The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945

by Rick Atkinson

  “Our flag bridge is dead quiet”: Naval Guns, 31; John F. Latimer, ts, n.d., NARA RG 38, E 11, U.S. Navy WWII Oral Histories, 12 (“trying to slip into a room”).

  Small craft struggled: notes, Force O, n.d., NARA RG 407, 2-3.7 BG, AFIA (“Men sick”); Keegan, Six Armies in Normandy, 135; Chalmers, Full Cycle, 223 (thirty degrees); “The Invasion of Normandy,” USNAd, vol. 5, 405–8; McKernon, Corry, 32 (“Seasick”).

  CHAPTER 1: INVASION

  The Far Shore

  The singing stopped: Robert H. George, “Ninth Air Force,” 1945, AFHRA, study no. 36, 62–63; Baedeker, Northern France, 161 (famed for cattle); Rapport and Northwood, Rendezvous with Destiny, 85 (“Say hello”); Wright and Greenwood, Airborne Forces at War, 50–58.

  Then France vanished: Taylor, Swords and Plowshares, 77; Drez, ed., Voices of D-Day, 64–69 (“lighted tennis balls”), 136 (“keg of nails”); 101st AB Div, CI #223, July 11–29, 1944, NARA RG 407, E-427-A (jinking); Carl Cartledge, 501st PIR, ts, n.d., NWWIIM (“thick enough”); John C. Warren, “Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 1956, AFHRA, historical study no. 97, 45.

  Even as the cloud bank thinned: corr, Michael C. Chester to JMG, Mar. 30, 1959, JMG papers, MHI, 1–5; 101st AB Div, CI #223, July 11–29, 1944, and “Operation of 507th PIR,” n.d., CI #170, NARA RG 407, E 427-A; Gerald J. Higgins, 101st AB Div COS, OH, Feb. 5, 1946, SLAM, MHI, box 2 (bundles got stuck); “Report of Investigation of Operation NEPTUNE,” Aug. 9, 1944, Air Inspector, HQ, USSAFE, NARA RG 498, ETO, SGS, 333.5 (failed to descend to the specified jump height of 500 feet); Astor, June 6, 1944, 144–45 (“anything in my jump pants”); corr, Charles L. Easter to Marion Page, July 7, 1944, USMA Arch (“wall of flame”); Tapert, ed., Lines of Battle, 157–58 (“a thousand years”); Guy Remington, “Second Man Out,” in The New Yorker Book of War Pieces, 340 (burning shreds); Beevor, D-Day, 63 (“watermelons falling”).

  “I pulled up my knees”: Astor, June 6, 1944, 142; Balkoski, Utah Beach, 112, 134.

  Operation ALBANY: “Notes on Utah Beach and the 1st Engineer Special Brigade,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #359A, 53–54; “Interview with Dr. Simon, Carentan,” Sept. 1, 1945, SLAM, MHI, box 2; Ruppenthal, Utah Beach to Cherbourg, 3; Balkoski, Utah Beach, 53–54; memo, “Glider Operation NEPTUNE,” 82nd AB Div IG, Aug. 4, 1944, MBR papers, MHI, box 21.

  At four A.M., as thousands: Beevor, D-Day, 71 (“ravens”); OH, J. Milnor Roberts, Jr., SOOHP, 1982, HIA, box 1, 72–74 (“shoot an arrow”); “Operation MARKET: Air Invasion of Holland,” n.d., Hq, IX Troop Carrier Command, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, Act R, A-66, box 48, 56; Paul M. Davis and Amy C. Fenwick, “Development and Procurement of Gliders,” Mar. 1946, AFHRA, study no. 47, 164–67; John C. Warren, “Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 1956, AFHRA, historical study no. 97, 61 (rarely if ever flown at night); Lewis E. Johnston, ed., “The Troop Carrier D-Day Flights,” 2003, a.p., 64 (“typewriter keys”); Blair, Ridgway’s Paratroopers, 222, 235 (Rommel’s asparagus); Albert J. Randall, First Airborne Surgical Team, ts, June 8, 1945, “Medical Department Activities in ETO,” Office of the Surgeon General, NARA; Astor, June 6, 1944, 160; Ryan, The Longest Day, 128–39; Otis L. Sampson, “Destination,” ts, n.d., JMG papers, MHI, box 12, 12 (“bees out of a hive”).

  Of more than six thousand jumpers: “Rough draft of Gen. Maxwell Taylor’s report,” with jumpmaster reports, 101st AB Div, July 1, 1944, GCM Lib; Capt. R. H. Brown, HQ, 506th PIR, NARA HI (telephone books); “Employment of 75mm Pack Howitzers,” WD Observer Bd, Aug 1, 1944, CARL, N-7344; McNally, As Ever, John, 44 (“men lying in the straw”).

