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

by Rick Atkinson

  On they marched, south, east, and west: diary, CBH, July 17, 1944, MHI (copper urns); Lankford, ed., OSS Against the Reich, 152 (perfume); AAR, “Battle of Mortain,” n.d., NARA RG 165, 330 (Inf), 120-0.3, 42 (crude swastikas); Pogue, Pogue’s War, 199, 209, 134 (“My wife doesn’t understand me”); “Combat Diary of Edward McCosh Elliott, 1944,” n.d., 2nd Bn, Glasgow Highlanders, IWM, 99/61/1, VI-18 (tricolor nosegays); Joseph R. Darnall, “Powdered Eggs and Purple Hearts,” ts, 1946, MHUC, Group 1, MHI, box 24, 190 (“I speeg Engless”); Neal Beaver, 3rd Bn, 508th PIR, ts, n.d., MMD (jugs of calvados); Rottman, FUBAR: American Soldier Slang of World War II, 55.

  German tourist posters still hung: Lee Miller, “The Siege of St. Malo,” in Reporting World War II, vol. 2, 233; Cawthon, “Pursuit: Normandy, 1944,” American Heritage (Feb. 1978): 80+ (Milwaukee German); Watney, The Enemy Within, 186 (“A German”); Keegan, Six Armies in Normandy, 259 (“No matter how many orders are issued”).

  In hasty bivouacs the surging columns: Perry Wolff, “Why We Fight,” panel, International Conference on WWII, NWWIIM, Apr. 10, 2008; McManus, The Deadly Brotherhood, 254 (“a little piece of metal”); Beevor, D-Day, 390 (“We buried him darkly”).

  SHAEF planners in late July estimated: ALH, vol. 2, 114–17; PP, 524 (“roaring comet”); Allen, Lucky Forward, 26 (“gamecock with brains”).

  The first glimpse of Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.: Codman, Drive, 159 (“Could anything be more magnificent?”); D’Este, Patton: A Genius for War, 630, 636–37 (“goddamned bastards”).

  At noon on Tuesday, August 1: Allen, Lucky Forward, 71–72 (“win or die”); PP, 491 (“very happy”).

  “There are apparently two types”: PP, 464.

  “Patton has broken out again”: msgs, GCM to DDE, W. B. Smith to GCM, DDE to GCM, etc., Apr. 26–May 3, 1944, NARA RG 165, E 422, WD, OPD, history unit, box 4; affidavits, GSP, LOC MS Div, box 12, folder 1.

  Narrowly pardoned, Patton spent the spring: corr, Everett S. Hughes to wife, May 12, 1944, LOC MS Div, Hughes papers, box II:3, folder 1 (guns and saddles); diary, CBH, July 2, 1944, MHI, box 4 (offered Eisenhower $1,000); White, Conquerors’ Road, 34 (“neurotic and bloodthirsty”); Patton, The Pattons, 109 (tattoo parlor); GSP to Beatrice, July 3, 1944, GSP, LOC MS Div, box 12 (“Can’t stand the times between wars”).

  He also reflected deeply on generalship: Essame, Patton: A Study in Command, 122–24; Collins, Lightning Joe, 248–49 (“I’m in the doghouse”); Blumenson, “Bradley-Patton: World War II’s ‘Odd Couple,’” Army (Dec. 1985): 56+ (“I didn’t ask for you”); Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 356 (“judicious, reasonable”); speech, GSP, n.d., George Smith Patton Papers, HIA, folder 1 (“raise up on their hind legs”).

  “I had to keep repeating to myself”: PP, 499; Koch and Hays, G-2: Intelligence for Patton, 61 (“I’m going to Berlin”).

  First he was going to Brest: Waddell, United States Army Logistics, 46; IFG, 297; LSA, vol. 2, 467–74 (failed to dampen the ardor).

  But the collapse of the German left wing: Ganz, “Questionable Objective: The Brittany Ports, 1944,” JMH (Jan. 1995): 77+; BP, 370 (£5 and “Take Brest”); GSP to Robert Howe Fletcher, Apr. 25, 1945, LOC MS Div, box 13 (“sixth sense”); Price, Troy H. Middleton: A Biography, 189 (ten thousand Krauts).

  Third Army’s other spearhead, the 4th Armored Division: BP, 357–59; Ganz, “Patton’s Relief of General Wood,” JMH (July 1989): 257+ (because he had tutored his classmates); Carr, “The American Rommel,” MHQ (summer 1992): 77+ (rose gardener); Raines, Eyes of Artillery, 213 (Piper Cub).

