D-Day: The Battle for Normandy

by Antony Beevor

  p. 426 ‘The artillery has an awfully easy job ...’, Lieutenant T. T. Ritson, RHA, diary, 6 August

  ‘A magnificent view of the Orne valley . . .’, William Helm, ‘The Normandy Field Diary of a Junior Medical Officer in 210 Field Ambulance’, 177th Brigade, 59th Infantry Division

  ‘Here on the British front ...’, Myles Hildyard diary, 11 August

  ‘During these days ...’, Rev. A. R. C. Leaney, IWM PP/MCR/206

  p. 427 ‘What an honour!’, Hubert Meyer, The 12th SS, Vol. II, Mechanicsburg, Pa., 2005, p. 25

  ‘View Hallo! . . .’, Tout, p. 111

  p. 428 destruction of five Tiger tanks, Hauptsturmführer Dr Wolfgang Rabe, quoted in Meyer, pp. 29-30; see also Stephen A. Hart, ‘The Black Day Unrealised’, in John Buckley (ed.), The Normandy Campaign 1944, London, 2006

  p. 429 ‘Other aircraft could not . . .’, Major Robert Kiln, Hertfordshire Yeomanry, 86th Field Artillery, SWWEC 99-63

  ‘The American air force ...’, Aitken Hughes diary, 6 General Hospital, WLHUM RAMC 1771

  ‘unfortunate support ...’, SHD-DAT 1 K 543 1

  ‘the Sikorski tourists’, SHD-DAT 1 K 543 1

  p. 430 ‘becoming very serious . . .’, Heeresgruppe B, BA-MA RH 19 ix/87 p. 431 Generalleutnant Paul Dannhauser, 271st Infantry Division, FMS B-256

  Plessis Grimoult, diary of Major Julius Neave, 13th/18th Hussars, SWWEC T2150 p. 434 intelligence failure over anti-tank defences, Captain A. Potozynski, 10th Polish Mounted Rifles, SWWEC LEEWW 2000.327

  Hitler Jugend claim 192 tanks destroyed, 20.55 hours, Chief of Staff Fifth Panzer Army, BA-MA RH 19 ix/87

  OKW communiqué, BA-MA MSg 2/ 3242

  Hitler Jugend prisoners in Operation Totalize, Peter Lieb, Konventioneller Krieg oder Weltanschauungskrieg?, Munich, 2007, p. 165

  p. 433 ‘The forces are so large . . .’, Patton, letter 9 August, Martin Blumenson (ed.), The Patton Papers, 1940-1945, New York, 1974, p. 504

  ‘appropriate the whole of fuel resupply . . .’, General John C. H. Lee, head of Com Z (Communications Zone), OCMH-FPP

  Patton commandeering supply trucks, Harry C. Butcher, Three Years with Eisenhower , London, 1946, p. 550

  60,000 gallons a day, Lieutenant Colonel Eugene Orth, 3rd Armored Division, NA II 407/427/24088

  125,000 gallons to move every 100 yards, Captain Cecil Oppenheim, QM, 3rd Armored Division, NA II 407/427/24240

  ‘Miss America’, Lieutenant A. W. Loring, 133rd Engineer Combat Command, NA II 407/427/24242

  ‘This is an opportunity ...’, Omar Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, New York, 1951, p. 372

  p. 434 ‘the pay of an entire division’, 2nd Lieutenant A. Dominic Scialla, 735th Tank Battalion, 8 August, NA II 407/427/24242

  5th Infantry Division in Angers, Lieutenant Anthony J. Miketinae, 11th Infantry, 5th Division, NA II 407/427/24241

  ‘The French beat up the collaborators ...’, 2nd Lieutenant Derk van Raalte, 2nd Infantry, 5th Division, NA II 407/427/ 24241

  ‘lost his nerve’, Oberst Erich Helmdach, Ia Seventh Army, FMS B-822

  p. 435 ‘supply troops, maintenance platoons . . .’, Bayerlein, FMS A-901

  ‘The counterattack against Avranches . . .’, Gersdorff, Chief of Staff Seventh Army, FMS A-921

  ‘Itwasinconceivable . . .’,Eberbach,FMS A-922

  ‘Enemy shellfire began falling ...’, Eberbach, FMS A-922

  Feldgendarmerie and roving courts martial, Oberst Erich Helmdach, Ia Seventh Army, FMS B-822

  p. 436 Retreat of 1st SS Panzer-Division from Sourdeval, Eugen Finanz, MdC TE 351