  “L’invasion est arrivé”: Two versions of this anecdote can be found in Baldwin, Battles Lost and Won, 268, and Drez, ed., Voices of D-Day, 92; Taylor, Swords and Plowshares, 79–81 (“Allez me tuer”); author visit, May 2009; John C. Warren, “Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 1956, AFHRA, historical study no. 97, 42; corr, Maxwell D. Taylor to SLAM, Feb. 25, 1946, SLAM, MHI, box 2; Gerald J. Higgins, 101st AB Div COS, OH, Feb. 5, 1946, SLAM, MHI, box 2; Ruppenthal, Utah Beach to Cherbourg, 22.

  Five hours after leaping: Balkoski, Utah Beach, 123–25.

  “Wir fahren gegen England”: Howarth, Dawn of D-Day, 90–92; author visits, May 1996 and May 2009, including Musée Airborne exhibits; Jutras, Sainte-Mère-Église, 11; Holt and Holt, Major & Mrs. Holt’s Battlefield Guide to the Normandy Landing Beaches, 49–50 (listening to the BBC).

  “almost no chance to sustain”: “Capture of Ste. Mère Église,” Regimental Study No. 6, n.d., CMH, 2–8.

  Alas, the drops in Operation BOSTON: Gilmore, ed., U.S. Army Atlas of the European Theater in World War II, 18–20; memo, “Glider Operation NEPTUNE,” 82nd AB Div IG, Aug. 4, 1944, MBR papers, MHI, box 21 (Less than half of the following gliders); JMG, “Account of D-Day,” ts, n.d., JMG papers, MHI, box 12; AAR, JMG, Aug. 16, 1944, “Debriefing Conference—Operation NEPTUNE,” CARL, N-12198; Booth and Spencer, Paratrooper, 179–81; AAR, “508 Regiment After the Drop,” n.d., MMD, 26–29 (“he could not take any prisoners”).

  Of the division’s three parachute infantry regiments: Howarth, Dawn of D-Day, 93.

  “with eyes open”: Ryan, The Longest Day, 114–17.

  Lieutenant Colonel Edward C. Krause: Wills, Put on Your Boots and Parachutes!, 82; AAR, 3rd Bn, 505th PIR, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI #170; “Capture of Ste. Mère Église,” Regimental Study No. 6, n.d., CMH, 2–8; Balkoski, Utah Beach, 152.

  “I am in Ste. Mère”: Marshall, Night Drop, 18; CCA, 289; Balkoski, Utah Beach, 113 (first town in France).

  By dawn, 816 planes: Balkoski, Utah Beach, 113; Blair, Ridgway’s Paratroopers, 236–37 (only one of six regiments); John C. Warren, “Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 1956, AFHRA, historical study no. 97, 36, 59 (advance weather plane); Ruppenthal, Utah Beach to Cherbourg, 15 (“not an unmixed evil”); McNally, As Ever, John, 44 (wires snipped); Wills, Put on Your Boots and Parachutes!, 88 (lie on their backs).

  an American light bomber flew: AAR, “Reconnaissance in a Tactical Air Command,” 10th Photo Group, XIX Tactical Command, Ninth AF, 1945, CARL, N-9395.

  Fifty miles to the east: Arthur, Forgotten Voices of World War II, 301–2 (stuffed moose head); VW, vol. 1, 156.

  Two parachute brigades: VW, vol. 1, 149–50; Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe, 234–35; Shannon and Wright, One Night in June, 52; Saunders, Royal Air Force, 1939–1945, vol. 3, 108 (only seventeen dropped); Saunders, The Red Beret, 159 (wrapped around his legs).

  Less fortunate were the men: Thompson, The Imperial War Museum Book of Victory in Europe, 41; Liddle, D-Day by Those Who Were There, 76 (tea bags), 81 (“silken circles”); Shannon and Wright, One Night in June, 83 (Dives muck).

  Amid calamity came a celebrated success: Urquhart, A Life in Peace and War, 49 (Saxon king); Holt and Holt, Major & Mrs. Holt’s Battlefield Guide to the Normandy Landing Beaches, 217–19 (“Flying Morgue”); Liddle, D-Day by Those Who Were There, 66 (spiked with rum); Ambrose, Pegasus Bridge, 5–13 (“Cow Cow Boogie”); Chatterton, The Wings of Pegasus, 138; Thompson, The Imperial War Museum Book of Victory in Europe, 36 (“a giant sheet”); Howarth, Dawn of D-Day, 46–47.

