The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (135 page)

At seven the next morning
: Alter and Crouch, eds., “
My Dear Moon
,” no pagination (“
I am sick
”); Individual Deceased Personnel File, Don P. Moon, a.p., obtained under FOIA, 2008 (“
Cause: suicide
”); corr, JLC to Mrs. Don P. Moon, Aug. 17, 1944, JLC papers, DDE Lib, box 3, 201 file (“
a casualty of this war
”).

At two
P.M.
on August 13, under clear skies
: Hewitt, “Planning Operation Anvil-Dragoon,”
U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings
(July–Aug. 1954): 731
+
; Moran,
Churchill: Taken from the Diaries of Lord Moran
, 179 (“
All that they felt
”).

Vesuvius had begun to recede
: Hewitt, “Planning Operation Anvil-Dragoon,”
U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings
(July–Aug. 1954): 731
+
; Pawle,
The War and Colonel Warden
, 315–16 (
light tropical suit
); Taggart, ed.,
History of the Third Infantry Division
, 202 (“
It’s Churchill!
”); Reitan,
Riflemen
, 41.

Colonel Kent
: Jackson,
The Mediterranean and the Middle East
, vol. 6, part 2, 174.

on a fortnight’s bathing holiday
: Jenkins,
Churchill: A Biography
, 752–53; Reynolds,
In Command of History
, 3 (“
benevolent hippo
”); Macmillan,
War Diaries
, 502 (
portable map room
).

DRAGOON
, originally called
ANVIL
: A recent history on the German retreat from France states that the two Wehrmacht armies in Army Group G together numbered sixteen divisions on June 6, 1944. Ludewig,
Rückzug
, 48.

Shipping shortages and delays in capturing Rome
: Charles V. von Lüttichau, “Army Group G Prepares to Meet the Invasion,” 1957, OCMH, NARA RG 319, R-series #103, box 16; H. Maitland Wilson, “Dispatch, Invasion of Southern France,” 1944, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #108, 4–31;
CCA
, 76n, 100; “The Invasion of Southern France, Operation Dragoon,” ETOUSA, 1944, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #314;
TSC
, 220–21 (“
decisive theater
”); Howard,
The Mediterranean Strategy in World War II
, 61; Ambrose,
The Supreme Commander
, 338; OH, Charles de Gaulle, Jan. 14, 1947, FCP, MHI; De Gaulle,
The Complete Memoirs of Charles de Gaulle
, 613–14.

The British disagreed, politely at first
:
TSC
, 221–22 (“
bleak and sterile
”);
IFG
, 229–30 (“
great hazards
”); Eisenhower,
Crusade in Europe
, 301 (
would take three months
); memo, British chiefs, June 26, 1944, NARA RG 165, E 422, OPD, history unit, box 12 (“
unacceptable to us
”); H. Maitland Wilson, “Dispatch, Invasion of Southern France,” 1944, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #108, 31; Macmillan,
War Diaries
, 470 (“
eliminate the German forces
”); Kennedy,
The Business of War
, 333 (“
dagger under the armpit
”).

“
We need big ports
”: Chandler, 1938; Howard,
The Mediterranean Strategy in World War II
, 67 (
threading the gap
); Pogue,
George C. Marshall: Organizer of Victory
, 408 (“
Austrians held off the Italians
”); OH, John E. Hull, 1974, James W. Wurman, SOOHP, MHI, III-54, V-26 (“
not more than seven divisions
”); Barker, “The Ljubljana Gap Strategy,”
JMH
(Jan. 1992): 57
+
(
dash to Vienna
); Moran,
Churchill: Taken from the Diaries of Lord Moran
, 233 (“
Winston is a gambler
”); Danchev, 561–65 (“
damned fools
”).

The prime minister would have none of it
: Kimball, ed.,
Churchill & Roosevelt: The Complete Correspondence
, vol. 3, 523 (
forestall Soviet domination
), 214–23 (“
complete ruin
”).

Still Churchill persisted
: diary, CBH, Aug. 7, 1944, MHI, box 4 (“
beautifully colored speech
”); dispatch, Henry Maitland Wilson to CCS, n.d., CMH, UH 0-1, 23 (“
greatest secrecy
”); msg, U.S. JCS, Aug. 5, 1944, NARA RG 331, AFHQ micro, R-323-A (“
extremely unwise
”); Jackson,
The Mediterranean and the Middle East
, vol. 6, part 2, 174 (“
utmost confusion
”);
IFG
, 231 (
insufficiently seaworthy
); Chandler, 2057 (
no major Breton port would open
), 2066–67;
Three Years
, 635 (“
Ike said no
”), 639 (“
lay down the mantle
”), 644; Strong,
Intelligence at the Top
, 197 (
wept copiously
); Churchill,
Triumph and Tragedy
, 68–71 (“
no more to be done
”).

