Neptune: The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings (67 page)

18.
Rick Atkinson,
Guns at Last Light
(New York: Henry Holt, 2013), 73. Taylor’s statement is often attributed to Cota, as it is in the film
The Longest Day
.

19.
Karl Everitt Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 13; Adrian Lewis,
Omaha Beach: Flawed
Victory
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001), 25.

20.
Action Report, USS
Carmick
, June 23, 1944, USNA. Bingham later attributed the supporting fire to tanks of the 743rd Battalion, which, he said, “saved the day.”

21.
Robert Giguere Oral History, NWWIM-EC, 5. Giguere received both the Silver Star and the Croix de Guerre for his actions on Omaha Beach.

22.
Karl Everitt Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 13–14.

23.
Ford and Zaloga,
Overlord
, 108–11; Morison,
The Invasion of France and Germany
, 150.

24.
Hall to King, July 27, 1944, John Lesslie Hall Jr. Papers, box 1, folder 5 (pp. 9–10), Swem Library, W&M; Atkinson,
Guns at Last Light
, 128; Curtis Hansen Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 11–12.

25.
Hall to King, July 27, 1944, John Lesslie Hall Jr. Papers, box 1, folder 5 (p. 10), Swem Library, W&M.

26.
Robert L. Evans Oral History (p. 10) and Clifford H. Sinnett Oral History (p. 14), both in NWWIM-EC.

27.
Ibid.; Jackson Hoffler, in Prados, ed.,
Neptunus Rex
, 168.

28.
Lewis,
Omaha Beach
, 4; Morison,
The Invasion of France and Germany
, 152; U.S. War Dept.,
Omaha Beachhead
(Washington, DC: War Department Historical Division, 1945), 109.

29.
Philip Vian,
Action This Day: A War Memoir
(London: Frederick Muller, 1960), 139–40. The E-boat threat was all but eliminated by an Allied air assault on Le Havre on June 14 that virtually wiped out the German
Schnellboote
squadrons.

Chapter 14: “The Shoreline Was Just a Shambles”

1.
Neptune Operation Order No. BB-44, May 20, 1944, copy in John Lesslie Hall Jr. Papers, box 1, Swem Library, W&M; Frederick Morgan,
Overture to Overlord
(Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1950), 154–55.

2.
DDE to GCM, February 8, 1944, PDDE, 3:1715.

3.
Gordon A. Harrison,
The European Theater of Operations: Cross Channel Attack
(Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, 1951), 336; Alfred Stanford,
Force Mulberry: The Planning and Installation of the Artificial Harbor off U.S. Normandy Beaches in World War II
(New York: William Morrow, 1951), 66; Hall to King (Action Report), July 27, 1944, John Lesslie Hall Jr. Papers, box 1, Swem Library, W&M (hereafter Hall Action Report).

4.
Hall Action Report, 12–13; Bauernschmidt Oral History, USNI, 148; Calhoun Bond Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 7. Ramsay is quoted in Samuel E. Morison,
The Invasion of France and Germany, 1944–1945
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1957), 165.

5.
DDE to CCS, June 8, 1944, PDDE, 3:1916; Hall Action Report, 12; Donald W. Nutley Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 4.

6.
Hall Action Report, 12; Wallace Bishop Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 9–10.

7.
William J. Milne Oral History (p. 4), and Wallace Bishop Oral History (p. 11–13), both NWWIIM-EC.

8.
Wallace Bishop Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 29–31. Bishop was on Rhino 7, which was one of only nine to offload a cargo on D-Day.

9.
Russell Weigley,
The American Way of War: A History of United States Military Strategy and Policy
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1973); COMINCH (King) to COMNAVEU (Stark), June 2, 1944, ComUSNavEu, RG 313, box 13, NA.

10.
Alan Kirk, “Admiral Ramsay and I,” in Paul Stillwell, ed.,
Assault on Normandy: First-Person Accounts from the Sea Services
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1994), 26; Edmond J. Moran Oral History, USNI, 63–66.

11.
Paul Longrigg Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 8–10, 20; Harold J. O’Leary, “A Destroyer Destroyed,” Edward F. Prados, ed.,
Neptunus Rex: Naval Stories of the Normandy Invasion, June 6, 1944
(Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1998), 59–60; Theodore Roscoe,
United States Destroyer Operations in World War II
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1953), 352–54.

12.
Action Report, USS
Ancon
, June 21, 1944, USNA: William F. Heavy,
Down Ramp!
The Story of the Army Amphibious Engineers
(Washington, DC: Infantry Journal Press, 1947), 83; Carleton Bryant, “Battleship Commander,” in Stillwell, ed.,
Assault on Normandy
, 184; Ferris Burke Oral History (p. 2), and Calhoun Bond Oral History (p. 6), both in NWWIIM-EC.

