDE, January 11, 1944, W-9869, War Years 1651n3.
44. Perret, Eisenhower 253.
45. Kay Summersby Morgan, Past Forgetting 176; Perret, Eisenhower 253; Korda, Ike 443; Ambrose, 1 Eisenhower 278. When Ike discussed the matter with Kay back in London, she said she was sorry. “It must have been a bit upsetting for her. And for you too.”
“Jesus Christ! You have no idea,” Eisenhower replied.
46. Kenneth S. Davis, Soldier of Democracy 456–57.
47. MDE interview, August 15, 1972, EL, quoted in Susan Eisenhower, Mrs. Ike 217–18.
48. DDE, At Ease 268.
49. Kay Summersby Morgan, Past Forgetting 171. Also see David Eisenhower, Eisenhower at War, 1943–1945 63–64 (New York: Random House, 1986).
50. DDE to Omar Bradley, January 13, 1944, 3 War Years 1656.
51. John S. D. Eisenhower, Allies 434.
52. The remark is that of Major General Kenneth G. McLean, chief of the planning section of SHAEF G-3. Interview by Forrest C. Pogue, October 16, 1946, quoted in Nigel Hamilton, Master of the Battlefield 497.
53. Quoted in ibid.
54. Kay Summersby Morgan, Past Forgetting 170.
55. Ibid. 172.
56. David Eisenhower, Eisenhower at War 198.
57. DDE, Crusade in Europe 222.
58. Korda, Ike 454.
59. John S. D. Eisenhower, Allies 445–46.
60. WSC to DDE, April 5, 1944, quoted in DDE, Crusade in Europe 232.
61. Bedell Smith to Marshall, May 17, 1944, quoted in Crosswell, Chief of Staff 231. At Bir Hakeim, west of Tobruk, in May–June 1942, the 1st Free French Brigade under Koenig held off Rommel’s Afrika Korps for more than two weeks until ordered to withdraw. Bir Hakeim did much to establish the Free French as a fighting force. (As a young lieutenant stationed in postwar Berlin, I noted that the French garrison’s officers club on Tegelsee was christened “Bir Hakeim.”)
62. FDR to WSC, April 11, 1944, quoted in WSC, Closing the Ring 530.
63. Memorandum for the Record, March 22, 1944, 3 War Years 1782–85.
64. Ambrose, Supreme Commander 369. In his March 22 “Memorandum for the Record,” Eisenhower wrote, “If a satisfactory answer is not reached I am going to inform the Combined Chiefs of Staff that unless the matter is settled at once I will request relief from this Command.” 3 War Years 1782–85.
65. John S. D. Eisenhower, Allies 442.
66. Ambrose, Supreme Commander 375.
67. Korda, Ike 458.
68. DDE to GCM, January 19, 1944, 3 War Years 1667–68.
69. McCloy to DDE, January 25, 1944, 3 War Years 1668n2.
70. McCloy to DDE, April 15, 1944, 3 War Years 1785–86. For the text of the directive, see Harry L. Coles and Albert K. Weinberg, Civil Affairs: Soldiers Become Governors 667–68 (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, U.S. Army, 2004).
71. Quoted in Pogue, Supreme Command 146.
72. DDE, Memorandum for Record, March 22, 1944, 3 War Years 1783–84.
73. DDE to Somervell, April 4, 1944, 3 War Years 1806–7.
74. Quoted in Pogue, 3 Marshall 384.
75. GCM to DDE, April 26, 1944, 3 War Years 1838n.
76. DDE to GCM, April 29, 1944, ibid. 1837–38.
77. GCM to DDE, April 29, 1944, in Pogue, 3 Marshall 385.
78. DDE to GCM, April 30, 1944, 3 War Years 1840–41.
79. GCM to DDE, May 2, 1944, in Pogue, 3 Marshall 385–86.
80. DDE to GCM, May 3, 1944, 3 War Years 1846.
81. DDE, At Ease 270–71.
82. DDE to MDE, February 14, 1944, DDE, Letters to Mamie 168.
83. DDE to MDE, May 12, 1944, ibid. 179.
84. DDE, Crusade in Europe 238.
85. Omar N. Bradley, A Soldier’s Story 209 (New York: Henry Holt, 1951).
86. Max Hastings, Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy 58 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984); Montgomery, Memoirs 201.
