The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (154 page)

Hitler shuffled into his private chalet
: Bullock,
Hitler: A Study in Tyranny
, 762; Percy Ernst Schramm, “The Preparations for the German Offensive in the Ardennes,” in Parker, ed.,
The Battle of the Bulge: The German View
, 121–22 (
vocal cords
); Günther Blumentritt, “Battle of the Bulge,” part 1, n.d., PIR, MHI, 6 (“
He seemed near collapse
”); Overy,
Why the Allies Won
, 274–75 (“
will-o’-the-wisp
”);
Germany VII
, 680 (“
everything on one card
”).

Even a delusional megalomaniac
: Greenfield, ed.,
Command Decisions
, 345.

German war production
:
Ardennes
, 4–5 (
118,000 military trucks
), 8 (
holidays abolished
); Charles V. P. von Lüttichau, “The Ardennes Offensive: Germany’s Situation in the Fall of 1944,” OCMH, 1953, part II, NARA RG 319, R-series, #25, box 6, 44, 52, 59, 62, 67, 69 [copy also in CMH, 2-3.7]; Tooze,
The Wages of Destruction
, 595 (“
Heroes of National Socialist Labor
”), 603, 629 (
vitamins
); Hitchcock,
The Bitter Road to Freedom
, 249 (
Seven million prisoners-of-war
).

To shore up a military now losing
: MEB, “Overall View of Germany’s Economic, Political, and Military Situation at the Beginning of 1945,” May 1950, NARA RG 319, R-series #28, 12; Greenfield, ed.,
Command Decisions
, 347;
Ardennes
, 8 (“
rear-area swine
”), 15; Steinhoff et al.,
Voices from the Third Reich
, 461 (“
out of sheer terror
”);
TT
, 43; Megargee,
Inside Hitler’s High Command
, 221 (Volkssturm); Evans,
The Third Reich at War
, 676 (“
Closed because of the call-up
”); Willmott,
The Great Crusade
, 416 (
robbed German industry
); Rush,
Hell in Hürtgen Forest
, 306 (“
bow-and-arrow infantry
”).

Secret weapons always beguilded
: Rudolf Lusar, “The German Weapons and Secret Weapons of World War II and Their Subsequent Development,” 1956, CMH, 16–17;
Germany VII
, 339 (“
as if an angel
”), 341–48, 353–54;
VW
, vol. 2, 144 (
oddly ineffective
); Muller, “Losing Air Superiority: A Case Study from the Second World War,”
Air & Space Power Journal
(winter 2003): 55
+
.

No less innovative were new
“
electro
”
U-boats
: Tooze,
The Wages of Destruction
, 613–16; Spector,
At War at Sea
, 253; Brower, ed.,
World War II in Europe: The Final Year
, 128; Hinsley, 600–603; Blair,
Hitler’s U-Boat War
, vol. 2,
The Hunted, 1942–1945
, 627, 657–59.

Well into 1945, German submarines continued
: U-boats during the war were credited with sinking three thousand Allied and neutral vessels (Roskill,
White Ensign
, 413–15, 422–23). Clay Blair calculates that in 1944–45, a total of 188 ships were sunk by U-boats (
Hitler’s U-Boat War
, vol. 2,
The Hunted, 1943–1945
, 820).

But scarcely any vessels would be sunk by the new U-boats
: Blair,
Hitler’s U-Boat War
, vol. 2,
The Hunted, 1942–1945
, 659, 820; Weinberg,
A World at Arms
, 771–72.

Dusk enfolded the Taunus Hills
: Günther Blumentritt, “Battle of the Bulge,” part 1, n.d., PIR, MHI, 8–10 (
Many believed they had been summoned
); Spayd,
Bayerlein
, 179–80 (
each man surrender his sidearm
); Kappes, “Hitler’s Ultra-Secret Adlerhorst,” 2003,
http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/articles/adlerhorst.aspx
.

A double row of armed SS guards
: Spayd,
Bayerlein
, 179–80;
TT
, 47 (“
handkerchief
”).

Ten minutes later Hitler hobbled in
: Günther Blumentritt, “Battle of the Bulge,” part 1, n.d., PIR, MHI, 1; OH, Hasso von Manteuffel, Oct. 12, 1966, John S. D. Eisenhower, CBM, MHI, box 6, 15–17; Spayd,
Bayerlein
, 180 (
Nick-Esel
); Hasso von Manteuffel, “The 5. Pz Army and the Offensive in the Ardennes,” Apr. 1946, FMS, #B-151, MHI, 78–79 (“
a broken man
”); Parker, ed.,
The Battle of the Bulge: The German View
, 121–22 (“
stared vacantly
”).