  “We’re winning this war”: Price, Troy H. Middleton: A Biography, 188; BP, 361–65 (“Dear George”); D’Este, Patton: A Genius for War, 631 (Proposing to reach Chartres); Hirshson, General Patton: A Soldier’s Life, 508–9 (bloody siege at Lorient).

  “the main business lies to the east”: BP, 431–32; Ganz, “Questionable Objective: The Brittany Ports, 1944,” JMH (Jan. 1995): 77+.

  The Brittany campaign soon proved bootless: BP, 340 (“last cartridge”); Blumenson, The Battle of the Generals, 164 (siege of St.-Malo); Mitcham, Retreat to the Reich, 214 (seventy-five strongpoints); “Combat Engineering,” CE, report No. 10, Dec. 1945, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #547, 47–53 (walls up to twenty-five feet thick); OH, ONB, June 7, 1956, CBM, NARA RG 319, OCMH, 2-3.7 (garrison was too dangerous); diary, GSP, Sept. 9, 1944, LOC MS Div, box 3, folder 5 (“We must take Brest”).

  The war ended with not a single cargo or troopship: Balkoski, From Beachhead to Brittany, 331; memo, “Fighting in Cities,” Ninth Army, Oct. 26, 1944, NARA RG 498, G-3 Observers’ Rpt, box 9 (half a million American shells); Ganz, “Patton’s Relief of General Wood,” JMH (July 1989): 257+ (“colossally stupid”); M-516, Aug. 4, 1944, and M-517, Aug. 6, 1944, National Archives of Canada, RG 24, vol. 1054 2, file 215A21.016(9) (“We have unloosed the shackles”).

  Montgomery’s plan was a simple, handsome thing: BLM, “Task of First Canadian Army,” Aug. 4, 1944, National Archives of Canada, RG 24, vol. 1054 2, file 215A21.016(9); BP, 435, 449–52 (struggling ten miles toward Vire); VW, vol. 1, 386, 408.

  “a queer script of its own”: Catton, A Stillness at Appomattox, 149.

  Such a place was Mortain: The Green Guide to Normandy, 309; Beevor, D-Day, 401 (children wearing tags).

  The last German occupier in Mortain: BP, 466n; Hewitt, Workhorse of the Western Front, 51 (civilians tossed flowers); SLC, 102.

  Of keen interest was stony, steep Montjoie: author visit, signage, May 29, 2009; Weiss, Fire Mission, 5, 25, 35, 75–76.

  “a unique opportunity, which will never return”: James Hodgson, “Thrust-Counterthrust: The Battle of France,” March 1955, NARA RG 319, R-series, R-58, 80; TSC, 203 (“he should keep his eyes riveted”).

  “such an attack if not immediately successful”: Rosengarten, “With Ultra from Omaha Beach to Weimar, Germany,” Military Affairs (Oct. 1978): 127+; Hans Eberbach, “Panzer Group Eberbach and the Falaise Encirclement,” Feb. 1946, FMS, #A-922, MHI, 9–10; BP, 442; order of battle, Gilmore, ed., U.S. Army Atlas of the European Theater in World War II, 52 (a dozen divisions in four corps); Mitcham, Retreat to the Reich, 120–21 (“recklessly to the sea”).

  Swirling fog lifted and descended: AAR, “Battle of Mortain,” n.d., NARA RG 165, 330 (Inf), 120-0.3, 4–5; Baily and Karamales, “The 823rd at Mortain,” Armor (Jan.–Feb. 1992): 12+ (26,000 Germans); BP, 461 (120 tanks); Lefèvre, Panzers in Normandy Then and Now, 62 (imperial cavalry); Hewitt, Workhorse of the Western Front, 57 (firing by earshot); “Armored Reconnaissance in the ETO,” n.d., NARA RG 337, AGF OR #157 (“all-gone feeling”); Robert J. Kenney, “Somewhere in France,” ts, 1978, 1st Bn, 117th Inf, a.p. (Wounded men mewed).

  But almost nothing went right in the German attack: Isby, ed., Fighting the Breakout, 128–29 (not one reached the front); BP, 464–65 (three of six enemy spearheads); war diary, Seventh Army, Aug. 6, 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427, ML, #2201 (“uninspired and negative”).

