Everything has started well. The mines, obstacles, and land batteries have been largely overcome. The air landings were very successful, and on a large scale. Infantry landings are proceeding rapidly, and many tanks and self-propelled guns are already ashore. Weather outlook moderate to good.
26—s.w.w.
His answer was prompt, and contained welcome news of the highest importance. “I have received”, he cabled, “your communication about the success of the beginning of the ‘Overlord’ operations. It gives joy to us all and hope of further successes. The summer offensive of the Soviet forces, organised in accordance with the agreement at the Teheran Conference, will begin towards the middle of June on one of the important sectors of the front.… At the end of June and during July offensive operations will become a general offensive of the Soviet forces.”
I was actually sending him a fuller account of our progress when this telegram arrived. “I am well satisfied”, I answered, “with the situation up to noon to-day [June 7]. Only at one American beach has there been serious difficulty, and that has now been cleared up. 20,000 airborne troops are safely landed behind the flanks of the enemy’s lines, and have made contact in each case with the American and British seaborne forces. We got across with small losses. We had expected to lose about 10,000 men.…”
Stalin telegraphed again a few days later:
As is evident, the landing, conceived on a grandiose scale, has succeeded completely. My colleagues and I cannot but admit that the history of warfare knows no other like undertaking from the point of view of its scale, its vast conception, and its masterly execution. As is well known, Napoleon in his time failed igno-miniously in his plan to force the Channel. The hysterical Hitler, who boasted for two years that he would effect a forcing of the Channel, was unable to make up his mind even to hint at attempting to carry out his threat. Only our Allies have succeeded in realising with honour the grandiose plan of the forcing of the Channel. History will record this deed as an achievement of the highest order.
The word “grandiose” is the translation from the Russian text which was given me. I think “majestic” was probably what Stalin meant. At any rate, harmony was complete.
On June 10 General Montgomery reported that he was sufficiently established ashore to receive a visit. I therefore set off in my train to Portsmouth, with Smuts, Brooke, General Marshall, and Admiral King. All three American Chiefs of Staff had flown to the United Kingdom on June 8 in case any vital military decision had to be taken at short notice. A British and an American destroyer awaited us. Smuts, Brooke, and I embarked in the former, and General Marshall and Admiral King, with their staffs, in the latter, and we crossed the Channel without incident to our respective fronts. Montgomery, smiling and confident, met me at the beach as we scrambled out of our landing-craft. His army had already penetrated seven or eight miles inland. There was very little firing or activity. The weather was brilliant. We drove through our limited but fertile domain in Normandy. It was pleasant to see the prosperity of the countryside. The fields were full of lovely red and white cows basking or parading in the sunshine. The inhabitants seemed quite buoyant and well nourished and waved enthusiastically. Montgomery’s headquarters, about five miles inland, were in a château with lawns and lakes around it. We lunched in a tent looking towards the enemy. The General was in the highest spirits. I asked him how far away was the actual front. He said about three miles. I asked him if he had a continuous line. He said, “No.” “What is there then to prevent an incursion of German armour breaking up our luncheon?” He said he did not think they would come. The staff told me the château had been heavily bombed the night before, and certainly there were a good many craters around it. I told him he was taking too much of a risk if he made a habit of such proceedings. Anything can be done once or for a short time, but custom, repetition, prolongation, is always to be avoided when possible in war. He did in fact move two days later, though not till he and his staff had had another dose.
It continued fine, and apart from occasional air alarms and antiaircraft fire there seemed to be no fighting. We made a considerable inspection of our limited bridgehead. I was particularly interested to see the local ports of Port-en-Bessin, Courseulles, and Ouistreham. We had not counted much on these little harbours in any of the plans we had made for the great descent. They proved a most valuable acquisition, and soon were discharging about two thousand tons a day. I dwelt on these agreeable facts as we drove or walked round our interesting but severely restricted conquest.