Then he spoke
: Parker, ed.,
The Battle of the Bulge: The German View
, 4.

“
Never in history
”: Wilmot,
The Struggle for Europe
, 578.

As the Allies approached each other
:
GS
VI, 65; Jacobsen and Rohwer, eds.,
Decisive Battles of World War II: The German View
, 401–2 (
Canada
).

“
Rome would not be thinkable
”: Parker, ed.,
The Battle of the Bulge: The German View
, 4–8 (“
most daring
”); Megargee,
Inside Hitler’s High Command
, 218.

Toward that end he had a plan
: The name was changed shortly before the attack for security reasons.
HERBSTNEBEL
had been the army group code-name (
TT
, 36–38).

It had come to him as in a fever dream
: Alfred Jodl, ETHINT 50, July 26, 1945, K. W. Hechler, CBM, MHI, box 12; Kershaw,
Hitler, 1936–45: Nemesis
, 732;
Ardennes
, 1–10, 13; Charles V. von Lüttichau, “The Ardennes Offensive: Planning and Preparations,” Aug. 1953, OCMH, NARA RG 319, R-series #12, 11–13, 31–33 (“
Antwerp
”); MEB, “The Idea for the German Ardennes Offensive in 1944,” May 1952, OCMH, NARA RG 319, R-series #9, 22–23 (“
sealed in the West
”).

The naysayers promptly said nay
: MEB, “The Idea for the German Ardennes Offensive in 1944,” May 1952, OCMH, NARA RG 319, R-series #9, 109 (“
great surprise
”); Parker, ed.,
Hitler’s Ardennes Offensive
, 248 (“
no offensive
”); Charles V. von Lüttichau, “The Ardennes Offensive: Germany’s Situation in the Fall of 1944,” 1953, OCMH, CMH, 2-3.7, 39;
Ardennes
, 72 (
invasion of the Soviet Union
); British interrogation report, Gerd von Rundstedt, July 9, 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427, ML #2126, box 24231 (“much
too weak
”); Jacobsen and Rohwer, eds.,
Decisive Battles of World War II: The German View
, 396–97.

“
The soldier can do nothing
”: Günther Blumentritt, “Battle of the Bulge,” part 1, n.d., PIR, MHI, 6; Blumentritt,
Von Rundstedt
, 268–70 (“
I am a better judge
”).

Even Model, who claimed to love
: Lewin,
Montgomery as Military Commander
, 312 (“
moldy
”); Westphal,
The German Army in the West
, 180–81 (“
small solution
”); “The Ardennes Offensive,” British monograph, Aug. 1, 1945, CMH, Geog Belgium, 370.2, 7–8; OH, Hasso von Manteuffel, Oct. 12, 1966, John S. D. Eisenhower, CBM, MHI, box 6, 15–16; Hasso von Manteuffel, “The 5. Pz Army and the Offensive in the Ardennes,” Apr. 1946, FMS, #B-151, MHI, 78-38-45, 71; Fritz Krämer, ETHINT 21, Aug. 14–15, 1945, MHI, 3 (
Wehrmacht soldiers would fight
).

The Führer was unmoved
: Warlimont,
Inside Hitler’s Headquarters
, 482–85;
Ardennes
, 34–35 (
promised thirty-eight divisions
), 30–32 (
virtually unchanged
); Hasso von Manteuffel, “The 5. Pz Army and the Offensive in the Ardennes,” Apr. 1946, FMS, #B-151, MHI, 73 (
two thousand planes
);
GS
VI, 66–67 (“
Not to Be Altered
”).

And thus was the plan fixed
:
Ardennes
, 71–72;
Germany VII
, 681; Cirillo, “Ardennes-Alsace,” 3, 10.

With the possible exception of the Vosges
: MacDonald, “The Neglected Ardennes,”
Military Review
(Apr. 1963): 74
+
(“
impenetrable massif
”);
Ardennes
, 43 (
ten all-weather roads
).

Hitler had been consumed for weeks
: Warlimont,
Inside Hitler’s Headquarters
, 482–85 (
Alsatian troops
); “Germany’s War Effort and Its Failure,” Oct. 8, 1945, UK Chiefs of Staff Committee, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, GB JIC (46) 33, 153 (
vehicles built in November
); Merriam,
Dark December
, 105 (“
hold the reins loose
”); Jacobsen and Rohwer, eds.,
Decisive Battles of World War II: The German View
, 396–97 (
German forces on the Meuse within forty-eight hours
); Hasso von Manteuffel, ETHINT 46, Oct. 29, 1945, MHI, 9 (
four to six days
). Westphal quoted Jodl as claiming that six days to the Meuse would be “quite permissible for this phase” (
The German Army in the West
, 182).

