The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (138 page)

“
Any Boches today?
”: Knickerbocker et al.,
Danger Forward
, 272.

By truck and by foot the pursuers pursued
:
Blue Spaders
, 69; Horrocks,
Corps Commander
, 71–72 (“
harden the heart
”); Pyle,
Brave Men
, 310 (
gray lace of burned powder
);
SLC
, 15 (
among a half-million killed
).

“
We blew up everything
”: Will Thornton, “World War II ‘M’ Co. History as Told by the Survivors,” n.d., a.p.

At Braine, near Reims
: Wellard,
The Man in a Helmet
, 158 (
Patton’s vanguard
); White,
Conqueror’s Road
, 10 (“
ecstatic agony
”), 25 (“
tits
”); Kershaw, “
It Never Snows in September
,” 19 (“
west front has collapsed
”).

Fuel shortages, nettlesome since early August
: Waddell,
United States Army Logistics
, 63 (
tripled from six gallons
);
LC
, 24–25 (
100,000 gallons
and
Patton’s fuel dumps
), 117–18 (
tanks sent to capture a Meuse bridge
); OH, Lt. Gen. Sir Humphrey Gale, Jan. 27, 1947, FCP;
VW
, vol. 2, 72 (
battleships
); Greenfield, ed.,
Command Decisions
, 332 (
stalled for four days
); diary, Sept. 6, 1944, CBH, MHI, box 4 (
corps commanders cadged cans
); “G-4 Periodic Report,” Third Army, Sept. 5, 1944, Walter J. Muller papers, HIA, box 6 (“
extremely critical
”); Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story
, 402 (“
Damn it, Brad
”).

Onward they pushed, on foot
: Heinz,
When We Were One
, 220 (
polka-dot stars
); Kennett,
G.I.: The American Soldier in World War II
, 194 (“
Vote for Dewey
”); Schrijvers,
The Crash of Ruin
, 131 (“
If that was the only mistake
”).

Giddy rumors swirled
: Hastings,
Armageddon
, 14 (
fled to Spain
); Sylvan, 133–34 (
insurrection in Cologne
); OH, A. F. Kibler, 12th AG, May 29, 1946, NARA RG 407, ML #501, box 24155 (
river crossing sites
); diary, CBH, Sept. 1, 1944, MHI, box 4 (“‘
If the war lasts’
”); diary, Raymond G. Moses, Sept. 4, 1944, MHI, box 1.

“
End the war in ‘44
”: Perret,
There’s a War to Be Won
, 359; “Ready for V-Day?,”
Time
(Sept. 4, 1944): 17 (“
first newsboy
”); Hamilton,
Monty: Final Years of the Field-Marshal, 1944–1976
, 12 (
spare an extra army headquarters
); memo, E. E. MacMorland to H. B. Sayler, July 29, 1944, Henry B. Sayler papers, DDE Lib, box 4 (
Pentagon drafted plans
).

“
There is a feeling of elation
”: Colville,
The Fringes of Power
, 507.

“
Militarily the war is won
”:
Three Years
, 657; Ferrell, ed.,
The Eisenhower Diaries
, 127 (“
advance almost at will
”).

The Allied juggernaut aimed vaguely for Berlin
: OH, W. B. Smith and H. R. Bull, Sept. 14, 1945, OCMH WWII Europe Interviews, MHI;
SLC
, 28;
LO
, 294 (
Two-thirds of German steel
); “Industrial Value of the Ruhr to the German War Effort,” Oct. 30, 1944, British Brief and Action Report, JIC, NARA RG 331, E 3, box 132 (
40 percent drop in artillery ammunition
);
VW
, vol. 1, 82 (“
every chance of bringing to battle
”).

Four paths led to the Ruhr
: “Strategy of the Campaign in Western Europe, 1944–1945,” n.d., USFET General Board study no. 1, 42–50;
BP
, 658–59 (
Eisenhower’s planners had proposed
).

Montgomery would have none of it
:
BP
, 658–59;
VW
, vol. 1, 459–61; OH, David Belchem, Feb. 20, 1947, FCP, MHI (
preponderance in armor
).

Bradley most certainly did
not
agree
: Bradley and Blair,
A General’s Life
, 314; De Guingand,
Operation Victory
, 411; OH, Lord Tedder, Feb. 13, 1947, FCP, MHI (“
better to use both hands
”);
VW
, vol. 1, 461 (
Smith was excluded
); Wilmot,
The Struggle for Europe
, 468 (“
Victories win wars
”).

