Countdown to D-Day

by Peter Margaritis

  3See footnote for February 8.

  4Rear Admiral Schulte-Moenting commanded all naval units in the Provençe Sea Area. He had been GroβAdmiral Raeder’s chief of staff,until Hitler dismissed Raeder in January 1943. Generalleutnant Friedrich August Schack was the commanding officer of the local ground unit, the 272nd Infantry Division.

  5“Mine shells.” An anti-invasion device in which an artillery shell is imbedded along a cliff over a target area. If the shell is disturbed or the surrounding rock hit, the shell falls a d explodes below.

  6Generalleutnant Paul Danhauser, commanding officer of the 271st Infantry Division.

  7Generalmajor Johanne Kaliebe, promoted to Chief Engineer of the Nineteenth Army on March 15, 1944.

  8Operation Fortitude.

  9Forty-seven-year-old Generalmajor Wilhelm Falley. A World War I veteran, he had fought with distinction on the Eastern Front in 1941, where he was wounded the next year. After that, he served on several training school staffs until early October 1943, when he returned to Russia and took over command of the 243rd Infantry Division. On April 25, Oberst! Falley was transferred to France to take over the 91st Air Landing Division. His promotion to general came on May 1.

  Tuesday, May 2

  It is a lovely, warm spring day. Generalfeldmarschall Rommel, up early as usual, is on a tour of the Mediterranean positions—perhaps for the last time before the impending Allied invasion. He leaves with his entourage at 6:30 a.m., off to inspect the units along the coast.

  They start with the nearest, the 338th Infantry Division, 1 and move eastward along the coast. Through La Marargue, then the ancient town of Aigues-Mortes and its historically preserved wall.2 Onward to Le Grau-du-Roi, where they note the many barrier obstacles there. Further on is Port St-Louis, where they pass fields of plowed trenches. The staff officers note with amusement that these furrows will make excellent cover for airborne troops that might land nearby.

  Onward to the area of the 244th and 242nd Infantry, then to Fos Plage, where the offshore barrier is a series of wooden stakes secured in concrete and topped by various types of mines. Farther inland, they pass a lagoon and many fields prepared against airborne landings with various cairns3 strewn over the grassy knolls.

  The tour continues to Port-de-Bouc, and finally to Couronne. There, Rommel finds himself facing an assembly of officers from the 242nd and 244th Infantry Divisions. Time for another one of his famous pep talks. Partially for effect (it never hurts to add spice to his talks) and partially because of the beautiful weather, he decides to give his speech outside. He stands atop of a small knoll facing inland, with the men gathering around him.

  He starts off by telling them about the North African campaign.

  “Look,” he continues. “I understand that you men want to use your own experiences instead of the experiences of troops who have already faced the enemy.

  That’s perfectly understandable.”

  He gazes at them steadily as he points his marshal’s baton. “But men, time has just about run out for us. The clock stands at five minutes to twelve, and we can no longer take time to gather our own separate experiences on how to fight the enemy. That’s why I’m here.”

  A few quiet cheers here. He goes on, trying to get them to see things his way.

  “Don’t get me wrong; what you’ve done so far is a good start.” And it was, too.

  “But nobody should believe that our goal has been reached yet. This would only be the case if each company had its own concrete factory to make all kinds of offshore obstacles.”

  He goes on to explain his objectives in detail before winding up his talk.

  “I have heard that the enemy is reputed to say, ‘Kill the Germans wherever you find them.’ Such behavior is alien to us. We fought as respectable soldiers; but we were just as tough as the others. The crushing defeat of this enemy attack on the coast of France will be our contribution to vengeance.”

  To his surprise, they applaud him and cheer. Somewhat embarrassed, he walks down the hill.

  He dines that evening in Avignon with General von Sodernstern, commanding the Nineteenth Army.4

  ***

  Adolf Hitler holds another conference for several of his top generals that afternoon. Rommel, on his Mediterranean tour, of course cannot attend.

