The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (162 page)

Across the Ardennes, heavy snow
: Royce L. Thompson, “Weather of the Ardennes Campaign,” Oct. 2, 1953, CMH, 29;
Ardennes
, 470; Moorehead,
Eclipse
, 228 (
a
“
radiant world
”); William A. Carter, “Carter’s War,” 1983, CEOH, box V-14, XII, 22 (
stacked like sandbags
); Wellard,
The Man in a Helmet
, 209 (
women’s dresses
); Lewis, ed.,
The Mammoth Book of Eyewitness World War II
, 441 (“
Everyone seems about the same age
”).

Troops fashioned sleds
: “Ardennes, Supply Installations, Withdraw of,” FUSA, Apr. 29, 1945, NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584; “Chief Engineers Report on Camouflage Activities in the ETO,” Nov. 15, 1945, Howard V. Canan papers, HIA, box 3 (
lime wash and salt
); Schrijvers,
The Crash of Ruin
, 208 (
Belgian lace
); “Third U.S. Army After Action Report,” n.d., chapter 21, CMH (
mattress covers
); “Unit History, 93rd Evacuation Hospital, 1944,” Donald E. Currier papers, MHI, box 1, 42–43 (
gloves dipped in paint
); Simpson,
Selected Prose
, 138 (“
out like a match
”); Mary Ferrell, 101st Evacuation Hospital, ts, March 1970, NWWIIM (“
like an untuned radio
”).

Clumsy skirmishes and pitched battles
:
Ardennes
, 438–39; “Engineer Troops in Ardennes Breakthrough,” NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584, box 2, 2 (
impeded the north shoulder
); Liddell Hart,
The Other Side of the Hill
, 463 (
exposed Manteuffel’s left flank
); Horst Stumpff, OB West chief armored officer, Aug. 11, 1945, ETHINT 61, MHI, 61 (
new panzers in the Rhine valley
).

But west of St.-Vith in the German center
: Gilmore, ed.,
U.S. Army Atlas of the European Theater in World War II
, 142–43; Cirillo, “Ardennes-Alsace,” 33 (
twenty-five-mile battlefront
).

New anxiety beset First Army headquarters
: Sylvan, 231; war diary, Dec. 24, 1944, 0615 hrs, MBR papers, MHI, box 59 (“
The situation is normal
”).

Others were far less sanguine
: “Report on Allied Air Force Operations,” May 21, 1945, SHAEF, A-3, CARL, N-9371;
AAFinWWII
, 773 (“
processing the terrain
”); Royce L. Thompson, “Weather of the Ardennes Campaign,” Oct. 2, 1953, CMH, 29–30 (
GIs craned their necks
); Davis,
Carl A. Spaatz and the Air War in Europe
, 532–33 (
heaviest attacks of the war
); Richard Henry Byers, “Battle of the Bulge,” 1983, a.p., 36 (“
The bombers have fine, feathery
”);
Ardennes
, 649–50 (
horse-drawn plows
); Quesada, “Operations of the Ninth Tactical Air Command,” lecture, May 29, 1945, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, L-10-45, 13; diary, Martin Opitz, 295th VG Div, Dec. 25, 1944, NARA RG 407, ETO G-3 OR, box 8 (“
The American Jabos
”).

Clear skies also permitted resupply of Bastogne
: “Report on Air Resupply to 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne,” Jan. 11, 1945, in “Battle of the Bulge,” and OH, Carl W. Kohls, G-4, et al., NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folders #229 and 230. Of 900 sorties to Bastogne, 23 planes would be lost (Royce L. Thompson, “Air Resupply to Isolated Units, Ardennes Campaign,” Feb. 1951, CMH, 2-3.7 AE P, 73).

General McAuliffe also had the invaluable services
: OH, James E. Parker, “Air Support Part at Bastogne,” Jan. 1, 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder #230; Marshall,
Bastogne
, 134–56; “Bastogne,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584 (
Tracks in the snow
).

Bastogne was reprieved
: OH, William L. Roberts, CCB, 10th AD, Jan. 12, 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, folder #305; “Bastogne,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584 (
rationed to ten rounds
);
Ardennes
, 474 (
sixteen miles in circumference
); Ingersoll,
Top Secret
, 250 (“
steel filings
”).