  The German weight fell heaviest on St.-Barthélemy: Baily and Karamales, “The 823rd at Mortain,” Armor (Jan.–Feb. 1992): 12+; Reynolds, Steel Inferno, 216–17 (let the panzers roll through); McManus, The Americans at Normandy, 381–82 (delayed six hours); Baedeker, Northern France, 180 (Abbaye Blanche); author visit, signage, May 29, 2009 (sixty-six men with bazookas); OH, 120th Inf, Aug. 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder 96; AAR, “Battle of Mortain,” n.d., NARA RG 165, 330 (Inf), 120-0.3, 13–14 (More than sixty enemy vehicles).

  “First really large concentration”: VC, 233; Featherston, Saving the Breakout, 133–35; Saunders, Royal Air Force, 1939–1945, vol. 3, 132; BP, 464–65.

  “Hundreds of German troops began spilling”: Featherston, Saving the Breakout, 133–35. Pilots claimed four times more vehicle kills than could be confirmed by later ground investigation. Copp, ed., Montgomery’s Scientists, 175.

  sorties mistakenly hit American revetments: OH, 120th Inf, Aug. 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder 96; OH, Brig. Gen. James M. Lewis, 30
th ID, Aug. 25, 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder 96 (raked the two roads leading west); VW, vol. 1, 414 (“well-nigh unendurable”).

  “exceptionally poor start”: war diary, Seventh Army, Aug. 6, 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427, ML, #2201.

  two traitorous French guides: Reardon, Victory at Mortain, 99; OH, 120th Inf, Aug. 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder 96 (hospital larder); BP, 487 (“Looks like hell”).

  Lieutenant Weiss, with his field glasses: Weiss, Fire Mission, 53, 68–69, 82, 105; Hewitt, Workhorse of the Western Front, 69–74; Alosi, War Birds, 68 (“No birds were singing”).

  Nor were the Germans advancing: Reardon, Victory at Mortain, 117, 143; Baily and Karamales, “The 823rd at Mortain,” Armor (Jan.–Feb. 1992): 12+ (fewer than six thousand infantrymen); VW, vol. 1, 416 (“If only the Germans will go on attacking”).

  “Bruised them badly”: McManus, The Americans at Normandy, 399–400.

  “We have to risk everything”: Hewitt, Workhorse of the Western Front, 66.

  “thorn in the flesh”: BP, 488–90.

  Hitler on August 9 again demanded: Hans Eberbach, “Panzer Group Eberbach and the Falaise Encirclement,” Feb. 1946, FMS, #A-922, MHI, 9–12 (“very unpleasant”); Rudolph Freiherr von Gersdorff, “Avranches Counterattack, Seventh Army,” n.d., FMS, #A-921, 27-31; OH, 120th Inf, Aug. 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder 96 (“don’t surrender”); Ralph A. Kerley, “Operations of the 2nd Battalion, 120th Infantry at Mortain,” 1949, IS, 14.

  Each night more slain soldiers on Hill 314: Ralph A. Kerley, “Operations of the 2nd Battalion, 120th Infantry at Mortain,” 1949, IS, 19 (bolster morale); OH, 120th Inf, Aug. 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder 96; AAR, “Battle of Mortain,” n.d., NARA RG 165, 330 (Inf), 120-0.3, 24 (turnips, cabbages); Weiss, Fire Mission, 124 (surgical tape); Hewitt, Workhorse of the Western Front, 67 (half the bundles drifted); Reardon, Victory at Mortain, 267 (“I want Mortain demolished”).

  “The attack failed”: Warlimont, Inside Hitler’s Headquarters, 449; Liddell Hart, The Other Side of the Hill, 416–17 (“where I lose my reputation”).

  French civilians returning to wrecked Mortain: Schrijvers, The Crash of Ruin, 200 (“crying and rocking”); corr, Thor M. Smith to family, Aug. 28, 1944, HIA, box 1 (“ob-liberated”); Weiss, “Normandy: Recollections of the ‘Lost Battalion’ at the Battle of Mortain,” Prologue (spring 1996): 44+ (“Not much to write home about”).

  Ultra’s big ears had given the Allied high command: Lewin, Ultra Goes to War, 405–9; Sunset 647-649, Aug. 7–9, 1944, NARA RG 457, E 9026, SRS-1869; Hinsley et al., British Intelligence in the Second World War, vol. 3, part 2, 246; Prados, Normandy Crucible, 181; Bennett, Ultra in the West, 118–19; Sunset 650, Aug. 10, 1944, NARA RG 457, E 9026, SRS-1869 (“decisive thrust must lead”).

