Countdown to D-Day

by Peter Margaritis

  Rommel then inspects the 346th’s three regiments. Only one has true mobile transport. The others rely on an accumulation of old French vehicles, horse-driven wagons, and hundreds of bicycles. And a few small units have the unpleasant task of having to walk everywhere.

  The division does not have a clear set of directives, so Rommel takes over, firing off a volley of instructions. During his visit, he comes across a rear fortified position under construction. He is told that this is a fallback position and is not going to be manned until the battalion is forced to retreat. Rommel tells them to put in a small contingent to man it at all times. The battalion officers just look at him blankly, because this goes against his all-available-troops-on-the-coast doctrine. He patiently explains that an enemy airborne unit could be dropped nearby and seize the position to hold it themselves.

  He critiques other divisional positions. Even though the 346th is a backup division, its units are still deployed too far from the coast. He wants them to move closer, and to better cover the steep ravines next to the shoreline. He marks off a number of cliff areas as examples of where to blast some earthslides. But, Herr Feldmarschall, would not steep slopes to the ravines better impede any advance made by the enemy troops coming ashore from the landing craft to move inland? Not that much, he elucidates. The sharp drops would impede your line of fire, and better protect the enemy from your counterfire.

  He does finds one battery ready at a moment’s notice to repel an airborne landing, But one, he points out, is not enough. They all must be able to react instantly to a sudden paratrooper assault. Although they dislike the idea, the men near the coast are to move out of the warm, comfortable local villages and into the fields. Towns make too easy a target for the enemy. His own staff make a few notes, in contrast with the divisional staff officers who are scribbling hurriedly as he lays out instructions.

  Suddenly he is gone, and the divisional staff officers breathe a sigh of relief. So much more to do now.

  His next victim is Menny’s 84th Infantry.2 The division is still forming, so only a few units are ready to fight. Their boot supply has improved, and the men tell him that the food is good, although a bit insufficient for the younger soldiers and the seasoned Ostkämpfer.3

  Not to worry, though. Menny is one of Rommel’s disciples from North Africa. The two of them recall their days at Tobruk. Rommel notes with satisfaction that the experience Menny gained back then is now being reflected in the degree of training of his men. Even though they lack equipment, weapons, and most of them ammunition, they are a well-disciplined, capable unit. One battalion demonstrates for the visitors a charging assault, complete with a number of explosives and grenade salvos. Rommel nods in approval. He praises the group and expresses his undying confidence in them.

  By 2 p.m., the motorcade is back at La Roche-Guyon. Gause has been on the phone for most of the morning. He is working out the administrative details between OB West and Marcks’ 84th Corps on the redeployment of the 352nd Infantry to the Calvados beaches. In addition, he has been talking to Himmler’s SS headquarters, wanting to get permission to redeploy that SS geographical engineer battalion Rommel came across near Cancale back on the 8th, to work in the Mont-St.-Michel area on defenses. The SS agrees, as long as their men can work together and the unit is not split up.

  Dealing with the SS is sometimes a tricky business.

  More phone calls about new obstacles for the beaches and anti-aircraft protection for the railroad yards. The recent enemy raids seem to be taking a much heavier toll than usual upon the French railway system. And without the railroads, supplies cannot move.

  ***

  During today’s pre-noon conference at the Berghof, little attention is given to the West. The focus rather is an update on the planning for Margarethe I. Hitler, Keitel, and von Ribbentrop decide that they want Hungary’s top military leaders under their roof when the operation takes place—just in case. If the Hungarians decide to resist occupation, at least their top generals will be absent. So today, Admiral Horthy is sent a telegram. In it the Führer carefully expresses his regrets for not being able to attend his holiday.4 In a counterproposal, he invites the prince-regent to come to Salzburg in three days to confer with him. The Führer wants to discuss certain military matters that the prince-regent had addressed in a February 12 letter.

  Hitler hopes that this will get not only Horthy to come, but his top military commanders as well. In any case, Horthy hopefully has no idea that Hitler intends to hold him a virtual hostage while Margarethe I begins.

