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D-Day: The Battle for Normandy

Page 68

by Antony Beevor


  p. 362 ‘by single rifle shots . . .’, Lieutenant Colonel Briard P. Johnson, Executive Officer of Combat Command B, 2nd Armored Division, NA II 407/427/24082

  Sergeant Bishop and ‘Action during the fight . . .’, Lieutenant Colonel Harry Hilliard, 3rd Battalion, 67th Armored Regiment, NA II 407/427/24082

  ‘their vehicles down the hill . . .’, NA II 407/427/24082

  ‘Even the use . . .’, Lieutenant Colonel Marshall L. Crowley, 41st Armored Infantry Regiment, 2nd Armored Division, 22 September, NA II 407/427/24082

  p. 363 ‘The mortars set the vehicles . . .’, Lieutenant Colonel John D. Wynne, 2nd Battalion, 67th Armored Regiment, NA II 407/427/24082

  ‘Then the organized slaughter . . .’, Captain James R. McCartney, 67th Armored Regiment, 2nd Armored Division, NA II 407/427/24082

  ‘as day light broke . . .’, Lieutenant Colonel John D. Wynne, 2nd Battalion, 67th Armored Regiment, NA II 407/427/24082

  Death of Generalleutnant Kraiss, Peter Lieb, Konventioneller Krieg oder Weltanschauungskrieg? , Munich, 2007, p. 548

  p. 364 ‘The whole area . . .’ and ‘prisoners were coming . . .’, NA II 407/427/24082

  ‘German equipment, abandoned...’, General Doyle O. Hickey, Combat Command A, 3rd Armored Division, NA II 407/ 427/24088

  ‘Carnage gruesome . . .’, diary of Captain Thomas P. Jacobs, MD, 45th Armored Medical Battalion, 3rd Armored Division, WWII VS

  Generalmajor Freiherr von Gersdorff, Chief of Staff Seventh Army, FMS A-894

  demolitions and looting in Granville, Commissariat de Police de Granville, AdM 1370 W 1

  p. 365 ‘urgent orders to prevent . . .’, General Warlimont, ETHINT 1

  ‘Pour it to them!’, Lieutenant Sancken, 4th Reconnaissance Troop, NA II 407/427/ 6431

  ‘The thing to do . . .’, Blumenson (ed.), p. 491

  22

  OPERATION COBRA - BREAKOUT

  p. 366 ‘I have ordered Dempsey . . .’, quoted in Carlo D’Este, Decision in Normandy , New York, 1983, p. 422

  ‘grinds to a halt . . .’, diary of Major Julius Neave, 13th/18th Hussars, SWWEC T2150

  ‘Monty is determined to make us . . .’, diary of Major Julius Neave, 13th/18th Hussars, SWWEC T2150

  p. 367 ‘The crews were shaken . . .’, Ian Daglish, ‘Operation Bluecoat’, in John Buckley (ed.), The Normandy Campaign 1944, London, 2006, p. 95

  p. 369 326th Infanterie-Division, Eberbach, BA-MA MSg 1/106

  21st Panzer-Division, FMS B-631

  3rd Scots Guards, Major Charles Farrell, SWWEC 2001.960

  ‘wearing only a vest . . .’, Alexander McKee, Caen, London, 1965, p. 308 p. 370 Coastal battery at Granville and Aulock Kampfgruppe, BA-MA RH 19 ix/86

  ‘unforgettable sight . . .’, Gefreiter Spiekerkötter, 2nd Pionier Kompanie, 256th Infanterie-Division, BA-MA MSg 2/5526

  p. 371 ‘The situation is extraordinarily . . .’, BA-MA RH 19 ix/86

  ‘a most forceful order . . .’, Telephone Journal, Seventh Army, NA II 407/427/ 6431

  Kluge to Eberbach, Eberbach, BA-MA MSg 1/106

  ‘under all circumstances . . .’, BA-MA RH 19 ix/86

  p. 372 ‘Do not stop . . .’ and ‘facetiously suggested . . .’, General Doyle O. Hickey, Combat Command A, 3rd Armored Division, NA II 407/427/24088

  p. 373 action in Brécey, Captain Carlton Parish Russell, 36th Armored Infantry Regiment, 3rd Armored Division, WWII VS

  ‘more dangerous than . . .’, Daily Operations, 4th Infantry Division, NA II 407/ 427/6431