  Encouraged by Eisenhower, Bradley kept: Chandler, 2060; Reardon, Victory at Mortain, 152; memoir, John W. Castles, Jr., n.d., USMA Arch (“I am General Patton’s commanding officer”).

  Certainly they were thinking of it: Keegan, Six Armies in Normandy, 251 (one-tenth of France’s landmass); Three Years, 789 (“obstinated”); Greenfield, ed., Command Decisions, 308; VC, 216–24; Liddell Hart, The Tanks, vol. 2, 383–86 (“blind leading the blind”); Copp and Vogel, Maple Leaf Route: Falaise, 94–99 (stalling in confusion); BP, 479; “Battlefield Tour: Operation Totalize,” Sept. 1947, HQ, British Army of the Rhine and Canadian Army Historical Section, CMH, 65 (“Push on, you dogs!”).

  As this unspooled, Bradley was once again poring: Featherston, Saving the Breakout, 144–45; Bradley and Blair, A General’s Life, 294–95 (roadside K-ration lunch); diary, Aug. 8, 1944, Hobart Gay papers, MHI, box 2, 446 (sharp turn at Le Mans).

  An exuberant Eisenhower followed Bradley: Blumenson, The Battle of the Generals, 190–91; PP, 505 (“If I were on my own”).

  “This is a first priority”: VC, 236; Hills, Phantom Was There, 211 (“ministers of Thy chastisement”).

  “greatest tactical blunder”: McManus, The Americans at Normandy, 391; Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 375 (“This is an opportunity”).

  Leclerc instead fanned out on all available roads: Blumenson, The Battle of the Generals, 204–5; Essame, Patton: A Study in Command, 166–67 (giving the Germans six hours).

  Patton was peeved but undeterred: Essame, Patton: A Study in Command, 166–67; D’Este, Decision in Normandy, 429 (“push on slowly”); diary, CBH, Aug. 12, 1944, MHI, 1944, box 4 (“Shall we continue”).

  “Nothing doing”: Blumenson, The Battle of the Generals, 206–7; Blumenson, Patton: The Man Behind the Legend, 1885–1945, 223 (Bradley wrongly believed); Greenfield, ed., Command Decisions, 313 (nineteen German divisions); Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 376–77 (“I did not consult”); PP, 509 (“a great mistake”); Codman, Drive, 163 (“beside himself”).

  Canadian difficulties further unstitched: Granatstein, The Generals, 114; English, Patton’s Peers, 32–33; BLM to Brooke, July 26, 1944, Alanbrooke papers, LHC, 6/2/27 (“I fear he thinks”).

  Worse yet, the Germans on August 13: “Operations of the First Canadian Army in North-west Europe,” Oct. 1945, Historical Section, Canadian Military HQ, report no. 146, NARA RG 407, E 427, ML; Stacey, The Canadian Army, 1939–1945, 202; Copp and Vogel, Maple Leaf Route: Falaise, 117 (“molten fire bath”); VW, vol. 1, 430–31 (“troops burnt yellow flares”); VC, 240–44 (“dust like I’ve never seen”).

  Bradley now made another momentous decision: BP, 523–27; ONB, Aug. 15, 1944, “Twelfth U.S. Army Group Directives,” CMH (“Due to the delay”).

  “For the first and only time”: Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 379; OH, ONB, June 7, 1956, CBM, NARA RG 319, OCMH, 2-3.7, 270/19/5/4, box 184; Prados, Normandy Crucible, 216–21, 251.

  The two most senior Allied field commanders: Weigley, “From the Normandy Beaches to the Falaise-Argentan Pocket,” Military Review (Sept. 1990): 45+; Belchem, All in the Day’s March, 208; Hastings, OVERLORD, 301; Beevor, D-Day, 455; Blumenson, The Battle of the Generals, 217–18 (little effort to confirm); Kennedy, The Business of War, 344 (“squeaking and scuffling”); D’Este, Decision in Normandy, 449 (“These are great days”).

  Bradley was quick to fault Montgomery: Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 376–79; Wertenbaker, Invasion!, 91 (“quality all the great generals had”); Weigley, “From the Normandy Beaches to the Falaise-Argentan Pocket,” Military Review (Sept. 1990): 45+ (“operational forethought”).