Montgomery emerged from the caravan
: Ambrose,
Eisenhower: Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect, 1890–1952
, vol. 1, 340–41;
BP
, 659–60 (
First Army would swing largely north
); draft memo, W. B. Smith, “Command and organization after D-day ‘Overlord,’” May 23, 1944, Raymond G. Moses papers, MHI, box 1 (
some SHAEF planners had long considered
).

Eisenhower also agreed that a single commander
: Ambrose,
Eisenhower: Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect, 1890–1952
, vol. 1, 340–41; “General Eisenhower’s Comments on Command,” May 18, 1944, Arthur S. Nevins papers, MHI (“
nothing must be said
”).

Churchill,
“
as a solace
”: Moran,
Churchill: Taken from the Diaries of Lord Moran
, 254; Roberts,
Masters and Commanders
, 512 (“
proper perspective
”); Ambrose,
Eisenhower: Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect, 1890–1952
, vol. 1, 345 (“
close and warm friend
”).

“
Damn stupid
”: Love and Major, eds.,
The Year of D-Day
, 129;
PP
, 535 (“
made us sick
”); Hamilton,
Master of the Battlefield
, 799 (“
almost a disaster
”).

Late in the morning of Saturday, September 2
: Chandler, vol. 5, chronology, 165; diary, CBH, Sept. 2, 12, 15, 21, 1944, MHI, box 4.

A message from Beetle Smith
: Williams, “Supreme Headquarters for D-Day,”
AB
, no. 84 (1994): 1
+
; Baedeker,
Northern France
, 179.

Eisenhower slipped in the sand
: Thomas W. Mattingly and Olive F. G. Marsh, “A Compilation of the General Health System of Dwight D. Eisenhower,” n.d., DDE Lib, Thomas W. Mattingly papers, box 1; Eisenhower,
Crusade in Europe
, 326; Ambrose,
Eisenhower: Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect, 1890–1952
, vol. 1, 347–48 (
refused to allow his blood pressure
).

For more than a fortnight
: Chandler, vol. 5, chronology, 165–67;
Three Years
, 661 (
Two resident cows
); Eisenhower,
Letters to Mamie
, 195 (“
off-key
”), 210–11 (
dead son
); Chandler, 2141 (“
Who is going to buy the plane?
”).

Even for an ambulatory commander
: D’Este,
Eisenhower: A Soldier’s Life
, 593; Crosswell,
Beetle
, 700 (
through the RAF
);
BP
, 686 (
reaffirm his commitment to a multipronged advance
); Love and Major, eds.,
The Year of D-Day
, 132 (“
Monty-like
”).

On Monday, September 4
:
LSA
, vol. 1, 492;
TSC
, 253 (“
now as never before
”).

An exasperated Montgomery
: Roberts,
Masters and Commanders
, 531 (“
curious idea
”); “Notes on Conversation with Monty, 18.5.46,” R. W. W. “Chester” Wilmot papers, LHC, LH 15/15/127 (
first call on supplies
).

“
We have now reached a stage
”: BLM to DDE, Sept. 4, 1944, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 83; Chandler, 2120–21.

Eisenhower replied on Tuesday
: Weigley,
Eisenhower’s Lieutenants
, 278–79; OH, Arthur Coningham, Feb. 14, 1947, FCP, MHI (“‘
The war is lost
’”).

The misdirected signal was entirely apt
: corr, DDE to H. L. Ismay, Jan. 14, 1959, LHC, 4/12/131 (“
preposterous proposal
”); Crosswell,
Beetle
, 687 (“
balderdash
”); Bradley Commentaries, CBH, MHI, box 41 (“
arrogant and egotistical
”).

Montgomery’s vision had the military virtue of mass
: Strong,
Intelligence at the Top
, 199–201 (
counter to SHAEF calculations
);
LSA
, vol. 2, 10–11 (
nearly five hundred truck companies
and “
wholesale grounding
”);
LSA
, vol. 1, 487–88. A three-corps drive to Berlin in late September even under optimal conditions would require grounding five corps, according to SHAEF (
TSC
, 253–54).

