Ardennes 1944: Hitler's Last Gamble (55 page)

‘a job that should have …’
,
‘To make sure …’
, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1459

‘resulted in a quick …’
, NARA RG 407 270/65/7/2 ML 248

‘When attacked in this way …’
, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455

‘The few assault guns …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4139 SRM 982

‘no close-in bombing …’
,
‘the flattened condition of the buildings …’
, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1459

‘The operation was not unduly …’
, ibid.

‘Numerous times we have had …’
, NARA RG 498 290/56/2, Box 1456

‘the direct fire of the 155mm …’
, VII Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1459

‘Civilians must be …’
, Lt Col. Shaffer F. Jarrell, VII Corps, ibid.

‘they held up all …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4156

‘Eisenhower is attacking …’
, Victor Klemperer,
To the Bitter End: The Diaries of Victor Klemperer, 1942–45
, London, 2000, 462

‘Every German homestead …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4140 SRM 1211

‘Even the Führer’s adjutant …’
, Wilck, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4364 GRGG 216

‘The civilian population …’
, Unterfeldwebel Kunz, 104th Infanterie-Regt, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4164 SRX 2050

‘the time gained at Aachen …’
, NARA RG 407 270/65/7/2, Box 19105 ML 258

‘he would have been given …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/5542 SIR 1548

‘he has to watch …’
, FMS P-069

‘Before the Generals or anyone …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4134 SRA 5610

‘Fears in East Prussia …’
, FMS P-069

‘Gumbinnen is on fire …’
, ibid.

‘The soldiers’ behaviour today …’
, Stabartz Köllensperger, 8th Regiment, 3rd Fallschirmjäger-Division, TNA WO 311/54

‘German propaganda urging …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/3165

‘You’ve no idea …’
, Luftwaffe Obergefreiter Hlavac, KG 51, TNA WO 208/4164 SRX 2117

‘They called us prolongers …’
, Obergefreiter Marke, 16th Fallschirmjäger-Regiment, ibid.

‘The mood there is shit …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4164 SRX 2084

‘Versager-1’
, Nicholas Stargardt,
Witnesses of War: Children’s Lives under the Nazis
, London, 2005, 262

‘into a country …’
, quoted Martin Gilbert,
The Second World War
, London, 1989, 592

‘every American soldier …’
, NARA RG 407 270/65/7/2, Box 19105 ML 258

‘Well, it probably won’t be …’
, 2.12.44, CBHD

‘The German people must realize …’
, CMH
SC
, 342

‘The power of Germany …’
, NARA RG 407 270/65/7/2, Box 19105 ML 258

‘generally expected’
, ibid.

‘Tommy and his Yankee pal …’
,
‘while Americans …’
, TNA WO 171/4184

‘German civilians don’t know …’
, 24.11.44, NARA RG 407 270/65/7/2, Box 19105 ML 285

Nazi Party corruption, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4139 SRM 902

‘armed with a few …’
,
‘suspicious civilians’
,
‘intelligence missions of their own’
, NARA RG 407 270/65/7/2, Box 19105 ML 285

‘Don’t kick them around …’
, ibid.

Cologne and
‘Edelweiss Pirates’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4164 SRX 2074

‘A Leutnant of ours …’
, Luftwaffe Unteroffizier Bock 3/JG 27, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4164 SRX 2126

‘What is cowardice?’
, 4.5.44, Victor Klemperer,
To the Bitter End: The Diaries of Victor Klemperer, 1942–45
, London, 2000, 383

‘I am so accustomed now …’
, Marie ‘Missie’ Vassiltchikov,
The Berlin Diaries, 1940–1945
, London, 1987, 240

‘Skin diseases …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/3165 SIR 1573

Deserters in Berlin, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4135 SRA 5727 13/1/45

‘War is just like …’
, TNA WO 171/4184

10,000 executions,
DRZW
, 9/1 (Echternkamp), 48–50

‘During the night of …’
, VI Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/5/3, Box 1463

Black market in Berlin, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4164 SRX 2074

Black-market coffee from Holland, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4140 SRM 1189

‘Greiser boasted …’
, TNA WO 311/54, 32

‘Main meal without meat’
(‘Hauptgerichte einmal ohne Fleisch’), Branden-burgische Landeshauptarchiv, Pr. Br. Rep. 61A/11

‘The prices rise …’
, NARA RG 407 270/65/7/2 ML 2279

‘the over-heated soul …’
, Louis Simpson,
Selected Prose
, New York, 1989, 98

‘according to his VD …’
, CMH
Medical
, 541

‘Avenue de Salute’
, Forrest C. Pogue,
Pogue’s War: Diaries of a WWII Combat Historian
, Lexington, KY, 2001, 230

‘ardent and often …’
, NARA 711.51/3-945

Reaction of young woman, Antony Beevor and Artemis Cooper,
Paris after the Liberation, 1944–1949
, London, 1994, 129

‘The French, cynical before …’
, Simpson, 143

US Army soldiers in black market, Allan B. Ecker, ‘GI Racketeers in the Paris Black Market’,
Yank
, 4.5.45

‘extremely frigid …’
, 24.10.44, DCD

‘there is absolutely no one …’
, NARA 851.00/9-745

‘ardent admirers’
, Carlos Baker,
Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story
, New York, 1969, 564

For the political situation in Belgium, see CMH
SC
, 329–31

‘We’re still a …’
, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455

‘Each morning …’
, Arthur S. Couch, ‘An American Infantry Soldier in World War II Europe’, unpublished memoir, private collection

‘We couldn’t get the new untrained …’
, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1465

‘Sergeant Postalozzi …’
, Martha Gellhorn,
Point of No Return
, New York, 1989, 30

Hemingway,
Across the River and into the Trees
, New York, 1950, 255

‘His chances seem at their …’
, Ralph Ingersoll,
Top Secret
, London, 1946, 185–6

‘I was lucky …’
, Couch, ‘An American Infantry Soldier in World War II Europe’

‘The quality of replacements …’
, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1459

‘Replacements have 13 weeks …’
, Tech. Sgt. Edward L. Brule, NARA RG 498 290/56/5/2, Box 3

‘enemy weapons could …’
, 358th Infantry, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1465

‘The worst fault I have …’
, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455

‘Jerry puts mortar fire …’
, V Corps, ibid.