13.
John R. Lewis Jr. Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 6; Louis Putnoky to Meredith Moon, June 17, 2013, Meredith Moon Collection.

14.
Hall Action Report, 12–13; Action Report, USS
Jeffers
(DD-621), Exec’s Report, June 22, 1944, USNA.

15.
Tonnage figures are from Stanford,
Force Mulberry
, Appendix Five, p. 229. LCTs seeking dry loads is from George Hackett Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 12.

16.
Richard G. “Jack” Laine Jr. Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 5–6.

17.
Donald Irwin, “The LCT 614,” in Donald Irwin file, NWWIIM-EC, 17.

18.
Ibid., 18–19.

19.
Karl Everitt Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 15.

20.
George Goodspeed Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 13.

21.
Ibid., 14, and George Hackett Oral History (pp. 8–9), both NWWIIM-EC.

22.
Roy Carter Oral History, USNA, 13; Robert T. Robertson Oral History, NWWIIMEC, 9. The story of the wayward LCI is in Morison,
The Invasion of France and Germany
, 188.

23.
Hall to Kirk, July 9, 1944, “Record of Unloading,” in John Lesslie Hall Jr. Papers, box 1, Swem Library, W&M.

24.
David R. Minard, “The Death of the ‘Susie Bee,’” in Prados, ed.,
Neptunus Rex
, 241; William T. O’Neill Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 33; Orwin C. Talboll, “Shipwrecked in the Channel,” in Stillwell, ed.,
Assault on Normandy
, 119–22.

25.
Howard Vander Beek, “Guiding Light,” in Prados,
Neptunus Rex
, 145.

26.
Stanford,
Force Mulberry
, 114.

27.
John Lesslie Hall Jr. Oral History, Columbia University, 154; Stanford,
Force Mulberry
, 90–91, 97; SHAEF (Eisenhower) to COMNAVEU (Stark), May 3, 1944, ComUSNavEu, Message file, RG 313, box 13, NA.

28.
Guy Hartcup,
Code Name Mulberry: The Planning, Building and Operation of the
Normandy Harbors
(New York: Hippocrene Books, 1977), 99–100.

29.
Ellsberg, “Mulberries and Gooseberries,” in Stillwell, ed.,
Assault on Normandy
, 172.

30.
Hartcup,
Code Name Mulberry
, 111; George Goodspeed Oral History, NWWIIMEC, 12.

31.
Stanford,
Force Mulberry
, 160–61.

32.
Ibid., 89, 110.

33.
Ibid., 172–74. The daily tonnage numbers are from Hall to Kirk, July 9, 1944, “Record of Unloading,” in John Lesslie Hall Jr. Papers, box 1, Swem Library, W&M. The total numbers vary slightly from source to source, but all agree that the number of American and British or Canadian soldiers was almost exactly even: 314,514 Americans and 314,547 British and Canadians. The Americans landed more tons of supplies (116,000 to 102,000), while the British landed more vehicles (54,000 to 41,000). These numbers are from Gordon A. Harrison,
Cross Channel Attack
(Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, 1951), 423, who took them from the SHAEF report of June 20. See also Hartcup,
Code Name Mulberry
, 122, who offers slightly different totals, but the same general ratios.

34.
George Goodspeed Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 16–17.

35.
Stanford,
Force Mulberry
, 181; Edward Ellsberg, “Mulberries and Gooseberries,” in Stillwell, ed.,
Assault on Normandy
, 173.

36.
Edward Ellsberg, “Mulberries and Gooseberries,” in Stillwell,
Assault on Normandy
, 173–74, 177; Ferris Burke Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 3.

37.
Clifford H. Sinnett Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 19–20. Italics added.

38.
Stanford,
Force Mulberry
, 181, 188, 193–94.

39.
Alan G. Kirk Oral History, Columbia University, 346; Arthur Struble Oral History, USNI, 146; Hall Action Report, 17.

40.
Stanford,
Force Mulberry
, 197.

41.
Alan G. Kirk Oral History, Columbia University, 346; Hall Action Report; NCWTF (Kirk) to ANCXF (Ramsay), June 22, 1944, ANCXF Papers, Subject File, box 6, folder 4, NA. No less an authority than Samuel Eliot Morison has written that “the ‘Mulberries’ … were absolutely essential for the success of Operation Overlord” (from Morison’s introduction to Stanford’s
Force Mulberry
), a view followed by many historians since. In asserting that, Morison may have sought to validate the enormous sacrifices the Allies made to sustain the project, for in the end, the artificial harbors added relatively little to the Allied logistical effort.

