‘It has been very hard . . .’, Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke, War Diaries 1939-1945, London, 2001, p. 555 (6 June)

  p. 149 Eadie and ‘Fireflies’, see Carlo D’Este, Decision in Normandy, New York, 1983

  ‘I suppose that’s what . . .’, Lieutenant Cyril Rand, 2nd Battalion Royal Ulster Rifles, MdC TE 499

  ‘It equally impressed . . .’, NA II 407/ 427/24170

  p. 150 ‘the enemy annihilated . . .’, Seventh Army telephone records, NA II 407/427/ 6431

  ‘He was still convinced . . .’, Nicolaus von Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, 1937-1945, Mainz, 1980, p. 374

  Panzer Lehr Division, Generalleutnant Fritz Bayerlein, Panzer Lehr Division, ETHINT 66

  ‘What’s happened to...’, BA-MA MSg2/5025

  p. 151 4,649 US seaborne casualties, Omar Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, New York, 1951, p. 242

  11

  SECURING THE BEACHHEADS

  p. 152 29th Division headquarters, NA II 407/427/24034

  farmhands and Pennsylvania coal miners, 29th Division, WWII VS

  ‘The sea was like . . .’, Oberstleutnant Ziegelmann, 352nd Infanterie-Division, FMS B-489

  p. 153 MP Sergeant, Melvin Asche, 1006th Seabea Detachment, MdC TE 126

  ‘looked at us . . .’, Madame Huet-Patry, Vierville-sur-Mer, MdC TE 22

  ‘I guess they didn’t know . . .’, Barnett Hoffner, 6th Engineer Special Brigade, NWWIIM-EC

  p. 154 ‘deloused’ areas, Forrest C. Pogue, Pogue’sWar,Lexington,Kentucky, 2001,p. 63

  USS Harding, Walter Vollrath Jr, USN, NWWIIM-EC

  p. 155 ‘Again Colonel Rudder . . .’, Elmer H. Vermeer, 2nd Engineer Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, with 2nd Ranger Battalion, NWWIIM-EC; also Lieutenant Francis W. Dawson, 5th Ranger Battalion, NWWIIM-EC; and Lieutenant Rex F. Gibson, Headquarters Company, 116th Infantry, 29th Division, NA II 407/427/ 24242

  ‘stumble-footed action’, NA II 407/427/ 24034

  bartering, Brugger, 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division, NWWIIM-EC

  ‘Hey, I need a hedgerow . . .’, Oscar Rich, 5th Field Artillery Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, NWWIIM-EC

  A-1 landing strip, W. G. Schuler, 382nd Air Service Squadron, 84th Group, NWWIIM-EC evacuation of wounded by air, Louise Anthony de Flon, 816th Medical Air Evacuation, MdC TE 177

  p. 156 Gerhardt, see Joseph Balkoski, Beyond the Beachhead, Mechanicsburg, Pa., 1999, pp. 44-50

  ‘Sergeant, I want you . . .’, John Hooper, 115th Infantry Regiment, 29th Division, NWWIIM-EC

  V Corps plan, Oberst Ziegelmann, 352nd Infanterie-Division, FMS B-489 and B-636

  p. 157 ‘the Führer personally . . .’, General Günther Blumentritt, OB West, FMS B-637, p. 263

  ‘a tough learning period . . .’, Lieutenant Cameron K. Brooks, 115th Infantry, 29th Division, NA II 407/427/24242

  ‘Lieutenant Kermit Miller ...’, NA II 407/427/24240; and Captain S. S. Suntag, 115th Infantry, NA II 407/427/24242

  ‘It was nearly midnight . . .’, NA II 407/ 427/24240

  ‘trouble from those . . .’, Captain Otto Graas, Headquarters Company, 29th Division, NA II 407/427/24241

  p. 158 Gerhardt and ‘Vixen Tor’, Staff Sergeant Lester Zick, Anti-tank Company, 175th Infantry Regiment, 29th Division, NWWIIM-EC

  ‘John Doughfoot looked . . .’, Lieutenant George Wash, 224th Field Artillery Battalion, 29th Infantry Division, NA II 407/ 427/24242

  ‘an American on a white horse . . .’, Staff Sergeant Lester Zick, Anti-tank Company, 175th Infantry Regiment, 29th Division, NWWIIM-EC