No significant interference was expected
:
Germany VII
, 682 (
Brussels
); Herbert Büchs, Jodl aide, ETHINT 34, Aug. 31, 1945, MHI, 12–13 (
Vague plans
).

Two tank armies would form the point
: Barnett, ed.,
Hitler’s Generals
, 411–13, 419; MMB, 133 (
hippopotamus whips
); Belfield and Essame,
The Battle for Normandy
, 166–67 (
of his original 23,000 men
);
TT
, 160–61 (“
decent but stupid
”), 26, 29 (
Losheim Gap
); Jacobsen and Rohwer, eds.,
Decisive Battles of World War II: The German View
, 396–97 (
nine divisions
); Cirillo, “Ardennes-Alsace,” 11;
Ardennes
, 77 (
wheeling northwest toward Antwerp
).

On the left, the Fifth Panzer Army
: Jacobsen and Rohwer, eds.,
Decisive Battles of World War II: The German View
, 396–97; “Battlebook,” USAREUR staff ride, Ardennes, Dec. 2001 (“
a daredevil
”);
SLC
, 396 (
a thousand artillery tubes
); Liddell Hart,
The Other Side of the Hill
, 450 (
fretted more about fuel
); “The Ardennes Offensive,” British monograph, Aug. 1, 1945, CMH, Geog Belgium, 370.2, 11; Parker, ed.,
The Battle of the Bulge: The German View
, 136–37 (
only three million gallons
), 133 (
two thousand horses
); Barnett, ed.,
Hitler’s Generals
, 327 (“
take it from the Americans
”).

A thousand trains beginning in early December
: München-Gladbach’s name was changed to Mönchengladbach after the war. “The German Counter-Offensive in the Bulge,” Sept. 1945, U.K. War Office, Directorate of Tactical Investigation, CARL, N-13205, 3.

Security remained paramount
:
Ardennes
, 48–51; Hasso von Manteuffel, ETHINT 46, Oct. 29, 1945, MHI, 1–2 (
started a rumor
).

Maps remained sealed
: “The Ardennes Offensive,” British monograph, Aug. 1, 1945, CMH, Geog Belgium, 370.2, 12–16, 23;
Ardennes
, 69–70 (
delayed again for nearly a week
).

“
The army must gain a victory
”: Josef “Sepp” Dietrich, ETHINT 16, July 10, 1945, MHI, 2–3; Parker, ed.,
The Battle of the Bulge: The German View
, 9–10 (“
both sides are equal
”).

The central weather office in Berlin
: Royce L. Thompson, “Weather of the Ardennes Campaign,” Oct. 2, 1953, CMH, 10–12.

“
Troops must act with brutality
”: Bauserman,
The Malmédy Massacre
, 2–6.

“
War is of course a test of endurance
”: Warlimont,
Inside Hitler’s Headquarters
, 486–87; Bullock,
Hitler: A Study in Tyranny
, 762.

Finally spent, Hitler ended
: Spayd,
Bayerlein
, 180 (
would not disappoint
);
Ardennes
, 28–32 (“
grave doubts
”).

The Light Line

For three months after her glorious liberation
: Moorehead,
Eclipse
, 186 (“
without light
”); Pogue,
Pogue’s War
, 212 (
leg sores
); Gellhorn,
The Face of War
, 183 (“
bath in champaigne
”); Moorehead,
Gellhorn
, 224 (“
platform soles
”).

The small fuel ration
: corr, Pleas B. Rogers to family, Jan. 17, 1945, and Nov. 14, 1944 (“
cold as charity
”), and Oct. 14, 1944 (
crematorium
), Rogers papers, MHI; Richler, ed.,
Writers on World War II
, 542–43 (
sawdust by the ton
); memoir, William Henry Baumer, n.d., HIA, box 1, 170 (“
we opened the windows
”); memoir, Raymond H. Croll, 1974, Croll papers, MHI, 300 (“
refrigerator door
”).

By late November conditions began to brighten
: Pogue,
Pogue’s War
, 212; pamphlet, “Red Ball SOP,” Oct. 1, 1944, Ewart G. Plank papers, HIA (“
light line
”); Whipple, “Logistical Bottleneck,”
IJ
(March 1948): 6
+
(
seven thousand tons a day
); minutes, meeting of chief administrative officers, Dec. 22, 1944, Versailles, NARA RG 331, E 1, SHAEF SGS, box 55 (“
electricity consumption in Paris
”).