  Nor was Eisenhower much help: Weigley, Eisenhower’s Lieutenants, 216; diary, CBH, Aug 12, 1944, MHI, 1944, box 4 (“garbed in suntans”); Essame, Patton: A Study in Command, 171 (“never really got the feel”).

  Whatever shortcomings vexed the Allied high command: memos, Seventh Army, Aug. 12, 15, 19, 1944, NARA RG 407, M.L. #483, box 24154; Hans Eberbach, “Panzer Group Eberbach and the Falaise Encirclement,” Feb. 1946, FMS, #A-922, MHI, 20 (“strength of a company”); Lucas and Barker, The Killing Ground, 122 (“Such tiredness”); BP, 516–19 (“five minutes before midnight”).

  Then Kluge vanished: Mitcham, Retreat to the Reich, 138–39; Hans Eberbach, “Panzer Group Eberbach and the Falaise Encirclement,” Feb. 1946, FMS, #A-922, MHI, 24 (“Ascertain whereabouts”); Speidel, We Defended Normandy, 142 (might have defected).

  Shortly before midnight he appeared: Reardon, ed., Defending Fortress Europe, mss, 378–79; Hans Eberbach, “Panzer Group Eberbach and the Falaise Encirclement,” Feb. 1946, FMS, #A-922, MHI, 24 (“live in another world”); VC, 254; Reardon, Victory at Mortain, 277 (in a borrowed car); Blumenson, The Battle of the Generals, 227–28 (Hitler affirmed the decision).

  The order would be Kluge’s last: Reardon, ed., Defending Fortress Europe, mss, 382–83; MMB, 369 (Prussian music director); Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe, 436 (“Hitler’s fireman”); Kershaw, “It Never Snows in September,” 76 (stabilize the field after defeats); Charles V. von Lüttichau, “Diary of Thuisko von Metzch,” May 1952, NARA RG 319, R-10, 32 (firing squads); Barnett, ed., Hitler’s Generals, 320–26 (“a good sergeant”); Kessler,
The Battle of the Ruhr Pocket, 4 (“Did you see those eyes?”).

  “Den lieb’ ich”: Lewin, Montgomery as Military Commander, 312; Hans Eberbach, “Panzer Group Eberbach and the Falaise Encirclement,” Feb. 1946, FMS, #A-922, MHI, 26 (“My intention is to withdraw”).

  Legend had it: author visit, Falaise, May 29, 2009; Abram et al., The Rough Guide to France, 398; The Green Guide to Normandy, 74, 237; Baedeker, Northern France, 185–86.

  Bullet holes dinged the hoary castle keep: VC, 250–51; Lucas and Barker, The Killing Ground, 124 (last Tigers had rumbled); Carell, Invasion—They’re Coming!, 260–61 (two teenagers).

  Ultra had decrypted Kluge’s withdrawal order: Sunset 657, Aug. 16, 1944, NARA RG 457, E 9026, SRS-1869; Hinsley, 508.

  Bradley now confessed: Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, 379; Weigley, Eisenhower’s Lieutenants, 211 (three jeeps, nine officers); BP, 515, 529–30; diary, Aug. 16–17, 1944, Hobart Gay papers, MHI, box 2, 446 (poised to attack in an hour).

  Napoleonic it was not: Blumenson, The Battle of the Generals, 239–42; VC, 257–59; “The Battle of the Falaise Pocket,” AB, no. 8 (1975): 1+ (“comparatively easy business”); VW, vol. 1, 442–43 (“damage was immense”).

  “inferno of incandescent ruins”: author visit, Trun, May 29, 2009, signage; Kennedy, The Business of War, 344 (“Shoot everything”); Saunders, Royal Air Force, 1939–1945, vol. 3, 135 (Shambles); “Closing of the Chambois Gap,” n.d., CMH, 8-3.1 AK, part 1, 22–23 (“streams in the gutters”); Colby, War from the Ground Up, 230–41 (“vertebrae”); Keegan, Six Armies in Normandy, 275 (“lifted me in the air”); Maczek, Od Podwody do Czolga, Wspomnienia Wojenne 1918–1945, 167–68 (toasts drunk).

  With eastbound roads now cut: Zuckerman, From Apes to Warlords, 282; VW, vol. 1, 446–47 (by compass course); Horrocks, Corps Commander, 46–50 (Three thousand Allied guns); diary, D. K. Reimers, “My War,” Aug. 19, 1944, MHI, 151 (“The pocket surrounding the Germans”).