  ‘a very jolly . . .’, Charles Whiting, Papa Goes to War, Marlborough, 1990, p. 66

  p. 374 ‘take the first picture . . .’, Robert Capa, Slightly out of Focus, New York, 1947, p. 168

  looting and lynch mob in Granville, Commissariat de Police de Granville, AdM 1370 W 1

  ‘Ah, Monsieur . . .’, anon., MdC TE 388

  ‘Our boys got their souvenirs . . .’, Lieutenant D. S. Woodward, 69th Tank Battalion, 6th Armored Division, NA II 407/ 427/24241

  p. 375 Resistance attack in the Landes, LCMHA Misc 24

  armoured train derailed Souillac, TNA DEFE 3/62

  ‘throughout history . . .’, Martin Blumenson (ed.), The Patton Papers, 1940-1945, New York, 1974, p. 493

  ‘As many troops as possible . . .’, XV Corps, NA II 407/427/24203

  p. 376 ‘Gentlemen, this breakthrough . . .’, Wilhelm Ritter von Schramm, BA-MA MSg 2/247

  ‘The enemy is not under any circumstances . . .’, Hans Speidel, We Defended Normandy, London, 1951, p. 138

  ‘round the corner into Brittany’, NA II 407/427/6431

  p. 377 ‘One of our trucks . . .’, Lieutenant Colonel Teague, 22nd Infantry, NA II 407/ 427/24021

  VIII Corps and First Army prisoners, Martin Blumenson, The Duel for France, New York, 2000, pp. 143-4 and 150

  prisonersof 8thDivision, Captain Graham V. Chamblee, 13th Infantry, 8th Division, NA II 407/427/24241

  ‘We passed columns . . .’, 29th Infantry Division, NA II 407/427/24034

  rumours of German withdrawal to the Seine, Oberstleutnant Friedrich Freiherr von der Heydte, 6th Paratroop Regiment, FMS B-839

  ‘As we came over the crest . . .’, Lieutenant Colonel Johnson and Captain Wright, 12th Infantry, 4th Infantry Division, NA II 407/427/24203

  p. 378 ‘in a state of jitters’, Captain Wright, NA II 407/427/24203

  Captain Ware’s account, NA II 407/427/ 24203

  p. 379 ‘The small number of Germans . . .’, 4th Infantry Division, NA II 407/427/ 6431

  ‘had a shattering effect . . .’, Generalleutnant Fritz Bayerlein, ETHINT 66

  23

  BRITTANY AND OPERATION BLUECOAT

  p. 381 ‘a written declaration . . .’, SHD-DAT 13 P 33

  ‘intensify general guerrilla activity . . .’, SHD-DAT 13 P 33

  ‘a second General Patton . . .’, Lieutenant Harold H. Goodman, 13th Infantry, 8th Division, NA II 407/427/24241

  ‘a brawny, jovial type’, Martin Blumenson, The Duel for France, New York, 2000, p. 166 p. 382 French Resistance in Rennes, 2nd Lieutenant Edward W. Overman, 90th Division, NA II 407/427/24242

  relief of prisoners of war, Lieutenant Harold H. Goodman, 8th Division, NA II 407/427/24241

  ‘One paratrooper ...’, Captain Joseph Gray, 13th Infantry, 8th Division, NA II 407/427/24241

  p. 383 ‘What in hell . . .’,Blumenson, p. 176

  ‘General Patton’s Household Cavalry’, Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Goodwin, 6th Cavalry Group, NA II 407/427/24242

  ‘every night from ...’, Captain John C. Donley, 6th Armored Division, NA II 407/ 427/24241

  p. 384 ‘The first thing we did ...’, Lieutenant D. S. Woodward, 69th Tank Battalion, 6th Armored Division, NA II 407/427/ 24241

  ‘pony express’, William M. King, 44th Armored Infantry Battalion, 6th Armored Division, NA II 407/427/24241

  replacements in Brittany, Captain John C. Donley, 44th Armored Infantry Battalion, 6th Armored Division, NA II 407/427/ 24241

  ‘better than expected ...’, Martin Blumenson (ed.), The Patton Papers, 1940-1945, New York, 1974, p. 541

  ‘They aided in loading ...’, William M. King, 44th Armored Infantry Battalion, 6th Armored Division, NA II 407/427/24241