More than three thousand civilians remained trapped
: Toland,
Battle
, 255–57; “Medical Evacuation and Supply, Bastogne,” n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder 230 (
Several hundred wounded
); Cowdrey,
Fighting for Life
, 265–66 (“
their faces were old
”); Rapport and Northwood,
Rendezvous with Destiny
, 469–70 (
toiled by flashlight
and
rifle range
); Cosmas and Cowdrey,
Medical Services in the European Theater of Operations
, 418 (
the moribund lay along a wall
and
cognac
); “Bastogne,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584 (
coffee and Ovaltine
); Schrijvers,
The Crash of Ruin
, 166–67.

Napalm fires ringed the town
:
Ardennes
, 475.

“
Do not plan, for God’s will
”: Weintraub,
11 Days in December
, 137; Simpson,
Selected Prose
, 140 (“
Those who are attacking you
”); Toland,
Battle
, 255–57 (“
Santa Claus Is Coming
”);
Ardennes
, 475 (“
Xmas eve present
”); Marshall,
Bastogne
, 169 (“
We have been let down
”).

At 5:10
P.M.
an intrepid pilot
: “Medical Evacuation and Supply, Bastogne,” n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder 230; author visit, Bastogne, June 3, 2009, signage; OH, William L. Roberts, CCB, 10th AD, Jan. 12, 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, folder #305 (
civilian nurse
); Rapport and Northwood,
Rendezvous with Destiny
, 471; “The Battle of Bastogne, 19–28 Dec. 44,” n.d., CMH, Geog Belgium 370.2, 4.

Patton attended a candlelight communion
:
PP
, 606; corr, GSP to Bea, Dec. 25, 1944, GSP, LOC MS Div, box 12; D’Este,
Patton: A Genius for War
, 691 (
enthroned with Bradley
); Codman,
Drive
, 235 (
crowded, frigid
).

“
brick-red face
”:
PP
, 852–53.

Scanning the starry sky outside
: Allen,
Lucky Forward
, 184 (“
Noel, noel
”); Wellard,
The Man in a Helmet
, 210 (
personally challenged sentries
); Allen,
Lucky Forward
, 184 (“
root-hog or die
”); D’Este,
Patton: A Genius for War
, 682–83 (“
war in the raw
”); Blumenson,
Patton: The Man Behind the Legend, 1885–1945
, 251 (
asked God for fair weather
);
PP
, 606 (“
clear cold Christmas
”).

Patton had made good on his brash promise
: H. P. Hudson, “The Intervention of the Third Army: III Corps in the Attack,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584, box 3 (
feat was prodigious
and “
Drive like hell
”); Allen,
Lucky Forward
, 180 (
108 artillery battalions
); Rickard,
Advance and Destroy
, 167 (
No SS prisoners were to be taken alive
); Baily,
Faint Praise
, 120 (“
Jumbo
”
tanks
).

Both commander and commanded had also made missteps
: Albret Praun, Wehrmacht signal chief, “German Radio Intelligence,” n.d., FMS, #P-038, CMH, 84–85; Holt,
The Deceivers
, 647–48, 658–59; Cirillo, “Ardennes-Alsace,” 36 (
plodding frontal assault
); Robert R. Summers et al., “Armor at Bastogne,” May 1949, AS, CARL, N-2146.71-2, 123 (
first time since October
);
Ardennes
, 526 (
perilous night attack
); Fox,
Patton’s Vanguard
, 388 (
just fourteen Shermans
), 382–84 (“
manure-strewn hell of a village
”); “The Intervention of the Third Army: III Corps in the Attack,” n.d., CMH, 8-3.1 AR, II, 12–13; Taylor,
General Maxwell Taylor
, 130 (“
The troops built little fires
”).

“
This was probably my fault
”:
PP
, 605.

“
it takes a long time to learn war
”: Rickard,
Advance and Destroy
, 172; Fox,
Patton’s Vanguard
, 388; Robert R. Summers et al., “Armor at Bastogne,” May 1949, AS, CARL, N-2146.71-2, 128–31 (
German paratroopers kept infiltrating
); notes, Dec. 26, 1944, SHAEF main, James M. Robb corr, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 98 (
Patton twice phoned
); “The Intervention of the Third Army: III Corps in the Attack,” n.d., CMH, 8-3.1 AR, II, 12–13 (“
I am unhappy
”).

In search of a seam
: Sorley,
Thunderbolt
, 22, 55 (
eating aspirin
); Fox,
Patton’s Vanguard
, 399.

