Countdown to D-Day

by Peter Margaritis

  They have a nice get-together and discuss the war and the future.3

  Around sunset, Rommel and his aide return to their château. That evening, they once again mingle with French royalty. The two of them join the Duc du Rochefoucauld in the family’s upstairs quarters. They pass on the felicitations of the count’s family, and stay up with the duke, enjoying a laid-back, informal talk with this languid old man. Rommel feels at ease talking to him.

  When Lang and Rommel finally arise to leave, the Duke, overcome with emotion, urges his family to stand for a toast. Raising his glass, he declares, “To Germany’s victory.” Rommel thanks him and retires.

  1A feast of the Catholic Church commemorating the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles, forty days after the Resurrection of Christ. A popular holiday in France and Belgium, it is also known by many as “Pentecost.” The day is called “Whitsunday” (White Sunday) because of the white garments which were worn by those who are baptized at this time. Whitsunday first became a Christian feast in the 1st century, though there is little evidence to show that it was observed, like Easter.

  2Over four hundred bombers of the American Eighth Air Force.

  3After the war, the restored French government understandably charged the Marquis with collaboration with the enemy in wartime. He was found guilty and condemned to death. By order of Charles De Gaulle himself, he was hanged.

  Monday, May 29

  With the invasion looming near, Allied Intelligence is trying to keep an updated appraisal of the German ground forces, especially in and around Normandy. Through key radio intercepts, the Allies have now confirmed that the 6th Parachute Regiment and the 91st Air Landing Division have been relocated to the Cotentin peninsula.1 This has raised considerable concern about the American airborne landings planned for that area. German paratroops and glider infantry on the edges of the assigned drop zones will seriously jeopardize achieving initial objectives and add greatly to the airborne fatality list.

  In the Colleville area, the Resistance agent there has finally determined that major elements of the veteran 352nd Infantry Division have been relocated north to the Calvados coast, beefing up the left flank of the bodenständige 716th Division. Two regiments of the 352nd now occupy positions across the western half of the beach, across what is scheduled to be (unknown of course, to the agent) a major Allied landing area, designated “Omaha beach. “

  Based on that agent’s report, the local Resistance leader near Grandcamp sends his routine report using his normal communications route. In this case, that happens to be with carrier pigeons. The French have been using them as message couriers to England since 1940, but only in areas where radio reception is poor or where wireless use would be too risky. One pigeon was also carried by agents parachuting into enemy territory and released upon a safe landing, to let headquarters know that the agent had made it down safely.

  The French have found pigeons to be an ideal method of communication, because they cannot be weakened, jammed or detected, like radio signals. They are silent in their travel, and if spotted, are relatively hard to hit. On the other hand, they are on the whole quite unreliable for getting to their destination, and can only carry small messages or diagrams. Moreover, setting up and maintaining such a system is also often difficult, especially since each bird can only be used a couple times. So their successful return rate since 1940 has only been about one flight in nine.

  There are several reasons for the low reliability rate. For one thing, the birds are parachuted into France and sometimes die in the drop, are intercepted by the Germans, or are turned over by the local citizenry. It is, after all, a serious offense to be caught with them. And especially in the last year, the Germans have become quite aware of spy carrier pigeon mail systems and their value. These birds are now considered dangerous contraband material.2 Of those that have been successfully released, several were given only mediocre training, and of course, sometimes bad weather played a decisive role. So as a precaution to increase their reliability, the Resistance has started to send two birds at a time.

  Over time, these feathered couriers have naturally become fair game for sport by troops stationed on the coast. A good pastime for the Feldgrau along the beaches has become practice target shooting at birds when they spot them, especially pigeons. The amateur hunters usually conduct their sport with shotguns, although any small caliber firearm is considered acceptable. On the whole, the participants are lousy shots, especially at such a small target often unexpectedly flying out towards the Channel at over 80 km/hour.

  Usually the shootings result in a clean miss on both of them. Occasionally, the hunters might wing one bird, but that is rare. As a result, the message (if there is one; sometimes there is nothing to report) usually has a good chance of at least getting over the English Channel.

  Even if the hunters on the beaches are lucky enough to hit one bird, very rarely do these potshots ever get both of them. On this particular day though, the 716th’s shooters are quite lucky. They get both birds. In fact, one of the dead pigeons will land close by and fall into German hands.

  The report of the veteran 352nd being moved up to the coast never makes it to Allied headquarters.3

  Generalfeldmarschall von Rundstedt’s summary report for the day notes intensive bombings on the Seine River bridges.

  OB West appraises the situation as follows:

  Systematic bombing, especially of all traffic installations within the zone of OB West, by the enemy Air Force… demonstrates the enemy’s intention of destroying and disrupting the traffic network, and thereby, troop movements and supply services [from the coast] to the far rear areas. Successful attacks carried out recently on the Seine bridges have considerably interfered with the cross-river traffic, and thereby cut off the Channel front north of the Seine from direct contact with the Seine estuary and Normandy.

  This may indicate enemy designs on Normandy.

