The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (190 page)

This is the sixth book I have written with the remarkable John Sterling as my editor and close friend; collectively those books total more than 3,700 pages, and John has improved every page. At Henry Holt, and at the publisher’s parent company, Macmillan, I also thank John Sargent, Steve Rubin, Maggie Richards, Pat Eisemann, Katie Kurtzman, Kenn Russell, Meryl Levavi, Emi Ikkanda, Chuck Thompson, Jason Liebman, and Muriel Jorgensen. Jolanta Benal has copyedited all three volumes of the Liberation Trilogy, making each better in ways large and small.

All sixty-eight maps in the Liberation Trilogy are the work of master cartographer Gene Thorp, who has been a delightful, innovative partner throughout this project. My friend and agent for twenty-seven years, Rafe Sagalyn, helped see me through it all.

My thanks also goes to Antony Beevor, Ben Bradlee, Tom Brokaw, Steve Coll, Leonard Downie, Jr., Glenn Frankel, Donald E. Graham, Ken Heckler, Fred Hiatt, Robert G. Kaiser, Lewis Libby, David H. Petraeus, Catherine B. Reynolds, Wayne R. Reynolds, Thomas E. Ricks, William B. Schultz, David Von Drehle, Geoffrey Wawro, Gerhard L. Weinberg, Bob Woodward, and fellow scribbler David Maraniss. Particular thanks to Sir Max Hastings and his wife, Penny, for their generous hospitality and friendship.

Grateful acknowledgment is made of permission to quote various materials: Viscount Montgomery of Alamein for extracts from the writings of his father, Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery; Roger Kirk for an oral history with Adm. Alan Goodrich Kirk; Virginia P. Montgomery, for extracts from an unpublished memoir by her father, Robert P. Patterson; Linda Gilmore, for extracts from a memoir by her brother, Richard Henry Byers; George Patton “Pat” Waters, for extracts from prisoner-of-war journals kept by his father, John K. Waters, and for a photograph of Lt. Col. Waters; Margot Taylor for extracts from “And Came Safe Home,” a diary by her father, William Steel Brownlie; Annette Conway for an extract from the “The Man Who Worked on Sunday,” by her father, L. F. Skinner; Mavis Jones for extracts from the papers of her husband, Lt. Col. E. Jones; and Dani Smith for extracts from the diary of her father, J. H. Patterson.

Also: the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King’s College London, for material from the collections of Capt. B. H. Liddell Hart, Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke, Maj. Gen. J. B. Churcher, Maj. Gen. Francis de Guingand, Brigadier Sir Geoffrey Hardy-Roberts, Gen. H. L. Ismay, Col. T. G. Lindsay, Brig. J. S. W. Stone, and R. W. W. “Chester” Wilmot. And thanks to the Trustees of the Imperial War Museum, London, for material from the collection of Major E. M. Elliott.

In instances where current copyright holders could not be located, or where permissions arrived too late to be noted in this edition, I will gladly include acknowledgments in future editions.

Beyond all others, and far beyond this writer’s powers of expression, I thank my gorgeous wife of thirty-four years, Jane.

I
NDEX

The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.

Aachen

capture of

Cathedral treasures

QUEEN
and

Abbaye-aux-Hommes

Abbaye Blanche

Abbaye d’Ardenne

Abrams, Lt. Col. Creighton W., Jr.

“Act of Military Surrender”

Adair, Maj. Gen. Allan H.S.

Adams, John

Adlerhorst (Hitler HQ)

African Americans

Agincourt, Battle of (1415)

Agony Grapevine

AIRMAIL
program

ALBANY
, Operation

Alençon

Alexander, Field Marshal Sir Harold

Alexandra, Czarina of Russia

Allen, Maj. Gen. Terry de la Mesa

Allied Control Council

Allied intelligence.
See also
Ultra

Allies.
See also
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force;
and specific countries and individuals

Anglo-American forces meet Red Army in Germany

British-American relationship and

conflicts over Bulge

conflicts over Strasbourg

conflicts over strategy

cost of war in Europe for

Eisenhower’s leadership style and

plan for postwar Europe and

postwar tensions among, and Yalta

strategic symbiosis of

Alsace

NORDWIND
and

ALSOS
intelligence unit

Alvarez, Luis W.