  ‘Calvados still in German hands!’, Gefreiter Spiekerkötter, 2nd Pionier Kompanie, 265th Infanterie-Division, BA-MA MSg 2/ 5526

  p. 437 Panthers at 2ème DB headquarters, Service de Santé, 2ème DB, SHD-DAT 11 P 232

  ‘badly disguised’, Marc de Possesse, 2ème DB, MdC TE 361

  p. 438 ‘There was no one to take care of them’, 2nd Lieutenant R. W. Conger, 10th Tank Battalion, 5th Armored Division, NA II 407/427/24241

  Colonel McHugh, 318th Infantry, 80th Division, NA II 407/427/24242

  p. 439 ‘Vive l’Amérique!’, Rev. Père Roger Fouquer, Aumônier Divisionnaire, 2ème DB, MdC TE 825

  129 casualties, 8 August, SHD-DAT 11 P 219

  Alsatian deserter, MdC TE 351

  116th Panzer-Division in Argentan, Generalmajor Gerhard Müller, 116th Panzer-Division, FMS B-162

  ‘solid cork’, 2nd French Armored Division, NA II 407/427/24205

  ‘Upon capture . . .’, USAMHI, quoted in Carlo D’Este, Decision in Normandy, New York, 1983, p. 428

  ‘This corps could easily advance ...’, Blumenson (ed.), p. 508

  p. 440 For the effectiveness of anti-tank guns in defence see David Rowland, The Stress of Battle, Norwich, 2006, pp. 106-41

  26

  THE HAMMER AND ANVIL

  p. 441 ‘Very hot - not good ...’, diary of Major Julius Neave, 13th/18th Hussars, SWWEC T501

  Montgomery and Berlin, Harry C. Butcher, Three Years with Eisenhower, London, 1946, p. 551

  p. 442 Tractable bombing attack, Terry Copp, Fields of Fire, Toronto, 2003, p. 229

  ‘The attack ordered by me . . .’, Eberbach, FMS A-922

  p. 443 ‘It is really a great plan ...’, Martin Blumenson (ed.), The Patton Papers, 1940- 1945, New York, 1974, p. 510

  ‘Take Orléans at once’, Major General Gilbert Cook, commanding XII Corps, Third Army, NA II 07/427/24241

  ‘The number of cases ...’, Blumenson (ed.), p. 510

  ‘A few of the enlisted men ...’, George Silverton, Chief of X Ray Department, 2nd Evacuation Hospital, MdC TE 710

  6th Security Regiment captures American war correspondent, Heeresgruppe B, 14 August, BA-MA RH 19 ix/87

  p. 444 ‘We’d have been happy ...’, Gefreiter Spiekerkötter, 2nd Pionier Kompanie, 256th Infanterie-Division, BA-MA MSg 2/ 5526

  ‘a slimy paste’, Aitken Hughes diary, WLHUM RAMC 1771

  ‘more critical by the hour’, Heeresgruppe B, 14 August, BA-MA RH 19 ix/87

  ‘catastrophic’, Kriegstagebuch Panzer Group West, Fifth Panzer Army, BA-MA MSg 2/4831

  ‘swine ...’, Marshal of the RAF Lord Portal, OCMH-FPP

  p. 445 ‘I cannot pretend ...’, No. 742, Prime Minister to President, 4 August, TNA PREM 3/472

  ‘Ike said no . . .’, Butcher, p. 545

  ‘especially when the first paratroops ...’ General Warlimont, ETHINT 1

  p. 446 ‘One woman was raped ...’, M.R.D. Foot, SOE in France, London, 1966, p. 393 head of the Gestapo in Châteauroux killed, SHD-DAT 13 P 33

  ‘128 terrorists . . .’, BA-MA MSg 2/3242

  ‘reprisals cannot be harsh enough’, BA-MA M-854, quoted in Peter Lieb, Konventioneller Krieg oder Weltanschauungskrieg?, Munich, 2007, p. 463

  p. 447 the twenty-six worst massacres, ibid., pp. 574-80

  for a comprehensive and up-to-date discussion of French civilian casualty figures see ibid., pp. 412-15

  ‘counter-scorching’, Foot, p. 391

  p. 448 ‘military events having taken ...’, Faugère, AN F/1cIII/1166

  Laval and Pétain, AN F/1cIII/1166

  ‘regionswherehideous . . .’,AN AJ/41/56

  ‘In the face of these barbarous acts ...’, TNA WO 171/337, quoted in Lieb, p. 396 p. 449 ‘I watched an open lorry ...’, John Colville, The Fringes of Power, London, 1985, p. 475

