9 ‘It was explained …’: Carol Mather, When the Grass Stops Growing, p. 263
10 ‘The General thanks you …’: ibid, p. 264
11 ‘At the sight of General de Gaulle …’: cited in Charles Williams, The Last Great Frenchman, p. 258
12 ‘I was only a lieutenant …’: Peter McFarren and Fadrique Iglesias, The Devil’s Agent, p. 49
13 ‘Poor people, but I can’t …’: Robert Leblanc, Journal du Maquis, ed. Alain Corblin, 6/6/1944
14 ‘I must confess …’: ibid, 7/6/1944
15 ‘We used to say …’: ibid, 11/6/1944
16 ‘Whatever happens next …’: ibid
17 ‘Tears come to my eyes …’: ibid, 13/6/1944
20 The Grinding Battle
1 ‘Well, Frenchie …’: Pierre Clostermann, The Big Show, p. 171
2 ‘The Huns have left …’: ibid, p. 172
3 ‘Don’t worry, Pierre …’: ibid
4 ‘Deafened, battered …’: ibid, p. 173
5 ‘Oh, you know …’: ibid
6 ‘At first sight …’: Robert Woollcombe, Lion Rampant, p. 37
7 ‘All through my young life …’: Ken Tout, By Tank, p. 10
8 ‘You couldn’t go …’: Ken Tout, author interview
9 ‘Some very unpleasant fighting …’: Stanley Christopherson Diary, 20/6/1944
10 ‘For a day …’: ibid
11 ‘We were fortunate …’: Helmut Ritgen, The Western Front, 1944, p. 61
12 ‘to do harm to their enemies …’: ibid, p. 63
13 ‘which we could not …’: ibid
14 ‘I put the razor …’: cited in Vince Milano and Bruce Conner, Normandiefront, p. 208
15 ‘One concentrated attack …’: ibid, p. 192
16 ‘They asked us …’: Johannes Börner, author interview
17 ‘It was very hard …’: ibid
18 ‘The 2nd Squad …’: John Robert Slaughter, Omaha Beach and Beyond, p. 128
19 ‘Carentan badly hit …’: Chester B. Hansen Diary, 15/6/1944
20 ‘It was obvious …’: J. Lawton Collins, Lightning Joe, p. 208
21 ‘He made no excuses …’: ibid
22 ‘Still a good artillery man …’: Chester B. Hansen Diary, 14/6/1944
23 ‘Before you cross …’: Mark J. Alexander and John Sparry, Jump Commander, p. 215
24 ‘My 1st Battalion …’: ibid, p. 217
25 ‘One could feel …’: cited in Milano and Conner, p. 204
26 ‘That was then …’: Slaughter, p. 130
27 ‘The fortress of Cherbourg …’: Hans Speidel, Invasion 1944, p. 90
28 ‘Cherbourg will fall in a week.’: ibid, p. 91
29 ‘There’s no front line …’: ibid, p. 93
21 The Great Storm
1 ‘I won’t have you bothered …’: DDE, Vol. III, Doc. 1759
2 ‘Everything was a vivid green …’: Ernie Pyle, Brave Men, p. 374
3 ‘It was as though life …’: ibid
4 ‘I’ve been in the army …’: ibid, p. 375
5 ‘This good-will business …’: ibid, p. 378
6 ‘Maybe you ought …’: Orion C. Shockley, Random Chance, p. 83
7 ‘It was cold …’: ibid, p. 125
8 ‘There was fear …’: Mary Morris, 18/6/1944, IWM 4850
9 ‘Hold on until …’: ibid
10 ‘Matron was the last …’: ibid
11 ‘There was mile after mile …’: ibid, 19/6/1944
12 ‘The weather was …’: Latham B. Jenson, Tin Hats, Oilskins & Seaboots, p. 231
13 ‘Dark, cold and rainy …’: Chester B. Hansen Diary, 19/6/1944
14 ‘This was a never-before …’: cited in Hubert Meyer, The 12th SS: The History of the Hitler Youth Panzer Division, Vol. I, p. 251