Ambrose, Stephen E.

American Legion

Amiens

Andrus, Maj. Gen. Clift

Antonov, Gen. Aleksei I.

Antwerp

Bulge and

Eisenhower vs. Montgomery and campaign for

ports and

V-1 and V-2 attacks

Antwerp X unit

ANVIL
(
later
DRAGOON
)

Anzio

Apollo
, H.M.S.

Ardennes

Bulge and

German retreat from

HERBSTNEBEL
and

Argentan

ARGONAUT
.
See
Yalta Conference

Arkansas
, U.S.S.

Armed Forces Network

Army Talks

Arnhem

Battle of

Arnold, Gen. Henry H. “Hap”

Aron, Robert

Arthur, Jean

Article of War No. 64

Ascension Day Commandos

Associated Press

As You Like It
(Shakespeare)

Atlantic Wall

atomic bomb

Augusta
, U.S.S.

Auschwitz concentration camp

Austerlitz, Battle of (1805)

Austria

Authie

Avranches

Axis

disintegration of

Axis Sally

B-17 Flying Fortresses

B-24 Liberators

B-26 Marauders

B-29 Superfortress

Babcock, John B.

Baby Blitz (January–May 1944)

Baccarat

Base 901

Baedeker, Karl

Balck, Gen. Hermann

Balkans

Balkoski, Joseph

Baltic

Barnett
, U.S.S.

Barton, Maj. Gen. Raymond O. “Tubby”

Bastogne

Battle of

Baugnez massacre.
See also
Malmédy massacre

Baum, Capt. Abraham J. (Task Force Baum)

Bayerlein, Gen. Fritz

Bayeux

fall of

Bayeux Tapestry

Bayfield
, U.S.S.

BBC

Beauvoir, Simone de

Beckett, Samuel

Beethoven, Ludwig van

Belfort Gap

Belgian resistance

Belgium

Bulge and

civilians in

liberation of

Bell for Adano, A
(Hersey)

Belorussia

Bennett, Ralph

Bénouville bridge

Berchtesgaden

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp

Berghof (Hitler home)

Bergman, Ingrid

Beria, Lavrenty P.

Berlin

bombing of

Eisenhower on

Eisenhower shifts from, as main objective

Eisenhower vs. Montgomery and single- vs. multipronged thrust toward

fall of

final days of war and

postwar plan for

Soviet advance on

V-E Day and

Yalta and

Berlin, Isaiah

BERLIN
plan.
See
MARKET GARDEN
, Operation

Bernhard, Prince of the Netherlands

Bernières

Besançon

Best

Béthouart, Gen. Antoine

Beveland Peninsula

biological weapons

Bitburg

Bittrich, Gen. Wilhelm

Bizerte

Black Forest (Schwarzwald)

black market

Blake, William

Blaskowitz, Gen. Johannes

Blithe Spirit
(Coward)

Blumentritt, Gen. Günther

BODENPLATTE
, Operation (Hangover Raid)

Bogart, Humphrey

Boggess, Lt. Charles

Bohlen, Charles E.

bombing

Bulge and

Caen and

COBRA
and

CROSSBOW
vs. V-1 sites

D-Day and

DRAGOON
and

Falaise and

fratricidal

of Germany

MARKET GARDEN
and

OVERLORD
and

“precision”

Roer and

St.-Vith and

Bormann, Martin

BOSTON
, Operation

Boulogne

Bourg-Léopold

Bourguébus Ridge

Bradley, Gen. Omar N.