  Despite his report though, von Rundstedt still maintains that the main assault will come at the Pas-de-Calais. In any case:

  It is true that the hour of invasion draws nearer, but the scale of the enemy air attacks does not indicate that it is immediately imminent.

  He rereads that last part again. Has he overplayed that point? Enemy air activity has stepped up and is playing havoc with their transportation system. He has already read Rommel’s report that the coastal construction is coming along, although the attacks on the transportation systems are “having a bad effect on the situation.” Maybe he should revise that last part.

  He thinks about it and decides not to. The conclusion might have a calming effect on Hitler.

  Of course, if his report turns out to be wrong…

  ***

  Today Rommel stays at his headquarters and fills out several reports. In the evening, General Walter Buhle and his associate General Jakob4 arrive at the château. Tomorrow they will go together to watch a number of demonstrations, including Major Becker’s new “toys.”

  The two generals stay for dinner and since they will attend Rommel’s conference tomorrow, agree to stay the night. At dinner, they discuss tomorrow’s agenda. After an evening walk, they turn in.

  Late on in his quarters, Rommel hears the explosions of yet more bombs as enemy air raids strike again. He writes to Lucie:

  The Anglo-Americans have in no way let up from their incessant bombardment. The French in particular suffer from it terribly—in 48 hours, there have been three thousand dead among the people. Our own losses are in general only moderate. Many dummy installations have been ripped apart.

  He considers that what he has written might sadden her, so he switches to a lighter subject, the dogs:

  I am so glad that the little one pleases you so much.5 Treff is very quiet and obedient on a hunt.

  He pauses. That was true. The dog did well on their “armed promenades.” He continues:

  I am very satisfied with the big brown hunting dog. Most of the time, he lies next to me at the desk. When I g
et up he hopes to come along. On the hunt he heels and immediately reacts to a whistle. The other day he attacked a German shepherd so that it was difficult to separate the two mutts.

  He is tired. Time to end the letter.

  That’s all for today.

  1See entry for May 16.

  2To counter this threat, the Germans sometimes made extensive searches of houses along the coast, and occasionally dropped their own containers of “spy pigeons.”

  3One source claims that no pigeon ever carried information about the redeployment of the 352nd, but that seems unlikely. Steward Bryant though, analyzing material written by the 352nd Division’s chief of staff as an American POW after the war, confirms the fact that the Resistance did use carrier pigeons, provided by British SOE (Special Operations Executive). In this case, they were being sent by a French resistance cell operating out of Cricqueville, a couple kilometers inland behind Pointe du Hoc.

  4Buhle replaced Himmler in January 1944 as the army Chief of Armaments at the suggestion of Armaments Technical Department Director Karl Saur. General Jakob was in charge of Engineering and Fortifications for the German Army.

  5Rommel had evidently sent Elbo to Lucie, as he indicated on May 8 and May 12.

  Tuesday, May 30

  It is morning. Rommel leaves La Roche-Guyon in a motorcade for a conference and weapons display on the coast. With him and his staff1 are General Buhle and General Jakob. Despite recent Allied air attacks on the northern European rivers, the bridges at Mantes are still thankfully intact, though several bombs have landed several times around the island sitting between them. However, when the convoy arrives in the town, they are told that there are already a number of enemy air formations flying high above. The cars are quickly driven over the bridges and continue on to Riva Bella, just west of Ouistreham, where the conference and demonstrations are to take place.

  Already assembled there are Admiral Krancke, Rommel’s corps commanders (including 47th Panzer Corps commander von Funck), the two army commanders, von Salmuth and Dollmann, and their two chiefs of staff, Heinz Meyer-Bürdorf and Max Pemsel. There are also a number of senior officers from the nearby 21st Panzer Division, since they are conducting the special weapons demonstrations. After arriving, Rommel has a chance to greet Major Hans von Luck, an old comrade from North Africa. Photographers in attendance take a number of pictures of the attending officers.

  Featured in the demonstrations will be some innovative multiple rocket launchers that have been fashioned by the 21st’s manufacturing wizard, Major Alfred Becker. He has been busy coordinating component shipments from his factory, Alkett in Berlin, to his multi-talented workshops in Paris, which have jokingly become known as his “Special Headquarters,” Besondererkommando Becker.

  The demonstrations, especially the effect of those whooshing missiles, are hugely successful and impress everyone there. Becker also demonstrates some of his ad hoc hybrid armored assault guns. He has added armor plating shipped from the Alkett factory onto the old French Lorraine armored carrier chassis, and using his industrial connections, obtained for them the latest radios. In doing so, he has so far created some two dozen Marder SP tank destroyers by mounting onto them 75mm PAK40 tank guns. Similarly, he has created some deadly self-propelled artillery by mounting FH18 105mm howitzers onto some four dozen old French Hotchkiss H-35 tank frames. Other French light tank chassis were given reinforced armor, and an anti-tank gun.

  All of these homemade armor assemblies, put together by his Paris detachment, are deployed, mostly to the 21st Panzer. Some officers in the panzergrenadier regiments had at first laughed hysterically at the odd-looking, horrific, homemade contraptions. However, after having trained to work with them, and seeing their potential, the panzergrenadiers have been forced to admit that these mobile tank destroyers are good substitutions for the Jagdpanzers they were supposed to get.