  Isigny, Edwin R. Schwartz, 747th Tank Battalion, NWWIIM-EC; Staff Sergeant Lester Zick, Anti-tank Company, 175th Infantry Regiment, 29th Division, NWWIIM-EC; and Balkoski, pp. 170-74

  p. 159 ‘Rubble was everywhere . . .’, Lieutenant George Wash, 224th Field Artillery Battalion, 29th Infantry Division, NA II 407/427/24242

  Generalleutnant von Schlieben, FMS B-845

  ‘17.00 hours went into . . .’, Captain Claude J. Mercer, 29th Field Artillery Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, NA II 407/ 427/24242

  p. 160 Montebourg, Louis Lucet, MdC TE 107; and Valognes, MdC TE 111

  Georgians at Turqueville, Captain Le GrandK.Johnson, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, NA II 407/427/24242

  ‘and Jerry went from one to another . . .’, Lieutenant George W. Goodridge, 44th Field Artillery Battalion, 4th Division, NA II 407/427/24240

  ‘Their throats had been cut . . .’, Captain Claude J. Mercer, 29th Field Artillery Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, NA II 407/ 427/24242

  ‘sniping coming from a building . . .’, Sergeant W. C. Cowards, 22nd Infantry, 4th Division, NA II 407/427/24242

  p. 161 ‘France was like . . .’, Captain Robert E. Walker, 19th Infantry Division, WWII VS

  ‘couldn’t trust them in Normandy’, Pfc Robert Boyce, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, WWII VS

  ‘we saw in the ditches . . .’, Barnett Hoffner, 6th Engineer Special Brigade, NWWIIM-EC

  Sgt Prybowski, Captain Elmer G. Koehler, Battalion Surgeon, 12th Infantry, 4th Infantry Division, NA II 407/427/24242

  p. 162 Hill 30, Tomaso William Porcella, 3rd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division; and Kenneth J. Merritt, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, NWWIIM-EC

  ‘There were so many . . .’, Edward C. Boccafogli, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, NWWIIM-EC

  90th Division firing at prisoners, Max Hastings, Overlord, London, 1989, p. 154

  p. 163 ‘He was sitting out . . .’, Pogue, pp. 111-12

  ‘Collins and Bradley . . .’, Martin Blumenson (ed.), The Patton Papers, 1940-1945, New York, 1974, p. 479

  the ‘Treuelied’, Jean-Claude Perrigault and Rolf Meister, Götz von Berlichingen, Bayeux, 2005, p. 77

  ‘Well, we don’t know . . .’, SS-Mann Johann H., 36 380 D =3.Kp./SS-Pi.Btl.17 17.SS-Pz.Gren.Div. 8 June, BfZ-SS

  p. 164 ‘Turn round!’, Perrigault and Meister, p. 203

  ‘and push the enemy . . .’, Generalleutnant Richard Schimpf, 3rd Paratroop Division, FMS B-020

  p. 165 ‘insufficient forces’, Generalmajor Max Pemsel commentary, FMS B-541

  353rd Infanterie-Division, General Mahlmann, FMS A-983

  hiding in barns and orchards, AdM 2 J 695

  ‘nocturnal game...’, Generalleutnant Kurt Badinski 276th Infanterie-Division, FMS B-526

  SS Das Reich in France, Peter Lieb, Konventioneller Krieg oder Weltanschauungskrieg?, Munich, 2007, p. 361

  p. 166 ‘the initiation of . . .’, IMT, Vol. XXXVII, quoted in Lieb, p. 364

  For these and other killings, see Lieb, pp. 374-5 and AN AJ/41/56. According to one report, 108 were hanged in Tulle, AN AJ/41/56

  Oradour, M. R. D. Foot, SOE in France, London, 1966, pp. 398-9

  ‘regions where a hideous . . .’, AN AJ/ 41/56

  p. 167 ‘spray jobs’, Technical Sergeant Donald J. Walworth, 3rd Battalion, 26th Infantry, 1stDivision,NA II 407/427/24242

  ‘were in fact facing . . .’, Gordon A. Harrison, US Army in World War II, Washington, DC, 1951 p. 370

  p. 168 ‘You people are always . . .’, Oberstleutnant Keil, FMS C-018

  ‘sly, underhand...’, Perrigault and Meister, p. 245

  ‘moderately high losses’, ibid., p. 247

  p. 169 accusation against Heydte, FMS B-839; and Perrigault and Meister, p. 248

  12

  FAILURE AT CAEN

  p. 170 ‘communications between division . . .’, Generalmajor Wilhelm Richter, 716th Infanterie-Division, FMS B-621