  ‘their look, in the hands ...’, Forrest C. Pogue, Pogue’s War, Lexington, Kentucky, 2001, p. 199

  ‘The French were rounding . . .’, Colonel McHugh, 318th Infantry, 80th Division, NA II 407/427/24242

  ‘an ugly carnival’, Alain Brossat, Les Tondues , Paris, 1992

  for the département of the Manche, see Michel Boivin, Les Victimes civiles de la Manche, Caen, 1994, p. 6

  p. 450 ‘Military police were posted ...’, Colville, p. 499

  ‘everything can be bought’, Madame Richer, MdC TE 223

  ‘My wife doesn’t understand me’, P
ogue, p. 134

  p. 451 ‘clearly considered us to be backward ...’, P. Peschet, MdC TE 215

  ‘their neighbours as German sympathizers’, NA II 407/427/24170

  camp at Sully, ADdC 8 W 1/1 422

  p. 452 ‘supplying the enemy’, AdM 1380 W 236 and AdM 1380 W 254

  ‘It’s because I don’t wash ...’, Claude Quétel, ‘Avoir quatre ans et demi, le 6 juin 1944, à Bernières-sur-Mer’, Bulletin d’information de la Fondation canadienne de la Bataille de Normandie, March 1993

  ‘réquisitions irrégulières’, AdM 158W 159- 202

  ‘pillaging shops . . .’, Major L. J. Massey, MdC TE 167

  p. 453 ‘Our soldiers have done some looting’, Myles Hildyard diary, 19 June

  ‘with occasionally a cynical touch ...’, George Silverton, Chief of X Ray Department, 2nd Evacuation Hospital, MdC TE 710

  ‘Mon Repos’, R. Makin, IWM 88/34/1

  15,000 troops working on Port de Caen, Major L. J. Massey, MdC TE 167

  ‘whose liberation was more rapid ...’, François Bédarida (ed.), Normandie 44, du débarquement à la Libération, Paris, 2004,p. 24

  ‘otherwise they must expect . . .’, Heeresgruppe B, 14 August, BA-MA RH 19 ix/87 p. 454 Kluge’s order to cross the Orne, BA-MA MSg 2/5117

  panzers driving over bodies, Beck, 277th Artillerie Regiment, 277th Infanterie-Division, BA-MA MSg 2/3242

  resistance of Hitler Jugend in Falaise, Copp, Fields of Fire, pp. 234-5

  Canadian casualties at end of Tractable, Terry Copp, Cinderella Army, Toronto, 2007, p. 7

  Polish crossing of the Dives, SHD-DAT 1 K 543 1

  p. 455 ‘for the first time ...’, Blumenson (ed.), p. 513

  ‘No, by God . . .’, Major General Kenner, Chief Medical Officer, SHAEF, OCMH-FPP

  p. 456 ‘All effort was made ...’, Combat Command B, 7th Armored Division, NA II 407/427/24096

  p. 457 confusion with Gerow and Gaffey, NA II 407/427/24235

  ‘Change horses’, Blumenson (ed.), pp. 514-15

  ‘Ismay takes a sane . . .’, Duff Hart-Davis (ed.), King’s Counsellor, London, 2006, p. 279

  ‘Leclerc of the 2nd French Armored Division . . .’, Blumenson (ed.), p. 510

  27

  THE KILLING GROUND OF THE FALAISE POCKET

  p. 459 ‘the 15th August was ...’, Wilhelm Ritter von Schramm, BA-MA MSg 2/247

  ‘Hitler suspected that . . .’, General Warlimont, ETHINT 5

  p. 460 ‘The Führer has ordered ...’, Wilhelm Ritter von Schramm, BA-MA MSg 2/247

  ‘one of the harshest . . .’, Leutnant Dankwart Graf von Arnim, MdC TE 819

  p. 461 ‘were a pack of cowards ...’,Generalleutnant Fritz Bayerlein, ETHINT 66

  Kluge’s letter to Hitler, quoted in Milton Shulman, Defeat in the West, London, 1986, pp. 174-7

  p. 464 ‘able to drive by car ...’, Generalmajor Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff, Chief of Staff Seventh Army, ETHINT 59