87. Ambrose, Supreme Commander 347.
88. Montgomery Papers, Imperial War Museum, London.
89. Quoted in Nigel Hamilton, Master of the Battlefield 581. Alan Brooke did not share Montgomery’s assessment of Ike. “The main impression I gathered was that Eisenhower was a swinger and no real director of thought, plans, energy or direction,” he recorded in his diary that evening. “Just a coordinator—a good mixer, a champion of inter-allied cooperation, and in those respects few can hold a candle to him. But is that enough?” Lord Alanbrooke, War Diaries 546–47.
90. The Memoirs of General Lord Ismay 351 (New York: Viking, 1960). There is no transcript of Montgomery’s remarks. His extensive notes are reprinted unedited in Nigel Hamilton, Master of the Battlefield 582–89.
91. Allied Expeditionary Air Force, Historical Record, quoted in D’Este, Eisenhower 502. (Churchill’s emphasis.)
92. DDE, At Ease 275. (“England expects every man to do his duty,” Nelson famously signaled the fleet as it sailed into battle.)
93. DDE to CCS, May 11, 1944, 3 War Years 1857–58.
94. WSC to FDR, May 12, 1944, Kimball, 3 Churchill and Roosevelt 129–30; FDR to WSC, May 12, 1944, ibid. 130; FDR to DDE, May 13, 1944, 3 War Years 1867–68.
95. DDE to GCM (for FDR), May 16, 1944, 3 War Years 1866–67. (Emphasis added.)
96. DDE, Crusade in Europe 248.
97. DDE to de Gaulle, May 23, 1944; de Gaulle to DDE, May 27, 1944, 3 War Years 1886.
98. WSC to FDR, May 26, 1944, Kimball, 3 Churchill and Roosevelt 145.
99. WSC to FDR, June 7, 1944, ibid. 171–72.
100. De Gaulle, 2 War
Memoirs 253.
101. Ibid. 254.
102. DDE to CCS, June 4, 1944, 3 War Years 1906–7.
103. DDE to Montgomery, Bradley, Ramsay, and Leigh-Mallory, May 26, 1944, ibid. 1890–91.
104. DDE, Crusade in Europe 246–47. For Eisenhower’s letter to Leigh-Mallory, May 30, 1944, see 3 War Years 1894–95.
105. WSC, Closing the Ring 620.
106. George VI to WSC, May 31, 1944, reproduced in ibid.
107. George VI to WSC, June 2, 1944, ibid. 622.
108. WSC to George VI, June 3, 1944, ibid. 623–24.
109. Ibid. 624.
110. DDE, Crusade in Europe 249; Pogue, Supreme Command 169.
111. Walter Bedell Smith, Eisenhower’s Six Great Decisions: Europe 1944–1945 53–54 (New York: Longmans, Green, 1956).
112. Pogue, Supreme Command 170.
113. Walter Bedell Smith, Eisenhower’s Six Great Decisions: Europe 1944–1945 (New York: Lingmans, Green, 1956) 55. Smith’s time estimate is on the high side. Eisenhower thought it was less than a minute. Others present put it at two to three to four minutes. Whatever the time, Eisenhower made the decision only after considerable reflection.
114. John S. D. Eisenhower, Allies 469.
115. Eisenhower’s undated note is in the Eisenhower Library at Abilene. It is quoted in Stephen E. Ambrose, Eisenhower: Soldier and President 140 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990).
116. Kay Summersby Morgan, Past Forgetting 190.
117. Ibid. 191–92.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: THE LIBERATION OF FRANCE
The epigraph is Field Marshal von Rundstedt’s reply to Wilhelm Keitel’s query, “What shall we do now?” Keitel was chief of the Wehrmacht Supreme Command (OKW). Charles Messinger, The Last Prussian: A Biography of Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, 1875–1953 197 (London: Brassey’s, 1991).
1. The figures cited in the preceding two paragraphs are from Gordon A. Harrison, Cross-Channel Attack (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, U.S. Army, 2002); Hastings, Overlord; Chester Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe (New York: Harper and Row, 1952); I. C. B. Dear, ed., The Oxford Companion to World War II (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995).
