Ardennes 1944: Hitler's Last Gamble (56 page)

‘The men accept poor …’
, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455

‘You drive by the surgical tents …’
, Ingersoll, 185

22nd Infantry casualties, Sterling Rush, 163

‘keep control of …’
, FMS A-891

‘Our men appear to have …’
, Sgt David Rothbart, 22nd Inf. Rgt, quoted Sterling Rush, 178

‘would get up …’
, quoted Paul Fussell,
The Boys’ Crusade
, New York, 2003, 91

‘tree bursts that sent …’
, etc., Captain H. O. Sweet, US 908th Field Artillery, Attached to 331st Infantry, 83rd Division, IWM Documents 3415 95/33/1

8,000 psychological casualties, Peter Schrijvers,
The Crash of Ruin: American Combat Soldiers in Europe during World War II
, New York, 1998, 8

‘There were few cases …’
, Generalarzt Schepukat, ETHINT 60

‘In some cases …’
, Gersdorff, FMS A-892

‘more than 5,000 battle …’
, ‘The Ardennes’, CSI Battlebook 10-A, May 1984

6 THE GERMANS PREPARE
 

‘with the rather melancholy …’
, Traudl Junge,
Until the Final Hour: Hitler’s Last Secretary
, London, 2002, 147

‘He knew very well …’
, ibid.

‘the column of cars …’
, ibid., 148

‘Hitler had all day …’
, Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, ETHINT 50

‘By remaining on the defensive …’
, ibid.

‘another Dunkirk’
, CMH
Ardennes
, 18

‘whisked away’
, General der Kavallerie Siegfried Westphal, ETHINT 79

‘German divisions were gradually …’
, Generalmajor Rudolf Freiherr von Gersdorff, FMS A-892

‘small solution’
and conferences beginning November, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4178 GRGG 330 (c)

‘a snowplow effect’
, CMH
Ardennes
, 26

Hitler and American forces in front of Aachen, Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, ETHINT 50

Oberstleutnant Guderian, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/3653

‘In our current …’
,
DRZW
, 6, 125

Manteuffel’s fuel requests, Manteuffel, Fifth Panzer Army, ETHINT 45

‘on principle, otherwise …’
, Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, ETHINT 50

Preference for SS, General der Artillerie Walter Warlimont, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/3151

‘There was a certain …’
, Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, ETHINT 51

‘expressed his astonishment …’
, Jodl, TNA WO 231/30

‘Not to be altered’
,
‘to their subordinate …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4178 GRGG 330 (c)

‘last gamble’
, TNA WO 231/30, 4

‘final objective …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4178 GRGG 330 (c)

‘Surprise, when it succeeds …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4178 GRGG 322

Security measures, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4178 GRGG 330 (c)

‘full to bursting point’
, Hauptmann Gaum, 3rd Bn,
Führer Begleit
Brigade, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/3611

Storch aircraft, TNA WO 231/30

Volksgrenadier divisions taking documents, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4140 SRM 1140

‘started a rumour …’
, Manteuffel, Fifth Panzer Army, ETHINT 46

‘the political crisis in the …’
, Goebbels diaries, 1.12.44,
TBJG
II/14, 305

‘We have all been …’
, SS Standartenführer Lingner, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4140 SRM 1211

‘The only thing …’
, Generalleutnant Heim, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4364 GRGG 220

‘What a filthy trick!’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4140 SRM 1210

‘There were many comments …’
, Warlimont, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/3151

Dietrich refuses Kruse, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4178 GRGG 330 (c)

‘was not commanded as one formation …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4178 GRGG 330 (c)

‘Objectives, objectives! …’
, TNA WO 231/30

‘a people’s general’
, ibid.

Questionnaire after 20 July, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4140 SRM 1199

‘and then give the English …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/5541 SIR 1425

‘The Führer has ordered …’
, FMS B-823

‘There was nothing but …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4140 SRM 1187

‘Germany’s last reserves …’
, ibid.

‘Only two pilots …’
, ibid.