  ‘honeycombed with trenches, NA II 407/ 427/24200

  p. 171 ‘under his command . . .’, TNA WO 208/4363

  1st SS Panzer-Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, Taganrog, Sönke Neitzel (ed.), Tapping Hitler’s Generals, St Paul, Mn, 2007, p. 344, n. 93

  p. 172 ‘It has taken . . .’, Generalmajor Wilhelm Richter, 716th Infanterie-Division, FMS B-621

  ‘Little fish!’, Shulman interview with Generalleutnant Edgar Feuchtinger, August 1945, Milton Shulman, Defeat in the West, London, 1988, p. 121

  ‘At a moment when . . .’, General Geyr von Schweppenburg, FMS B-466

  p. 173 ‘Fright reports’, Generalmajor Fritz Krämer, I SS Panzer Corps, FMS C-024

  p. 174 ‘Action rear’, etc., Alastair Bannerman, 2nd Battalion Royal Warwicks, SWWEC 2001-819

  Gruchy, Raymond Pouchin, MdC TE 86

  Hitler Jugend in Cambes, Lieutenant, Cyril Rand, 2nd Battalion Royal Ulster Rifles, MdC TE 499

  p. 175 ‘We were the first troops . . .’ and ‘After a very short time . . .’, Stanley Christopherson diary

  p. 176 ‘fighter-bomber racecourse’, Generalleutnant Fritz Bayerlein, Panzer Lehr Division, ETHINT 66

  Panzer Lehr losses, see H. Ritgen, Die Geschichte der Panzer-Lehr Division im Westen, 1944-1945, Stuttgart, 1979, p. 100, quoted in Niklas Zetterling, Normandy 1944, Winnipeg, 2000, p. 386

  p. 177 ‘How can I live . . .’, ‘Aristocrats’, Keith Douglas, The Complete Poems, London, 2000, p. 117

  ‘I like you, sir’, Stuart Hills, By Tank into Normandy, London, 2002, p. 54

  p. 178 ‘missed the psychological moment . . .’, General Geyr von Schweppenburg, FMS B-466

  ‘Last time I was . . .’, Lieutenant Cyril Rand, 2nd Battalion Royal Ulster Rifles, MdC TE 499

  p. 179 ‘When I looked to the left . . .’, Unterscharführer Alois Morawetz, 3. Panzerkompanie, SS Panzer-Regiment 12, Hubert Meyer, The 12th SS: The History of the Hitler Youth Panzer Division, Vol. I, Mechanicsburg, Pa., p. 188

  ‘I could have cried . . .’, ibid., p.191

  p. 180 ‘He had tried to make . . .’, ibid., p.197

  killing of prisoners in Normandy, TNA TS 26/856

  ‘about thirty Canadian . . .’, Nelly Quidot, MdC TE 228

  killings at Abbaye d’Ardennes, Sergeant Frank Geoffrey, Royal Winnipeg Rifles, NWWIIM-EC

  p. 181 ‘dare-devil’, Peter Lieb, Konventioneller Krieg oder Weltanschauungskrieg?, Munich, 2007, p. 163

  Kurt Meyer executing Jews in Poland, ibid., p. 159

  ‘the men show signs . . .’, Ultra intercepts passed by ‘C’ to Churchill on 11 June, TNA HW 1/2927

  location of headquarters of Panzer Group West, TNA KV 7171 and KV 7225

  p. 182 ‘all personnel . . .’, General Geyr von Schweppenburg, FMS B-466

  p. 183 ‘a gutless bugger’, TNA WO 205/ 5D

  p. 184 ‘pull the Germans . . .’, TNA WO 205/5B

  ‘Inaction and a defensive mentality . . .’, TNA PREM 3/339/1, p. 6

  ‘to assault to the west . . .’, LHCMA De Guingand 2/1/1-6

  ‘a peevish imperialism’, Army Group intelligence summary, 23 April 1944, TNA WO 205/532 (2)

  ‘to block the enemy’s . . .’, General Geyr von Schweppenburg, FMS B-466

  p. 185 ‘the key to Cherbourg’, General Omar Bradley, OCMH-FPP

  ‘By premature commitment . . .’, Generalmajor Fritz Krämer, I SS Panzer Corps, FMS C-024

  13

  VILLERS-BOCAGE

  p. 187 ‘The fury of artillery ...’, Vernon Scannell, Argument of Kings, London, 1987, p. 165