  “Anything that moved”: Ambrose, Pegasus Bridge, 76–83.

  One platoon commander fell dead: Holt and Holt, Major & Mrs. Holt’s Battlefield Guide to the Normandy Landing Beaches, 217–21 (asked in vain to be shot).

  Across the Orne and Dives: Chatterton, The Wings of Pegasus, 140–41; Howarth, Dawn of D-Day, 64 (double bed); Ryan, The Longest Day, 108–9 (“They got my mate”); VW, vol. 1, 155.

  Perhaps the most perilous mission: VW, vol. 1, 154–55; By Air to Battle, 85 (banded pigeon); Shannon and Wright, One Night in June, 83 (sixty lengths of bangalore).

  “I went in with 150”: Liddle, D-Day by Those Who Were There, 75.

  First Tide

  Ship by ship: “War Diary of Force ‘U,’” June 5–6, 1944, SEM, NHHC, box 82, folder 46; IFG, 87; Buffetaut, D-Day
Ships, 75; Robb, The Discovery of France, 312 (Norman pirates); Colville, Footprints in Time, 161 (“War in these conditions”); Colville, The Fringes of Power, 492.

  On the pitching decks below: John C. Raaen, Jr., “Sir, the 5th Rangers Have Landed Intact,” ts, 2000, MMD, 1 (watched for mines); Liebling, Mollie & Other War Pieces, 188 (“a passion”); Alter and Crouch, eds., “My Dear Moon,” no pagination (“extra systoles”); Reynolds, How I Survived the Three First Wave Invasions, 89 (“The mind can wander”); Balkoski, Omaha Beach, 111 (“when a bullet hits you”), 163 (Horace’s Satires).

  At two A.M. the ship’s loudspeaker: Capa, Slightly Out of Focus, 139 (white jackets); Liebling, Mollie & Other War Pieces, 204 (tinned beef); Arthur, Forgotten Voices of World War II, 305 (“superb 1812 brandy”); K. G. Oakley, “Normandy ‘D’ Day 1944,” ts, n.d., IWM, 96/22/1, 1–2 (“Do not worry”).

  Precisely what the enemy knew: ALH, vol. 2, 35–36; Hinsley, 466–67 (5 percent); Leppert, “Communication Plans and Lessons, Europe and Africa,” lecture, Oct. 30, 1944, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, box 199, L-7-44, 22–24; “The Invasion of Normandy,” USNAd, vol. 5, 479–82; Arthur, Forgotten Voices of World War II, 290 (electronic signature); Dear, ed., The Oxford Companion to World War II, 333 (simulate two large naval fleets).

  The actual OVERLORD fleets: Allen, “Electronics Warfare,” lecture, Sept. 21, 1944, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, L-7-44, 4; Leppert, “Communication Plans and Lessons, Europe and Africa,” lecture, Oct. 30, 1944, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, box 199, L-7-44, 22–24; “The Invasion of Normandy,” USNAd, vol. 5, 479–82 (Jamming had begun).

  Of particular concern were glide bombs: DOB, 217–19; Sunset 592, June 6, 1944, NARA RG 457, E 9026, SRS–1869 (145 radio-control bombers); Martin J. Bollinger, “Warriors and Wizards: The Development and Defeat of Radio-Controlled Bombs of the Third Reich,” ts, 2010, a.p., 326, 345–46; Orus Kinney, “Nazi Smart Bombs,” VHP, Jan. 2010, www.kilroywashere.org/003-Pages/03-OrusKinney.html (“like a man’s erect penis”).

  “Each time they woke us”: Stiles, Serenade to the Big Bird, 127; WaS, 42–43; Arthur, Forgotten Voices of World War II, 336 (“a late tea”); Philip Cole, “Air Planning for Overlord,” lecture, Oct. 28, 1944, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, box 199, 14–16; Mason, ed., The Atlantic War Remembered, 403 (crash amid the waves).

  Behind the British came: Balkoski, Utah Beach, 87–91.

  Less precise was the main American force: ibid., 92; Juliette Hennessy, “Tactical Operations of the Eighth Air Force,” 1952, AFHRA, historical study no. 70, 15–17 (forty-five coastal fortifications).

  Conditions were far from perfect: memo, “Statement of Result of D-Day Bombing by 4-Engine Aircraft,” Eighth AF, Aug. 8, 1944, NARA RG 407, AFIA, 2-3.7 BG; AAFinWWII, 190–93.

