Countdown to D-Day

by Peter Margaritis

  Moving on to Carentan, they meet an officer of General Falley’s newly arrived 91st Air Landing Division. This impromptu guide eventually leads them to Falley’s new advanced headquarters in the Cotentin peninsula, although not without first getting them lost a few times. They roll in around 11 a.m. and Falley greets them warmly.

  A conference immediately begins. Besides Rommel’s entourage and Falley’s staff, attendees included representatives of the OT. Its local leader and Falley’s engineering officer give Rommel the now-common complaint that they are desperately short of cement; again, the same story. Transportation lines are being hit hard throughout northern France, not just by Allied bombers, but by the Maquis. Rommel’s suggestions to remedy problems are numerous:

  •Underwater bridges and supports through swamp areas

  •Trails and clearings cut alongside roads through the boçage

  •Smoke screens and anti-aircraft positions around critical supply points

  •Get the Kriegsmarine involved in better navigation of the rivers.

  Rommel stresses to them the need to overcome each of their concerns. They in turn protest, citing severe shortages, a lack of cooperation by the local residents, and little time, all of which are making their task difficult.

  Rommel though, is in no mood to hear this. He repeats that they will just have to overcome every problem as it arises. When the OT leader replies simply, “Herr Feldmarschall, our men cannot do the impossible,” Rommel glares at the man. He says sharply, “Nothing is impossible!”

  And that of course, ends that.

  At the end of the briefings, they enjoy lunch in Falley’s spacious hall. The walls have been painted in a pattern that is supposed to simulate marble, but of course, does not. After lunch, Rommel’s caravan continues on, driving across the Cotentin peninsula. They stop several times to inspect defensive positions and climb a number of hills that are covered with heather. The sun is peeking out from the heavy clouds by the time he stops south of Valognes in the center of the peninsula to pay a quick visit to the men of the 6th Parachute Regiment, commanded by Major von der Heydte.1 All fifteen companies of this recently arrived 3,450-man regiment quickly assemble before the field marshal. He notes that many of the faces are not much older than his son’s.2

  Rommel is warmly greeted by von der Heydte, who served with him in Africa two years ago. Despite the fact that the paratroopers in the desert had never really been well-liked by the army units because of their snobbish, élitist attitude, 3 Rommel now takes the time to talk over some old times with him.

  He then gets up before the regiment and gives the paratroopers a short speech. Two reporters cover his talk in a newsreel. After expressing confidence in their defensive preparations, he goes on to (unknown to him, prophetically) stress the need to be vigilant at all times.

  “Don’t think that they’ll come on a clear day, and let you know ahead of time,” he says to them warningly. He shakes his head. “Oh no. They’ll come when you don’t expect them. They’ll suddenly drop out of the sky in gusts of wind and rain.”

  His audience appreciates his airborne analogy and seems impressed with his emphasis on staying alert at all times, even though Rommel himself does not give much credence to the idea of starting a large-scale operation in bad weather. The enemy might be able to drop a few paratroopers in bad weather (although certainly not in storms), but they would not be able to land assault troops onto a beach. Seelöwe had taught him that.

  After a quick inspection, they turn south and head for Brittany. Just after 8 p.m., they roll into Val André.4 They have a candlelight dinner with officers of the 77th Infantry Division and a unit of SS military geologists. Rommel singles out the geologists to praise them for their fine work on obstacle construction over the past few weeks, and then shares with them some popular stories of his past glories.

  With a broad smile, he tells them about an old gray-haired French general that he had once encountered back in that hectic June of 1940.5 The captured old Frenchman had patted him on the shoulder and had said to him in a critical but paternal voice, “You’re far too fast, young man.”

