Overlord (Pan Military Classics) (68 page)

T
HE
B
OCAGE

1
 Gavin,
On to Berlin
, p. 121

2
 Bradley (op. cit.), p. 280

3
 Cota papers, Combat narrative (loc. cit.)

4
 Bradley (op. cit.), p. 295

5
 
Ibid
., p. 283

6
 Richardson, narrative (loc. cit.)

7
 
Ibid
.

8
 Eichen, interview with the author, 7.vii.83

9
 Cota (op. cit.)

10
 
Ibid
.

11
 Cota (loc. cit.)

12
 Herman, unpublished narrative loaned to the author

13
 
Ibid
.

14
 Bryant, interview with the author, 9.vii.83

15
 First Army diary, copy held in DDE Library

16
 It is an apparent paradox that while all the combatants in Normandy agreed upon the prodigious scale of Allied resources, the Allied high command complained of constant difficulties with supplies, above all artillery ammunition. Many observers both at the time and since have suggested that the ammunition shortages could readily have been remedied had the vast shipments of rations, equipment, vehicles been moderated somewhat, especially on the American flank. But the scale of supplies provided for the Allied forces reflected a philosophy determined many months before D-Day.

17
 Preston, interview with the author (loc. cit.)

18
 Collins,
Lightning Joe
, p. 220

19
 First Army diary

T
HE BATTLE FOR
C
HERBOURG

1
 Carell,
Invasion – They’re Coming
, p. 194

2
 Herman, narrative (loc. cit.)

3
 Bryant, interview with the author (loc. cit.)

4
 Hughes, diary

5
 Palmer, Wiley & Keast,
The Procurement and Training of Ground Combat Troops
, p. 1

6
 First US Army Report of Operations, p. 117

7
 PRO WO205/401

8
 PRO W0232/17

9
 Gavin (op. cit.), p. 71

10
 Interview with the author, iv.83

11
 Gavin (op. cit.), p. 71

12
 Weigley,
Eisenhower’s Lieutenants
, p. 45

S
OLDIERS

1
 PRO219/1908

2
 Schickner, interview with the author, 3.iv.83

3
 Harrison,
Cross Channel Attack
, p. 374

4
 Kruger, interview with the author, 30.iv.83

5
 PRO WO219/1908

6
 Bradley (op. cit.), p. 292

7
 Quoted in Irving,
Trail of the Fox
, p. 340

8
 
Ibid
., p. 343

9
 
Ibid
.

10
 PRO WO205/1021 (Dietrich interrogation)

11
 Kauffmann, interview with the author, 4.v.83

12
 Irving (op. cit.), p. 346

13
 
Ibid
., p. 351

14
 
Ibid
., p. 353

15
 
Ibid
., pp. 363–4

16
 PRO WO205/1022 (von Rundstedt interrogation)

17
 Irving (op. cit.), p. 74

18
 Ruge, quoted in Irving (op. cit.), p. 375

19
 
Ibid
.

20
 
Ibid
., p. 376

21
 Williams, interview with the author (loc. cit.)

22
 Hellmuth Lang, interview with the author, 6.v.83

23
 For instance, Cave Brown and Irving (op. cit.)

24
 Kauffmann, interview with the author (loc. cit.)

25
 Kruger, interview with the author (loc. cit.)

26
 Guderian, interview with the author, 4.v.83

27
 Williams, interview with the author (loc. cit.)

28
 Quesada, interview with the author (loc. cit.)

29
 PRO WO219/1908

30
 Dupuy,
A Genius for War
, pp. 253–4

31
 Bradley (op. cit.), p. 357

W
EAPONS

1
 PRO WO205/5b

2
 Quoted in Hamilton,
Montgomery: Master of the Battlefield
, pp. 713–14

3
 Kay Summersby, diary, 2.vii.83

4
 Gavin,
On to Berlin
, p. 51

5
 Discarding sabot was a formidable British innovation in armour-piercing ammunition. The casing of the shell was shed after leaving the gun-barrel, and only a slender bolt of hardened steel continued to the target at very high velocity, generating unprecedented power of penetration. Discarding-sabot ammunition had been available for some time for 6-pounder guns, but became available for 17-pounders only in the summer of 1944. It has been one of the principal forms of anti-armour projectile ever since.

6
 Wilson,
Flamethrower
, p. 54

7
  Ross,
The Business of Tanks
, p. 153

8
 
Ibid
.

9
 
Ibid
., p. 263

10
 ORS reports nos. 12 & 17, Staff College Library

11
 Ross (op. cit.), p. 275

12
 Bradley (op. cit.), p. 320

13
 
et seq.
Hansard

14
 Ross (op. cit.), pp. 316–17

F
ROM THE
B
EACHHEAD TO THE FRONT

1
 Letter loaned to the author by Mr James Verrier

2
 See, for instance, Dunn,
Second Front Now
; Hartcup,
Code Name Mulberry

3
 
Ibid
.

