The Liberation Trilogy Box Set

by Rick Atkinson

  At 7:30 on Sunday evening: TT, 276–79; AAR, 110th Inf, n.d., JT, LOC MS Div, box 35; corr, Hurley E. Fuller to Norman D. Cota, Feb. 22, 1945, Cota papers, DDE Library, box 2 (Within hours Fuller had been captured).

  The castle too was burning: McManus, Alamo in the Ardennes, 93–94, 143; Phillips, To Save Bastogne, 142–43 (garrison hoisted a white flag); Jos. Märtz, “Luxemburg in der Rundstedt-Offensive,” JT, LOC MS Div, box 39, 144 (German looting); Margaret Henry Fleming, “With the American Red Cross in the Battle of the Bulge,” n.d., Columbus WWII Round Table Collection, MHI, box 1 (“Of course we’re open”).

  Not far from Clervaux, frightened civilians: diary, “First Army,” Dec. 19, 1944, JT, LOC MS Div, box 36; Ardennes, 226 (fled Diekirch in bitter cold); Weintraub, 11 Days in December, 40 (Christmas packages and letters); “The Breakthrough to Bastogne,” vol. 2, n.d., CMH, 8-3.1 AR, 31, 37–40 (A gaggle of Army bandsmen).

  “This was the end”: Ardennes, 210–11; Daniel B. Stickler, XO, 110th Inf, “The Battle of the Bulge,” n.d., CBM, MHI, box 3 (radium-dial compasses); McManus, The Deadly Brotherhood, 160 (“laughing at me”).

  The 110th Infantry had been annhilated: “The Breakthrough to Bastogne,” vol. 2, n.d., CMH, 8-3.1 AR, 31, 40–41; Cirillo “Ardennes-Alsace,” 25.

  Only in the center of the German onslaught: Royce L. Thompson, “Intensity of Fighting on a Division Level: The Ordeal of the 106th ID,” n.d., CMH, 2-3.7 AE P-5, 135; Dupuy, St. Vith: Lion in the Way, 35, 46 (Siegfried Line pillboxes); “The Defense of St. Vith, Belgium,” n.d., AS, Ft. K, NARA RG 407, E 427, Miscl AG Records, #2280, 2–7 (hoped to capture St.-Vith within a day); Ardennes, 145 (On no segment of the Western Front), 147 (“Take a ten-minute break”); “The Losheim Gap,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETO HD, UD 584, 6–10.

  Not for long, at least on the left flank: “VIII Corps Strength, 16 Dec 1944,” n.d., CMH, 2-3.7, AE P-14 (sixteen hundred troopers); “The Losheim Gap,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETO HD, UD 584, 3–4, 18 (put Manderfeld to the torch); OH, 14th Cavalry Gp, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder #329 (“Your damn town” and “Tanks seventy-five yards”); “The Losheim Gap,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETO HD, UD 584, 2, 14–16; TT, 117 (the cavalry buckled); Dupuy, St. Vith: Lion in the Way, 28–29 (“Front lines still intact”); affidavit, A. D. “Pat” Dugan, former XO, 14th Cavalry Gp, June 12, 1950, a.p., 2–4 (knocked Devine to the floor); “Report of Investigation, Action of 14th Cavalry Group,” Jan. 29, 1945, IG, NARA RG 338, First Army AG Gen’l Corr (eight of a dozen tank destroyers).

  Devine’s behavior now grew odd: corr, M. A. Devine, Jr., to “Gen. Searcy,” Feb. 27, 1945, and handwritten notes, n.d., a.p. (eating bread, cheese); affidavit, W. M. Hoge, 4th AD, Apr. 20, 1945, a.p. (thought his demeanor unremarkable); testimony, Henry B. Perrine, ADC, 106th ID, and William C. Baker, Jr., chief of staff, 106th ID, in IG memo, Feb. 2, 1945, NARA RG 338, First Army AG Gen’l Corr, box 222 (“almost incoherent”).

  Instead, at daybreak on Sunday Devine: Ardennes, 162–64. On his first two visits to St.-Vith, Devine took a French liaison officer, Aspirant George Guderin (Affidavit, G. Guderin, March 12, 1945, a.p.).

  “The Germans are right behind us”: Toland, Battle, 66 (“They’ve broken through”); Morelock, Generals of the Ardennes, 338–39; Rosser L. Hunter, “Action of 106th Infantry Division,” IG, Jan. 26, 1945, NARA RG 338, FUSA AG, 333.9, 1–6; “Report of Investigation, Action of 14th Cavalry Group,” Jan. 29, 1945, IG, NARA RG 338, First Army AG Gen’l Corr; “The Losheim Gap,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETO HD, UD 584, 28, 32.