  ‘with the help of terrorists’, 6 August, BA-MA RH 19 ix/87

  ‘Terroristenführer’, 6 August, Ob. West Tagesmeldungen, BA-MA RH 19 iv/45

  ‘battles with terrorists ...’, BA-MA RH 19 ix/87

  massacres in Finisterre, Peter Lieb, Konventioneller Krieg oder Weltanschauungskrieg?, Munich, 2007, pp. 576 and 579

  Eon and Passy, SHD-DAT 13 P 33 p. 385 Ramcke in Brest, see Lieb, pp. 483-4

  ‘to get a Hermann Goering . . .’, Lieutenant Harold H. Goodman, 8th Division, NA II 407/427/24241

  ‘courteously got rid of ...’, Lieutenant Harold H. Goodman, 8th Division, NA II 407/427/24241

  ‘It was entirely wiped out!’, TNA WO 208/4364

  ‘The townspeople were so nice ...
’ and ‘We had a hair-cutting party . . .’, Lieutenant Harold H. Goodman, 8th Division, NA II 407/427/24241

  p. 386 ‘I would not say this ...’, Blumenson (ed.), p. 532

  p. 387 Leclerc’s attitude to British, Christian Girard, Journal de Guerre, Paris, 2000, p. 80

  ‘Even for us Gaullists ...’, Marc de Possesse, MdC TE 361

  ‘a uniform different ...’, Forrest C. Pogue, Pogue’s War, Lexington, Kentucky, 2001, p. 178

  p. 388 2ème DB landing on Utah beach, Marc de Possesse, MdC TE 361

  French villagers marking mines, Alexander McKee, Caen, London, 1965, p. 315

  ‘Over in the next field . . .’, Sergeant Kite, 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, BA-MA MSg 2/ 4837

  p. 389 reinforcement of Vire, General Eugen Meindl, II Parachute Corps, FMS A-923

  ‘The woods seemed to cast ...’, Colonel Tom Gilliam, B Company, 2nd Infantry, 5th Infantry Division, MdC TE 124

  ‘We’ll defend your town ...’, quoted in Blumenson, p. 215

  p. 390 ‘Everyone very depressed ...’, Myles Hildyard diary, 3 August, and letter, 5 August

  ‘the wretched wounded ...’, Captain Michael Bendix, Coldstream Guards, SWWEC 2000-356

  ‘I could not help thinking ...’, Rev. A. R. C. Leaney, IWM PP/MCR/206

  ‘In the small fields of Normandy ...’, quoted in Eversley Belfield and H. Essame, The Battle for Normandy, London, 1975, p. 206

  p. 391 ‘To be the leading tank . . .’, Stanley Christopherson diary

  p. 392 ‘because they slip on ...’, Captain M. G. T. Webster, 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards, IWM P 182

  ‘in the recesses of a LST’, John Colville, The Fringes of Power, London, 1985, p. 500

  ‘The tank commander would . . .’, Captain Michael Bendix, Coldstream Guards, SWWEC 2000-356

  ‘a little German stretcher-bearer ...’,Rev. A. R. C. Leaney, attached to 4th Dorsets, 43rd Wessex Division, IWM PP/MCR/206 p. 393 ‘Many of them probably ...’, XXX Corps, TNA WO 171/342

  ‘Apart from the church spire ...’, Major Julius Neave diary, SWWEC T2150

  ‘You really had to disassociate . . .’, Major Robert Kiln, 86th Field Artillery, SWWEC 99-63

  ‘an imbroglio of steel’, André Heintz diary, MdC TE 32 (1-4)

  severed hand, Robert Thornburrow, 4th Somerset Light Infantry, 43rd Wessex Division, MdC TE120

  p. 394 ‘a little foal walking ...’, William Helm, ‘The Normandy Field Diary of a Junior Medical Officer in 210 Field Ambulance’, 177th Brigade, 59th Infantry Division

  ‘Brigade and battalion commanders ...’, Stanley Christopherson diary

  ‘Our intention is to capture ...’, Major Julius Neave diary, SWWEC T2150

  ‘The nearer we got ...’, Corporal D. Proctor, 4th Somerset Light Infantry, DWS

  p. 395 ‘It was soon obvious ...’, Sergeant W. Partridge, 4th Somerset Light Infantry, SWWEC 2006.419

  p. 396 ‘more men in five weeks ...’, Sergeant W. Partridge, 4th Somerset Light Infantry, SWWEC 2006.419