4
 See Fergusson,
The Watery Maze

5
 Patton,
War as I Knew It
, p. 101

6
 Baldwin, MS (op. cit.)

7
 Lee, interview with the author, 4.iii.83

8
 Hein, interview with the author, 1.vii.83

9
 Zimmer, diary from Hoover Institute, S644D/1.5.202

10
 Gunther, interview (loc. cit.)

11
 Gosset & Lecomte,
Caen pendant la Bataille
, p. 51

12
 Quesada, interview (loc. cit.)

13
 Ratliff, interview with the author, 3.vii.83

14
 Ivon-Jones, interview with the author, 4.ii.83

15
 Sadi Schneid,
Beutesdeutscher
, p. 119

16
 Wilson, interview (loc. cit.)

17
 Whitelaw, interview with the author, 27.vii.83

18
 Sir David Cole,
Rough Road to Rome
(London, 1982), p. 82

19
 
Current Notes
(op. cit.), no. 44

20
 Brown, interview with the author, 18.ii.83

21
 Preston, interview (loc. cit.)

22
 
Current Notes
(op. cit.) for 8.vii.44

23
 Hansen, diary, US Army Military History Institute

24
 
Current Notes
(op. cit.), no. 54

25
 Wilson, interview with the author (loc. cit.)

C
ASUALTIES

1
 Brenda McBryde,
A Nurse’s War
(London, 1979), pp. 86–7

2
 Copy loaned to the author

3
 Wilson,
Flamethrower
, p. 70

4
 Higgins, interview (loc. cit.)

5
 Bramall, interview (loc. cit.)

6
 Whitelaw, interview (loc. cit.)

7
 Letter loaned to the author by Mr James Verrier

8
 Wilson (op. cit.), p. 71

T
HE FALL OF
C
AEN

1
 Quoted in Wilmot,
The Struggle for Europe
, p. 338

2
 Gosset & Lecomte,
Caen pendant la Bataille
, p. 37

3
 
Ibid
.

4
 Portway. interview with the author, 16.v.83

5
 DF: Defensive Fire – a standard gunnery technique whereby batteries designate certain likely lines of enemy attack by code numbers, and range in upon them in advance. Then, when an attack develops, men in the forward positions can summon immediate artillery support at a threatened point by radioing simply to the guns for ‘DF63’ or ‘DF14’, rather than having to waste precious minutes correcting the gunners’ aim onto map coordinates from scratch.

6
 Zimmer, diary (loc. cit.)

7
 Stephens, unpublished MS loaned to author

8
 Butcher, diary, DDE Library

9
 
Eisenhower Papers
, vol. iii, p. 1982

10
 Bryant (op. cit.), p. 229

11
 Tedder,
With Prejudice
, p. 555

12
 
Colliers’ Magazine
, 5.x.46

13
 Note of 18.iii.52 in Dempsey file, Liddell Hart papers (loc. cit.)

14
 Bradley (op. cit.), p. 319

GOODWOOD

1
 Montgomery to Brooke, M511

2
 Quoted in Pogue,
The Supreme Command
, p. 188

3
 Dempsey, notes in Liddell Hart papers, ‘The aims of Operation Goodwood’

4
 Roberts, interview with the author, 17.vi.83

5
 
Ibid
.

6
 Brown, unpublished MS loaned to the author

7
 Roach,
The 8.15 to War
, pp. 144–6

8
 Wyldbore-Smith, interview with the author, 13.vi.83

9
 Richardson, interview with the author, 21.vii.83

10
 Quoted in Ellis (op. cit.), pp. 344–5

11
 Butcher, diary (op. cit.)

12
 Most recently by Hamilton,
Montgomery: Master of the Battlefield
, and Carlo D’Este,
Decision in Normandy

13
 Richardson, interview with the author (loc. cit.)

14
 
The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Lord Montgomery
, p. 257

15
 
Eisenhower Papers
(op. cit.), pp. 2018–19

16
 Bradley,
A General’s Life
, p. 274

17
 
Ibid
., p. 257

18
 Bryant (op. cit.), p. 235

19
 Carver, interview with the author (loc. cit.)

20
 Butcher, diary, DDE Library

21
 Bryant (op. cit.), p. 245

COBRA

1
 First Army diary, 7.vii.44

2
 Bradley (op. cit.), p. 271

3
 Gunther, interview with the author (loc. cit.)

4
 Quesada, interview with the author (loc. cit.)

5
 Blumenson,
The Patton Papers
, vol. ii, p. 521

6
 First US Army report (loc. cit.)

7
 Interview with the author, 2.vii.83

8
 First US Army report (loc. cit.)

9
 Bradley (op. cit.), p. 270

10
 Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story
, p. 226

11
 Ascher, interview with the author, 5.vii.83

12
 In a letter to the author, 3.viii.82

13
 Hamilton (op. cit.), p. 650

14
 Stimson papers, Yale University

15
 This account is derived from information provided by another NCO of 102nd Cavalry Reconnaissance, Bill Walsh.

16
 Contemporary narrative by Flint’s executive officer, in DDE papers no. 84, Patton G. no. 2.

17
 Carell,
Invasion – They’re Coming
, pp. 257
et seq.

18
 
History of the 120th Infantry Regiment
by Officers of the Regiment (Washington Infantry Journal Press, 1947)

19
 Eichen, interview with the author, 26.vi.83

20
 Quoted in D. Bruce Lockerbie,
A Man Under Orders
, p. 79

21
 First US Army diary (loc. cit.)

22
 
History of the 120th
(op. cit.), p. 133

23
 Carell (op. cit.), p. 259

24
 Stober, interview with the author, 6.v.83

25
 Weigley,
Eisenhower’s Lieutenants
, p. 157

26
 Gunther, interview with the author (loc. cit.)

27
 Reisler, interview with the author, 4.vii.83

28
 Guderian, interview with the author (loc. cit.)