“shooting, clubbing, stabbing melee”
:
Ardennes
, 552–55; “The Intervention of the Third Army: III Corps in the Attack,” n.d., CMH, 8-3.1 AR, VIII, 10 (“
They are through Assenois
”).

Five Shermans and a half-track
: Sorley,
Thunderbolt
, 80–81; Toland,
Battle
, 282–83 (“
Come here!
”); Capa,
Slightly Out of Focus
, 212 (“
It’s good to see you
”).

“
Kilroy Was Stuck Here
”: Capa,
Slightly Out of Focus
, 212;
Ardennes
, 607–9 (
seven hundred enemy prisoners
), 480–81 (
two thousand American casualties
); Hastings,
Armageddon
, 234 (
smashing his rifle butt
); “Bastogne,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584 (
division’s tank strength
); “Answers to Questions Asked General Westphal,” 1954, FMS #A-896, MHI, 11 (“
failure to conquer Bastogne
”).

“
as important as the battle of Gettysburg
”:
PP
, 613.

“Glory Has Its Price”

Time
in the last week of December
: “Man of the Year,”
Time
(Jan. 1, 1945): cover;
TT
, 600 (
current German salient
); Royce L. Thompson, “Ardennes Campaign Statistics,” Apr. 28, 1952, CMH, 2-3.7 AE P-15; “Ordnance,” n.d., “History of the Ardennes Campaign,” NARA RG 498, UD 584, box 2; “Tactical Air Operations in Europe,” XIX Tactical Air Command, May 1945, Frederick L. Anderson papers, HIA, box 83, folder 1, 56 (
ordered to bomb any column
).

Of greater concern was a German armored spearhead
: Rickard,
Advance and Destroy
, 202–3;
Ardennes
, 430–35, 535 (
four-night round-trip
), 426–27;
TT
, 577–79 (
five miles from Dinant
); Collins,
Lightning Joe
, 292 (
nearly 100,000 strong
).

Savage fighting raged from the Salm
: William E. Dressler et al., “Armor Under Adverse Conditions,” 1949, AS, Ft. K, 41–48;
TT
, 583;
Ardennes
, 570 (
equipment from six battalions
), 595–603 (
Sixth Panzer Army’s last sally
); Harmon,
Combat Commander
, 240 (
British flame-throwing tank
).

Eisenhower for the past week
: Weigley,
Eisenhower’s Lieutenants
, 545.

An Ultra intercept decoded just after Christmas
: Sent on December 21, the message took five days to decode (Bennett,
Ultra in the West
, 214); Royce L. Thompson, “Ardennes Campaign Statistics,” Apr. 28, 1952, CMH, 2-3.7 AE P-15 (
almost four thousand tanks
).

Patton favored driving from the south
:
Ardennes
, 610-11; Rickard,
Advance and Destroy
, 191–96.

Collins, in a memorandum on Wednesday
: memo, JLC to C. Hodges, “Plans for Offensive Operations,” Dec. 27, 1944, JLC papers, DDE Lib, box 3, 201 file.

Montgomery hesitated
: war diary, Ninth Army, Dec. 28, 1944, William H. Simpson papers, MHI, box 11; corr, JLC to Bruce C. Clarke, Feb. 21, 1975, CARL, N-8467.297; OH, JLC, 1973, G. Patrick Murray, SOOHP, in “Courtney Hodges Story,” MHI (“
Nobody is going to break through
”); OH, JLC, 1972, Charles C. Sperow, SOOHP, MHI, 235–38 (“
You’re going to push the Germans out
”).

Falaise could hardly be blamed solely on Montgomery
: Weigley,
Eisenhower’s Lieutenants
, 539; msg, BLM to DDE, Dec. 22, 1944, 2155 hrs, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 83 (
doubted Patton’s ability
); memo, JLC to C. Hodges, Dec. 30, 1944, JLC papers, DDE Lib, box 3 (“
definitely expended itself
”).

“
Praise God
”: notes, James M. Robb, Dec. 27, 1944, DDE office, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 98.

“
Monty is a tired little fart
”:
PP
, 608; notes, James M. Robb, Dec. 27, 1944, W. B. Smith office, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 98 (“
our masters in Washington
”); Rickard,
Advance and Destroy
, 193, 198–99 (
Bradley also favored pinching the enemy at Houffalize
); Hogan,
A Command Post at War
, 225 (
counted seventeen uncommitted German divisions
);
Ardennes
, 614 (
clear skies ended
).