42.
Ramsay’s suggestion is in a handwritten note in staff meeting minutes, January 11, 1944, in Office of ANCXF, ComUSNavEu, Subject File, RG 313, box 6, folder 1, NA.

43.
Leo H. Scheer, “Salve and Salvoes,” in Prados, ed.,
Neptunus Rex
, 210–14.

44.
William J. Milne Oral History (p. 5), and Wallace Bishop Oral History (p. 13), both NWWIIM-EC.

45.
William Bacon, “Omaha’s Wrath,” in Prados, ed.,
Neptunus Rex
, 196; Calhoun Bond Oral History (p. 13), and Ferris Burke Oral History (p. 3), both in NWWIIM-EC.

46.
Roy Carter Oral History, USNA, 11; Walter Trombold, “Civilians in Uniform,” in Stillwell, ed.,
Assault on Normandy
, 162; Vincent del Guidice Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 10–11.

47.
William DeFrates, “Let’s Get On with It,” in Prados, ed.,
Neptunus Rex
, 202–3.

48.
Vernon L. Paul Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 18; Leo Scheer, “Salve and Salvoes,” in Prados, ed.,
Neptunus Rex
, 214.

49.
Ralph A. Crenshaw Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 9.

50.
John J. Guilmartin Oral History (p. 10), and Paul Longrigg Oral History (p. 33), both in NWWIIM-EC.

51.
The diary entries are from Kenneth C. Newberg Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 21.

Chapter 15: “A Field of Ruins”

1.
Frederick Morgan,
Overture to Overlord
(Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1950), 144.

2.
DDE to CCS, June 8, 1944, PDDE, 3:1915–1917; Ken Ford and Steven J. Zaloga,
Overlord: The D-Day Landings
(Oxford: Osprey, 2009), 171–72.

3.
Samuel Eliot Morison,
The Invasion of France and Germany, 1944–1945
(Boston: Little, Brown, 1957), 156–59; Hall to King, Action Report, July 27, 1944, John Lesslie Hall Jr. Papers, box 1, Swem Library, W&M, 14.

4.
Russell Weigley,
Eisenhower and His Lieutenants: The Campaign of France and Germany, 1944–1945
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1981), 98–100; Gordon A. Harrison,
The European Theater of Operations: Cross Channel Attack
(Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, 1951), 416–22; Quentin Walsh, “The Capture of Cherbourg,” in Paul Stillwell, ed.,
Assault on Normandy: First Person Accounts from the Sea Services
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1994), 197.

5.
Harrison,
Cross Channel Attack
, 408–22. The quotation is on 411.

6.
Weigley,
Eisenhower and His Lieutenants
, 103–5; J. Lawton Collins,
Lightning Joe: An Autobiography
(Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1979), 218–19; Ford and Zaloga,
Overlord
, 189. Von Schlieben is quoted in Paul Carell,
Invasion! They’re Coming
(New York: E. P. Dutton, 1963), 91.

7.
Hitler is quoted in Harrison,
Cross Channel Attack
, 430.

8.
Alan G. Kirk, “Admiral Ramsay and I,” in Stillwell, ed.,
Assault on Normandy
, 26.

9.
Morison,
The Invasion of France and Germany
, 197–98.

10.
Action Reports, USS
Nevada
, June 30, 1944, and USS
Laffey
, June 30, 1944, both USNA; Jack Jacobson Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 2; Theodore Roscoe,
United States Destroyers in World War II
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1953), 361.

11.
Collins,
Lightning Joe
, 199–200.

12.
Roscoe,
United States Destroyers
, 361; Irvin Airey, “A Strange Place for a Marine,” in Stillwell, ed.,
Assault on Normandy
, 191.

13.
Jack Jacobson Oral History, NWWIIM-EC, 2; Acton Report, USS
O’Brien
, June 29, 1944, USNA.

14.
See the discussion of this in Morison,
The Invasion of France and Germany
, 212.

15.
Action Reports, USS
Walke
June 29, 1944, and USS
Nevada
, June 30, 1944, both USNA.

16.
Action Report, USS
Nevada
, June 30, 1944, USNA; Charles Sehe, letter to his family, June 6, 1994, in Sehe file, NMPW; O. Alfred Graham, “Straddling a Battle
Wagon,” in Edward F. Prados, ed.,
Neptunus Rex: Naval Stories of the Normandy Invasion, June 6, 1944
(Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1998), 30.

17.
Action Report, USS
Hobson
, June 25, 1944, USNA; Carleton F. Bryant, “Battleship Commander,” in Stillwell, ed.,
Assault on Normandy
, 185.