‘We actually had …’
, NARA RG 498 290/56/5/2, Box 3

‘My first contact …’
, 358th Infantry, 90th Division, XX Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1465

‘one group of officer …’
, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1459

‘Before entering combat …’
, Lt Col. J. E. Kelly, 3rd Battalion, 378th Infantry, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1465

‘In general it was believed …’
, Generalleutnant Hans Schmidt, 275th Infanterie-Division, FMS B-810

‘This consisted …’
, Major Gen. Kenneth Strong, 02/14/2 3/25 – Intelligence Notes No. 33, IWM Documents 11656

‘absolutely unfit …’
, Generalleutnant Hans Schmidt, 275th Infanterie-Division, FMS B-810

‘almost the entire company …’
, ibid.

‘the greatest demands …’
, ibid.

‘cold rations at irregular intervals’
, ibid.

‘It was like a drop of water …’
, ibid.

‘without counting the great number …’
, ibid.

‘The commitment of the old paterfamilias …’
, ibid.

‘the German soldier shows …’
, 14.10.44, GBP

‘I am returning …’
, VII Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1459

‘In dense woods …’
, ibid.

‘One man kicked …’
, Charles B. MacDonald,
The Mighty Endeavour: The American War in Europe
, New York, 1992, 385

‘Schu, Riegel, Teller …’
, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1459

‘When mines are …’
, 5.11.44, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455

297th Engineer Combat Battalion, VII Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1459

‘The Germans are burying …’
, 22nd Infantry, 4th Inf. Div., ibid.

‘The effective range …’
, VII Corps, ibid.

‘Men over thirty …’
, ibid.

‘It took guts …’
, Colonel Edwin M. Burnett, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455

‘excellent’
, Rick Atkinson,
The Guns at Last Light
, New York, 2013, 317

‘Certainly there will be …’
, Diary of General der Flieger Kreipe, FMS P-069, 43

‘one big, old country …’
, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455

‘When the driver …’
, Edward G. Miller,
A Dark and Bloody Ground: The Hürtgen Forest and the Roer River Dams, 1944–1945
, College Station, TX, 2008, 64

‘after the effectiveness …’
, Generalmajor Rudolf Freiherr von Gersdorff, FMS A-892

‘to prevent American troops from …’
, Gersdorff, FMS A-891

Lack of bazooka ammunition in Schmidt, Col. Nelson 112th Infantry, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1463

‘General Eisenhower, General Bradley …’
, 8.11.44, PWS

‘When the strength of an outfit …’
, Ralph Ingersoll,
Top Secret
, London, 1946, 185

‘The surrounded American task force …’
, NARA RG 407 270/65/7/2, Box 19105 ML 258

‘There was a stream …’
, Arthur S. Couch, ‘An American Infantry Soldier in World War II Europe’, unpublished memoir, private collection

‘then blast hell …’
, VII Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1459

4.2-inch mortars, NARA RG 407 270/65/7/2 ML 248

‘The German artillery …’
, Couch, ‘An American Infantry Soldier in World War II Europe’

‘easier to defend …’
, Generalmajor Rudolf Freiherr von Gersdorff, ETHINT 53

‘Just before dawn …’
, Couch, ‘An American Infantry Soldier in World War II Europe’

275th Infanterie-Division, Generalleutnant Hans Schmidt, FMS B-373

Colonel Luckett, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455

‘twelve to twenty men …’
, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1465

‘In the daytime …’
, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1464

‘One time we didn’t …’
, quoted John Ellis,
The Sharp End: The Fighting Man in World War II
, London, 1990, 152

‘booby-trapped stretch …’
, Robert Sterling Rush,
Hell in Hürtgen Forest: The Ordeal and Triumph of an American Infantry Regiment
, Lawrence, KS, 2001, 139

1st Division avoiding trails, 18th Infantry, 1st Division, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1459

‘A heavy snow …’
, Couch, ‘An American Infantry Soldier in World War II Europe’

‘Armistice Day and Georgie …’
, 11.11.44, CBHD

‘The whole damn company …’
, Omar N. Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story
, New York, 1964, 430–1

‘fight to the last round’
, Generalmajor Ullersperger, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4364 GRGG 237

‘I am surprised that Himmler …’
, Generalmajor Vaterrodt, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4177

‘I’ve lost my unit’
, etc., ibid.

‘Especially distressing …’
, Generalleutnant Straube, FMS A-891

‘an open wound’
, FMS A-891

‘death-mill’
, Gersdorff, FMS A-892

‘Passchendaele with tree bursts’
, Ernest Hemingway,
Across the River and into the Trees
, New York, 1950, 249

‘Old Ernie Hemorrhoid …’
, Carlos
Baker,
Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story
, New York, 1969, 552

‘an unoccupied foxhole’
, J. D. Salinger, ‘Contributors’,
Story
, No. 25 (November–December 1944), 1

‘After five days …’
, Charles Whiting,
The Battle of Hürtgen Forest
, Stroud, 2007, 71

‘The young battalion commanders …’
, Ingersoll, 184–5