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

by Rick Atkinson

  The battle was joined, this last great grapple: As described later in this chapter, Operation NORDWIND, effectively a coda to the Bulge attack, was the last substantial German offensive in the west (OH, 99th ID, Jan. 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder 209; Ardennes, 82).

  Es geht um das Ganze: “Intelligence Notes on the Breakthrough,” 99th ID, G-2, n.d., CBM, MHI, box 4.

  No man embraced the field marshal’s sentiments: Royce L. Thompson, “The ETO Ardennes Campaign: Operations of the Combat Group Peiper,” July 24, 1952, CMH; Ardennes, 260–61; http://www.ss501panzer.com/Trail_KG_Peiper.htm.

  As commander of the 1st SS Panzer Regiment: TT, 198–99, 462–63; “Malmedy Massacre Investigation,” U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, Oct. 1949 (Blow Torch Battalion); Bauserman, The Malmédy Massacre, 5–6; MMB, 418; Reynolds, The Devil’s Adjutant, 25 (Two brothers, also SS men); memo, European Command judge advocate, March 28, 1949, CMH, LAW 2-7, 2. (Hitler’s orders to wield fear).

  In early December, after a test run: “An Interview with Obst Joachim Peiper,” ETHINT 10, Sept. 7, 1945, MHI, 2–3, 7, 13–14 (“these roads were not for tanks”).

  Both German and American mines cost Peiper: ibid., 15; Eisenhower, The Bitter Woods, 218; Royce L. Thompson, “The ETO Ardennes Campaign: Operations of the Combat Group Peiper,” July 24, 1952, CMH (clattered into Honsfeld); TT, 203; Ardennes, 261; “The Battle of the Bulge,” AB, no. 4 (1974): 1+ (stripped boots).

  German intelligence had correctly identified: Ardennes, 261, 91; Royce L. Thompson, “The ETO Ardennes Campaign: Operations of the Combat Group Peiper,” July 24, 1952, CMH. “An Interview with Obst Joachim Peiper,” ETHINT 10, Sept. 7, 1945, MHI, 16 (fifty thousand gallons). The official Army history contends that fifty American soldiers were murdered in Büllingen, but Charles B. MacDonald, a particularly capable historian, asserts that a single GI was murdered there (TT, 206–9).

  This serendipity proved catastrophic for Battery B: Bauserman, The Malmédy Massacre, ix; Schrijvers, The Unknown Dead, 37–38 (“Boches!”); TT, 213–15.

  Boches there were, and in a particularly foul mood: Royce L. Thompson, “The ETO Ardennes Campaign: Operations of the Combat Group Peiper,” July 24, 1952, CMH; Bauserman, The Malmédy Massacre, 40–50, 62; Schrijvers, The Unknown Dead, 37 (captors stripped them of rings).

  “Da kriegt noch einer Luft”: Bauserman, The Malmédy Massacre, 67.

  “I was wounded in the left arm”: affidavit, Homer D. Ford, in memo to ONB, Dec. 29, 1944, NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584; Ed Cunningham, “The Battle of the Bulge,” Yank, March 2, 1945, in Reporting World War 2, 582 (“then the click”).

  For twenty minutes executioners prowled: TT, 219; author interviews, Bastogne, 50th anniversary, Battle of the Bulge, Dec. 17, 1994 (claret color).

  Unaware for the moment that his minions: “An Interview with Obst Joachim Peiper,” ETHINT 10, Sept. 7, 1945, MHI, 16–17; “The Battle of the Bulge,” AB, no. 4 (1974): 1+ (wolfing down the lunch); TT, 229 (killing seven. The eighth fled).

  “God made me to know him”: McNally, As Ever, John, 57–58.

  Twilight had fallen when Pieper reached: Ardennes, 265–66; Royce L. Thompson, “The ETO Ardennes Campaign: Operations of the Combat Group Peiper,” July 24, 1952, CMH (strung out for twenty-five kilometers).

  Behind him, near Malmédy: Bauserman, The Malmédy Massacre, 83 (word of the massacre passed); author interviews, Bastogne, 50th anniversary, Battle of the Bulge, Dec. 17, 1994 (Vows to give no quarter); Linderman, The World Within War, 139; war diary, Ninth Army, Dec. 23, 1944, William H. Simpson papers, MHI, box 11 (“American troops are now refusing”).

  Peiper had bored a small, vicious hole: Ardennes, 78, 101–6; Brower, ed., World War II in Europe: The Final Year, 225 (“red nightmare”); Lauer, Battle Babies, 17, 42 (flame pits); OH, 99th ID, Jan. 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder 209 (bayoneting GIs).

  “One of our young lieutenants”: Brower, ed., World War II in Europe: The Final Year, 225; OH, 99th ID, Jan. 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder 209; Richard Henry Byers, “Battle of the Bulge,” 1983, a.p., 33–34 (killed their own major), 32 (“I’ve a rendezvous with death”); TT, 179 (played a piano); Ardennes, 123 (climb to two thousand).

  Two towns, actually: Royce L. Thompson, “Tank Fight of Rocherath-Krinkelt,” Feb. 13, 1952, CMH, 2-37 AE P-12, 2–8; Toland, Battle, 80 (“more like postmen”).

  A full-throated German assault: Royce L. Thompson, “Tank Fight of Rocherath-Krinkelt,” Feb. 13, 1952, CMH, 2-37 AE P-12, 4; Reynolds, Men of Steel, 87 (“perfect panzer graveyard”).