  For an hour and a half: Robert W. Ackerman, “The Employment of Strategic Bombers in a Tactical Role,” 1954, AFHRA, study no. 88, 78; Crane, Bombs, Cities & Civilians, 70–71; memo, “Statement of Result of D-Day Bombing by 4-Engine Aircraft,” Eighth AF, Aug. 8, 1944, NARA RG 407, AFIA, 2-3.7 BG (“many seconds”); Davis, Bombing the European Axis Powers, 357.

  Heavy chains rattled: Naval Guns, 35–36; Breuer, Hitler’s Fortress Cherbourg, 83 (“For Chrissake”); IFG, 93 (“Anchor holding”).

  Aboard Princess Astrid: J. H. Patterson, ts, n.d., IWM, 05/491, 1/7, 6 (“Troops to parade”); Ewing, 29 Let’s Go!, 37–39 (blackout curtains); Smith, The Big Red One at D-Day, 32 (“metal shoeboxes”); diary, Cyrus C. Aydlett, June 6, 1944, NWWIIM (“a great abyss”).

  Nautical twilight arrived: “War Diary of Force ‘U,’” June 6, 1944, SEM, NHHC, box 82, folder 46; Beevor, D-Day, 92 (“gigantic town”); Raitberger, “French Remember D-Day Landings,” Reuters, May 18, 1994 (“more ships than sea”).

  Minesweepers nosed close: Yung, “Action This Day,” Naval History (June 2009): 20+; Yung, Gators of Neptune, 178; IFG, 96 (Two destroyers also took fire); Naval Guns, 36–37 (“Commence counterbattery”).

  Soon enough eight hundred naval guns: “Notes on the Assault,” vol. 1, ts, n.d., Sidney Negretto Papers, MHI, box 4; VW, vol. 1, 161; Wilson, ed., D-Day 1944, 204 (“air vibrated”); Naval Guns, 37; Liebling, Mollie & Other Pieces, 180 (“yellow cordite”); Baker, Ernest Hemingway, 501 (“railway trains”); Reynolds, Hemingway: The Final Years, 96–98, 102; Heinz, When We Were One, 10–11; McManus, The Americans at D-Day, 261 (blue steel); Lankford, ed., OSS Against the Reich, 60–61 (“There is cannonading”).

  “The arc at its zenith”: John F. Latimer, n.d., NARA RG 38, E 11, U.S. Navy WWII Oral Histories, 12; Dailey, Joining the War at Sea, 1939–1945, 314 (height of the splash); Ryan, The Longest Day, 162 (“monstrous thing”); Raitberger, “French Remember D-Day Landings,” Reuters, May 18, 1994 (“It is raining iron”).

  Allied planes swaddled: The smoke plane in Corry’s sector was shot down, weakening the screen. Buffetaut, D-Day Ships, 83; AR, U.S.S. Corry, June 19, 1944, MMD; McKernon, Corry, 38–52.

  “We seemed to jump”: Karig, Battle Report: The Atlantic War, 334;

  Most sailors on the destroyer: W. H. Greear, lecture, n.d., NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, box 199, 7; Hinsley, 478 (“overlooked it”); “The Invasion of Normandy,” USNAd, vol. 5, 504; http://www.uss-corry-dd463.com/d-day_u-boat_photos/d-day_photos.htm. The cause of Corry’s sinking remained controversial long after the war.

  Eight minutes after the first explosion: AR, U.S.S. Corry, June 19, 1944, NARA RG 38, CNO, 370/45/31/1, box 932, 5; Robert Beeman, “The Sinking of the U.S.S. Corry, June 6, 1944,” ts, n.d., MMD (necktie); memo, R. M. Allan, “U.S.S. Corry—Sinking of,” n.d., SEM, NHHC, box 81; OH, George D. Hoffman, CO, U.S.S. Corry, July 11, 1944, NARA RG 38, E 11, U.S. Navy WWII Oral Histories; Balkoski, Utah Beach, 214–15; Hinsley, 478; “The Invasion of Normandy,” USNAd, vol. 5, 504.

  Experience from the Pacific: Yung, “The Planners’ Daunting Task,” Naval History (June 2009): 12+; WaS, 31–33; “Notes on the Assault,” vol. 1, ts, n.d., Sidney Negretto Papers, MHI, box 4 (140,000 shells); “Enemy Defenses and Beach Obstacles Above Highwater Mark,” bulletin Y/23, Nov. 1944, COHQ, CARL, N-6530-12, 7 (few enemy casemates); Yung, Gators of Neptune, 209 (Houlgate battery); AR, Don P. Moon, Force U, June 26, 1944, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #217 (none were completely knocked out); Yung, “Action This Day,” Naval History (June 2009): 20+ (pesky St.-Marcouf battery).