Smuts, Brooke, and I went home in the destroyer Kelvin. Admiral Vian, who now commanded all the flotillas and light craft protecting the Arromanches harbour, was on board. He proposed that we should go and watch the bombardment of the German position by the battleships and cruisers protecting the British left flank. Accordingly we passed between the two battleships, which were firing at twenty thousand yards, and through the cruiser squadron, firing at about fourteen thousand yards, and soon we were within seven or eight thousand yards of the shore, which was thickly wooded. The bombardment was leisurely and continuous, but there was no reply from the enemy. As we were about to turn I said to Vian, “Since we are so near, why shouldn’t we have a plug at them ourselves before we go home?” He said “Certainly,” and in a minute or two all our guns fired on the silent coast. We were of course well within the range of their artillery, and the moment we had fired Vian made the destroyer turn about and depart at the highest speed. We were soon out of danger and passed through the cruiser and battleship lines. This is the only time I have ever been on board a naval vessel when she fired “in anger”—if it can be so called. I admired the Admiral’s sporting spirit. Smuts too was delighted. I slept soundly on the four-hour voyage to Portsmouth. Altogether it had been a most interesting and enjoyable day.
Soon afterwards I wrote to the President about various questions, including the visit of de Gaulle to France, which I had arranged without consulting Roosevelt beforehand, and added:
I had a jolly day on Monday on the beaches and inland. There is a great mass of shipping extended more than fifty miles along the coast. It is being increasingly protected against weather by the artificial harbours, nearly every element of which has been a success, and will soon have effective shelter against bad weather. The power of our air and of our anti-U-boat forces seems to ensure it a very great measure of protection. After doing much laborious duty we went and had a plug at the Hun from our destroyer, but although the range was 6,000 yards he did not honour us with a reply.
Marshall and King came back in my train. They were greatly reassured by all they saw on the American side, and Marshall wrote out a charming telegram to Mountbatten, saying how many of these new craft had been produced under his organisation and what a help they had been. You used the word “stupendous” in one of your early telegrams to me. I must admit that what I saw could only be described by that word, and I think your officers would agree as well.… How I wish you were here!
CHAPTER XIII
NORMANDY TO PARIS
LET us survey the enemy’s dispositions and plans as we now know them. Marshal Rundstedt, with sixty divisions, was in command of the whole Atlantic Wall, from the Low Countries to the Bay of Biscay, and from Marseilles along the southern French shore. Under him Rommel held the coast from Holland to the Loire. His Fifteenth Army with nineteen divisions held the sector about Calais and Boulogne, and his Seventh Army had nine infantry and one Panzer division at hand in Normandy. The ten Panzer divisions on the whole Western Front were spreadeagled from Belgium to Bordeaux. How strange that the Germans, now on the defensive, made the same mistake as the French in 1940 and dispersed their most powerful weapon of counter-attack!
It is indeed remarkable that the vast, long-planned assault fell on the enemy as a surprise both in time and place. Early on June 5 Rommel left his headquarters to visit Hitler at Berchtesgaden, and was in Germany when the blow fell. There had been much argument about which front the Allies would a
ttack. Rundstedt had consistently believed that our main blow would be launched across the Straits of Dover, as that was the shortest sea route and gave the best access to the heart of Germany. Rommel for long agreed with him. Hitler and his staff however appear to have had reports indicating that Normandy would be the principal battleground.* Even after we had landed uncertainties continued. Hitler lost a whole critical day in making up his mind to release the two nearest Panzer divisions to reinforce the front. The German Intelligence Service grossly overestimated the number of divisions and the amount of suitable shipping available in England. On their showing there were ample resources for a second big landing, so Normandy might be only a preliminary and subsidiary one. It was not until the third week in July, six weeks after D Day, that reserves from the Fifteenth Army were sent south from the Pas de Calais to join the battle. Our deception measures both before and after D Day had aimed at creating this confused thinking. Their success was admirable and had far-reaching results on the battle.