  Hitler, staring out the large window in the main salon, starts his situation monologue by once again reflecting his confidence in Normandy being the most likely invasion site. Especially, he adds, when recent intelligence reports have indicated that a large concentration of American ground formations has been identified in southwest England. A substantial number of British units have been pinpointed in southeast England as well. Two main troop movements have been detected, and Americans have been seen moving in and around Wales. British infantry units have been spotted moving in southeast England.

  For the landing to be successful, the Allies have to secure a beachhead, stabilize it, and then build from it to go on the offensive. To do this, they need a large, ideally positioned, well-equipped harbor. There is, he concludes, “no better place on the whole coast than the Cotentin peninsula for this purpose.”

  Even though he has not as yet received a reply from Rommel’s command on how Marcks would fare in repelling an attack (it has not yet arrived from OB West), Hitler has decided that whatever the troop strengths are in the Normandy area, they need to be increased. They are short of panzers, for one thing. At the end of April, there were only some 1,600 tanks in the West.

  Hitler nods approvingly at hearing OB West’s plan to have about 2,000 by the end of May. Still, it is not enough. He re-confirms his order for the II Paratroop Corps and the 5th Parachute Division to continue moving into the Normandy and Brittany peninsulas.5

  In the meantime, to simplify command channels and at the same time elevate von Rundstedt’s status, southern France needs an overall commander, an equivalent to Rommel in the northern half. General Blaskowitz is to be put in charge of the Nineteenth Army, as well as his own First Army. These two units are to become one command, known as Armeegruppe G.6 Like Rommel’s larger army group up north, it will fall under the theater command of OB West. Blaskowitz will get three panzer divisions for his area: the 9th, the 11th, and the eventually returning 2nd SS.

  The conference goes on to cover the status of the coastal defenses. True, a lot has been done, but so much still remains. A recent report from Krancke’s Naval Group West shows that of some 600 guns that needed casemates, only half have been completed, and a fourth are just being started. Even in the Kanalküste itself, only three quarters of 132 are finished. In Normandy, there are only 47 done, a little over half.

  The Führer growls that he had ordered all casemates to be completed by the end of April. Jodl replies that, according to Rommel’s reports, shortages in concrete, steel, and labor have slowed construction down considerably. The same is true for construction of the army battery sites.

  The Führer just shakes his head.

  The coastal areas also need additional air protection. Hitler commands that more flak units be sent to Normandy and Brittany. Additionally, more anti-tank weapons are to be moved there as well. Hitler tells them he wants the Seventh Army beefed up, and OKW begins to issue orders to that effect.

  They’ll have to do better than this if the coast is to be ready for the invasion.

  ***

  Generalfeldmarschall von Rundstedt has had a busy week, including inspecting elements of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division. Today, as he usually does around 10 a.m., he goes over the morning reports. More attacks have been made on the rail complexes, including the marshaling yards at Cambrai and at Bethune.

  A while later, he has a planning session with his staff members. They sit around a conference table in his command headquarters. He goes over to a map of northwestern Europe and stands there, a pointer in his hand.

  “Here is where I think the attack will come,” he says. He turns from his team, looks back at his situation map, and point
s to a spot along the Kanalküste near Boulogne. “If I were the Allies, I would hit us here, somewhere between the Somme estuary and Dunkirk.” To the staff, it is a speech that by now they could almost recite themselves.

  “It is the shortest distance across the Channel, and thus would provide for them the lowest amount of sea time, while giving them the maximum amount of air time,” he says, glancing at back at them. “We learned that in 1940. Another reason is that striking here would give them the best chance to drive inland to the Ruhr area, which would cripple our industrial effort.”

  “Excuse me, Herr Feldmarschall,” says Blumentritt, “But if you remember, intelligence has reported that the Allies have been well aware of our V-1 and V-2 rocket sites along this area. They would also be a primary consideration for choosing to invade through here.”