  The prince-regent of Hungary is disappointed that the Führer did not come to his country to celebrate the anniversary of their revolution. Still, Hitler had been considerate enough to send written regrets, his excuse being that he was needed to oversee pressing war matters. To make up for this, he has invited Horthy to Austria in a few days and to be a guest at Klessheim Castle on the outskirts of Salzburg.5 The Führer wants to review the war situation with him, to discuss some political concerns that they share, and to settle the issue of Hungarian troops returning to their country for security matters, something Horthy and his staff have been pushing for months.

  Horthy though, hesitates to accept the invitation. With the war turning sour and Hungary’s deteriorating relations with the Reich, Hitler’s true reason for Horthy coming to him—on his ground, so to speak—is probably not good.

  Horthy consults with his cabinet on whether he should agree to take the trip. The prime minister (secretly negotiating with the Allies) and his minister of war recommend that he decline. However, his chief of staff and foreign minister disagree. The latter points out that Hitler had just recently received the presidents of Slovakia and Romania.6 To turn down his invitation (especially since relations with the temperamental Hitler were at present quite cool), would surely invite a swift negative reaction on Germany’s part. And anyway, resistance at this point would probably just be futile.

  Horthy reluctantly decides to go, if for no other reason than to try to persuade the German leader to let his Hungarian units return from the front. At home they can recover, rest up, and prepare to defend against any breakthrough on the Eastern Front, which could at any time come rolling across the steppes towards their country. He could also in a conciliatory gesture tell Hitler that Hungary has some 100,000 Jewish laborers ready to integrate into the German industrial war machine.

  Horthy tells his staff of his decision, and they begin to make preparations for the trip.

  1Fifty-one-year-old Generalmajor Erich Diestel.

  2Fifty-year-old Generalleutnant Erwin Menny, commanding.

  3Lit. “Eastern Combatants.” Those veterans who had served on the Eastern Front.

  4March 15 is one of Hungary’s most important holidays. The date commemorates the start of the country’s uprising in 1848 against the Austrian Habsburg Empire and some 200 years of occupation. The nearly-spontaneous protests that began on this day led to a revolutionary war. Interestingly, although the Hungarians usually celebrate this struggle yearly, the Austrian royalty (with the help of Russia) ultimately prevailed, and the revolution finally failed in August of 1849. Though Hitler was by birth Austrian, he could hardly claim his birthright as an excuse to not attend the holiday celebrations, particularly since he so strongly considered himself German.

  5It is less than an hour’s drive from the Berghof.

  6Josef Tiso and Ion Antonescu.

  Thursday, March 16

  It is a busy time at La Roche-Guyon. Details of the departure of Panzer Lehr for an upcoming operation in Eastern Europe are still wrapping up. Chief of Staff Gause is on the phone again, this time with Army Supply. There is a large stock of antipersonnel mines in Germany that are available for the West. The only problem is that they do not have fuses. Gause has to find them—somewhere. In the meantime, he gets authorization to ship the rest of those allotted to France using the Blitzpfeil priority.1

  In the meantime, Rommel has other problems. He has traveled to Paris to sit
in on a noontime conference with the commander of PanzerGruppe West. On the issue of where to place the panzers, they both seek a meeting of minds—so long as the other meets it on his terms.

  While Rommel is occupied with von Schweppenburg, Ruge is a few blocks away with his own problems. He is attending an hour-and-a-half consultation with Vizeadmiral Krancke at Naval Group West.

  The talk is not going well at all. Rommel’s staff want to have a say on the production and distribution of naval mines—in this case, the new deadly KMA2 They have some ideas on increasing production, and Ruge wants them laid off certain coastal areas around northern France. Krancke flatly refuses, wanting to retain all control over their production and distribution.