  ‘The smart, keen . . .’, ibid., p. 156

  ‘The thing that shocked . . .’, Major Peter Griffin, 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, NAC/ANC R5067-0-0-E

  ‘broke down’, Lieutenant Colonel Terence Otway, SWWEC T689

  p. 188 ‘He is not very impressive . . .’, Martin Blumenson (ed.), The Patton Papers, 1940-1945, New York, 1974, p. 461

  Dempsey, see Carlo D’Este, Decision in Normandy, New York, 1983, p. 60

  p. 189 ‘You’ll get a shock . . .’, Arthur Reddish, A Tank Soldier’s Story, privately printed, undated, p. 29

  ‘Bucknall was very weak’, Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke, War Diaries 1939-1945, London, 2001, p. 538 (7 April)

  Bucknall and Bayeux, LHCMA, Liddell Hart 11/1944/36

  p. 190 General Maxwell D. Taylor, SODP p. 191 entry into Villers-Bocage, M. Diguet, MdC TE 220

  ‘We have only one . . .’, Patrick Agte, Michael Wittmann, Vol. I, Mechanicsburg, Pa., 2006, p. 354

  p. 192 11th Hussars and prisoner from 2nd Panzer-Division, Dudley Clarke, The Eleventh at War, London, 1952, p. 339; and Myles Hildyard, who says in his diary that they strangled one guard and seized the other

  Ultra on 2nd Panzer-Division, TNA KV 7707

  p. 193 artillery regiment firing airbursts, NA II 407/427/24170

  Aunay-sur-Odon, Abbé André Paul, MdC TE 21

  p. 194 ‘The fighting in the west . . .’, 15 June, Unteroffizier Leopold L., 25 644 = 5.Kp./Pz.Rgt.3, 2.Pz.Div., BfZ-SS

  ‘131 Brigade . . .’, Myles Hildyard diary, 19 June

  ‘a very poor showing . . .’, Major General G. L. Verney diary, quoted in D’Este, pp. 272-4

  ‘The famous Desert Rats . . .’, Stanley Christopherson diary

  p. 195 ‘it was no good grousing . . .’, J. L. Cloudsley-Thompson, Sharpshooter, Fleet Hargate, 2006, p. 109

  ‘design fault’, Lieutenant General Richard O’Connor to Churchill, 5 May, LHCMA O’Connor 5/2/39

  ‘a Tiger and Panther complex’, letter, 12 June, TNA WO205/5B

  ‘We are outshot . . .’, Algiers, 23 August 1943, Harry C. Butcher, Three Years with Eisenhower, London, 1946, p. 339

  ‘The squadron left . . .’, anonymous diary entry, 11 June, MdC TE 396

  Eisenhower to Marshall, Brigadier Joseph A. Holly, 5 July, PDDE, p. 1973

  p. 196 ‘I have received . . .’, No. 695, Prime Minister to President, 9 June, TNA PREM 3/472

  ‘passed convoys...’, Alanbrooke, pp. 556-7 (12 June)

  p. 197 ‘There has been a recognizable . . .’, Churchill to Eden, 12 June, TNA PREM 3/339/7

  ‘We went and had . . .’, TNA PREM 3/ 339/7

  HMS Ramillies, Admiral G. B. Middleton, IWM 01/2/1

  ‘a slight display . . .’ and ‘General de Gaulle’s personal flag . . .’, report of British Naval Liaison Officer, 16 June, TNA ADM 1/16018

  p. 198 ‘Has it occurred . . .’, quoted in Henri Amouroux, La grande histoire, Vol. VIII, p. 546, and Robert Aron, Histoire de la Libération de la France, Paris, 1959, p. 78

  ‘did little to ingratiate them . . .’, report of British Naval Liaison Officer, TNA PREM 3/339/7

  ‘Monsieur le curé . . .’, Jean Lacouture, De Gaulle - Le Rebelle, Paris, 1984, p. 779

  p. 199 ‘hated Laval, but not Pétain’, Forrest C. Pogue, Pogue’s War, Lexington, Kentucky, 2006, p. 115

  ‘has left behind in Bayeux . . .’, Montgomery to Churchill, 14 June, TNA PREM 3/339/7

  p. 200 ‘In my opinion we should . . .’, No. 561, President to Prime Minister, 14 June, TNA PREM 3/339/7