  Then there was the time when his Africa Korps had, after a tenacious battle, finally taken the port of Tobruk. In one of the buildings they had discovered an opulent booty of English delicacies, including pineapples, some good beer, and canned crayfish. And later on, there was this one spunky New Zealand fellow who had been captured in the North African desert. A remarkable fellow, this “versatile General Clifton” as Rommel calls him.6 He and the field marshal had a number of interesting discussions. In fact, in the middle of one talk, Clifton asked to be handed over to the Germans, instead of the Italians. Rommel told him that he could not, and that Clifton would have to go into an Italian POW camp. Clifton a couple minutes later asked to use the restroom. Going in, he promptly crawled out the window and escaped. Rommel chuckles at the memory, and adds that Clifton was recaptured a couple days later going down a desert path with a jerry can, tired and thirsty.

  Rommel had taken a liking to him, and now expresses his admiration for the man’s audacity, despite the fact that the prisoner ended up escaping some four times while in North Africa and subsequently in Italy, running his guards ragged as they looked all over for him.7

  After dinner, Rommel takes on a sadder tone, telling his audience about how the Italians lost their will to fight as things became worse. He expresses regret over the many empty promises that General Cavallero had made to him.

  Later that evening, before retiring, he takes a stroll along the wet beach with Ruge. They talk about things in general. It is low tide, and the two stop once in a while to admire both the evening and all around them the newly constructed defense obstacles. The last time he had stood here, the beaches had been empty. Now they are filled with all sorts of his anti-invasion devices—Czech hedgehogs, barbed wire, Belgian gates, mined posts... They have turned a beautiful coastline into a maze of death.

  Rommel grunts with satisfaction, and then looks out over the dark waters, almost trying to pierce the night to see any approaching Allied ships.

  1Thirty-seven-year-old Major Friedrich-August Freiherr von der Heydte. A devout Catholic from an aristocratic Bavarian family, von der Heydte had joined a German cavalry regiment in 1925 and remained in the Army until the invasion of France in May 1940. At that time, he transferred from the 240th Infantry Division to the Luftwaffe airborne branch and was assigned to the 3rd Fallschirmjäger Regiment. After taking part in the airborne invasion of Crete (for which he was later awarded the Knight’s Cross) and then the invasion of Russia in 1941, he served with distinction in North Africa under Rommel as part of General Ramcke’s airborne brigade. In early September of 1943, when Italy surrendered to the Allies and broke ties with the Reich, the 2nd Fallschirmjäger Division, of which von der Heydte was now the Ia (Operations Officer), occupied and secured Rome as part of Fall Achse, the German takeover of Italy. In the middle of January 1944, after recovering from injuries sustained in a plane crash three months before, von der Heydte was given command of the 6th Fallschirmjäger Regiment, which was starting to form in Germany. He would later be promoted to Oberst!leutnant on August 1, 1944.

  2Average age of the enlisted men in the 6th Parachute was 17½ years old.

  3Rommel himself had written, “The brigade had never been very popular with us, because following the normal Luftwaffe practice, they had always been demanding special treatment. They had sometimes wanted, for instance, units taken out of the line in order to husband their special troops.”

  4A town along the Gulf of St. Malo, some 45km west of west of the U-boat port city of St. Malo.

  5It was June 12, at St. Valery, after Rommel had captured a dozen French and British generals, including the commander of the French IX Corps.

  6Brigadier General George H. Clifton, commanding the 6 th New Zealand Infantry Brigade. Along with most of his headquarters staff, the New Zealander was captured by Ramcke’s paratroopers on September 4
, 1942. Rommel immediately sent for him and they had an interesting talk (described in Desmond Young’s classic, Rommel, The Desert Fox). They chatted a couple more times after that (including after one escape in mid-September) about many different things, even Churchill’s personality.