‘who was heavily …’
,
‘Success or failure …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/3662

‘the entire offensive had not more …’
, Heydte, FMS B-823

‘an old non-commissioned …’
, ibid.

‘All that was known …’
, ibid.

‘We’ll annihilate them,’
CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4140 SRM 1167

‘a highly overstrung …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/5541 SIR 1425

‘Skorzeny, this next …’
, Skorzeny’s account to his officers, NARA RG 407 ML 2279

‘typical evil Nazi’
, Heydte to Leutnant von Trott zu Solz, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4140 SRM 1182

‘a real dirty dog …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4178 GRGG 301

‘order from the Reichsführer’
, SS-Untersturmführer Schreiber, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4140 SRM 1259

‘Everything I know …’
, Mobile Field Interrogation Unit No. 1, NARA RG 407 ML 2279

‘decisive effect on …’
, ibid.

Leutnant zur See Müntz, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/3619

‘with the fork …’
, Mobile Field Interrogation Unit No. 1, NARA RG 407 ML 2279

‘emphasized that the …’
, ibid.

‘conspicuous friendship’
, Schreiber, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4140 SRM 1259

‘he was our pirate captain’
, Hans Post,
One Man in his Time
, Sydney, 2002, 167

‘according to the German radio …’
, Leutnant Günther Schultz, captured Liège 19.12.44, Mobile Field Interrogation Unit No. 1, NARA RG 407 ML 2279

150th Panzer-Brigade, ‘Ardennes Offensive’, Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny, ETHINT 12

Skorzeny and plans for Basle, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/5543 SIR 1673

SHAEF and plan to go through Switzerland, NARA RG 407 270/65/7/2, Box 19124 ML 754

Trains needed for Ardennes offensive, TNA WO 231/30

‘was already seeing in his mind’s eye …’
, Nicolaus von Below,
Als Hitlers Adjutant, 1937–1945
, Mainz, 1980, 396

‘Is your army ready?’
, SS-Oberstgruppenführer Sepp Dietrich, ETHINT 16

Hitler’s speech,
HLB
, 535–40

‘the worst prepared …’
, Dietrich, ETHINT 16.

Divisions remove insignia, 116th Panzer-Division, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/3628

Peiper’s orders, 14.12.44, Obersturmbannführer Joachim Peiper, ETHINT 10

‘In twelve or fourteen …’
, Gefreiter Unruh, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/3611 SIR 1408

‘an extraordinary optimism …’
, SS-Brigadeführer Heinz Harmel, 10th SS Panzer-Division
Frundsberg
, FMS P-109f

‘the fighting spirit …’
, 2nd Panzer-Division, FMS P-109e

7 INTELLIGENCE FAILURE
 

‘pathetically alone’
, etc., 6.12.44, CBHD, Box 5

‘If we were fighting …’
, ibid.

‘Victory or Siberia!’
, John S. D. Eisenhower,
The Bitter Woods
, New York, 1970, 200

‘sledgehammer blows …’
, 7.12.44, CBHD

‘Field Marshal Montgomery …’
, ‘Notes of Meeting at Maastricht on 7.12.1944’, Sidney H. Negrotto Papers, Box 4, USAMHI

‘all operations north …’
, ibid.

‘I think only Attila …’
,
PP
, 576

‘This is General Patton …’
, James H. O’Neill, former Third Army chaplain, ‘The True Story of the Patton Prayer’,
Leadership
, No. 25

‘Well, Padre …’
, ibid.

Eberbach conversation, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4364 GRGG 220

‘the big offensive …’
, Leutnant von der Goltz (St./Gren-Rgt 1039), CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4139 SRM 1083

German deserter, CMH
SC
, 363

‘Germany’s crippling shortage …’
, TNA CAB 106/1107

‘the enemy’s present practice …’
, CMH
SC
, 365

‘aware of the danger’
, Strong, letter of 31.8.51, quoted ibid.

