Countdown to D-Day

by Peter Margaritis

Panzer (Pz.)—Armor or armored vehicle. When used in combination with other unit types (such as Panzerabwehrkanone (PAK)—Term for an anti-tank gun, mostly used at the tactical level to describe various calibers of defensive and offensive anti-tank weapons.

  Panzerartillerie or Panzerpionier), signifies the unit is motorized and equipped to operate with the armored units. A panzerdivision was an armored division, typically composed of a panzer regiment, two panzergrenadier regiments, self-propelled artillery, tank destroyer battalion, mobile artillery, support battalions, and a headquarters unit.

  Panzerfaust—Lit. “armored fist.” A German hand-held anti-tank rocket weapon; equivalent to an American bazooka.

  Panzergrenadier—A term referring to armored infantry and nearly always a component of either a panzer division or a panzergrenadier division. The men moved and fought with armored transport vehicles such as halftracks, prime movers, and armored cars.

  PanzerGruppe West—Armored Forces Command, Western Theater. Commanded by General Geyr von Schweppenburg.

  Panzerjäger or Jagdpanzer—A tank destroyer; a motorized, armored, anti-tank vehicle.

  PanzerKampfwagen (PzKw——Lit. “armored battle vehicle.” The German formal term for a tank. Corresponding to the American term “Mark,” it denoted a model number when followed by a Roman numeral. Thus, the Allies’ term “Mark IV” was based upon the German counterpart, PanzerKampfwagen IV (PzKw IV).

  Panzer Lehr—Lit. “Armored Training/Demonstration.” A panzer division, one of the few designated just by name, considered one of the best in the German Army. It was formed to act as a bulwark against the upcoming Allied invasion of France, but its creation in the view of many historians was considered a critical mistake, because manning it pulled experienced training instructors and troops out of the schools and put them into combat.

  Pour le Mérite—The classic German medal, created in 1740 by Frederick the Great, for the highest bravery, equivalent to the US Medal of Honor. During World War I, it was popularized by Germany’s fighter aces, who earned it by shooting down single-handedly twenty enemy aircraft. It was actually the British who gave the award the sobriquet “Blue Max,” referring of course to the color of the medal, and to Max Immelmann, the first German fighter ace to earn it.

  Reichskanzlei—The Reich Chancellery in Berlin.

  Ringständ—A small, hardened fortified position in a fortified line mounted in the ground flush to the surface, consisting of a hollow, round or octagonal fighting hole or expanded foxhole encased in concrete. It featured a major weapon such as a heavy machinegun or assault gun. Either open or encased, it usually held one or two men, and sometimes had a metal ring on to mount the traversable machinegun.

  Ritterkreuz—The Knight’s Cross. A distinct military decoration awarded for outstanding service instead of bravery. Higher levels included with diamonds and with oak leaves.

  “Rommelspargel”—Lit. “Rommel’s asparagus.” A nickname given by Germans along the French coast to the formations of stakes (often topped with an explosive device) installed in the open fields behind the beaches to thwart inland glider landings.

  Schnell—Lit. “fast” or “mobile.” Schnelltruppen usually were intended to be motorized troops although a Schnellebrigade was actually bicycle troops and not motorized.

  Schnellboot (S-boot)—Small German motor torpedo attack boat, equivalent to a British MTB or an American PT Boat. Called “E-boats” ( “enemy” boat) by the Allies, they operated along the English Channel, attacking shipping and controlling areas. Displacing from 60 to 125 tons, they were armed with two or four torpedo tubes and a couple light guns. Crew averaged from 12 to 20 men.

  Schützenpanzerwagen (SPW)—An armored personnel carriers; usually referred to as halftracks. Infantry either rode in the open on top or within an enclosure.

  Schutzstaffel (SS)—Lit. “protection detachment” or “protective squad.” Refers to the Third Reich’s infamous praetorian guard. It was established in 1925 as Hitler’s bodyguard, a small paramilitary organization amidst the German political and social revolution of the 1920s. Himmler was appointed its leader in 1929, and under him, it became the enforcer for the Nazi party. As such, it eventually controlled all other branches of government, ruthlessly carrying out all racial policies of the Reich, including mass extermination. The SS over the years grew into a complex organization, a fourth branch of the Wehrmacht, and eventually became totally independent of it (as indicated by the fact that members wore the national emblem on their left sleeve, instead of over their right breast pocket as the Heer did).