But the enemy fought stubbornly and were not easily overcome. In the American sector the marshes near Carentan and at the mouth of the river Vire hampered our movements, and everywhere the country was suited to infantry defence. The bocage which covers much of Normandy consists of a multitude of small fields divided by banks, with ditches and very high hedges. Artillery support was hindered by lack of good observation and it was extremely difficult to use tanks. It was infantry fighting all the way, with every little field a potential strong-point. Nevertheless good progress was made, except for the failure to capture Caen.
NORMANDY
This small but famous town was to be the scene of bitter struggles over many days. To us it was important, because there was good ground to the east for constructing air-strips, and it was also the hinge on which our whole plan turned, and on which Montgomery intended to make a great left wheel by the American forces. It was equally important for the Germans. If their lines were pierced the whole of their Seventh Army would be forced south-eastwards towards the Loire, opening a gap between it and the Fifteenth Army in the north. The way to Paris would then be open. Thus Caen became the scene of ceaseless attacks and the most stubborn defence, drawing towards it a great part of the German divisions, and especially their armour. This was a help as well as a hindrance.
The Germans, though the reserve divisions of their Fifteenth Army were still held intact north of the Seine, had of course been reinforced from elsewhere, and by June 12 twelve divisions were in action, four of them Panzers. This was less than we had expected. Our tremendous air offensive had destroyed every bridge across the Seine below Paris and the principal bridges across the Loire. Most of the reinforcing troops had to use the roads and railways running through the gap between Paris and Orleans, and endured continuous and damaging attacks by day and night from our air forces. Their divisions arrived piecemeal, short of equipment, and fatigued by long night marches, and were thrown into the line as they came. The German command had no chance to form a striking force behind the battle for a powerful, well-concerted counter-offensive.
By June 11 the Allies had formed a continuous front and our fighters were operating from half a dozen forward air-strips. The Americans thrust westward and northward, and after sharp fighting stood before the outer defences of Cherbourg on the 22nd. The enemy resisted stoutly till the 26th so as to carry out demolitions. These were so thorough that heavy loads could not be brought in through the port till the end of August.
Beyond the battlefield other events influenced the future. On the night of June 12-13 the first flying bombs fell on London. They were launched in Northern France from places remote from our landed armies. Their early conquest would bring relief to our civil population, once again under bombardment. Part of the Strategic Air Force renewed attacks on these sites, but there could of course be no question of distorting the land battle on this account. As I said in Parliament, the people at home could feel they were sharing the perils of their soldiers.
On June 17, at Margival, near Soissons, Hitler held a conference with Rundstedt and Rommel. His two generals pressed on him strongly the folly of bleeding the German Army to death in Normandy. They urged that before it was destroyed the Seventh Army should make an orderly withdrawal towards the Seine, where, together with the Fifteenth Army, it could fight a defensive but mobile battle with at least some hope of success. But Hitler would not agree. Here, as in Russia and Italy, he demanded that no ground should be given up and all should fight where they stood. The generals were of course right.
We were meanwhile consolidating our strength. In the first six days 326,000 men, 54,000 vehicles, and 104,000 tons of stores were landed. An immense supply organisation came rapidly into being. By June 19 the two “Mulberry” harbours, one at Arromanches, the other ten miles farther west, in the American sector, were taking shape. The submarine pipe-lines (“Pluto”) were to come into action later, but meanwhile Port-en-Bessin was being developed as the main supply port for petrol.* But then a four-day gale began which almost entirely prevented the landing of men and material, and did great damage to the newly sunk breakwaters. Many floating structures which were not designed for such conditions broke from their moorings and crashed into other breakwaters and the anchored shipping. The harbour in the American sector was ruined, and its serviceable parts were used to repair Arromanches. This gale, the like of which had not been known in June for forty years, was a severe misfortune. We were already behind our programme of unloading. The break-out was equally delayed, and on June 23 we stood only on the line we had prescribed for the 11th.