Denouncing the
“
sheer folly
”: Moran,
Churchill: Taken from the Diaries of Lord Moran
, 173.

“
strong and dominating partner
”:
TSC
, 226.

“
We have been ill-treated
”: Pogue,
George C. Marshall: Organizer of Victory
, 412–13; Roberts,
Masters and Commanders
, 501 (“
lying down
”), 500 (“
Winston is very bitter
”); Hastings,
Armageddon
, 232 (“
one of the stupidest strategic teams
”); Wilson, ed.,
D-Day 1944
, 38 (“
The only times I ever quarrel
”).

“
an Englishman’s idea of cooperation
”: Brower, ed.,
World War II in Europe: The Final Year
, 59; Pogue,
George C. Marshall: Organizer of Victory
, 491 (“
always a disperser
”); Howard,
The Mediterranean Strategy in World War II
, 67 (
incoherent
); Brower, ed.,
World War II in
Europe, 42 (
“slogan not a strategy”
);
VW
, vol. 2, 19;
TSC
, 246–47 (“
tearing the guts out
”).

Certainly the fraught imperatives
: Powers, “The Battle of Normandy,”
JMH
(July 1992): 455
+
; Roberts,
Masters and Commanders
, 505 (“
full-blown professionals
”); pamphlet, “Beachheads and Mountains,” MTO, U.S. Army, June 1945, Theodore J. Conway papers, MHI, box 2 (
one in every ten
).

“
He must always be right
”: Roberts,
Masters and Commanders
, 500.

“
He was literally frothing
”: Danchev, 571; Colville,
The Fringes of Power
, 564 (“
corrective sneering
”), 522 (
black bristles of the hair brushes
); Hastings,
Winston’s War
, 411 (“
his own vivid world
”); Buhite,
Decisions at Yalta
, 15 (“
Of course I am an egotist
”).

“
that unresting genius
”: Fraser,
Alanbrooke
, 22.

“
The P.M. is very tired
”: Moran,
Churchill: Taken from the Diaries of Lord Moran
, 194; Macmillan,
War Diaries
, 474 (“
old and weary
”); Foreman, “Winston Churchill, Distilled,”
Wall Street Journal
, Dec. 10, 2009, D6 (“
economy of effort
”).

Already this Mediterranean sojourn had revived him
: Addison,
Churchill, the Unexpected Hero
, 184 (
Champagne lunches
); Kimball,
Forged in War
, 22 (
Churchill was no alcoholic
); msg, U.S. JCS, Aug. 5, 1944, NARA RG 331, AFHQ micro, R-323-A (“
DRAGOON
will be successful
”).

In the smallest hours of Tuesday, August 15
: “Invasion of Southern France,” n.d., Office of the Theater Historian, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #607, 11–12;
IFG
, 255–57 (
one hundred fathoms
); Robichon,
The Second D-Day
, 163 (“
deluge of metal
”).

“
Nancy has a stiff neck
”: De Lattre de Tassigny,
The History of the French First Army
, 64. In southern France, the OSS had twenty-eight agent networks radioing reports on German defenses and troop movements. Waller,
Wild Bill Donovan
, 264.

Each soldier aboard the combat loaders
: Stephen J. Weiss, “Operation ANVIL-DRAGOON: The Allied Invasion of Southern France,” n.d., a.p.; Garland,
Unknown Soldiers
, 277 (“
Swilled coffee
”), 309 (“
sunstorms
”); Langan W. Swent, “Personal Diary,” Aug. 14, 1944, HIA, box 1 (“
things are so quiet
”).

Catoctin’s
malfunctioning ventilation system
: Will Lang, draft cable to
Life
, Aug. 1, 1944, LKT Jr. papers, GCM Lib, box 21 (“
predatory
”
face
); corr, Don E. Carleton to Sarah Truscott, July 1944, LKT Jr. papers, GCM Lib, box 1 (
silver nitrate
); Mauldin,
The Brass Ring
, 241 (“
one of the really tough generals
”).

Truscott’s was an unorthodox path
: biographical material, LKT Jr. papers, GCM Lib, box 21, folder 7; Jeffers,
Command of Honor
, 215 (
unlucky dabbler
); Heefner,
Dogface Soldier
, 9–13 (
renounced strong drink
).