  Schwerpunkt—The main point of force; the place where the main assault would come.

  Standartenführer—SS rank of colonel.

  Tigerfibel—”Tiger Primer.” A publication written during the war by panzer expert Heinz Guderian. Designed in a sort of black-and-white comic-book format, it was an excellent primer on tank warfare and maintenance of the Tiger tank, written in verse, with some pages in a humorous vein.

  Torpedoboot (T-boot)—German fleet torpedo boat. A patrol vessel, much larger than a British MTB or American PT-Boat and comparable to a destroyer escort. The older ones were originally designed in the 1920s as destroyers (Zerstödrer), but were reclassified as large torpedo boats in the 1930s.

  This was because the Kriegsmarine, bridled by the Treaty of Versailles, was only allowed to have a small, limited amount of destroyers. The later vessels carried a complement of about 110 and were over 90 meters long.

  Untersëeboot (U-boot)—Lit. “Underwater boat”; the infamous German U-boat submarine.

  Vergeltung (V-1, V-2…)—Lit. “Vengeance/Revenge.” Hitler’s unmanned air force that was launched against the English civilian population in retribution for the Allied bombings of Germany. The first such weapon was the V-1 (“Buzz bomb,” as the British dubbed it, because of the droning sound it made in flight), a small pilotless flying bomb that served as a surface-to-surface land-attack missile. The second was the V-2 rocket, the first medium-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile ever constructed. The term was suggested by Goebbels as a propaganda response to the “V for Victory” code that was springing up in enemy camps.

  Vizeadmiral—German Navy rank of vice-admiral, equivalent to the German Army rank of Generalleutnant.

  Waffen-SS—Fully militarized combat formations of the SS, the Nazi party military arm. The term originated around 1940 for that portion of the SS whose personnel were organized into military fighting units. Though part of the larger SS structure, the Waffen-SS was a front-line fighting organization that encompassed over half a million men by the end of the war. Often committing atrocities, most Waffen-SS developed a reputation for fighting fanatically and bitterly against their enemies.

  Wehrmacht—A term used to describe the combined German military armed forces from 1935 on. Although the term was often erroneously used to refer to just the German Army, it included all the armed forces, consisting of the German Army (Heer), Navy (Kriegsmarine), and Air Force (Luftwaffe). For ground operations, the Waffen-SS were tactically a part of the Wehrmacht as well.

  Wehrmachtführungsamt (WFSt)—The OKW Operations office, the most important division of OKW. It controlled planning, combined operations, transportation, communications, and even elements of propaganda for the Armed Forces. Heading the division was Operations Chief Alfred Jodl. The main component of this office was the Wehrmachtfuhrungsstab (WFStb), the Armed Forces Operations/Command Staff.

  Widerstand—The French Resistance.

  Widerstandsnest (WN-)—”Resistance Nest.” One of many common small, isolated, single, self-contained defensive strongpoints located along a defensive front, smaller than a strongpoint (stützpunkt). They were manned usually by no more than a platoon of men; each was given a number for identification purposes. The category was created by Field Marshal von Rundstedt in May 1942 and incorporated into the Atlantic Wall.

  Wüstenfuchs—”Desert Fox.” The term coined in 1941 for Erwin Rommel because of
his early successes in North Africa against the British.

  zur besonderer Verwendung (zbV)—For special purposes or special use. Often used for ad hoc units, it was used more frequently as the war progressed.