  At dusk on Tuesday, with the last remnants: USAREUR staff ride, Elsenborn, Dec. 5–8, 2001 (unmarked on Belgian military maps).

  Corps gunners muscled hundreds of tubes: Blue Spaders, 99–100 (Tiger tanks being dropped by parachute), 99 (“worry no longer”); Richard Henry Byers, “Battle of the Bulge,” 1983, a.p., 32 (“throw back my head”).

  Just so. At the moment when artillery prowess: Albert H. Smith, Jr., ed., “Biographical Sketches,” n.d., Stanhope Mason papers, MRC FDM, 1994.126.

  Here for three days and nights: Wheeler, The Big Red One, 353–57; Knickerbocker et al., Danger Forward, 341 (“Attack repulsed”); Blue Spaders, 104 (“We are killing”).

  The heaviest blows fell: corr, Derrill M. Daniel to JT, “The Operations of the 2nd Battalion, 26th Infantry, at Dom Bütgenbach,” June 9, 1958, CBM, MHI, box 2; TT, 404–5; Blue Spaders, 105; Ardennes, 129–32; Rivette, “The Hot Corner at Dom Bütgenbach,” IJ (Oct. 1945): 19+ (Thursday brought worse yet).

  “Get me all the damned artillery”: Blue Spaders, 108; Rivette, “The Hot Corner at Dom Bütgenbach,” IJ (Oct. 1945): 19+ (finally winkled out the last defenders).

  Army patrols reported enemy dead: corr, Derrill M. Daniel to JT, “The Operations of the 2nd Battalion, 26th Infantry, at Dom Bütgenbach,” June 9, 1958, CBM, MHI, box 2; TT, 406–7, 410–11 (five thousand others were killed).

  But the American line held: Percy E. Schramm, “The Course of Events in the German Offensive in the Ardennes,” n.d., FMS, #A-858, MHI, 4, 7; author visit, 1st ID memorial, Dom Bütgenbach, June 2, 2009; Cirillo, “Ardennes-Alsace,” 16; TT, 410; Westphal, The German Army in the West, 183 (muscle-bound and clumsy). Dietrich later claimed that one-quarter of his tanks had been immobilized by various misfortunes simply in moving to the line of departure (USAREUR staff ride, Elsenborn, Dec. 5–8, 2001).

  The Americans by contrast demonstrated agility: MacDonald, “The Neglected Ardennes,” Military Review (Apr. 1963): 74+; Charles V. von Lüttichau, “Key Dates During the Ardennes Offensive,” part 2, April 1952, NARA RG 319, R-series, #11, 104–8 (“the Elsenborn attack is gaining”); “Answers to Questions Asked General Westphal,” 1954, FMS, #A-896, MHI, 8–9 (tactical fortunes of Dietrich). The formal shift of emphasis from north to south occurred on Dec. 20 (Ardennes, 134–35).

  Two armored corps abreast had come down: TT, 130–31; David E. Wright, “The Operations of the 1st Battalion, 110th Infantry,” 1948, IS, 7 (Cota’s 28th Division); Royce L. Thompson, “American Intelligence on the German Counteroffensive,” vol. 2, “Division Level,” March 1949, CARL, N-16829.2, 140–41 (found themselves fighting five).

  As artillery and mortar barrages shredded: Ardennes, 181–82; Phillips, To Save Bastogne, 52; AAR, 28th ID, Unit Report No. 6, Dec. 1944, JT, LOC MS Div, box 34 (German infiltrators forded the Our); corr, Bill Jarrett, May 23, 1945, Norman D. Cota papers, DDE Lib, box 2 (“While I was being searched”); Ardennes, 188 (“clay pipes”), 198–99 (“not healthy anymore”).

  Yet as in the north, frictions and vexations: TT, 143–44; Ardennes, 186 (Engineers eventually built two spans); “The Breakthrough to Bastogne,” vol. 2, n.d., CMH, 8-3.1 AR, 4–6 (reduced traffic to a crawl).

  On the American right, where four infantry divisions: Ardennes, 212–13; Ent, ed., The First Century, 176 (would fall back slowly for four miles). Seventh Army took several days to throw five bridges across the Our. Jacobsen and Rohwer, eds., Decisive Ba
ttles of World War II: The German View, 405–6.

  On Cota’s left, two battlion kitchens: corr, Gustin M. Nelson, CO, 112th Inf, to father, May 1945, CBM, MHI, box 3; Ardennes, 193; Ent, ed., The First Century, 174.

  That left Cota a single regiment: The 110th Inf also had only two infantry battalions on line, with the third held to the west in division reserve (“The Breakthrough to Bastogne,” vol. 2, n.d., CMH, 8-3.1 AR, 4–6).

  Here Manteuffel swung his heaviest blow: Ardennes, 176–77, 190–91 (barricaded themselves); Jacobsen and Rohwer, eds., Decisive Battles of World War II: The German View, 394–95 (under a Führer order); Clervaux en Ardennes, 12, 26–27 (John the Blind); Toland, Battle, 99 (pleas for salvation).

  A mile up the road, in the three-story Hotel: author visit, Clervaux, June 3, 2009; AAR, 110th Inf, n.d., JT, LOC MS Div, box 35 (advised Cota by radio); Toland, Battle, 88 (“Hold at all costs”).

  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, Distingu
ished 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 Battalion,” 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”).