“
willpower, decision, and drive
”: description by Ernest Harmon in Layne Van Arsdale, ed., “Allied Biographies,” USAREUR staff ride, Alsace, May 2009; Ambrose,
Eisenhower: Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect, 1890–1952
, vol. 1, 296 (
lamented his inability to get Truscott released
); Will Lang, draft cable to
Life
, Aug. 1, 1944, LKT Jr. papers, GCM Lib, box 21 (“
Bullshit
”); Jeffers,
Command of Honor
, 215 (“
hunters by instinct
”).

“
far removed from the softening touch
”: LKT Jr. to Sarah, July 19 and Aug. 14, 1944, LKT Jr. papers, GCM Lib, box 1;
DOB
, 586.

The enemy never had a chance
:
IFG
, 251; OH, Paul D. Adams, 1975, Irving Monclova and Marlin Lang, SOOHP, MHI (
Quaker guns
); signals report, appendix H, “Airborne Diversion in Support of Operation Dragoon,” NARA RG 331, AFHQ micro, R-69 Spec, box 294; John C. Warren, “Airborne Missions in the Mediterranean, 1942–1945,” 1955, AFHRA, study no. 74, 92–93; Holt,
The Deceivers
, 619–20 (
attack at Genoa
).

The usual anarchy and intrepidity
: “Report on Airborne Operations in Dragoon,” Oct. 30, 1944, Allied Force HQ, HIA, 10;
RR
, 104; John C. Warren, “Airborne Missions in the Mediterranean, 1942–1945,” 1955, AFHRA, study no. 74, 99–102; “The Night Landing in Provence, Aug. 1944,” n.d., SEM, NHHC, box 87, file 97, 2–3.

At eight
A.M.
, eleven American assault battalions
: “Invasion of Southern France,” n.d., WD HD, CMH, 8-3 SF, 50; “Operation Dragoon,” Dec. 1944, COHQ, bulletin Y/42, CARL, N-6530.20.

Among those at the point of the spear
: certificate of service, ALM; Simpson,
Audie Murphy, American Soldier
, 1 (“
greatest folk hero
”); Graham,
No Name on the Bullet
, 16–17 (“
can’t remember
”); Audie L. Murphy Memorial Website,
http://www.audiemurphy.com/biography.htm
(
eighteen
); Arlington National Cemetery website,
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.mil/History/Military/HF_AudieMurphy.aspx
; Hubler, “He Doesn’t Want to Be a Star,”
Saturday Evening Post
(Apr. 18, 1953): 34
+
(
fainted
).

Sharpshooting now served him well
: Simpson,
Audie Murphy, American Soldier
, 121–22; Murphy,
To Hell and Back
, 176–77 (“
My whole being
”).

Only on the invasion right flank
:
WaS
, 97;
IFG
, 267–68;
RR
, 115–18; Swent, “Personal Diary,” Aug. 9, 1944, HIA, box 1 (
radio-controlled landing craft
); Greear, “Operation Neptune and Landing on Coast of Southern France,” lecture, Nov. 1944, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, box 199, 12–13 (
same frequencies
); LKT Jr., “Comments on ‘Dragoon Secondary Attack Against Fortress Europe,’” n.d., NARA RG 319, OCMH, 2-3.7 CC2, 2–3 (“
milled around at high speed
”); OH, Herbert A. Peterson, Oct. 1, 1944, NARA RG 38, E 11, U.S. Navy WWII Oral Histories, 5 (“
As a general proposition
”).

“
All ships and craft reached their final assault
”: msg, HKH, Aug. 15, 1944, NARA RG 331, AFHQ micro, R-323-A.

“
quietest beachhead I have ever seen
”: Langan W. Swent, “Personal Diary,” Aug. 15, 1944, HIA, box 1.

By the close of this D-Day
: “Invasion of Southern France,” n.d., WD HD, CMH, 8-3 SF, 56;
RR
, 123–24, 63, 70 (
less than 300,000
); “Operation Dragoon,” Dec. 1944, COHQ, bulletin Y/42, ANSCOL, NARA 334, E 315, box 465 (
preferred to surrender
); Warlimont,
Inside Hitler’s Headquarters
, 451 (“
worst day of my life
”); MMB, 45; Bonn,
When the Odds Were Even
, 68 (
SS atrocities in Poland
); Pallud, “The Riviera Landings,
AB
, no. 110 (2000): 2
+
(
one-quarter of his infantry divisions
); Charles V. von Lüttichau, “The Invasion,” 1957, NARA RG 319, OCMH, R-series # 104, box 16, 12–13; Jackson,
The Mediterranean and the Middle East
, vol. 6, part 2, 189; Ludewig,
Rückzug
, 57–61 (“
Russians in France
”). Demands from the Normandy front had reduced the 11th Panzer Division to barely one hundred tanks and assault guns.