  Appendix A

  Rommel’s headquarters at La Roche-Guyon

  The château of La Roche-Guyon, which became Rommel’s headquarters on March 9, 1944, is located about 64km northwest of Paris, roughly halfway between the capital and Rouen, and just 165km from Le Havre on the coast. The large estate had been the home of the Ducs du Rochefoucald since the 17th century. The château is located above the sloping northern bank of the Seine at a large U-shaped river bend; behind it is a steep chalk cliff. The first castle here was dug entirely into the cliff, hard to spot with a casual glance. In the 12th century, a new main building, protected by a wall, was built at the foot of the cliff, while above it rose a solid circular tower of stone, built by the Normans around the 10th century. A protective double stone enclosure shaped like a spur was also built around the rising keep, which was connected to the manor by a secret passageway dug into the rock. Next to the château and to its left is the small village of La Roche-Guyon, with about 540 inhabitants in 1944.

  The complex was administratively taken over on March 17, 1943 by the German forces, who installed a flak battery on the hill above the château. Just down the main street was the town’s Kommandant’s office. Near the town center is the 15th-century church of St. Samson, on the Rue des Frères Rousse.

  Because the bridge next to the château was destroyed in June 1940 (see below), anyone wishing to cross the Seine had to take the local ferry. There were also road bridges at the nearby towns of Mantes and Vernon. All in all, the château’s location was off the main routes, but within easy access of them, and importantly for Rommel, close to the coast.

  The château is elegant and spacious, although there was much work to be done to prepare it for Rommel and his staff. Because of the building’s age and solid construction, utilities were somewhat challenging, and creating enough living and working space for an entire army group headquarters was a problem. Engineers dug out more tunnels in the cliffs, for such things as extra offices, storage, a makeshift movie theater, and of course, safe air raid shelters.

  The château itself had lavish rooms, not overly spacious or luxurious but comfortable and well furnished. The solid walls were a few meters thick and stayed cool, even in the summer. In the late winter of 1944 though, the building was downright cold.

  Rommel chose as his quarters an unpretentious ground-floor stateroom, as simple as his uniforms. His study, also on the ground floor, was a tall room, entered through a large door from a corridor richly paneled in oak. The room, decorated by the Duchesse d’Enville in the early 18th century, was a long, high-ceilinged, wooden-floored chamber. The south wall opened through two high beautifully designed French windows onto a lovely rose garden and terrace.

  Next to the French windows was a priceless, inlaid, Renaissance desk catty-corner in one corner of the room. Rommel had been told that Louvois himself had signed the revocation order for the Edict of Nantes on that desk in 1685, so he made sure that the top was kept clean and simple. He only allowed himself one telephone on it. His neat piles of papers were limited to the latest messages and any report he might be writing, along with one simple black pencil. There were no photos of Manfred or Lucie, and he kept his letters from home discreetly put away in the drawers. (On one occasion, Gause inadvertently came into the room as Rommel was admiring a picture of Lucie that had been enclosed in her latest letter. Embarrassed, he hurriedly put the photo down and spread some maps over it. Rommel was pretty sure his chief of staff had seen the photo, but never said anything about it. Gause, embarrassed over the incident, discreetly decided not to either.)

  The wooden floor was well-polished, with one or two valuable carpets on it. The oak-paneled walls had priceless 18th-century Gobelin tapestries hang on them, with ancient porcelain vases and lamps arranged below. On one wall hung a portrait of a hooded Duke François de la Rochefoucald, 17th-century ancestor of the present holder of the title, and writer of French maxims. Adjoining the study was a lavish library with priceless volumes, many of which date back over 200 years.

  The army engineers did a remarkable job adding rooms to the cliffside. They installed a communications room, a theater, administrative offices, storage rooms, and a couple adequate shelters deep in the chalk cliff, so that the staff of some 20 officers and 80 enlisted need not worry about air raids.

  The stables on the left, which had once housed some of the most magnificent horses in France, were renovated into offices for Rommel’s intelligence officers. The wine cellars were consolidated considerably, and a large part of the freed space reinforced with concrete and turned into air raid shelters for the staff.

  Rommel and his senior staff of course got to stay at the château. Junior staff officers and senior enlisted men stayed in a large adjacent building, where the naval advisory staff also worked. The remainder of the headquarters personnel had to find quarters in town. More anti-aircraft protection in the form of several batteries rose up from the valley floor—”like tall organ pipes,” as one observer solemnly put it.

