Four Hours of Fury
Page 47
the populace gazed skyward: Charles Whiting, Bounce the Rhine, 113.
over three hours for the armada to pass: Milton Dank, The Glider Gang, 240.
trailing by approximately 160 feet and offset: IX TCC, “Activities Final Phase,” 141.
“The troop carriers looked sleek and well fed”: Richard C. Hottelet, Big Jump into Germany, 13.
Carrying the gliders into LZ S: John C. Warren, “U.S. Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 163.
single-tow gliders going into LZ N were last: IX TCC, “Field Order No. 5 for Operation Varsity.”
The seven single-tow serials of forty to forty-eight aircraft: John C. Warren, “U.S. Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 163.
a secure and interference-free method: Air Forces Manual No. 3, Glider Tactics and Technique, 8.
“To us they were a joke”: W. D. Knickerbocker, Those Damn Glider Pilots, 162.
tug’s aircrew would stand in the astrodome and flash colored lights: 51 TCW, “Standard Operating Procedure for Gliders.”
“Son of a bitch!”: Seymour H. Tuttle, “Over the Rhine at Wesel, March 24, 1945,” CMH, WBB. Tuttle was in B Battery of the 680th GFAB.
“We ought to paint ‘V-3’ on the side”: Howard Cowan, “Glider Men Get Revenge for Set-Back,” 13.
causing him to worry about a midair collision: Lewis Brereton, The Brereton Diaries, 409.
“Hell yes, I’m tired”: Milton Dank, The Glider Gang, 242.
only one of Dillon’s men barfed: Frank Dillon, letter to the author, March 24, 2008.
“That glider was one big stinking mess”: Bart Hagerman, War Stories, 222.
“This is it!”: Gerald Bonnesen, “Operation Varsity—The Rhine Crossing: The Beginning of the End for Germany,” 1.
Liberator could carry 2.5 tons of supplies: FAAA, “Operation Varsity,” Appendix 9, Annex A.
To facilitate even more cargo the ball turret was removed: John C. Warren, “U.S. Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 188.
all twenty-one bundles could be out in six seconds: IX TCC, “Activities Final Phase,” 56.
shifted from colorful villages and idyllic farms 507 PIR, “Historical Report on Operation Varsity,” 1.
Chapter 12 “Let’s go!”
German Fallschirmjäger used interlocking fields of machine gun fire: John C. Warren, “U.S. Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 173.
“It says a lot for the morale”: Lieutenant General Sir Brian Horrocks, the XXX Corps commander, quoted in Brian Jewell, Over the Rhine, 19.
Progress was being made, however, in the center sector: John C. Warren, “U.S. Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 174.
Gathered on a small balcony overlooking the Rhine: Charles Whiting, Bounce the Rhine, 114. See also Eisenhower’s Crusade in Europe and period film footage.
But the fighter pilots, circling overhead: 406th Fighter Group, 513th Fighter Squadron. “Downed Aircraft Report for P-47, Louise, 42-28672.”
Flying in groups of twelve: Peter Lonke, The Liberators Who Never Returned, 202.
“When you’re flying 20 feet off the ground”: Tom Glenn quoted in Linda Shiner “Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.”
Pilot Charles Bennett’s aircraft: XXIX TAC, 366th Fighter Group, 390th Fighter Squadron, “Downed aircraft report for P-47, 42-29245.” The British RAF also lost at least seventeen aircraft in anti-flak attacks, see John C. Warren “U.S. Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 173.
“They’re coming! . . . They’re coming!”: Charles Whiting, Bounce the Rhine, 114.
“There seemed no end to the lines of planes”: Eric Sevareid quoted in Paul Hollister and Robert Strunsky (eds.), D-Day Through Victory in Europe, 145.
Raff’s Ruffians had arrived eight minutes early: John C. Warren, “U.S. Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 174. The barrage was cut short at 09:30.
The jump command sequence is based on author’s experience and Kurt Gabel, Making of a Paratrooper, 87. Little has changed in the US Army’s jump procedures since World War II.
not as bad as we expected: 507 PIR, officer interviews, 12, and Frederick Graham, “1,500 Planes Fly in Biggest Airborne Push,” 4.
Yellow smoke drifted up from a clearing: James M. Gavin, Airborne Warfare, 134.
Colonel Joel Couch crossed the Rhine at a sharp bend near Xanten: John C. Warren, “U.S. Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 174.
his main checkpoint: a narrow lake: Ibid., 177.
smoke screen had been turned off the day before: Brian Jewell, Over the Rhine, 18. It had been turned off at 17:30 on March 23, 1945.