  shape of Falaise pocket, General Mahlmann, 353rd Infantry Division, FMS A-984

  II Panzer Corps in Forêt de Gouffern, Eberbach, FMS A-922

  ‘In other words ...’, General Eugen Meindl, II Parachute Corps, FMS A-923

  panzer soldier playing Viennese waltzes, Marcel Labussière, MdC TE 471

  ‘We have had a warm welcome . . .’, Captain S. Beck, 18 August, MdC TE 570

  ‘While I was talking to the Brigadier . . .’, diary of Major Julius Neave, 19 August, 13th/18th Hussars, SWWEC T 501

  p. 465 1st Polish Armoured Division reorganizes, SHD-DAT 1 K 543 1

  Model’s conference on 18 August, Eberbach, FMS A-922, and Generalmajor Freiherr von Gersdorff, written answers submitted October 1945, NA II 407/427/24231 p. 466 ‘The black mushrooms ...’, General Eugen Meindl, II Parachute Corps, FMS A-923

  ‘We rippled the rockets ...’, Michael Veitch, Tom Hall, Sydney, 2006, p. 113

  ‘On the road great heaps . . .’, General der Panzertruppen Freiherr von Lüttwitz, FMS A-903

  Eberhard Beck, 277th Artillerie-Regiment, 277th Infantry Division, BA-MA MSg 2/3242

  Allied air claims on 18 August, Leigh-Mallory, TNA CAB 106/980

  Operational Research Section, Report No. 15, ‘Enemy Casualties in Vehicles and Equipment in the Retreat from Normandy to the Seine’, AHB

  p. 467 ‘Take cover, boys, they may be ours!’ Rev. A. R. C. Leaney, IWM PP/MCR/206

  ‘some British armored vehicles ...’, NA II 407/427/24143

  p. 468 ‘They were excellent fighters ...’, Lieutenant George W. Godfrey, 358th Infantry, 90th Division, NA II 407/427/ 24240

  ‘tidying up official correspondence’, quoted in Terry Copp, Fields of Fire, Toronto, 2003, p. 243

  ‘The roads were blocked ...’, Hans Höller, 21st Panzer-Division, MdeC TE 98

  ‘In their faces one could read ...’, Eberhard Beck, 277th Artillerie-Regiment, 277th Infantry Division, BA-MA MSg 2/3242

  p. 469 ‘Fertigmachen zum Abmarsch’, Eberhard Beck, 277th Artillerie-Regiment, 277th Infantry Division, BA-MA MSg 2/3242

  escape of General Meindl and paratroops, General Eugen Meindl, II Parachute Corps, FMS A-923

  p. 470 ‘clear and serene’, Generalmajor Gerhard Müller, 116th Panzer-Division, FMS B-162

  p. 471 ‘People, horses, vehicles ...’, General der Panzertruppen Freiherr von Lüttwitz, 2nd Panzer-Division, FMS A-903

  ‘This was the signal....’, Generalmajor Freiherr Rudolf von Gersdorff, FMS A-919

  ‘It was a gunner’s dream . . .’, NA II 407/ 427/24242

  p. 472 ‘The Polish soldier fights ...’, SHD-DAT 1 K 543 1

  ‘luck gave the 10th Cavalry Brigade ...’, SHD-DAT 1 K 543 1

  capture of General Elfeldt, Captain A. Potozynski, 10th Polish Mounted Rifles, SWWEC LEEWW 2000.327

  Simonds and Kitching, Copp, pp. 249-50 p. 473 Hauptmann Werner, III Battalion, Regiment Der Führer, 2nd SS Panzer-Division Das Reich, MdC TE 158

  SS officer saved by Canadian officer, Herbert Ronstedt, 9th SS Panzer-Division Hohenstaufen, BA-MA MSg 2/3225

  Polish tanks near northern Hill 262, Hubert Meyer, BA-MA MSg 2/4832

  ‘Oh it’s the old man’, General Eugen Meindl, II Parachute Corps, FMS A-923

  p. 475 ‘German attempts, more or less . . .’, SHD-DAT 11 P 221

  ‘the sixty-sixth and last day . . .’, MdC TE 149

  Polish losses in Normandy, SHD-DAT 1 K 543 1

  p. 476 over 2,000 men per division had escaped, Generalmajor Freiherr von Gersdorff, Chief of Staff Seventh Army, written answers submitted October 1945, NA II 407/427/24231

  ‘[The] Yanks say ...’, diary of Major Julius Neave, 13th/18th Hussars, SWWEC 501 T