  ‘heavy enemy attacks ...’, Heeresgruppe B, 6 August, BA-MA RH 19 ix/87

  p. 397 German casualty figures to 7 August, Dieter Ose, Entscheidung im Westen 1944, Stuttgart, 1982, p. 266, quoted in Lieb, p. 422

  24

  THE MORTAIN COUNTER-ATTACK

  p. 398 ‘Situation still more acute ...’, TNA DEFE 3/65

  discussions Hitler, Jodl and Warlimont, Major Herbert Büchs, Luftwaffe aide to Generaloberst Jodl, ETHINT 36

  ‘Whenever a line of defence . . .’, General Warlimont, ETHINT 1

  p. 399 ‘He belonged to the set ...’, General Eugen Meindl, II Parachute Corps, FMS A-923

  ‘discouraged’ and ‘he could not hold ...’ General Warlimont, ETHINT 1

  ‘The division is bad . . .’, Martin Blumenson (ed.), The Patton Papers, 1940-1945, New York, 1974, p. 497

  p. 400 ‘a fifteen-year-old French boy ...’, NA II 407/427/24242

  strengthening of Fougères, Headquarters XV Corps, NA II 407/427/24203

  ‘Approximately 13,000 trucks ...’, Mark J. Reardon, Victory at Mortain, Lawrence, Kansas, 2002, p. 39

  ‘withdrawal movements’, 2 August, TNA DEFE 3/65

  p. 401 ‘Joe, I already have it’, J. Lawton Collins, Lightning Joe, Novato, CA, 1994, p. 250

  ‘Some of the troops held themselves well ...’, P. Peschet, MdC TE 215

  p. 403 ‘it seemed like an excellent . . .’, NA II 407/427/24037

  ‘As we arrived there . . .’, Robert B. Bradley, 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division, MdC TE 366

  120th Infantry Regiment in Mortain, NA II 407/427/24037

  p. 404 ‘were the greatest obstacles ...’, Generalmajor Freiherr Rudolf von Gersdorff, FMS A-918

  ‘They had been deceived ...’, General Warlimont, ETHINT 1

  ‘passive resistance ...’, Generalleutnant Graf von Schwerin, ETHINT 17

  p. 405 ‘The Führer has ordered ...’, Heeresgruppe B, 6 August, BA-MA RH 19 ix/87

  Hitler’s opposition to General von Funck, General Warlimont, ETHINT 1

  ‘virtually impossible’, Heeresgruppe B, 6 August, BA-MA RH 19 ix/87

  ‘little air activity’, BA-MA RH 19 ix/87 p. 406 ‘The war looks practically over’, 4th Infantry Division, NA II 407/427/6431

  ‘a beautiful bivouac . . .’, NA II 407/427/ 6431

  Ultra intercepts, 6 August, TNA DEFE 3/65

  Bradley’s scepticism about Ultra, see Carlo D’Este, Decision in Normandy, New York, 1983, pp. 420-21

  ‘to stop spreading rumours’, NA II 407/ 427/24037

  p. 407 German motorcyclists, Chérencé-le-Roussel, 39th Infantry Division, NA II 407/ 427/24037

  ‘extraordinarily well’, General der Panzertruppen Freiherr von Lüttwitz, FMS A-903

  p. 408 fighting in Saint-Barthélemy, 30th Infantry Division, NA II 407/427/24037

  120th Infantry in Mortain, NA II 407/ 427/24037

  p. 409 ‘A loud clang followed ...’, Reardon, p. 100

  p. 410 ‘should deal exclusively ...’, 2nd TAF Operations Report by Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham, TNA AIR 20/1593

  ‘This is the moment ...’, John Golley, The Day of the Typhoon, Shrewsbury, 2000, p. 129

  pilots in 123 Wing, Desmond Scott, Typhoon Pilot, London, 1982, p. 193

  ‘roughly a four-per-cent chance ...’, Ian Gooderson, Air Power at the Battlefront, London, 1998, p. 76

  p. 411 ‘Diving point ...’, ‘The Rocket Racket’, Air Ministry, AHB

  Typhoon operations, 7 August, TNA AIR 25/704

  ‘Our fighters have been engaged ...’, Telephone Journal, Seventh Army, 7 August, NA II 407/427/6431

  p. 412 ‘Alles kaputt!’, Robert B. Bradley, 30th Infantry Division, MdC TE 366

  83 Group, Alfred Price, ‘The Rocket-Firing Typhoons in Normandy’, Royal Air Force Air Power Review, Vol. VIII, I, Spring 2005, pp. 78-88