  At dusk on Sunday, Devine set out: OH, 14th Cavalry Gp, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder #329.

  Thwarted by torrents of traffic: corr, Lawrence J. Smith, former 14th Cav S-3, to CBM, Oct. 22, 1983, CBM, MHI, box 5 (disheveled, incoherent); testimony, William F. Damon, Jr., in IG memo, Feb. 2, 1945, NARA RG 338, First Army AG Gen’l Corr, box 222 (“I want you to take over”); affidavit, Robert N. Pritchard, n.d., a.p. (evacuated to Vielsalm).

  A battalion surgeon later found Devine: testimony, Clark P. Searle, surgeon, 820th Tank Bn, in IG memo, Feb. 2, 1945, NARA RG 338, First Army AG Gen’l Corr, box 222. Even before the war ended, and for five years subsequently, Devine sought to explain his actions. Gen. Middleton described him as “better than the average officer” (Corr, Troy H. Middleton, July 20, 1949, a.p.).

  The damage had been done: memo, “Action of 106th Infantry Division,” First Army IG to chief of staff, Jan. 26, 1945, NARA RG 338, First Army AG Gen’l Corr; Ardennes, 90–91 (American left flank abruptly unhinged); “The Losheim Gap,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETO HD, UD 584, 12, 32.

  In St.-Vith, General Jones, a stocky native: Persons, Relieved of Command, 159–61; Ardennes, 155–57.

  “You know how things are up there”: TT, 128–29; OH, Troy H. Middleton, July 30, 1945, theater historian, NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584 (“He felt that he could hold”).

  Jones also believed that help was on the way: Morelock, Generals of the Ardennes, 295; Rosser L. Hunter, “Action of 106th Infantry Division,” IG, Jan. 26, 1945, NARA RG 338, FUSA AG, 333.9, 1–6 (VIII Corps promised); Dupuy, St. Vith: Lion in the Way, 113–14 (“indescribable confusion”); “The Defense of St. Vith, Belgium,” n.d., AS, Ft. K, NARA RG 407, E 427, Miscl AG Records, #2280, 9–10 (“every dog for himself”); Baldwin, Battles Lost and Won, 329 (“fear-crazed occupants”).

  By midday on Sunday: TT, 322–23 (gallstone); Clarke, “The Battle for St. Vith,” Armor (Nov.–Dec. 1974): 1+ (“some trouble”); Morelock, Generals of the Ardennes, 295–300 (“enough troubles already”).

  The crackle of small-arms fire: http://www.cellitinnen-osa.de/en/geschichte-teil3.html; TT, 327 (“thrown in my last chips”); Clarke, “The Battle for St. Vith,” Armor (Nov.–Dec. 1974): 1+ (“You take it now”); Rosser L. Hunter, “Action of 106th Infantry Division,” IG, Jan. 26, 1945, NARA RG 338, FUSA AG, 333.9, 5 (joined the frantic exodus).

  Jones’s stand-fast decision: “The Losheim Gap,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETO HD, UD 584, 32; Ardennes, 165–67; “Report of Action Against Enemy,” 106th ID, Jan. 6, 1945, Alan W. Jones papers, MHI, box 1; John C. Hollinger, “The Operations of the 422nd Infantry Regiment,” IS, 1949 (“absolutely no expression”).

  “My poor men”: TT, 340.

  Cooks made towering stacks of pancakes: John P. Kline, “The Service Diary of German War Prisoner #315136,” n.d., CBM, MHI, box 2; OH, 106th ID, “German Breakthrough in the Ardennes,” n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folders 244–245a (compass azimuth); Dupuy, St. Vith: Lion in the Way, 123 (“Where the hell are we?”); “Report on Allied Air Force Operations,” May 21, 1945, SHAEF, A-3, CARL, N-9371; Royce L. Thompson, “Air Resupply to Isolated Units, Ardennes Campaign,” Feb. 1951, CMH, 2-3.7 AE P, 2–3, 26–29 (“command incoordination”).

  “Attack Schönberg”: TT, 340.

  At daybreak on Tuesday, three battalions: OH, 106th ID, “German Breakthrough in the Ardennes,” n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folders 244–245a; corr, George A. Curtis, Sept. 7, 1957, CBM, MHI, box 4 (“this isn’t exactly as we planned”).