They could smell the smoke: Frederick Graham, “1,500 Planes Fly in Biggest Airborne Push,” 4.
Sergeant Harold Barkley followed Raff out the door: Letter from Harold E. Barkely to Breuer, January 13, 1984, CMH, WBB.
Blanchard’s assistant squad leader yelled . . . “I’ll see you on the ground!”: Thad Blanchard, letters to the author, February 12, 2007, and April 23, 2007. James Simon was Blanchard’s assistant squad leader.
“It was obvious we could do no more”: Peter Lonke, The Liberators Who Never Returned, 202.
Realizing he was drifting over the trees: Thad Blanchard, A Trooper Remembers, 57.
“Get me down!”: Thad Blanchard, letter to the author, February 12, 2007.
Sergeant Robert Vannatter’s story is based on Lew Good, “Dedication of the 17th Airborne Plaque,” 60.
the nearly 500 Ruffians of the first serial: 507 PIR, officer interviews, 2. And see also John C. Warren, “U.S. Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater.”
The murky haze reduced visibility: 507 PIR, officer interviews, 13.
Incoming fire, from the same high ground: Ibid., 3.
known to GIs as “Hitler’s buzz saw”: Robert Bruce, German Automatic Weapons of World War II, 69.
They suffered some casualties: 507 PIR, “Historical Report on Operation Varsity.” Unfortunately the report does not list those killed or give specific numbers for this engagement.
could hear a battery of German heavy artillery: 507 PIR, “Varsity Narrative.”
Map study and information from a POW confirmed: James P. Lyke, “The Operations of the 17th Airborne Division in the Crossing of the Rhine River, 24 March 1945,” 33.
under the command of Major Paul Smith: 507 PIR, officer interviews, 14.
Smith soon came to the same conclusion: Ibid., 14.
They assaulted forward: 507 PIR, “Historical Report on Operation Varsity,” 3, and 507 PIR, “Varsity Narrative.”
Harvey . . . organized several parties to fan out and spike the guns: 507 PIR, officer interviews, 16.
Among the sixty POWs: Ibid., 16., and 507 PIR, “Historical Report on Operation Varsity,” 3.
Ruffians estimated they’d killed fifty-five: 507 PIR, “Varsity Narrative.”
As the troopers floated down, tracer rounds arched past: 507 PIR, officer interviews, 25.
Four aircraft were hit by anti-aircraft fire: 52 TCW, HQ, Operation Varsity, After Action Report, 5.
The jumpmaster escaped: 507 PIR, officer interviews, 25. The crash also killed all four of the farm’s dairy cows: Johann J. Nitrowski, Die Luftlandung, 279.
The woods to the north and west: John C. Warren, “U.S. Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 178.
They ran past the twisted dead bodies: 507 PIR, “Varsity Narrative.”
Richard Boe found a lone German: Richard Boe, Unpublished Memoir.
The dead crew’s range card confirmed suspicions: 507 PIR, “Varsity Narrative.”
The lead pilot gave the jump signal five seconds late: 507 PIR, officer interviews, 29.
Westcott had jumped with his Thompson at the ready: 507 PIR, “Historical Report on Operation Varsity,” 11.
Private Bob Baldwin was rocked by the sudden explosion: Dominique Fran
çois, The 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 77.
the plight of Technician Fourth Grade Charles Rushing: 507 PIR, “Historical Report on Operation Varsity,” 10.
George Peters’ account and eyewitness accounts can be found in “Airborne Infantryman Awarded Medal of Honor Posthumously” and Manuel Gorriaran, Jr., “Honors for George Peters,” 55.
One aircraft, with an engine shot out: 52 TCW, HQ, Operation Varsity, After Action Report, 5.
“Meet me over at that bundle!”: Gerard M. Devlin, Paratrooper!, 619.
“We sure as hell”: William B. Breuer, Storming Hitler’s Rhine, 240.
security detail establishing a perimeter . . . two of Miley’s intelligence officers: James P. Lyke, “The Operations of the 17th Airborne Division in the Crossing of the Rhine River, 24 March 1945,” 49.
Lieutenant George Hawley, was so focused: George Hawley, “A Trooper With No Strings Attached,” 68, and “George Hawley,” 17ABN Biographies.
Lieutenant Colonel Branigan landed: William B. Breuer, Storming Hitler’s Rhine, 241.
Branigan rounded up five troopers: Ibid., 242.