15 ‘The only consolation …’: Helmut Ritgen, The Western Front, 1944, p. 65
16 ‘We were all proud …’: Ambrose Lampen, Naval Reminiscences, LMHCA VIII/5
17 ‘Under her lee …’: ibid
18 ‘Now was revealed …’: Jenson, p. 232
19 ‘The strong north wind …’: General Miles Dempsey Papers, TNA WO 285/9
20 ‘Of course we did not …’: Montgomery of Alamein, Field Marshal the Viscount, Memoirs, p. 254
21 ‘It was a narrow escape …’: Richard E. Turner, Mustang Pilot, p. 92
22 ‘While you play around …’: Jenson, p. 233
23 ‘My folks were …’: William A. Biehler, Rutgers Oral History Archives
24 ‘The repple-depples were terrible …’: ibid
25 ‘I don’t think …’: ibid
26 ‘I suppose I could …’: Reg Spittles, ‘Story No. 24’, BTM Archives
27 ‘After all, they were …’: ibid
28 ‘Chezzy has so much warmth …’: Mary Morris, 20/6/1944, IWM 4850
29 ‘very high and mighty’: ibid
30 ‘Hans is quite unlike …’: ibid, 23/6/1944
31 ‘He thought he would …’: Robert Leblanc, Journal du Maquis, ed. Alain Corblin, 20/6/1944
32 ‘I do not hesitate …’: ibid, 22/6/1944
33 ‘I postponed 8 Corps …’: Dempsey, TNA WO 285/9
22 EPSOM
1 ‘Without talking …’: Kurt Meyer, Grenadiers, p. 242
2 ‘We were already …’: ibid
3 ‘All the luck in the world …’: cited in Hubert Meyer, The 12th SS: The History of the Hitler Youth Panzer Division, Vol. I, p. 335
4 ‘Everyone admirably controlled …’: Robert Woollcombe, Lion Rampant, p. 53
5 ‘Little rashes of goose flesh …’: ibid, p. 54
6 ‘I happened to be following …’: Stanley Christopherson Diary, 26/6/1944
7 ‘As so often in the past …’: Kurt Meyer, p. 242
8 ‘Look, he’s only seventeen!’: Woollcombe, p. 60
9 ‘Don’t shoot – don’t shoot! …’: ibid, p. 61
10 ‘Well done, my boy …’: ibid, p. 62
11 ‘It was a case of survival …’: Reg Spittles, ‘Story No. 41’, BTM Archives
12 ‘I just thought …’: ibid
13 ‘The absence of rocket-firing …’: TNA WO 171/860
14 ‘The yard was a slough …’: Woollcombe, p. 65
15 ‘It seemed there was no hope …’: ibid, p. 67
16 ‘Transport had to be marshalled …’: Walter Caines Journal, p. 6, IWM 306
17 ‘This was done …’: cited in Hubert Meyer, p. 378
18 ‘Help me! …’: ibid, p. 379
19 ‘The crew inside the Panzer …’: ibid, p. 380
23 Cherbourg and the Scottish Corridor
1 ‘Send liaison officer …’: cited in Marvin Jensen, Strike Swiftly!, p. 157
2 ‘Now you didn’t do that …’: ibid, p. 158
3 ‘That machine-gun …’: ibid, p. 172
4 ‘Concentrated enemy fire …’: cited in G. A. Harrison, United States Army in World War II: Cross-Channel Attack, p. 432
5 ‘You will continue …’: ibid, p. 434
6 ‘The whole thing …’: Ernie Pyle, Brave Men, p. 399
7 ‘Our company is starting …’: ibid
8 ‘Why don’t you tell …’: ibid, pp. 399–400
9 ‘A rifle platoon goes first …’: ibid, p. 400
10 ‘Spread it out …’: ibid, p. 401
11 ‘They weren’t warriors …’: ibid
12 ‘The blast was terrific …’: ibid, p. 404