Moreover, the need to protect long open flanks
:
TSC
, 260; Frank A. Osmanski, “Critical Analysis of the Planning and Execution of the Logistic Support of the Normandy Invasion,” Dec. 1949, Armed Forces Staff College, Osmanski papers, MHI (“
easy prey for the German mobile reserves
”); OH, E. J. Foord, Dec. 12, 1946, R. W. W. “Chester” Wilmot papers, LHC, LH 15/15/27 (“
overbidding his hand
”); De Guingand,
Operation Victory
, 412 (
Hitler’s eventual defeat
).

Most strategists would come to similar conclusions:
: Dan van der Vat, obituary, “Field Marshal Lord Carver,”
The Guardian
, Dec. 12, 2001 (
youngest brigadier
); Keegan, ed.,
Churchill’s Generals
, 162–63 (
In both world wars
).

Two-fisted punching
: Weigley,
The American Way of War
, 352; Wilson, ed.,
D-Day 1944
, 334 (“
Whatever Montgomery’s talents
”).

“
political factors can sometimes have the same weight
”: Lewin,
Montgomery as Military Commander
, 298.

Eisenhower’s
“
ignorance
”: Hamilton,
Master of the Battlefield
, 799; Danchev, 575 (“quite
unsuited
”), 585 (“
3 to 6 months
”).

“
extremely susceptible to the personality
”: “Notes on Conversation with Monty, 18.5.46,” R. W. W. “Chester” Wilmot papers, LHC, LH 15/15/127.

“
Ike is all for caution
”: diary, Sept. 2, 1944, GSP, LOC MS Div, box 3, folder 7.

“
the trouble with Ike
”: Crosswell,
Beetle
, 696, 702, 708, 722.

“
hardly decisive in the way he communicated
”: Stephen E. Ambrose, “Eisenhower as Commander: Single Thrust Versus Broad Front,” in Chandler, vol. 5, 47.

“
There is never a moment
”: Eisenhower,
Letters to Mamie
, 195, 217; Chandler, 2158 (“
team is working well
”).

The armies fought on, largely unaware
:
LC
, 52 (
first five days of September
);
LSA
, vol. 1, 513; war diary, Leroy Irwin, Sept. 6, 1944, 5th ID, Hugh Cole papers, MHI (“
Frankfort
”);
AAFinWWII
, 277 (
flying gas stations
); Semmes,
Portrait of Patton
, 205 (
bounties of cognac and confiscated champagne
); “G-4 Periodic Report,” Third Army, Sept. 5, 1944, Walter J. Muller papers, HIA, box 6 (
army shortages
); Allen,
Lucky Forward
, 41, 101–2;
PP
, 549 (
fifty thousand cases of champagne
).

“
a goddam army commander
”:
PP
, 542; Blumenson,
Patton: The Man Behind the Legend, 1885–1945
, 240–41 (“
shit through a goose
”).

To his northwest, Courtney Hodges’s First Army
:
BP
, 694–95 (“
pretty girls
”);
Blue Spaders
, 71–72 (“
heterogeneous mass
”).

Bounding from the south, the 1st Division
: Stanhope B. Mason, “Reminiscences and Anecdotes of World War II,” 1988, MRC FDM, 1994.126, 87, 206–10; OH, C. A. Wollmer, 83rd Armored Reconnaissance Bn, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, HI; Heinz,
When We Were One
, 197, 213 (
rake the German columns
); Knickerbocker et al.,
Danger Forward
, 274 (“
Belgian horses
”); George W. Williams et al., “Exploitation by the 3rd Armored Division—Seine River to Germany,” AS, Ft. K, 1949, NARA RG 337, 44–45 (“
You only want to slaughter us
”).

In addition to some 3,500 enemy dead
: Wheeler,
The Big Red One
, 311–12; Pallud, “The Battle of the Mons Pocket,”
AB
, no. 115 (2002): 2
+
(
steaks
); AAR, 1st ID, Oct. 31, 1944, a.p., 1–6; Heinz,
When We Were One
, 200–204 (“
You will not love
”).

Thirty miles to the north, the British Second Army
:
BP
, 686;
VW
, vol. 2, 15 (
surrender in his pajamas
), 6; Wilmot,
The Struggle for Europe
, 471 (
fleeing in a Volkswagen
);
Taurus Pursuant
, 67 (“
what used to be
”).