2. In the attack on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands in January 1944, the naval fire support for the Army’s 7th Division consisted of seven battleships, three heavy cruisers, and eighteen destroyers for a period of almost six hours. At Omaha, the bombardment fleet consisted of two vintage battleships (Arkansas and Texas), four light cruisers (HMS Bellona, HMS Glasgow, Georges Leygues [French], and Montcalm [French]), and twelve destroyers for a much shorter period. Adrian R. Lewis, Omaha Beach: A Flawed Victory 227–31 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001); Murray, A War to Be Won: Fighting the Second World War, 1937–1945 (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2000) 419.
3. In his final report to the Combined Chiefs, Eisenhower tacitly acknowledged the error in not employing the British armored equipment at Omaha. In Ike’s words, “Apart from the factor of tactical surprise, the comparatively light casualties we sustained on all beaches, except Omaha, were in large measure due to the success of the novel mechanical contrivances which we employed and to the staggering moral and material effect of the armour landed in the leading waves of the assault.” Dwight D. Eisenhower, Report by the Supreme Commander to the Combined Chiefs of Staff on the Operations in Europe of the Allied Expeditionary Force, 6 June 1944 to 8 May 1945 30 (London: HMSO, 1946).
4. Wilmot, Struggle for Europe 263.
5. Hastings, Overlord 101.
6. Wilmot, Struggle for Europe 261; Hastings, Overlord 98.
7. Dear, Oxford Companion to World War II 667. Carlo D’Este lists American casualties at 6,577, comprising 1,465 killed, 3,184 wounded, and 1,928 missing in action (D’Este, Eisenhower 534).
8. Wilmot, Struggle for Europe 229.
9. These were the 12th SS Panzer Division, which was sixty-five miles from Caen, and the Panzer Lehr division, eighty-five miles away. Bradley and Blair, General’s Life 253.
10. Antony Beevor, D-Day: The Battle for Normandy 35 (New York: Viking, 2009); Cornelius Ryan, The Longest Day 231–32 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1959). The term “that Bohemian corporal” was initially used by Hindenburg and was well known in the Reichswehr. Hans Speidel, We Defended Normandy 89, Ian Colvin, trans. (London: Herbert Jenkins, 1951).
11. Hastings, Overlord 122. Günther Blumentritt, von Rundstedt’s chief of staff in France, reports that von Rundstedt and Hitler never spoke on the telephone, and communicated through Keitel or Jodl. Blumentritt, Von Rundstedt: The Soldier and the Man 95 (London: Odhams Press, 1952).
12. DDE to GCM, June 6, 1944, 3 War Years 1914–15.
13. David Eisenhower, Eisenhower at War 271.
14. Bradley and Blair, General’s Life 257.
15. Kay Summersby Morgan, Past Forgetting 194.
16. DDE to MDE, June 13, 1944, Letters to Mamie 190.
17. John S. D. Eisenhower, Strictly Personal 57.
18. Ibid. 63–64.
19. Ibid. 63.
20. Kay Summersby Morgan, Past Forgetting 195–97.
21. Pogue, Supreme Command 179. An additional seven divisions, five infantry and two parachute, were available to Seventh Army in Brittany, but the combination of Allied air superiority and fear of second landings near Brest rendered them unavailable initially. For the deployment of German forces on D-Day, see the map in Messinger, Last Prussian 187.
22. Montgomery to Brooke, June 11, 1944, in Ambrose, Supreme Commander 428.
23. Lord Alanbrooke, War Diaries 575. (Brooke’s emphasis.)
24. The Rommel Papers 491, B. H. Liddell Hart, ed. (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1953).
25. DDE, Report by the Supreme Commander to the Combined Chiefs 41; Walter Bedell Smith, Eisenhower’s Six Great Decisions 73. The misinterpretation of Montgomery’s strategy by Eisenhower and Smith is treated at length by Chester Wilmot in Struggle for Europe 336–41.
26. Bradley and Blair, General’s Life 265.
27. Quoted in Wilmot, Struggle for Europe 319.
28. Jacobsen and Rohwer, Decisive Battles of World War II 336.
29. Dear, Oxford Companion to World War II 978–80.
30. DDE, Crusade in Europe 260.
31. DDE to Tedder, June 8, 1944, 3 War Years 1933. For the results of the bombing campaign, see Craven and Cate, 3 Army Air Forces in World War II 541.