  7Regarding Clifton’s escape, Rommel later wrote, “To put a stop to any such further nonsense of the kind, I had him shipped straight across to Italy.” The next year, while in Italy, Rommel found out (erroneously) that Clifton had been transferred to and later escaped from an Italian POW camp by assuming the role of a Hitlerjugend leader (shorts, proper insignia, and all) and had made it into Switzerland. According to General Fritz Bayerlein, he was actually dressed on this attempt (his fifth) as a sailor of the merchant marine, and did not make Switzerland, but was captured near it, outside of Como. (Liddell-Hart, K.282)

  On Clifton’s eighth attempt, “the flying kiwi” (as he was now called by his fellow POWs) was wounded. While sitting between two guards in a moving railway car headed to Germany, he had suddenly made a break for it, diving out of one of the car’s windows and onto the embankment. The guards shot at him, wounding him in the thigh. Finally, on his ninth try in March of 1945, he escaped from his POW camp in Silesia, and this time he was successful in getting out of Germany and making it to freedom. Interestingly, after the war, Young, gathering information for his biography, interviewed Rommel’s widow, Lucie. One of the first things she asked him was whether General Clifton had ever made it out of the Reich. “My husband always hoped he would get out of Italy,” she told him. “He had a great opinion of him.”

  Thursday, May 18

  Rommel begins his day early. Starting out from Val André, he resumes his inspections. He stops at the headquarters of the 77 th Infantry Division. The commander, General Stegmann, 1 gives his report. Rommel then stands and addresses the senior officers. He tells them that they are all to cooperate with the French, from the top on down. He tells Stegmann, “Let the enemy invade us now, but with trembling knees.”

  Continuing the tour, the motorcade moves westward, inspecting some glass minefields (actually, just the detonators are made of glass), and three manufacturing firms that are making his Nussknackerminen. On the road, they pass a lively, colorful battalion of Russian Tartars.

  He makes several speeches that day, one at St. Malo, and another at General Eugen Mendl’s 2. Fallschirmjäger Korps headquarters in Quintin. Accompanying Mendl is Seventh Army’s General Dollmann and most of the senior commanders of the units in northwest Brittany.

  Before any briefings begin, Rommel has an open dialogue with these officers on a whole range of subjects. Among the subjects they discuss are: the varied effects of offshore and anti-airborne obstacles; different types of smoke screens and their limitations; the larger appetites of the younger troops and food supply problems; the idea of German officers teaching in local French schools; Russian soldiers pressed into their service, and their combat efficiency; fighting elements of the Resistance and the rules of war; effective techniques to move combat units quickly to the front; local jury-rigging and makeshift devices to make up for shortages…

  Again, Rommel emphasizes the importance of not infuriating the locals. French cooperation at this time will be at its lowest, and it would be crazy for the occupiers to aggravate them now, especially when the invasion begins. Treat them well, he insists. Pay them or pay them off, quickly and reliably—especially the women, whose help is really gratis.

  The officers for the most part seem to enjoy his positive tones, getting into the spirit of the briefing. They review the shortages in raw materials, especially concrete. When one general makes some snide remarks about the Kriegsmarine and their “mammoth constructions,” the massive U-boat pens and the huge amounts of concrete and steel that have gone into their fabrication, Rommel smiles soothingly. He re-emphasizes the high degree of cooperation that he has experienced with their “naval brothers.”

  “We receive many advantages from the navy,” he tells them, “such as the artillery fire control positions. The navy is the branch you are sitting on. Don’t saw it off.”

  They review installation of the new Coastal Type-A mines. And of course, obstacle construction. Rommel hears that, around Farnbacher’s 25th Corps, they have installed some 129,000 stakes and 35,000 tetrahedrons.

  At another stop, he addresses an assembled group of unit commanders of the 5th Fallschirmjäger Division. Trying to ease their frustrations, he tells them, “We officers must be able to cope with all difficulties. There’ll always be ways and means. We will have to be optimistic at all times.”

  He pauses for effect. “Even when things don’t go right the first time, remember, there will always be a way out. The important thing is to perfect your training, and to use every possible means to strengthen your defenses.”