  The bridge over the Seine—le pont de La Roche-Guyon—had once been a splendid structure. Heralded at its dedication on July 7, 1935 as the longest bridge in France, the structure had an unfortunately short life span. Less than five years later, on June 9, 1940, to slow down the blitz advance of the oncoming Germans, the French blew it up with 400kg of explosives placed at the base of the bridge’s abutments. And according to a few local inhabitants, the demolition was badly executed, a testimony to the confusion war often creates.

  The local populace, according to the story, had been forewarned on Friday, June 7 of the demolition plan, but no definite time was specified by the authorities. Nevertheless, the army engineers (Génie) had reassured the civilians, promising to stop refugee traffic across the bridge an hour or two before the charges were set off (an assertion supported after the war by statements made by members of the city council). By Sunday, civil authorities had moved their offices across river to the southern bank, as had the military units in the area. That afternoon, just before 2 p.m., the local military commander received a report of German mobile advance units approaching the area. The military unit at the bridge, perhaps with an element of panic, suddenly began blocking off traffic to the bridge. A scant five minutes after that, the demolition charges were detonated.

  Only the people near the bridge had been given any final warning (brief as it was), and many were unaware that the bridge was even going to be destroyed, especially the unsuspecting refugees that were moving through the area. Many fleeing over the bridge had barely made it across when the barricades had gone up. So understandably, when the charges were set off and the bridge collapsed, chaos also erupted. The tremendous detonations destroyed the bridge, but explosive concussions, as well as flying splinters and fragments, did considerable nearby damage as well.

  The demolition prompted an immediate panic, among both the local villagers and the throngs of refugees moving into the area—many homeless—that had planned on crossing the river here to flee from the advancing enemy. Making matters worse, all the governmental officials and workers had already evacuated across the river, so no authority was left to take charge of the refugee traffic. Many soldiers, cut off from their units and now a part of the fleeing civilian crowds, angrily threw down their weapons and ripped off their shirts and tunics, shouting, “Treason!”

  The truly sad note to this was that the Germans did not approach the area for another 24 hours, finally rolling into the town around 4 p.m. on Monday afternoon. That had been nearly four years ago, and ever since then, to cross the river at this point, one had to take a small ferry; or go out of one’s way, upstream to Mantes, or downstream to Vernon. This would be a minor but decidedly irritating drawback to requisitioning the château for Rommel’s headquarters.

&
nbsp; Appendix B

  Von Rundstedt’s headquarters at St.-Germain-en-Laye

  On the night of March 4, 1942, just von Rundstedt was reappointed OB West, an RAF air raid attacked the Renault factory at Boulogne-Billancourt, a nearby western Parisian suburb. A few stray bombs hit the area of St.-Germain. One stray all but destroyed the house across the street from the Pavillon Henri IV, von Rundstedt’s base, as well as damaging the Hôtel itself. His staff at that point decided that a protected building was needed for the command staff. When Hitler was told of the air raid early the next year, concerned for the Prussian’s safety, he immediately ordered a location be chosen for a bunker complex to be built for his strategic headquarters command. So the field marshal and his staff had chosen a beautiful, discreet, secluded location nearby. The picturesque area included a rolling hill, a nice terrace, a breathtaking little forest, a nearby castle, and several large villas, all which could be requisitioned if necessary for the headquarters staff.

  On an old limestone quarry below a hillcrest, at 20–24 Boulevard Victor Hugo, OT laborers divided into three 400-man teams started working in shifts around the clock for seven months to build a three-floor concrete command bunker. The solid, thick concrete structure was finished in late 1943.

  The 2,000-square-meter blockhouse headquarters at first only included several offices, a large map room, eating and restroom facilities, and an infirmary. It was about 100 meters long and 50 meters tall, with some five meters or so underground. The bunker complex had vine-covered concrete walls up to 60cm thick, and a good part of it was constructed deep into the hill, almost under the boulevard and part of the nearby school grounds. There were no windows; just two deeply set portholes in front, from which guards could peer out at visitors. Slides covered the ports in case of an attack. Several apertures were built into the walls, mainly for air venting and circulation.