13 ‘Hans brings me a cup …’: Mary Morris, 24/6/1944, IWM 4850
14 ‘These pants are hilarious …’: ibid, 26/6/1944
15 ‘He completely ignores …’: ibid, 27/6/1944
16 ‘Although he is too shocked …’: ibid
17 ‘I fix him up …’: ibid
18 ‘The heavy fighting …’: Kurt Meyer, Grenadiers, p. 248
19 ‘We let them come close …’: cited in Hubert Meyer, 12th SS: The History of the Hitler Youth Panzer Division, Vol. I, p. 394
20 ‘His deep, sunken eyes …�
��: Kurt Meyer, p. 249
21 ‘It was booty …’: cited in Hubert Meyer, p. 396
22 ‘This was the first time …’: Walter Caines Journal, p. 6, IWM 306
23 ‘The capture of Fontenay …’: Stanley Christopherson Diary, 27/6/1944
24 ‘15 Div is still involved …’: General Miles Dempsey Papers, TNA WO 285/9
25 ‘Others started to get him …’: Orion C. Shockley, Random Chance, p. 148
26 ‘We got clobbered …’: Ken Tout, By Tank, p. 15
27 ‘Until this is done …’: Dempsey, TNA WO 285/9
28 ‘The street was too narrow …’: Kurt Meyer, p. 251
29 ‘There was no time …’: Walter Caines Journal, p. 8, IWM 306
30 ‘It was impossible …’: Kurt Meyer, p. 252
31 ‘The constant use …’: ibid
24 Trouble at the Top
1 ‘We are always …’: Friedrich Ruge, Rommel in Normandy, p. 194
2 ‘Caution had to be exercised …’: ibid, p. 196
3 ‘Then, if everything goes well …’: cited in David Irving, The Trail of the Fox, p. 478
4 ‘For us in the 391st …’: Joseph J. Boylan, Goon’s Up, p. 232
5 ‘Should there be …’: TNA CAB 106/1031
6 ‘It is essential …’: ibid
7 ‘I had to report …’: Arthur Tedder, With Prejudice, p. 555
8 ‘I began to feel …’: Pierre Clostermann, The Big Show, p. 181
9 ‘He mowed down …’: ibid, p. 184
10 ‘The new set-up …’: Richard E. Turner, Mustang Pilot, p. 93
11 ‘I wasn’t planning …’: ibid, p. 97
12 ‘There is nothing like …’: ibid, p. 99
13 ‘Eutrecht’s subconscious …’: Truman Smith, The Wrong Stuff, p. 179
14 ‘The myth about …’: ibid, p. 243
15 ‘I will back you up …’: DDE, Vol. III, 7/7/1944
16 ‘Please be assured …’: ibid
17 ‘4 aiming points …’: TNA AIR 37/1057
18 ‘Another good daylight prang …’: Ken Handley Diary, 7/7/1944, IWM 3198
25 Bloody Bocage
1 ‘Weapons and equipment …’: Friedrich Freiherr von der Heydte, A German Parachute Regiment in Normandy, p. 26, B-839, USAHC
2 ‘Never before …’: ibid, p. 25
3 ‘Excellent progress …’: Martin Pöppel, Heaven and Hell, p. 210
4 ‘Eight shots …’: ibid, p. 217
5 ‘The Americans will scarcely …’: ibid
6 ‘Damn it …’: ibid, p. 220
7 ‘The maddest I ever got …’: cited in Marvin Jensen, Strike Swiftly!, p. 183
8 ‘They’re shooting right down …’: Mark J. Alexander and John Sparry, Jump Commander, p. 227
9 ‘So here was what I would call …’: Charles ‘Tick’ Bonesteel, USAHC
10 ‘There was no time …’: John Robert Slaughter, Omaha Beach and Beyond, p. 132
11 ‘The hedgerows were our allies …’: cited in Vince Milano and Bruce Conner, Normandiefront, p. 217
12 ‘We wanted to fight …’: Kurt Meyer, Grenadiers, p. 254