  ‘A boy of about ten years ...’, 2nd Lieutenant Roy J. Bolen, 38 Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, NA II 407/427/24240

  ‘The roads were choked with wreckage ...’, Desmond Scott, Typhoon Pilot, London, 1982, p. 129

  ‘The horses seemed almost more pitiful’, Kingsley Amis, Memoirs, London, 1991, p. 221

  p. 477 the cossack squadron, Barnett Hoffner, 6th Engineer Special Brigade, NWWIIM-EC

  German field hospital in Forêt de Gouffern, NA II 407/427/24235

  ‘On the collapse of the Falaise pocket . . .’, Lieutenant Colonel John N. Snyder, MdC TE 648

  p. 478 ‘Their blankets have been ...’,Aitken Hughes diary, WLHUM RAMC 1771

  ‘The air became unbreathable’, Jean Sorel, MdC TE 504 ‘The victory has been definite ...’, LHCMA De Guingand 3/1-27

  Eberbach’s estimate of those who escaped, Eberbach, FMS A-922

  Gersdorff’s estimate, Generalmajor Rudolf-Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff, Chief of Staff Seventh Army, ETHINT 59

  ‘One of Monty’s great errors ...’, Air Chief Marshal Tedder, OCMH-FPP

  ‘Monty is supposed to have done a great job ...’, Air Chief Marshal Coningham, OCMH-FPP

  ‘too tidy’, ‘the high cock on the dungheap’ and ‘Bradley was indignant ...’, Brigadier E. T. Williams, G-2, 21st
Army Group, OCMH-FPP

  28

  THE PARIS UPRISING AND THE RACE FOR THE SEINE

  p. 480 ‘had to ask him categorically ...’, Martin Blumenson (ed.), The Patton Papers, 1940-1945, New York, 1974, p. 516

  ‘This Army covers so much ...’, ibid., p. 517

  p. 481 ‘pissed in the river that morning’, ibid., pp. 521-2

  ‘Go where you damn well ...’,Major General Gilbert Cook, commanding XII Corps, Third Army, NA II 407/427/24241

  De Gaulle’sunannounced journey, Wilson to SHAEF, 16 August, TNA ADM 1/ 16018

  De Gaulle and the Flying Fortress, John Julius Norwich (ed.), The Duff Cooper Diaries, London, 2005, p. 318 (17 August)

  ‘We must march on Paris . . .’, Charles de Gaulle, OCMH-FPP

  p. 482 Hitler and Choltitz, General Dietrich von Choltitz, De Sebastopol à Paris, Paris, 1964, pp. 203-9

  ‘Bedell, Ike and all hands ...’, ACM Sir James Robb, OCMH-FPP

  ‘The worst job . . .’, TNA WO 208/4364, quoted in Sönke Neitzel (ed.), Tapping Hitler’s Generals, St Paul, Mn., p. 192

  ‘Have you read Churchill’s ...’, TNA WO 208/4634

  p. 483 ‘short of stature ...’, Leutnant Dankwart, Graf von Arnim, MdC TE 819 p. 484 25,000 soldiers, Generalleutnant Freiherr von Boineburg, FMS B-015

  ‘interpreter battalion ...’, Oberst Professor Dr Kurt Hesse, FMS B-611

  Bayerlein and Choltitz, Generalleutnant Fritz Bayerlein, Panzer Lehr Division, ETHINT 66

  p. 485 ‘the shining example ...’, SHD-DAT 13 P 42 1

  ‘Along the rue Lafayette ...’, Jean Galtier-Boissière, Mon journal pendant l’Occupation, Paris, 1944, p. 242

  p. 486 ‘A deceptive calm reigned ...’, Leutnant Dankwart Graf von Arnim, MdC TE 819

  ‘create a permanent state ...’, SHD-DAT 13 P 42 1

  p. 487 ‘to cover the heroic defence ...’, Leutnant Dankwart Graf von Arnim, MdC TE 819

  truce, SHD-DAT 13 P 42 1 p. 488 ‘for new missions’, NA II 407/427/ 24205

  ‘in the direction ...’, SHD-DAT 11 P 226

  ‘What are we doing here?’, NA II 407/ 427/24082

  p. 489 American liaison officer warns V Corps, SHD-DAT 11 P 226

  Private Petrie, Tyneside Scottish, MdC TE97

  p. 490 ‘We all know he’s lost the war ...’, Rev. A. R. C. Leaney, IWM PP/MCR/206