  ‘There is not a scrap . . .’, Churchill to Eden, 12 June, TNA PREM 3/339/7

  ‘Trojan horse’, Aron, p. 77

  ‘Le panorama . . .’, MdC TE 195 p. 201 ‘I simply cannot . . .’, André Heintz diary, MdC TE 32 (1-4)

  Café owner, Dr Robert Chaperon, MdC TE 42

  ‘in the Middle Ages’, MdC TE 42 p. 202 Secours National, Céline Coantic-Dormoy, MdC TE 281

  ‘The English since . . .’ Le Dily diary, 11 June, MdC TE 143

  ‘le troc’, Claude Guillotin, 1944, ‘L’aventure de mes quinze ans’, Le Fresne-Camilly, MdC TE 397

  p. 203 ‘a senior officer of the Military Police . . .’, Dr Ian Campbell, RAMC, 2nd Field Dressing Station, SWWEC 2000.477

  ‘during the morning . . .’, MdC TE 144

  ‘musical chairs’ and ‘Now there’s no need . . .’, Lieutenant Cyril Rand, 2nd Battalion Royal Ulster Rifles, MdC TE 499

  p. 205 Red Army, see Antony Beevor and Lyuba Vinogradova (eds.), A Writer at War: Vasily Grossman with the Red Army, 1941- 1945, London, 2005, p. 109

  ‘The whole world . . .’, SS Untersturmführer Herbert E., 2.Kp./Nachr.Abt.SS. Pz.Div. ‘Hohenstaufen’, 6 June and 10 June, 24 742C, BfZ-SS

  14

  THE AMERICANS ON THE COTENTIN PENINSULA

  p. 208 ‘Within a week . . .’, Lieutenant (MC) Alfred A. Schiller, USN, CWM/ MCG 58A

  Omaha Beach command, NA II 407/427/ 212

  ‘Turn those prisoners...’, Barnett Hoffner, 6th Engineer Special Brigade, NWWIIM-EC

  ‘Those wounded paratroopers . . .’, Orval Wakefield (Naval Combat Demolition Unit), NWWIIM-EC

  ‘We had an incident . . .’, Charles C. Zalewski, LST 134, NWWIIM-EC

  ‘One of our ship’s officers . . .’, Ralph Crenshaw, LST 44, NWWIIM-EC

  p. 209 trade in Lugers, Major John C. Geiglein, Forrest C. Pogue, Pogue’s War, Lexington, Kentucky, 2006, pp. 127-8

  bartering a truck-load of weapons, T/Sgt Eugene W. Griffin, 2nd Armored Division, WWII VS

  ‘a considerable laxity . . .’, Pogue, p. 87

  pig roasting, Angelos Chatas (Naval Combat Demolition Unit), NWWIIM-EC

  p. 210 ‘The [French] attitude is . . .’, NA II 407/427/212

  ‘The Mayor of Colleville . . .’, NA II 407/ 427/212

  p. 211 ‘Hermann’s Vermin’, Cyrus C. Aydlett, USS Bayfield, NWWIIM-EC

  ‘despite undisputed air supremacy . . .’, Leigh-Mallory, 1 July, Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Air Force, TNA ADM 1/ 16332

  p. 212 ‘an enemy sniper . . .’, Omar Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, New York, 1951, p. 292

  ‘When I saw that . . .’, John Troy, 8th Infantry, NWWIIM-EC

  91st Luftlande-Division, Oberst Eugen König, FMS B-010

  p. 214 ‘I was ordered to . . .’, Obergefreiter Hans S., 9.Kp./Gren.Rgt.1058, 91.(LL.) Inf.Div., 13 273 B, 7 July, BfZ-SS

  ‘a burly professor . . .’, Martin Blumenson, The Duel for France, New York, 2000, pp. 20-21

  ‘a pudgy man . . .’, ibid., p. 11

  ‘The commander-in-chief . . .’, Generalleutnant von Choltitz, LXXXIV Corps, FMS B-418

  ‘he had lived a life . . .’, Generalleutnant Fritz Bayerlein, Panzer Lehr Division, ETHINT 66

  ‘the war was lost’, Generalleutnant von Choltitz, LXXXIV Corps, FMS B-418 p. 215 ‘refreshinglyopen-minded’,LHCMA Liddell Hart 11/1944/7

  ‘Montebourg and Valognes . . .’, TNA WO 205/5B

  ‘a Cub plane . . .’, operation of air support parties, NA II 407/427/24204

  p. 216 Mulberry and gale, ‘Artificial Harbours in Operation Overlord’, TNA ADM 1/17204

 

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