13 ‘It was terrible …’: Charles Cromwell Martin, Battle Diary, p. 37
14 ‘The roasting of human …’: Ken Tout, By Tank, p. 19
15 ‘Give ’em hell, boys!’: ibid, p. 20
16 ‘That’s it then …’: ibid, p. 21
17 ‘Our cellar shook …’: Meyer, p. 259
18 ‘Hullo, all stations, Yoke …’: Tout, p. 22
19 ‘For what it’s worth …’: ibid, p. 24
20 ‘That’s OK …’: ibid, p. 25
21 ‘No way forward …’: ibid, p. 26
22 ‘We scrunch around …’: ibid
23 ‘The soldiers of 12. SS …’: Meyer, p. 266
26 Living Like Foxes
1 ‘Felt too ill …’: Mary Morris, 9/7/1944, IWM 4850
2 ‘This young man …’: ibid, 4/7/1944
3 ‘Their bodies were black …’: ibid, 5/7/1944
4 ‘Our star was setting …’: cited in Vince Milano and Bruce Conner, Normandiefront, p. 235
5 ‘When I went back …’: Charles Cromwell Martin, Battle Diary, p. 45
6 ‘Undressing and bathing …’: Helmut Ritgen, The Western Front, 1944, p. 63
7 ‘Junior and I …’: John Robert Slaughter, Omaha Beach and Beyond, p. 137
8 ‘In general, we lived in the ground …’: Ritgen, p. 63
9 ‘You were totally independent …’: author interview
10 ‘We were able to add …’: ibid
11 ‘The bocage allowed …’: Ritgen, p. 96
12 ‘My crews suffered …’: ibid
13 ‘March on several roads …’: Ausbildungshinweis Nr. 33, BA-MA
14 ‘It was incredibly cumbersome …’: Eberhard Günther Beck, Tagebuch, p. 7, BA-MA
15 ‘Fields and streets …’: ibid, p. 12
16 ‘It was said his head …’: ibid
17 ‘For us, the war was long lost …’: ibid, p. 13
18 ‘Shells rained down …’: Walter Caines Journal, p. 16, IWM 306
19 ‘Little did he know …’: ibid, p. 17
20 ‘It was hell …’: ibid, p. 19
21 ‘Something I will never forget …’: ibid
22 ‘We thanked God …’: ibid, p. 21
23 ‘How did we come …’: Willi Müller, Vom Pionier-Bataillon in der Normandie zum Panzerjagdkommando in Sachsen, p. 88
24 ‘Can a seventeen year-old …’: ibid, p. 89
25 ‘Medic! …’: William A. Biehler, Rutgers Oral History Archives
26 ‘The machine guns …’: ibid
27 ‘We just fired …’: ibid
28 ‘After much thought …’: Richard Blackburn, In the Company of Heroes, p. 93
29 ‘It was very difficult …’: ibid, p. 155
30 ‘Disregarding the bocage …’: Chester B. Hansen Diary, 13/7/1944
27 A Brief Discourse on Weapons and the Operational Level of War
1 ‘Examining his wounds …’: Orion C. Shockley, Random Chance, p. 127
2 ‘But since ammunition …’: cited in Samuel W. Mitcham, Panzers in Normandy, p. 56
3 ‘They have, of course …’: 21st Army Group AFV Technical Report, 355.486.1 BTM
4 ‘The two attacks …’: ibid
5 ‘The enemy are frightened …’: ibid
6 ‘Actually, 6 shots …’: ibid
7 ‘and he brewed it up …’: ibid
8 ‘It brewed up.’: ibid
9 ‘you don’t see a brick wall …’: ibid
10 ‘Any nation that anticipates …’: ‘German Tank Maintenance in World War II, Department of the US Army, No. 20-202, June 1954, p. 44
11 ‘We could only knock …’: Fritz Bayerlein, ETHINT 66-ML-1079, USAHC, p. 35
12 ‘We could not use …’: ibid