  “Exactly,” von Rundstedt replies. “British bombers have been hitting these sites for weeks now. They have hit some three quarters of our 100 sites. Some we repair, some we let go, and some we make more defensible. London will be vulnerable when they become operational. The Allies cannot afford to let this happen.”

  A staff member asks if the rocket weapons are as powerful as they’ve heard.

  The old man looks at him with a squint and croaks dryly, “It doesn’t make much difference, if there are hundreds of them raining down upon you, does it?” That draws a short laugh from the staff.

  The field marshal continues. “The coastal terrain is well-suited for a landing, and there are one or two ports in the area, such as Calais or Boulogne. Ports, gentlemen. The Allies need ports, or they will not be able to expand their beachhead. They just simply will not be able to supply their men.”

  “Anyway,” he concludes, “I think that the invasion sooner or later will be here. It is just too lucrative a site to pass up. Oh, they may try to deceive us by making a diversionary landing at Brittany or Normandy, but the main effort, logically, has to be here. And gentlemen,” he stresses, looking at his staff, “I want this area to be ready.”

  “Feldmarschall Rommel is, no doubt, working hard on that, sir,” a staff member said.

  The old Prussian grunts softly. “Yes, I know. Getting the beaches ready is driving him crazy. Well, no doubt, when the invasion comes, he will certainly be more at peace in his mind.”

  After the conference, the field marshal sits down at his desk and addresses an issue that has been weighing on his mind.7 At the end of March, Witt’s 12th SS Panzer Division was given orders to move closer to the English Channel, to better react to the invasion whenever it began. One component of the division, a panzer battalion under the command of SS Oberst!ürmführer Walter Hauck, had loaded onto 24 railcars for the trip.

  On the evening of April 1, coming in from Baisieux to the east, Hauck’s train had been approaching the station in the town of Ascq8 when suddenly a huge blast tore out a section of the track just ahead. The train stopped immediately and avoided the broken track, but a subsequent inspection revealed that the sudden stop had caused two of the flatcars to derail. Getting the flatcars back on the track again would cause a delay. In addition, several of the vehicles had broken their moorings. Luckily, no one was injured. However Hauck, already grouchy that day, while impatiently awaiting for the damage to be repaired, heard that this was the third time this area of track had been sabotaged. He ordered his SS stormtroopers to search the houses on each side of the track for the culprits and to round up all the men aged from 17 to 50.

  Some 70 civilians had eventually been rounded up; they were walked back down the track almost a thousand meters and then shot in the back of the head. Another 16 or so were shot in the town itself through the night. A half-dozen more were arrested by the Gestapo, charged with planting the bomb, and shot by firing squad. Included in the dead were nearly two dozen French employees of the national railway system.

  The incident had been published in the newspapers, and a protest had been made to OB West by the Vichy government. Furious, the French told the occupational forces in no uncertain terms that no German would be allowed at the funerals. Some 1,500 or so locals attended, and another 9,000 workers in the area had stopped work to observe a minute of silence for the victims. The SS reacted by giving Hauck a special commendation.

  Although the shootings had been conducted by members of the SS, since operationally they fell under von Rundstedt’s command, he had been delegated to respond.

  A bit upset over the Resistance activities currently going on, von Rundstedt bears little sympathy for the victims, especially since they were all men. And so he responds:

  The population of Ascq bears the responsibility for the consequences of its treacherous conduct, which I can only severely condemn.

  There is perhaps a slight tremble in his hand as he signs his name.9

  1Commanded by Generalleutnant René Baron de l’Homme de Courbière, having taken over from General Joseph Folttmann on January 5. Admiral Ruge in his book Rommel in Normandy mistakenly refers to this unit as the 388th Division. There is record of a 388th Training Division, but it was stationed in Norway, whereas the 338th is listed on almost all German Ground Order of Battle(GOB) lists.

  2In 1248, Louis IX began the Seventh Crusade from here, setting sail for Tunis.

  3A cairn is a mound of stones or small boulders erected usually as a marker or as a sort of memorial.

  4See footnote for February 7.