‘as a Christmas present for the Führer’
, CMH
SC
, 370

‘Hitler’s orders for setting up …’
, ‘Indications of the German Offensive of December 1944’, dated 28.12.44, ‘C’ to Victor Cavendish-Bentinck, TNA HW 13/45

‘as soon as replenishing …’
, BAY/XL 152, TNA HW 13/45

‘The GAF [Luftwaffe] evidence shows …’
, etc., ‘Indications of the German Offensive of December 1944’, 28.12.44, ‘C’ to Victor Cavendish-Bentinck, TNA HW 13/45

‘a little startling …’
,
‘Ever since …’
, ibid.

‘quiet paradise …’
, ‘The Ardennes’, CSI Battlebook 10-A, May 1984

‘The steady traffic …’
, Forrest C. Pogue,
Pogue’s War: Diaries of a WWII Combat Historian
, Lexington, KY, 2001, 250

Evacuation of eastern cantons, Peter Schrijvers,
The
Unknown Dead: Civilians in the Battle of the Bulge
, Lexington, KY, 2005, 12

Elections and
Rucksackdeutsche
, ibid., 7–8

‘The bloody Heinies!’
, Louis Simpson,
Selected Prose
, New York, 1989, 117

‘La Dietrich was bitching’
, 8.12.44, CBHD

‘a good part of the afternoon’
, 13.12.44, PWS

‘It is now certain that attrition …’
, TNA CAB 106/1107

12th Army Group short of 17,581 men, NARA RG 498 UD603, Box 3

‘We think he is spread …’
, etc., 15.12.44, CBHD

‘GI’s in their zest …’
, Omar N. Bradley,
A
Soldier’s Story
, New York, 1964, 428

‘German manpower …’
, John Buckley,
Monty’s Men: The British Army and the Liberation of Europe
, London, 2013, 259

‘My men were amazed …’
, Charles B. MacDonald,
Company Commander
, New York, 2002, 78

‘It has been very quiet …’
, Colonel R. Ernest Dupuy,
St. Vith: Lion in the Way: The 106th Infantry Division in World War II
, Washington, DC, 1949, 15–16

‘Dear Ruth …’
, captured letter translated 19 December, headquarters 1st Infantry Division, CBMP, Box 2

8 SATURDAY 16 DECEMBER
 

German artillery targeting houses, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455

Manderfeld, Peter Schrijvers,
The
Unknown Dead: Civilians in the Battle of the Bulge
, Lexington, KY, 2005, 14

‘a World War I concept …’
, Manteuffel, Fifth Panzer Army, ETHINT 46

‘a significant obstacle …’
, ‘The Ardennes’, CSI Battlebook 10-A, May 1984

‘that surprise had been …’
, Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, ETHINT 51

‘If in places …’
, Charles P. Roland, 99th Infantry Division, CBMP, Box 4

‘They might at least …’
, John S. D. Eisenhower,
The
Bitter Woods
, New York, 1970, 229

Lanzerath engagement, letter from Lieutenant Colonel Robert L. Kriz, 394th Infantry; and letter from Lyle J. Bouck, 19 January 1983, CBMP, Box 4

‘Hold at all costs!’
, Eisenhower,
Bitter Woods
, 188

‘to push through rapidly …’
, Obersturmbannführer Joachim Peiper, 1st SS Panzer-Regiment, ETHINT 10

‘shouting that they were …’
, Adolf Schür, Lanzerath, CBMP, Box 6

‘They might just as well …’
, Peiper, ETHINT 10

‘We pulled our jeep …’
, FO, C Battery, 371st FA Bn, 99th Infantry Division, Richard H. Byers Papers, Box 1, USAMHI

‘There were fellows …’
, Standartenführer Lingner, 17th SS Pzg-Div, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4140 SRM 1205

‘At 06.00 the Germans …’
, ‘Defense of Höfen’,
Infantry School Quarterly
, July 1948, CBMP, Box 4

‘On the K Company front …’
, CBMP, Box 4

‘We administered plasma …’
, Harry S. Arnold, E Company, 393rd Infantry, 99th Infantry Division, CBMP, Box 4

Nervous breakdown and self-inflicted injuries, Charles P. Roland, 99th Infantry Division, CBMP, Box 4

‘The American Army never retreats!’
, Sidney Salins, CBMP, Box 4

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