  ‘As the day developed ...’, 2nd Tactical Air Force Operations Report by Air Marshal Coningham, TNA AIR 20/1593

  Operational Research Section reports: Joint Report No. 3, ‘Rocket-firing Typhoons in Close Support of Military Operations’, Operational Research in North-West Europe, TNA WO 291/1331; and No. 2 ORS, 2nd TAF, Report No.1, ‘Investigations of the Operation of TAF Aircraft in the Mortain Area - 7th August 1944’, TNA AIR 37/61

  p. 413 ‘Whether you realise it or not’, General der Panzertruppen Geyr von Schweppenburg, ETHINT 13

  ‘There is nothing...’, Operational Research Section, ‘Investigation of the Operation of TAF Aircraft in the Mortain Area, 7th August 1944’, dated 7 December 1944, AHB

  field artillery in support of 30th Infantry Division, Brigadier General James M. Lewis, commanding 30th Division Artillery, NA II 407/427/24037

  p. 414 ‘a thorn in the flesh ...’, General der Panzertruppen Walter Krüger, LVIII Panzer Corps, FMS B-445 p. 415 Germans with cognac, Pfc John Cole, 8th Infantry, NA II 407/427/6432

  ‘It was quite clear ...’, comments on Seventh Army war diary,
Generalmajor Rudolf Freiherr von Gersdorff, FMS A-918

  p. 416 ‘In formal manner ...’, 30th Division, NA II 407/427/24242

  12th Infantry, NA II 407/427/6431

  p. 417 SS panzergrenadiers using American equipment, Captain Dunbar Whitman, 12th Infantry, 4th Infantry Division, NA II 407/ 427/24021

  ‘For the first time ...’, 4th Infantry Division, NA II 407/427/24021

  ‘The tank he could see ...’, NA II 407/ 427/6432 and Reardon, p. 256

  p. 418 ‘Then he pulled himself to his feet . . .’, 30th Infantry Division, NA II 407/ 427/24038

  ‘There, under that tank . . .’, NA II 407/ 427/24037

  p. 419 air drop, Reardon, p. 201

  smoke shells, Lieutenant Charles A. Bartz, 230th Field Artillery Battalion, 30th Division, NA II 407/427/24242; and Lieutenant Elmer Rohmiller, 120th Infantry, 30th Division, NA II 407/427/24242

  128th Evacuation Hospital, Colonel John N. Snyder, MdC TE 648

  p. 420 ‘Under cover of this operation ...’, General der Panzertruppen Walter Krüger, LVIII Panzer Corps, FMS B-445

  1st Battalion, 39th Infantry, NA II 407/ 427/24037

  Colonel Birks at Abbaye Blanche, NA II 407/427/24037

  p. 421 ‘I want Mortain demolished ...’, 30th Division G-3 Journal, 11.05 hours, 11 August, quoted in Reardon, p. 267

  ‘incrediblywearytroops’,NA II 407/427/ 6431

  ‘the attitude of “silent mutiny” ...’, NA II 407/427/6432

  ‘Kluge did it deliberately ...’, Wilhelm Ritter von Schramm, BA-MA MSg 2/247

  25

  OPERATION TOTALIZE

  p. 422 Crerar as commander in Italy, see Terry Copp and Bill McAndrew, Battle Exhaustion, Montreal, 1990, pp. 66-8

  Montgomery on Crerar and Keller, LCHMA AP/14/27; see also Stephen A. Hart, Montgomery and ‘Colossal Cracks’, Westport, Conn., 2000

  p. 423 ‘to avenge the death of our comrades’, quoted in Howard Margolian, Conduct Unbecoming, Toronto, 1998, p. 29

  p. 425 ‘Blimey! Square-bashing in tanks’, Ken Tout, Tank!, London, 1985, p. 17

  2nd Canadian Infantry Division in Operation Totalize, report by Canadian Military Headquarters, NA II 407/427/24200

  7th Norfolks crossing the Orne, Lieutenant Colonel Freeland, 7th Battalion Norfolk Regiment, MdC TE 168

 

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