  5Admiral Ruge wrote that the initial order was made on April 27.

  6See Armeegruppe log entry for May 8, 1944.

  7Nuremberg document F-190, Exhibit RF-435, Page 141.

  8Just east of Lille.

  9After the war, some nine members of the SS, including Hauck, were tried in a French military court in Lille. They were all given death sentences, though the sentences were later commuted to various periods of imprisonment. Hauck was let out of prison in July 1957. The village never forgot the atrocity, and over the years, many dignitaries have visited to memorialize the shootings. Every Palm Sunday since 1945, the massacre has been commemorated in Ascq. Von Rundstedt was after the war tried for war crimes, but this incident was not one of them.

  Wednesday May 3

  Allied intelligence at this time is working hard to confuse the Germans and make sure that they do not know when the invasion takes place. At the same time, the Allies are doing everything possible to pinpoint and track all of the enemy ground units.

  London becomes alarmed in this first week of May when a new FFI1 report reveals that the massive, newly formed Panzer Lehr Division has returned from Hungary. What is worse, they learn that the division will not be stationed at Verdun in northeastern France as they had assumed. It has orders to move to an area between Chartres and Le Mans—much closer to the chosen invasion site than expected.

  Generalfeldmarschall Rommel is still on tour in southern France. Today though, his inspection will end, and he is more than ready to return to his château. Perhaps that is why he and his group take their time at breakfast and start a bit later than usual. They leave Avignon at 7 a.m.

  The entourage drives northward up the Rhône Valley. It is a nice day, and the trip home seems uneventful. They spot some German aircraft far off in the distance, but that is about it.

  They stop for lunch at the soldiers’ mess hall in Chalon-sur-Saône, south of Dijon. No one there has had any warning of who was coming, since the reservations had been made for an anonymous military group. So the shock and joy in the dining area are considerable when the men find out that their main guest is none other than the Desert Fox himself.

  Although they are seated in a noisy open mess hall, the inspection group manages to talk over some new ideas for defensive barriers. They are constantly gazed and smiled at, sometimes covertly, sometimes openly, by the many nosy soldiers and auxiliaries around them, each eager to get a glimpse of Rommel. The field marshal finally turns to his audience and begins talking to them about a number of things, including better inter-service cooperation. There is no time, he expla
ins, for bad feelings, jealousy, selfish goals, and blind ambition. They all have to work together now. Along those lines, he tells his staff and the reporters present that he is going to set up a special meeting for all non-commissioned officers in the near future.

  The entourage finishes lunch and finally leaves the mess hall. They continue northward, up through Avalon, then Auxerre. The kilometers seem to stretch endlessly until they at last reach the outskirts of Fontainebleau, Rommel’s old headquarters. The last car in the convoy becomes involved in a minor collision, but is able to keep up. Through Paris itself, then northwest, along the Seine. At 7:30, they finally reach La Roche-Guyon. Rommel is tired, but he feels good about the results of the trip. A lot has been done. Now he is eager to get in and call home.

  As he clumps tiredly down the hall towards his study, Elbo sees him. The dachshund yelps gleefully and takes off from under the desk where he had been lying, headed straight for his master. Approaching Rommel enthusiastically and unfortunately a bit too fast, his young legs shoot out from under him, and he skids with a thud into one of the field marshal’s boots. Rommel stops and laughs so hard that it shakes his whole frame. This was worth coming back to.

  The group unpacks and later, everyone enjoys a pleasant late dinner. Afterwards, Rommel decides to phone Lucie to tell her he has returned from the south of France. It is late enough. Telephone traffic will be light by now.2

  He sends her greetings and she sadly tells him that Ajax has been run over by an auto. He commiserates with her. Before they hang up, he asks her to send him a sketch of her shoe size. “I’m going to buy you a pair in Paris for June sixth.”

  It’s her birthday. She will be fifty.

  He tells his staff about the demise of his older dachshund, and they are sympathetic. Later, they all saunter down to the cave that is their theater, and watch a movie about farmers.