32. “As I have before indicated, I am opposed to retaliation as a method of stopping this business—at least until every other method has been tried and failed,” Eisenhower wrote Tedder on July 5, 1944. 3 War Years 1975.
33. With Prejudice: The War Memoirs of Marshal of the Royal Air Force, Lord Tedder 582 (London: Cassell, 1966).
34. Robert Aron, Histoire de la libération de la France, juin 1944–mai 1945 78 (Paris: A. Fayard, 1959).
35. De Gaulle, 2 War Memoirs 260.
36. Beevor, D-Day 200.
37. De Gaulle, 1 Discours et Messages 444 (Paris: Plon, 1974), quoted in Pogue, Supreme Command 234.
38. I am indebted to Michael Korda for these observations. Ike 497.
39. DDE, Crusade in Europe 281.
40. WSC to FDR, June 28, 1944, Kimball 3 Churchill and Roosevelt 214–20.
41. DDE to GCM, June 20, 1944, 3 War Years 1938.
42. FDR to WSC, June 29, 1944, Kimball, 3 Churchill and Roosevelt 221–23.
43. Lord Alanbrooke, War Diaries 565.
44. WSC to FDR, July 1, 1944, Kimball, 3 Churchill and Roosevelt 227–29.
45. FDR to WSC, July 1, 1944, ibid. 232.
46. Butcher, My Three Years with Eisenhower 634–35.
47. DDE to GCM, August 5, 1944, The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower, vol. 4, The War Years 2055. Cited subsequently as 4 War Years.
48. FDR to WSC, August 8, 1944, Kimball, 3 Churchill and Roosevelt 267.
49. WSC to FDR, August 8, 1944, ibid.
50. Butcher, My Three Years with Eisenhower 6
39.
51. DDE to GCM, August 11, 1944, 4 War Years 2066–67.
52. WSC to DDE, August 18, 1944, in Pogue, Supreme Command 228. “Have just returned from watching the assault from considerable distance,” Churchill cabled Roosevelt. “Everything seems to be working like clockwork here, and there have been few casualties so far.” WSC to FDR, August 16, 1944, Kimball, 3 Churchill and Roosevelt 278. To George VI, Churchill wrote, “Your Majesty knows my opinion about the strategy, but the perfect execution of the plan was deeply interesting.” WSC to George VI, August 16, 1944, in Gilbert, 7 Winston S. Churchill 899.
53. DDE to WSC, August 24, 1944, 4 War Years 2095. “If you can guarantee that your presence at all such operations will have the same effect that it did in this wonderful show I will make sure that in any future operations in this theater you are given a fleet of your own,” Ike told Churchill.
54. DDE to GCM, August 24, 1944, ibid. 2092–94.
55. On June 10, 1944, Hitler issued his famous stand-fast order: “Every man shall fight and fall where he stands.” Wilmot, Struggle for Europe 323.
56. Testimony of General Alfred Jodl at Nuremberg, 15 The Trial of German Major War Criminals: Proceedings of the International Military Tribunal Sitting at Nuremberg, Germany 354 (London: HMSO, 1948).
57. Speidel, We Defended Normandy 105–11.
58. Rommel to his wife, June 18, 1944, Rommel Papers 492.
59. Messenger, Last Prussian 194.
60. Wilmot, Struggle for Europe 346.
61. Rommel Papers 479–80; Blumentritt, Von Rundstedt 238–39; Messenger, Last Prussian 196–97.
62. Messenger, Last Prussian 197; L. F. Ellis, 1 Victory in the West 320–21 (London: HMSO, 1962).
63. Messenger, Last Prussian 197; Hastings, Overlord 175.
64. Butcher, My Three Years with Eisenhower 618.
65. Walter Bedell Smith, Eisenhower’s Six Great Decisions 75.
66. Butcher, My Three Years with Eisenhower 618.
67. Arthur Bryant, Triumph in the West: A History of the War Years Based on the Diaries of Field-Marshal Lord Alanbrooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff 180 (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1959).
68. Lord Alanbrooke, War Diaries 575.
69. Quoted in Bryant, Triumph in the West 183.
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