28 Crisis of Command
1 ‘If we do not succeed …’: Richard Freiherr von Rosen, Panzer Ace, p. 226
2 ‘Nobody was hurt …’: ibid, p. 232
3 ‘If you don’t attack …’: ibid, p. 233
4 ‘Every round we fired …’: ibid
5 ‘Our first engagement …’: ibid, p. 235
6 ‘I say, now do you have …?’: Chester B. Hansen Diary, 30/6/1944
7 ‘Hitler and Rommel …’: cited in Alastair Horne, The Lonely Leader, p. 183
8 ‘We’ll give him a battle …’: Chester B. Hansen Diary, 2/7/1944
9 ‘I’ve been wanting …’: ibid, 12/7/1944
10 By the end of June …: These statistics are cited in John Peaty, ‘Myth, Reality and Carlo D’Este’, War Studies Journal, Vol. 1, No. 2. D’Este made a big point about the number of rifle battalions in England and argued that Britain was shirking in Normandy and overly relying on America’s young men to carry out much of the fighting. John Peaty has dissected D’Este’s accusations in considerable detail and emphatically disproved the suggestion.
11 ‘I am not prepared …’: cited in Arthu
r Tedder, With Prejudice, p. 560
12 ‘Eisenhower and I …’: ibid, p. 561
13 ‘We are enthusiastic …’: DDE Vol. III, 12/7/1944
14 ‘The question of leaving …’: Frank Ziegler, The Story of 609 Squadron, p. 290
15 ‘Squadron detailed …’: TNA AIR 27/2103
16 ‘The controller would say …’: Ken Adam, author interview
17 ‘It was hard.’: ibid
18 ‘Gosh, I wish I had opened …’: Chester B. Hansen Diary, 5/7/1944
19 ‘What do the people think …’: cited in Friedrich Ruge, Rommel in Normandy, p. 217
20 ‘During the course …’: Kurt Meyer, Grenadiers, p. 270
21 ‘We are not afraid …’: ibid, p. 271
22 ‘But the higher-ups …’: cited in ibid
29 GOODWOOD
1 ‘So absurdly simple …’: Omar N. Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, p. 342
2 ‘Bradley liked me …’: General Elwood Richard ‘Pete’ Quesada, interview 3, AFHRA
3 ‘Notes on Second Army …’: cited in John Baynes, The Forgotten Victor, p. 199
4 ‘Three things important …’: cited in Arthur Tedder, With Prejudice, p. 562
5 ‘If conditions …’: Baynes, p. 200
6 ‘A good early morning …’: Ken Handley Diary, 18/6/1944
7 ‘From now on, I could not …’: Richard Freiherr von Rosen, Panzer Ace, p. 247
8 ‘Of the once so beautiful …’: ibid
9 ‘One battery has been …’: Hans von Luck, Panzer Commander, p. 194
10 ‘A cruel and …’: Charles Cromwell Martin, Battle Diary, p. 46
11 ‘No words could express …’: ibid, p. 50
12 ‘The 1. SS will arrive …’: von Luck, p. 200
13 ‘We brought them out …’: von Rosen, p. 251
14 ‘This they did …’: Reg Spittles, ‘Story No. 14’, BTM Archives
15 ‘Unfortunately, one rather large …’: ibid
16 ‘On 20 July …’: Tedder, p. 562
17 ‘swept away’: cited in Samuel W. Mitcham, Panzers in Normandy, p. 77
30 Saint-Lô
1 ‘The moment is fast approaching …’: cited in James A. Wood (ed.), Army of the West, p. 145
2 ‘The terrorist act …’: Kurt Meyer, Grenadiers, p. 273
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