  By one P.M., at least one battalion: memo, Distinguished Unit Citation nomination, 423rd Inf, CBM, MHI, box 4; “A Glimpse of War,” n.d., submitted by Robert Fullam, NWWIIM, 9 (“their skin that yellow-white”); OH, 106th ID, “German Breakthrough in the Ardennes,” n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folders 244–245a (“Go blow it out your ass”); Alan W. Jones, Jr., “The Operations of the 423rd Infantry,” IS, 1949, 26 (Spirits soared for a moment).

  At 2:30 P.M., with two thousand of his men: http://www.purplehearts.net/descheneaux/descheneaux.htm (“like fish in a pond”); OH, 106th ID, “German Breakthrough in the Ardennes,” n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folders 244–245a (“Destroy all weapons”); TT, 343–45 (Descheneaux sat on the lip); memo, Distinguished Unit Citation nomination, 423rd Inf, CBM, MHI, box 4; Leo R. Leisse, “Diary of an Ex-P.O.W.,” n.d., CBM, MHI, box 5, 2–4 (Cavender had reached the same conclusion); Richard A. Hartman, “The Combat History of the 590th Field Artillery Battalio
n,” 1949, CBM, MHI, box 2 (“We surrender”).

  A few diehards lay low: Ardennes, 170; Morelock, Generals of the Ardennes, 275 (“I’ve lost a division quicker”); memos, Jan. 26 and March 8, 1945, 365th Station Hospital, Alan W. Jones papers, MHI, box 1 (“Detachment of Patients”); Winton, Corps Commanders of the Bulge, 253–56, 412.

  Long columns of prisoners plodded: John P. Kline, “The Service Diary of German War Prisoner #315136,” CBM, MHI, box 2 (wounded men wailing); OH, Jacques Peterges, Aug. 5, 1981, and Adolf Schür, Aug. 10, 1981, CBM, MHI, box 6 (catcalling); William P. Kirkbridge, “Negotiations for the Surrender at Losheimergraben,” n.d., Richard H. Byers papers, 99th ID, MHI, box 1 (“tanks towing other tanks”).

  “Do not flee”: corr, John I. Hungerford to JT, June 26, 1957, CBM, MHI, box 4; Leo R. Leisse, “Diary of an Ex-P.O.W.,” n.d., CBM, MHI, box 5, 3–4 (back to belly); Roger S. Durham, “The Past Is Present: The World War II Service of George E. Durham,” 1996, a.p., 174–75 (potato skins); John P. Kline, “The Service Diary of German War Prisoner #315136,” n.d., CBM, MHI, box 2 (“made us take off our overshoes”).

  “Bayonets aren’t much good”: Carroll, Behind the Lines, 318–20.

  “Success—complete success”: TT, 193.

  “Why Are You Not Packing?”

  A leaden overcast in Luxembourg City: Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 449 (Coca-Cola and “lifeless chimneys”); war diaries, Dec. 16, 1944, ONB papers, MHI; “Destroy the Enemy,” Time, Dec. 4, 1944; Weintraub, 11 Days in December, 54–55 (“There’s been a complete breakthrough”).

  Shortly before three P.M., a SHAEF colonel: memo, “Conference in War Room,” Dec. 16, 1944, Harold R. Bull papers, DDE Lib, box 2; “Excerpts from Diary, D/SAC,” Dec. 16, 1944, NARA RG 319, SC background files, 2-3.7 CB 8; Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 449; Strong, Intelligence at the Top, 212–17 (“it would be wrong to underrate”).

  Eisenhower and Bradley dined that night: http://www.ibiblio.org/lia/president/EisenhowerLibrary/_General_Materials/DDE_Biography.html (ascended from lieutenant colonel to general); Miller, Ike the Soldier, 723 (Piper Scotch); diary, Dec. 17, 1944, CBH, MHI, box 4 (five rubbers of bridge).

  Eisenhower in a subsequent cable to Marshall: TSC, 375, 376n; TT, 186 (“Tell him that Ike”).

  Other moves quickly followed: DDE, “The Battle of the Ardennes Salient,” Dec. 23, 1944, Sidney H. Negrotto papers, MHI; Ardennes, 334 (Army tactical doctrine); TSC, 380 (“By rushing out”); Strong, Intelligence at the Top, 219 (“Why are you not packing?”).

  In a message to Marshall: Chandler, 2368; war diaries, Dec. 17, 1944, ONB papers, MHI (at least fourteen German divisions); diary, Dec. 17, 1944, CBH, MHI, box 4 (sedatives); memoir, H. Wentworth Eldredge, n.d., Thaddeus Holt papers, MHI (buried secret documents).