In the last week of June the British established a bridgehead south of Caen. Efforts to extend it southward and eastward were repelled and the southern sector was twice attacked by several Panzer divisions. In violent conflicts the Germans were severely defeated, with heavy losses from our air and powerful artillery.† It was now our turn to strike, and on July 8 a strong attack on Caen was launched from the north and north-west. Royal Air Force heavy bombers dropped more than 2,000 tons on the German defences, and at dawn British infantry, hampered unavoidably by the bomb-craters and the rubble of fallen buildings, made good progress. By the 10th all of Caen on our side of the river was gained, and by the middle of July thirty Allied divisions were ashore. Half were American and half British and Canadian. Against these the Germans had gathered twenty-seven divisions. But they had already suffered 160,000 casualties, and General Eisenhower estimated their fighting value as no higher than sixteen divisions.
An important event now occurred. On July 17 Rommel was severely wounded. His car was attacked by our low-flying fighters, and he was carried to hospital in what was thought a dying condition. He made a wonderful recovery, in time to meet his death later on at Hitler’s orders. In early July Rundstedt was replaced in the overall command of the Western Front by von Kluge, a general who had won distinction in Russia, and on the 20th there took place a renewed, unsuccessful attempt on Hitler’s life. According to the most trustworthy story, Colonel von Stauffenberg had placed under Hitler’s table, at a staff meeting, a small case containing a time-bomb. Hitler was spared from the full effect of the explosion by the heavy table-top and its supporting cross-pieces, and also by the light structure of the building itself, which allowed an instantaneous dispersal of the pressures. Several officers present were killed, but the Fuehrer, though badly shaken and wounded, arose exclaiming, “Who says I am not under the special protection of God?” All the fury of his nature was aroused by this plot, and the vengeance which he inflicted on all suspected of being in it makes a terrible tale.
Montgomery’s general offensive, planned for July 18, now approached. The British Army attacked with three corps, preceded by an even greater bombardment by the Allied air. The Luftwaffe was totally prevented from interfering. Good progress was made to the east of Caen, until clouded skies began to hamper our planes and led to a week’s delay in launching the break-out from the American sector. I thought this was an opportunity to v
isit Cherbourg and to spend a few days in the “Mulberry” harbour. On the 20th I flew direct in an American Army Dakota to their landing-ground on the Cherbourg peninsula, and was taken all round the harbour by the United States commander. Here I saw for the first time a flying bomb launching-point. It was a very elaborate affair. I was shocked at the damage the Germans had done to the town, and shared the staff disappointment at the inevitable delay in getting the port to work. The basins of the harbour were thickly sown with contact mines. A handful of devoted British divers were at work day and night disconnecting these at their mortal peril. Warm tributes were paid to them by their American comrades. After a long and dangerous drive to the United States beach-head known as Utah Beach I went aboard a British motor torpedo-boat, and thence had a rough passage to Arromanches. As one gets older sea-sickness retreats. I did not succumb, but slept soundly till we were in the calm waters of our synthetic lagoon. I went aboard the cruiser Enterprise, where I remained for three days, making myself thoroughly acquainted with the whole working of the harbour, on which all the armies now almost entirely depended, and at the same time transacting my London business.
The nights were very noisy, there being repeated raids by single aircraft, and more numerous alarms. By day I studied the whole process of the landing of supplies and troops, both at the piers, in which I had so long been interested, and on the beaches. On one occasion six tank landing-craft came to the beach in line. When their prows grounded their drawbridges fell forward and out came the tanks, three or four from each, and splashed ashore. In less than eight minutes by my stop-watch the tanks stood in column of route on the highroad ready to move into action. This was an impressive performance, and typical of the rate of discharge which had now been achieved. I was fascinated to see the D.U.K.W.s, the American amphibious load-carriers, swimming through the harbour, waddling ashore, and then hurrying up the hill to the great dump where the lorries were waiting to take their supplies to the various units. Upon the wonderful efficiency of this system, now yielding results far greater than we had ever planned, depended the hopes of a speedy and victorious action.
The Second World War Page 102