One of the troopers rushed up to the second floor: 464 PFAB, “After Action Report,” 7. This was Private Robert Grubb.
Branigan realized that the house: 464 PFAB, “After Action Report,” 2.
the Bastards soon had two more of their heavy .50-caliber machine guns: William B. Breuer, Storming Hitler’s Rhine, 241.
provided essential cover for the crews: 464 PFAB, “After Action Report,” 2.
Crews leveled their 75mm howitzers in direct fire: Ibid., 2.
fought to establish a perimeter on the northeast: Ibid., 2.
Pandak’s story is based on William L. Pandak, undated letter to Bill Breuer, CMH, WBB.
The biggest prize, however, was a captured 81mm mortar: 507 PIR, officer interviews, 17.
the defenders in the castle, who barraged the tree line: 507 PIR, “Historical Report on Operation Varsity,” 3.
Blanchard spotted a group of Germans sprinting to their Mark IV: Thad Blanchard, letter to the author, February 12, 2007.
the Ruffians’ 3rd Battalion departed: 507 PIR, “The Operations of Company H,” 11.
a dug-in tank fired into their right flank: Ibid., 16.
Able Company to hold their position: 507 PIR, officer interviews, 17.
Around noon, two companies of the Ruffians’ 3rd Battalion: James P. Lyke, “The Operations of the 17th Airborne Division in the Crossing of the Rhine River, 24 March 1945,” 35.
Able Company used their captured 81mm mortar: 507 PIR, officer interviews, 17.
But the white phosphorus shells fell short: 507 PIR, “The Operations of Company H,” 17.
Ruffian Ivey Hutchinson leapt up: Ibid., 17.
They opted to run back toward: Ibid., 17.
the Ruffians along the embankment launched their attack: 507 PIR, “Varsity Narrative.”
at 13:00 every trooper along the perimeter would unleash: 507 PIR. “The Operations of Company H,” 18.
Chapter 13 “The Yanks are coming!”
Their mission was to seize: James P. Lyke, “The Operations of the 17th Airborne Division in the Crossing of the Rhine River, 24 March 1945,” 37.
“We could see planes coming out”: Rex H. Shama, Pulse and Repulse, 340.
their primary checkpoint—a double-track rail line: John C. Warren, “U.S. Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 178.
fired small arms and light flak up at the C-46s: Ibid., 180.
In Private Tom Funk’s aircraft: Bart Hagerman, War Stories, 188.
The lead pilot chopped his power back: Rex H. Shama, Pulse and Repulse, 340.
The sudden deceleration had a domino effect: John C. Warren, “U.S. Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 179.
It was close to stalling speed . . . dove into the ground, killing everyone: Ibid., 180, and Rex H. Shama, Pulse and Repulse, 358.
20mm anti-aircraft guns opened up: John C. Warren, “U.S. Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 180.
At 10:09 the pilot in the lead aircraft: 513th PIR, “After Action Report, 24 to 31 March,” 7.
Just after Chalk 1’s troopers cleared the cargo doors: 313 TCG, 49 TCS, “Missing Aircrew Report for Aircraft: 44-77472,” and Rex H. Shama, Pulse and Repulse, 340.
killing Sergeant Tom Harvey: Kirk B. Ross, The Sky Men, 296. Harvey’s body was later recovered.
“I’ll admit that when we stood up in the plane”: Lew Good, “Dedication of the 17th Airborne Plaque,” 60.
“I was scared shitless”: Kirk B. Ross, The Sky Men, 289.
Mac McKirgan was the last man: Ben Scherer, Soldiers and Brothers Under the Canopy, 44.
“He was just a sheet of flames”: Patrick K. O’Donnell, Beyond Valor, 316.
“I started to think over my whole life”: Robert Capa, Slightly Out of Focus, 216.
Coutts spotted blood: Letter to Bill Breuer from Colonel J. W. Coutts, dated February 16, 1984, CMH, WBB.
Texan Lendy McDonald, hooked-up and waiting: Ben Scherer, Soldiers and Brothers Under the Canopy, 62, and McDonald interview with the author.
“Jump the other door!”: Ben Scherer, Soldiers and Brothers Under the Canopy, 62.
“Our right wing tank was opened up”: Rex H. Shama, Pulse and Repulse, 342.
Bad luck continued to plague Chalk 13: 513 PIR, officer interviews, 13, and John C. Warren, “U.S. Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 177.