  Still Bradley affected nonchalance: diary, Dec. 17, 1944, Raymond G. Moses papers, MHI, box 1 (“Rhine crossing plan”); diary, Dec. 18, 1944, CBH, MHI, box 4 (“I don’t take too serious”). Gen. Sibert, the army group G-2, continued to see the offensive as a “diversionary attack” that “cannot be regarded as a major long term threat” (TT, 190).

  Among those who no longer agreed: Ardennes, 332 (engineer company); memoir, H. Wentworth Eldredge, n.d., Thaddeus Holt papers, MHI (“Oh, what a beautiful mornin’”); Carpenter, No Woman’s World, 209 (“briskly up, over, and across”).

  Fourteen First Army divisions: Ardennes, 259; “The Defense of St. Vith, Belgium,” n.d., AS, Ft. K, NARA RG 407, E 427, Miscl AG Records, #2280, 5–6 (165-mile front); Knickerbocker et al., Danger Forward, 338 (Church bells); “Defense of Spa,” 518th M.P. Bn, n.d., in “History of the Ardennes Campaign,” NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584, box 2 (civilian curfew); Middleton, Our Share of Night, 341 (tin pans and crockery); Carpenter, No Woman’s World, 205–6 (perimeter strongpoints); Rosengarten, “With Ultra from Omaha Beach to Weimar, Germany,” Military Affairs (Oct. 1978): 127+ (German paratroopers); Pogue, Pogue’s War, 296–97 (lawyers and accountants).

  Soldiers in muddy boots tromped through the Britannique: “Defense of Spa,” 518th M.P. Bn, n.d., in “History of the Ardennes Campaign,” NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584, box 2 (twenty-one jailed collaborators); Pogue, Pogue’s War, 294 (“Thermite grenades”); Zuckerman, From Apes to Warlords, 312 (among those building bonfires); OH, Robert A. Hewitt, 1981, Earl D. Bevan, SOOHP, MHI, 175; Benjamin A. Dickson, “G-2 Journal: Algiers to the Elbe,” MHI, 183 (Kasserine Pass).

  Perhaps the prospect of a similar debacle: The most comprehensive account of this episode is to be found in Hogan, A Command Post at War, 212.

  “probably the most shaken man I have ever seen”: corr, E. N. Harmon to G. F. Howe, Oct. 21, 1952, OCMH, NARA RG 319, Howe papers, background files to Northwest Africa: Seizing the Initiative in the West, USAWWII; Bradley Commentaries, CBH, MHI, boxes 41–42 (“almost went to pieces”); Bolger, “Zero Defects: Command Climate in First U.S. Army, 1944–1945,” Military Review (May 1991): 61+; OH, Adolph Rosengarten, Jr., Dec. 22, 1947, FCP, MHI (considered relieving Hodges).

  Officers fussed over how to pack: Pogue, Pogue’s War, 296–97 (“I imagine that the Germans”); Sylvan, 225 (photos of President Roosevelt); Carpenter, No Woman’s World, 212 (“take my child”); memo, IG, March 21, 1945, NARA RG 338, First Army AG General Corr, box 223 (bolting for Huy); Royce L. Thompson, “Military Impact of the German V-Weapons, 1943–1945,” July 31, 1953, CMH, 2-3.7 AE-P-4, 38 (V-1s hit two fleeing convoys).

  When Hodges tarried at the Britannique: Carpenter, No Woman’s World, 213 (“Save yourself”); OH, JLC, 1972, Charles C. Sperow, SOOHP, MHI, 229–30; Sylvan, 221 (opened at midnight); Morelock, Generals of the Ardennes, 150 (food simmering).

  A British liasion officer: Hastings, Armageddon, 205–7; Hogan, A Command Post at War, 217 (flagged down passing truck drivers), 223 (not until a week into the German offensive); Morelock, Generals of the Ardennes, 150 (uncertain where the First Army command post); corr, Weldon Hogie to family, Dec. 30, 1944, “Letters Back Home,” a.p., 82–83 (“We can’t lose three months’ gains”).

  Evacuation of the vast supply dumps: “Operational History of the Advance Section, COMZ,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #583F, 109; Robert M. Littlejohn, ed., “Battle of the Bulge,” 1955, chapter 21, PIR, MHI, 3–4 (stocks could be found in the rear); Fest, “The German Ardennes Offensive: A Study in Retrograde Logistics,” Ordnance (Feb. 1983): 51+; Wendt, “Logistics in Retrograde Movements,” Military Review (July 1948): 34+.