  The Channel’s idiosyncratic tidal flow: Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe, 220; Babcock, War Stories, 97 (“I can jump”); Jeffers, In the Rough Rider’s Shadow, 236 (“there are shadows”).

  “Away all boats”: Vining, ed., American Diaries of World War II, 101.

  He was an unlikely vanguard: Liebling, Mollie & Other War Pieces, 221; Howarth, Dawn of D-Day, 112–13 (“frazzle-assed”); Jeffers, In the Rough Rider’s Shadow, 4, 243; Morris, Colonel Roosevelt, 548.

  “achieve the same heights as his father”: Morris, Edith Kermit Roosevelt, 173 (steel-rimmed spectacles), 307, 330, 461–63, 474, 487; AAAD, 85–86; DOB, 94–95; Hamilton, “Junior in Name Only,” Retired Officer (June 1981): 28+; http://www.loc.gov/rr/mss/text/roosvlt.html*, TR, LOC MS Div; http://www.nps.gov/archive/elro/glossary/smith-al.htm*.

  “What man of spirit”: Morris, Colonel Roosevelt, 509; Renehan, The Lion’s Pride, 239 (“first, best destiny”); DOB, 160; Michael David Pearlman, “To Make Democracy Safe for the World,” Ph.D. diss, University of Illinois, 1978, 606 (“manhood”); Roosevelt, Day Before Yesterday, 450–51 (“all right to pull strings”); Eleanor Roosevelt to GCM, Feb. 7, 1944, GCM Lib, box 83, folder 31 (“matter considered so serious”).

  The Army’s chief capitulated: TR to R. O. Barton, May 26, 1944, TR, LOC MS Div, box 39 (“the behavior pattern”); Jeffers, In the Rough Rider’s Shadow, 5 (“can’t be that rough”); TR to Eleanor, July 11, 1944, TR, LOC MS Div, box 10; IFG, 100.

  He was on the wrong beach: Balkoski, Utah Beach, 182; IFG, 98; Drez, ed., Voices of D-Day, 172–73; Wilson, ed., D-Day 1944, 231 (two thousand yards south); Naval Guns, 44 (“Higher than her length�
�); Maynard D. Pederson et al., “Armor in Operation Neptune,” May 1949, AS, Ft. K, 21 (the remaining Shermans).

  “We’re not where we’re supposed to be”: James A. Van Fleet, SOOHP, H. Williams, 1973, MHI, 55–56.

  The accidental beach: “Combat Engineering,” CE, Dec. 1945, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #547, 19–21; Baker, Ernest Hemingway, 501 (“pikemen”); Ryan, The Longest Day, 179 (“real estate”); Rollyson, Nothing Ever Happens to the Brave, 197 (“heavy, dry glove”).

  “How do you boys”: Astor, June 6, 1944, 229; Balkoski, Utah Beach, 236 (“great day for hunting”); “Notes on Utah Beach and the 1st Engineer Special Brigade,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #359A, 67; Fane and Moore, The Naked Warriors, 68 (“Fire in the hole”); OH, Herbert A. Peterson, Naval Combat Demolition, Oct. 1, 1944, NARA RG 38, E 11, U.S. Navy WWII Oral Histories, 2–3 (“no fear of impaling”).

  Through the dunes and across the beach: Royce L. Thompson, “American Strength in D-Day Landings,” n.d., CMH, 2-3.7 AE.P-5; Ingersoll, Top Secret, 126 (“ironed flat”); Fowle, ed., Builders and Fighters, 448–49 (Four causeways); Balkoski, Utah Beach, 236 (“arm signal”).

  The mutter of gunfire: Maynard D. Pederson et al., “Armor in Operation Neptune,” May 1949, AS, Ft. K, 28–29; Drez, ed., Voices of D-Day, 181 (shaving cream); Balkoski, Utah Beach, 254 (horse-drawn 88mm guns); diary, Cyrus C. Aydlett, June 10, 1944, NWWIIM (“It sure takes a lot”); “D-Day Experience of Eugene D. Brierre,” ts, March 15, 1998, NWWIIM, 2001.160, 5–6 (snipped the unit flashes).

  East of Pouppeville: CCA, 283; Wilson, ed., D-Day 1944, 233–34 (“Where’s the war”); Babcock, War Stories, 52 (“Hey, boy”).

  Eleven miles offshore: “War Diary of Force ‘U,’” June 5–6, 1944, SEM, NHHC, box 82, folder 46; Chandler and Collins, eds., The D-Day Encyclopedia, 373 (delay seven assault waves).

  At age fifty, Admiral Moon: Alter and Crouch, eds., “My Dear Moon,” no pagination; John A. Moreno, “The Death of Admiral Moon,” n.d., a.p., 225+.