  Underlying the mine argument though is a rift between the two admirals. Ruge sees Krancke as a pompous mini-dictator, wanting to be lord and master over all naval matters, no matter what their application or his experience on the subject. Krancke had been OKW’s chief planner in the 1940 Weserübung3 and still carries considerable influence there. He already runs all naval operations in the area with what meager naval forces he has (except, of course, U-boat operations, which are directly run from OKM in Berlin). Krancke wants to control Ruge’s activities too, and Ruge has angrily vowed that he will never get to do that, even though in this case, Ruge is outgunned.

  Krancke on the other hand sees what he is doing as his critical duty, his massive responsibility. And anyway, he cannot understand what on earth a senior naval officer is doing in an army group headquarters. And if Ruge is going to work in France, then surely his chain of command should still go through normal naval channels.4

  Now the two of them are arguing. Krancke is admonishing Ruge because some time back, one of Ruge’s assistants had overstepped his authority by giving orders to the Kanalküste commander, Vizeadmiral Rieve, on how to position light naval batteries. Never mind that the assistant was now gone, replaced by an experienced (and no doubt, more reticent) coastal artillery officer, and that Ruge had later straightened the matter out with Admiral Rieve himself. Krancke is bringing the matter up yet again, no doubt to press home the point that Ruge does not know what he is doing and is out of control, ignoring protocol and command chains. Ruge, his feathers ruffled, argues back. When it comes to coastal defense requirements that he alone might deem necessary, he can go straight to Dönitz himself and bypass everyone in the naval chain of command.

  As Krancke glares, Ruge concedes that he will be informed of everything that Ruge discusses with Berlin. Krancke is not satisfied, and Ruge is forced to be more conciliatory.

  The two part on hostile terms. Furious at his treatment, Ruge goes to the senior officers’ quarters of nearby Sicherung West5 and has lunch with some old colleagues to help assuage his anger.

  ***

  The snow still lies heavy on the Obersalzberg. Hitler is having a quiet evening in his Berghof. Propaganda Minister Goebbels is staying with him. They are relaxing, enjoying color home movies that Eva Braun had taken of them back in 1939, and then later in 1942. Hitler has evidently aged badly since then. There is much less spring in his step, and he stoops more while he stands or walks.

  The movies over, the two discuss a number of subjects. At one point, Hitler brings up the invasion in the West. He shakes his head tiredly and tells Goebbels that he hopes it comes soon, so that he can just get it over with.

  1“Lightning Arrow.” It was the highest priority available at the time, a status usually reserved for besieged areas in Italy or Russia. A lightning arrow symbol was used for such a priority shipment.

  2Küstenminen A (Coastal Mine, Model A). This was a mine of a simple design, used in various hallow areas such as off Dieppe and south of the Gironde River.

  3“Weser Exercise.” The invaion of Norway in early April 1940. The codename was of course a red herring, inferring a harmless practice assault on the Weser River in Germany.

  4This is a classic example of administrative command problems that have haunted the different services of many countries for hundreds of years.

  5Naval Security Command, Western Theater. Created in late October 1940, it was charged with controlling naval coastal security operations for Belgium and France. This entailed command of some small coastal minesweepers and patrol craft.

  Friday, March 17

  Generalfeldmarschall von Rundstedt prepares for a trip to Berchtesgaden. All the senior commanders in Europe have been ordered there for another large, formal conference with the “Bohemian corporal.” Von Rundstedt is determined to make sure that the question of command between Rommel and him, which has been stewing for some time, will now get settled once and for all. That prima donna Rommel has been going around imprudently ordering everything, lock stock and barrel, to move to the coastline. Units there are bound to be defeated when the invasion comes. Well, both field marshals will have a private audience with the Führer, and now they will see just what is what. Either von Rundstedt is in charge or he is not...

  Hitler has sent their two staffs a special train to travel in. How kind. Still, providing the train is only the appropriate thing to do; after all, proprieties have to be observed. And truthfully, Hitler always had done special favors like this for the old Prussian because of his rank, his experience, and his past glories early in the war. Besides, Hitler has banned his field marshals from flying. It is no longer safe, what with the enemy now so strong in the air (although the Führer still will never admit that the Allies have achieved air superiority).