In Noah Jones’ plane: Ben Scherer, Soldiers and Brothers Under the Canopy, 133. By my count thirty-three Thirteeners did not jump, most due to blocked doors or wounds. See also 52 TCW, HQ, Operation Varsity, After Action Report, 37.
nine minutes to drop the Thirteeners 52 TCW, Operation Varsity, 32 and 34.
fourteen of the seventy-two C-46s: John C. Warren, “U.S. Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 180. The C-46 losses were attributed to “the arrangement of the wing tanks which, when they were hit, caused gasoline to travel along the inside of the wing toward the fuselage.” As they were not equipped with self-sealing gas tanks, they were particularly vulnerable.
“We lay flat on the earth”: Robert Capa, Slightly Out of Focus, 216. A photograph taken about this time by Capa, while lying on the drop zone, is included in this book’s collection of photos.
“Stop those Jewish prayers”: Ibid., 219.
The B-17 account is based on Richard Hottelet, Big Jump into Germany, 13, and Paul Hollister and Robert Strunsky (eds.), D-Day Through Victory in Europe, 146. Baldwin had wanted to jump too, but his ripcord was accidently pulled. He rushed back to the cockpit and regained control of the B-17 in time to crash land.
“just before the plane disappeared”: Robert Capa, Slightly Out of Focus, 219.
rifles, machine guns, 20mm cannons: 513 PIR, officer interviews, 2.
“two bullets hit the dirt”: Rex H. Shama, Pulse and Repulse, 342.
“Soldat? Soldat?”: Johann J. Nitrowski, Die Luftlandung, 249. The medics were unable to reattach Hani’s finger and it later had to be amputated.
a paratrooper gunned him down: Ibid., 250.
John Magill’s account of being on the DZ is based on John Magill, We Led from the Sky, 72–74.
The forty-five C-47s of serial A-7: 466 PFAB, “466th PFA Battalion Supporting Data,” 1.
sixteen had been damaged, with just one shot down: 52 TCW, HQ, Operation Varsity, After Action Report, 5.
crashed into a heap fifty yards from his howitzer: John Chester, letters to the author, May 7, 2007, and September 1, 2007.
“had friends and plenty of ammunition”: John Chester, letter to the author, February 1, 2007.
“I’d better get on with the fight”: Ibid.
Captain Charles Duree, had taken a bullet: 466 PFAB, “466th PFA Battalion Supporting Data,” 4, and John Chester, letter to the author, September 1, 2007. “I was told that Duree took bullet in
the stomach.”
Duree’s second in command was killed: 466 PFAB, 466th PFA Battalion Supporting Data,” 3.
And inexplicably, one entire planeload was missing: One aircraft dropped its stick and their howitzer west of the Rhine River, ten minutes prior to reaching the DZ. Accounts vary as to how this happened, with the troopers claiming the crew chief gave them the jump signal too soon. Once on the ground, the troopers collected themselves, commandeered two cargo trucks, and made their way over the Rhine to the 466th’s position. Their howitzer was in place and ready to fire by 08:30 on March 25.
Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Booth, landed just twenty yards from: 466 PFAB, “466th PFA Battalion Supporting Data,” 1.
Two troopers crashed through the roof: Ibid., 4. The two troopers were First Sergeant John Bennick and Private Dan Morgan, both of B Battery.
“I got hung up in this goddamn tree”: William B. Breuer, Storming Hitler’s Rhine, 254.
“8-ball, who spent half his time”: John Chester, Collection of Personal Memoirs, “This 8 Ball Was Also a First Class Hero.”
Before Buswell could fire again: Ibid.
Trooper Anthony Moon: John Chester, letter to the author, September 1, 2007.
There were at least eight 20mm guns: Samuel C. Myer, “Varsity’s Organic Artillery,” 674.
The Germans shifted fire: Greg Forster, “Biggest Wartime Drop,” 43.
Rifle grenades eliminated one 20mm position: 466 PFAB, “466th PFA Battalion Supporting Data,” 4.
A captured gun was pressed into action: Ibid., 2. Sergeant Joseph Flanagan manned the gun.
one of their own howitzers on the far side of the DZ: Ibid., 4. Chester’s A Battery had two guns assembled by 11:00.
A crew led by Sergeant James Guy: Ibid., 5.
One of the first to realize he’d been dropped in the wrong place: King Harris, Adventures of Ace Miller, 2.
Miller rushed in from the flank: Ibid., 6.
He spotted the double-track railroad: 513 PIR, officer interviews, 14.
reportedly even firing his pistol: Jim Conboy, “My Part in Operation Varsity,” 63.
Those two troopers—along with Miller’s two runners: 513 PIR, officer interviews, 14.