  Three miles of primacord: “Ardennes, Supply Installations, Withdraw of,” FUSA, Apr. 29, 1945, NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584, box 2; Cooper, Death Traps, 183 (fuel dump covered several square miles); “The Quartermaster in the Bulge,” in “History of the Ardennes Campaign,” NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584, box 2 (ignited in a roadblock); Wendt, “Logistics in Retrograde Movements,” Military Review (July 1948): 34+.

  Crows or starlings might have been mistaken: “Kampfgruppe von der Heydte,” FMS, #B-823, JT, LOC MS Div, box 38; interrogation, F. von der Heydte, Oct. 31, 1945, London, NARA RG 407, E 427, ML #1068; Ardennes, 271.

  Operation GREIF, or “condor”: DOB, 244 (flamboyant Viennese commando); Ardennes, 270 (150th Armored Brigade); Skorzeny, Skorzeny’s Special Missions, 156–58; interrogation, Otto Skorzeny, n.d., ETHINT 12, CBM, box 12; Weingartner, “Otto Skorzeny and the Laws of War,” JMH (Apr. 1991): 207+ (Casablanca).

  found to be wearing swastika brassards: “The History of the CIC,” n.d., Intelligence Center, Ft. Holabird, CBM, box 6, 2–3, 10–12, 19; memo, Richard F. Shappell to Hugh M. Cole, May 14, 1945, FUSA G-2, Operation GREIF, NARA RG 407, E 429, ML #994 (sixteen infiltrators); Ardennes, 559 (without effecting a single act), 360–63; Weingartner, “Otto Skorzeny and the Laws of War,” JMH (Apr. 1991): 207+.

  The sole accomplishment of GREIF: memo, C. Hodges to SHAEF, Dec. 20, 1944, NARA RG 331, E 1, SGS, “Assassins,” box 8; “The History of the CIC,” n.d., Intelligence Center, Ft. Holabird, CBM, box 6, 12; memo, FUSA to SHAEF, Dec. 22, 1944, NARA RG 331, E 1, SGS, �
�Assassins,” box 8 (“dueling scars”); Toland, Battle, 158–59 (brawling over a ballerina and nuns); CI News Sheet No. 12, Dec. 26, 1944, 21st AG, in FUSA G-2, Operation GREIF, NARA RG 407, E 429, ML #994 (sulfuric acid); Paul E. Kohli, “Stavelot, Belgium, 16–18 December 1944,” 1985, Columbus WWII Round Table collection, MHI, box 1, 5 (spoke English better); “The History of the CIC,” n.d., Intelligence Center, Ft. Holabird, CBM, box 6, 18 (top button of a uniform); Ardennes, 559 (“Belgian or French café keepers”).

  MPs at checkpoints sought to distinguish: FUSA G-2, Operation GREIF, NARA RG 407, E 429, ML #994; “The History of the CIC,” n.d., Intelligence Center, Ft. Holabird, CBM, box 6, 18 (Sinatra’s first name?); Elstob, Hitler’s Last Offensive, 189 (Where is Little Rock?); Capa, Slightly Out of Focus, 208 (capital of Nebraska); Pogue, Pogue’s War, 302–3 (“The capital is Frankfort”); Weintraub, 11 Days in December, 59 (“Who won the World Series”). Niven was attached to 12th Army Group as a liaison officer.

  Cooks, bakers, and clerks were tutored: Price, Troy H. Middleton: A Biography, 223; memo to W. B. Smith, Dec. 21, 1944, NARA RG 331, E 1, SGS, “Assassins,” box 8 (gunned down four French civilians); war diary, Dec. 22, 1944, Ninth Army, William H. Simpson papers, MHI, box 11 (“get out of my way”); Murphy, Diplomat Among Warriors, 239 (“We deployed into the garden”).

  a perfect body double: “The History of the CIC,” n.d., Intelligence Center, Ft. Holabird, CBM, box 6, 14; TT, 226.

  The real Eisenhower, traveling with Tedder: diary, Dec. 19–20, 1944, CBH, MHI, box 4; Baldwin, Battles Lost and Won, 335 (“What the hell is this?”).

  “The present situation is to be regarded”: Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, 371.

  Two staff officers reviewed the battlefront: “Record of Meeting,” Dec. 19, 1944, Harold R. Bull papers, DDE Lib, box 2; TT, 419–20 (seventeen German divisions), 417 (180,000 troops); “Allied Air Power and the Ardennes Offensive,” n.d., director of intelligence, USSAFE, NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584, box 1 (Daily Luftwaffe sorties); “Task Force Thrasher: History of the Defense of the Meuse River,” 1945, NARA RG 407, ML #945, box 24198 (Seven French infantry battalions).