  Thus, the special train. Von Rundstedt plans to board today or early tomorrow morning.

  Once again, the public will get to see him. Surprisingly, although he was the key military leader in their 1940 defeat, he is generally popular with the occupied Parisians, though he does not admit it to anyone.

  Once, in the spring of 1942, when he was on leave yet again at his favorite spa in Bad Tölz, Hitler, who had been staying as usual at his Berghof a couple hundred kilometers away, had invited him to take a short trip down for lunch and had provided a special car for him. When von Rundstedt walked out of his villa, he saw a beautiful black limo parked at the curb. It had been waiting for him for several minutes. In doing so, it had drawn the attention of several people passing by. The field marshal, dressed as always in his mufti1 and accompanied by his wife Bila, walked over to the waiting car. As he did, a throng of smiling civilians gathered near them, of course respectfully keeping their distance. As he poised to get into the vehicle, his wife, surprised at seeing this gathering, paused, turned back to him in wonder, and said with a big smile, “Oh, look how much the people want to see you!”

  He hesitated, and turned around to briefly glance at the folks standing around them. He frowned and growled, “Oh, they don’t want anything from me—they’re just waiting for the bus!”

  With that he brusquely entered the car. But he did know better.

  Generalfeldmarschall Rommel also spends a good part of today preparing for the Führer’s upcoming conference at the Berghof. All of the senior commanders will be there, and this is one more chance to (hopefully in private) lay before his mentor the absolute necessity of moving the panzers close to the coast and putting them under the direct command of his army group headquarters. That is the only chance they have of defeating the invasion, and giving those fighting in the East a break.

  Before he leaves, he sends another letter off to Lucie, telling her:

  Here in the West we have every confidence that we can make it—but the East must hold out too.

  Meeting Rommel in the château’s main entryway late that afternoon are his Ia von Tempelhoff and his new aide Hauptmann Lang, both of whom will be accompanying him on the trip. Their final preparations complete, they walk out to the waiting vehicles, their staff as usual turning out to see them off. Rommel bids them goodbye and the three of them get in the Horch. Daniel drives them off.

  They get into Paris that evening and after dinner, they drive to the train station and prepare to board the special train.
The cars are decorated in lavish fashion, and the staff find the accommodation quite plush.

  Just like von Rundstedt, Rommel spends the night on the train, parked in the Paris railway station. They are scheduled to leave very early the next morning and travel with the other top Western commanders to Salzburg, not far from the Führer’s villa. While traveling across Europe, Rommel will not idly watch the countryside go by. He is going to do his homework thoroughly. When his time comes to speak at the conference, he will be quite ready to convincingly lay out his case.

  ***

  This afternoon, after the daily war conference at the Berghof, Hitler gets together with von Ribbentrop, Keitel, Jodl, and Himmler, to plan for the war symposium coming up in two days. Before they get to that though, they discuss the upcoming Hungarian operation, and how Hitler will deal with Admiral Horthy. He tells the others that he will break the news of the occupation to him at some time in the morning. He is going to take a stern attitude with the prince-regent and tell him in no uncertain terms that Hungary, having become reticent about the war and having undertaken secret dealings with the enemy, is skirting with disaster.

  Hitler tells these four senior officials that he will carefully observe how Horthy reacts. Around 12:30 p.m., they will break for lunch. At that point, based on Horthy’s response to the announcement and his attitude until then, Hitler will determine whether or not the operation will go on as scheduled. Jodl later writes in his diary:

  If Horthy permits the invasion and there is no resistance then we defer decision on disarming and demobilizing them.

  Hitler tells his generals that they must try hard to find out how Horthy really feels about the news, because he is a slippery fellow. To ensure they get all the prince-regent’s reactions and true thoughts—again as a precaution—the Germans make sure that the main rooms that the Hungarian delegation will be given at Klessheim Castle (where the conference is to take place) are all bugged with microphones. The private conversations of the Hungarians will be monitored in the castle’s main control room and recorded on circular drums. Clearly, despite their desires, the Germans very much expect the meeting to be explosive.