  He leaves with the paratroopers’ good wishes. They head back, eventually returning through the Vire area. On the way, he stops at General Feuchtinger’s 21st Panzer Division headquarters. This time, von Oppeln-Bronikowski is ready for him, and Rommel smiles as he remembers their last encounter. He sits down with von Oppeln, Feuchtinger, and the division’s senior staff, and they discuss possible invasion scenarios. The field marshal makes sure that they understand his order that the 21st is not to move against any isolated airdrops without first getting permission from him.2 In the meantime, he wants the unit commanders to get a good feel for the layout of the area. It will come in handy when the fighting begins.

  After an inspection, Rommel decides to dine with the officers, and he speaks admiringly about the history of the division. After all, Feuchtinger, while not too popular a leader, 3 commands a new incarnation of what had been one of Rommel’s favorite units in North Africa.

  A major topic of discussion is the division’s strange rocket launchers. Major Becker’s group is manufacturing them in a sort of jury-rigged assembly line process, and Rommel now tells them that he expects them to fill a production order of a thousand units. Becker of course, balks at the amount. He admits feeling that this is beyond what his enterprising group can do in a short amount of time. But Rommel is insistent, and Feuchtinger reluctantly promises that they will do their best.

  During the dinner, von Oppeln’s previous encounter with the field marshal inevitably arises, and the story is good for a few laughs. Von Oppeln, embarrassed, takes on the good-natured ribbing of his fellow officers. Rommel glances at him with a look of smug revenge.

  Driving home in the dark, they have some trouble around Falaise. The cars have to make a few detours and one or two stops to avoid low-flying Jabos. Rommel and his staff finally arrives back at the château around 11:30 p.m. Weary from the trip but content at what they have seen, they sit down in the officers’ mess and have a quick debriefing as they munch on a late snack. It has been a long trip.

  1Fifty-year-old Generalleutnant Rudolf Stegmann. A World War I veteran of the Eastern Front, he later fought in Poland, France and then Russia. Seriously injured in mid-January 1944, he returned to active duty on May 1, taking over the 77th Infantry.

  2This directive would not be enforced in the early night hours of D-Day, mostly because Rommel was absent.

  3Although Feuchtinger commanded a panzer division, he had been trained as an artilleryman and had little combat experience. To make matters worse, it was rumored that he had a bad habit of frequently leaving his headquarters for some far-off tryst.

  Friday, May 19

  The weather is turning bad, so Rommel spends the day at his headquarters. He and his staff are due for their third and last (Gott sei Dank!) set of standard booster vaccinations. They have a number of briefings on their latest inspection tour, discussing various uses of the paratroopers. Also discussed is the idea of Type-A coastal mines being laid off Brittany. When will the navy start laying them in the Bay of the Seine?

  Another subject is how to best make smoke-screen generators and use smoke screens. Also discussed are the many aircraft swarming daily over northern
France; Major Becker’s unique rocket launchers; and how to get more wood, steel, and concrete for the shore obstacles, and coal for the industries making them.

  They go over some problems regarding the paratroop units. They are all short of men and need training. None of them has a full set of parachutes, except von der Heydte’s 6th Parachute Regiment. Of course, that is not critical. They are not about to undertake any airborne landings, what with transport aircraft being so scarce and the enemy’s control of the skies so effective.

  Then there is the idea of an upcoming inspection with von Rundstedt and Marshal Pétain. OB West had broached the possibility of the Vichy France leader accompanying Rommel and von Rundstedt on a tour of the defenses, possibly this weekend. Rommel is agreeable to this, so they thrash out what protocols would be needed or “suggested” for the day.

  That afternoon, Admiral Ruge drives off to Paris to talk to Krancke about a number of things, especially putting those damned mines in the Bay of the Seine.

  After he has departed, Rommel is informed that two British commandos have been caught around the Somme estuary. Concerned, he tells Speidel to have them transferred to the château. Keitel’s “Commando Order” of late 1942, demanded by an infuriated Hitler, 1 is after all, still in effect. Speidel will have to act quickly if they want to get their hands on these two before they are turned over to the Gestapo and shot. The orders are issued.