  There are also a number of smoke generators shown. Hopefully, they will effectively screen the beaches from the landing craft; that is, if there are enough of them, and they are in the right place at the right time. General Buhle promises to send all there are from Germany

  After the presentation, General Marcks gets a chance to talk to General von Salmuth. He tells him of the problems that he is having along his Calvados coastline. The 352nd and the 716th Divisions have an 80km stretch of beach to defend. “It’s the weakest sector of my whole corps,” Marcks admits worriedly.

  He continues voicing his concerns about a landing in this area. He had told Geyr von Schweppenburg the same thing a few weeks before when the panzer general had visited his corps headquarters. Marcks had told Geyr that he was not worried about a landing on the western side of the Cotentin peninsula, but that he was concerned about the beach area east of Carentan. Now he is telling von Salmuth the same thing. But his concern does not seem to be registering too heavily upon the senior generals. Then there is the short supply of concrete…

  The conference begins and the senior army commanders give their situation reports. Then they all break for lunch, provided by a small but adequate field mess. The officers sit at tables under a lovely thick canopy of trees. Just as well, perhaps. Enemy air activity is bustling, as usual these days. Rommel remarks that he is surprised the Mantes bridge over which they traveled to cross the Seine this morning is still functional.

  After lunch, Rommel closes the conference by addressing all of his commanders. He pleads with them to stay alert, and to be ready at all times. “You shouldn’t count on the enemy coming in fine weather,” he tells them, “and by day.”

  Sadly for him, he will end up ignoring his own advice.

  Rommel, Buhle and Jakob then ride off to tour the defensive barriers along the coast. Rommel takes the opportunity to show the OKH generals the progress the men have made, and the new types of obstacles they have erected. He does not know it, but this will be his last tour of the invasion area before D-Day.

  Eventually, the officers start back towards La Roche-Guyon. They make a few stops at some deployment areas of the 21st Panzer Division. Again Rommel gives the “stay alert” speech. His friend von Luck is present here again, as he was at the conference. Rommel expresses his anxiety over the fact that the enemy has not yet come. Will they ever? This long period of no activity is beginning to have an effect on his men, even the new recruits, fresh from Germany. And the nice weather, the peaceful French countryside, and the good wine are not helping matters.

  In the late afternoon, members of Rommel’s staff, returning ahead of him, experience a harrowing crossing at Gaillon, about 20km downriver from the town of Vernon. All seems well as they arrive in the town and see that the bridge is intact. However, when they get close, they find themselves in the start of an air raid. As they approach to cross, the first bombs start falling around the bridge spans. They stop and wait for the initial wave to finish. Then the vehicles, with the staff members craning their anxious heads up to spot approaching enemy bombers, make a mad dash across the river. Less than an hour later, the bridge is down.

  When Rommel later approaches that bridge, the damage has been done. With the Vernon and Louviers bridges out as well, Corporal Daniel has to drive them further upstream to Mantes. When they arrive though, Rommel sees that the bridges there are also gone.2 Probably all of the bridges along the Seine between Rouen and Paris are now destroyed or in the river. Daniel is forced to backtrack downstream along the southern bank to just opposite the château, where they have to cross the Seine in a boat.

  In a similar fashion, various ferry services are operating. But many supplies will now have to travel long out-of-the-way routes to get to units along the western coast.

  1Including Admiral Ruge, General Meise, General Diem, and Colonel Lattman.

  2The last one standing, the highway bridge, was successfully taken out by bombs dropped by 36 B-26s of the 386th Bomb Group.

  Wednesday, May 31

  This morning, Generalfeldmarschall Rommel takes a quick trip upriver to check out those dest
royed bridges at Mantes that he saw yesterday. While several enemy formations fly overhead, he then backtracks downriver past his château to see the ones first at Vernon, then further on at Gaillon. Obviously the Allies wanted the bridges down to isolate the northeast coast from northwest France. But which side is the target area? Or will it be somewhere in Brittany? And this isolation effect—is it for an actual upcoming operation, or is just a prelude for something that will go down in a few months? What is the overall strategic general plan? Is this perhaps some kind of a feint for another operation somewhere else, like a strike at Norway? Intelligence had picked up some clues about something like that…

  After returning to the château, Rommel checks the tide tables and decides that they will be unfavorable for invasion in early June; no high tide at or near dawn. The nearest such period would be June 20. And that would also coincide with the end of the Russian spring thaw, which is when their dreaded summer offensive is expected to begin. But the date ranges would be different if the Allies decide on a mid-tide or a low-tide landing.

  He thinks about this. A landing at high tide seems the most rational. They would still be somewhat vulnerable to his high-tide barriers, but they would avoid many of the medium-tide obstacles and the few low-tide ones his men had managed to set. Most of his beach defenses constructed to date have been based upon that assumption. He feels that the Allies will not land at low tide, because the assaulting troops would struggle ashore along a much greater distance. Exposed in the open kill zones, they would make easy targets, and it would be far more likely for his defenders to inflict heavy casualties. Follow-up waves would be vulnerable as well, similarly struggling across open ground.