Antwerp and

awarded fourth star

Berlin and

Brereton and

Brittany and

Bulge and

Churchill and

COBRA
and

concentration camps and

D-Day and

Devers and

Eisenhower and

Eisenhower shifts main attack to

Eisenhower vs. Montgomery and

Falaise Pocket and

final days of war and

First Army returned to command of

Frankfurt advance and

fuel shortages and

German surrender and

heads new 12th Army Group

Hodges and

Hürtgen and

January 1945 position of

Le Mans and

liberation of Paris and

logistics and

Luxemburg HQ of

manpower shortages and

MARKET GARDEN
and

Merkers treasure and

Metz and

Montgomery and

Namur HQ and

Ninth Army and

Normandy and

OVERLORD
plan and

Patch and

Patton and

propaganda and

Pyle and

QUEEN
and

Rhine crossing and

Ruhr and

Ted Roosevelt and

Victory position of

winter supplies and

Brandenberger, Gen. Erich

Braque, Georges

Bratge, Capt. Willi

Braun, Eva

Braun, Wernher von

Breedonck prison

Brenner Pass, Allied forces meet at

Brereton, Lt. Gen. Lewis H.

Breskens Pocket

Brest

Bridge Too Far, A
(Ryan)

Bright, Sgt. Alton C.

Britain.
See also specific battles, individuals and military units

Alliance formed by

Eisenhower honored in

impact of war on

manpower shortages

Britain, Battle of

“Britain is Now Occupied Territory” (Orwell)

British I Airborne Corps

British 1st Airborne Division

British I Corps

British Second Army

British 3rd Parachute Brigade

British 3rd Infantry Division

British 4th Queen’s Own Hussars

British 6th Airborne Division

British 7th Armored Division (Desert Rats)

British VII Corps

British Eighth Army

British VIII Corps

British 11th Armored Division

British XII Corps

British 21st Army Group

advance to Belgium

advance to Germany

Antwerp and

Berlin and

Bulge and

casualties and

German surrender and

January 1945 position of

MARKET GARDEN
and

OVERLORD
and

Rhine crossing and

Ruhr and

victory position of

British XXX Corps

British 43rd Infantry Division

British 50th Infantry Division

British 51st Highland Division

British Air Ministry

British Bomber Command

British Coldstream Guards Regiment

British Commandos

British Dorsetshire Regiment

British Empire

British Foreign Office

British Grenadier Guards Regiment

British Guards Armored Division

British Home Guard

British Irish Guards Regiment

British King’s Liverpool Regiment

British Liberation Army

British Ministry of Transport

British Royal Air Force (RAF)

British Royal Army Pay Corps

British Royal Artillery

British Royal Engineers

British Royal Hampshire Regiment

British Royal Marine Commandos

British Royal Marines

British Royal Navy

British Royal Signal Corps

British Royal Warwickshire Regiment

British Scots Guards Regiment

British War Office

British Welsh Guards Regiment

Brittany

Brolo landing

Brooke, Field Marshal Sir Alan

dwindling of army and

Eisenhower and

German surrender and

Malta and

Montgomery vs. Eisenhower and

personality of

VARSITY PLUNDER
and

on WW II

Yalta and

Brooks, Maj. Gen. Edward H.

Browning, Lt. Gen. Frederick A.M. “Boy”

Bruce, David K.E.

Brussels

Buchenwald concentration camp

Bucknall, Lt. Gen. Gerard

Budapest

Bulgaria

Bulge, Battle of the

Allied bombing and

Allied intelligence failure and

Allies victory in

Bastogne and

center attack

Christmas during

consequences of

counteroffensive after Bastogne

Eisenhower and Bradley informed of

Eisenhower assassination threat and

Eisenhower’s decision not to cross Rhine and

eve of

Fifth Panzer attack on south shoulder

GREIF
Meuse bridge attack and

Hitler’s
HERBSTNEBEL
plan initiates

launched

mass surrender of U.S. troops and

Montgomery’s press conference on

NORDWIND
and

Peiper’s killing spree and

POWs from

pozit shells and