The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (119 page)

Such a robust force
: diary, Oct. 14, 1944, N. T. Tangye, IWM, P 180 (“
nincompoop
”); Blumenson,
The Battle of the Generals
, 141 (“
peculiar knack
”);
CCA
, 186 (“
speculative operation
”); Ambrose,
Eisenhower: Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect, 1890–1952
, vol. 1, 303 (“
futile slaughter
”);
VW
, vol. 1, 139 (“
two airborne divisions
”).

“
soul-racking problem
”: Eisenhower,
Crusade in Europe
, 263;
CCA
, 279.

Emerging from his canvas hideaway
: Ambrose,
Eisenhower: Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect, 1890–1952
, vol. 1, 303; Chandler, 1894 (“
It must go on
”).

A leafy hilltop
:
VW
, vol. 1, 67–69;
IFG
, 77; CBH, June 3, 1944, box 4, MHI (
Late spring warmth
); memo, W. H. S. Wright to Henry Stimson, July 25, 1944, NARA RG 337, E 54, AGF top secret general corr, folder 319.1 (
barrage balloons
).

Soldiers
still braying and bleating
: Cawthon,
Other Clay
, 48; Pogue,
Pogue’s War
, 55 (“
If any of you fellows
”); E. Jones, ts, n.d., IWM, 94/41/1, 4 (“
real white bread
”); Balkoski,
Utah Beach
, 66–67; memoir, Ralph Eastridge, 1995, NWWIIM (“
a man could have jumped
”); D. K. Reimers, “My War,” June 4, 1944, MHI, 67 (“
which was Clara
”).

As always where land met sea
: Pogue,
Pogue’s War
, 47; ETOUSA pamphlet 370.5, Jan. 1944, Charles E. Rousek papers, MHI (“
Preparation for Overseas Movement
”); “War Diary of Force ‘U,’” June 2, 1944, SEM, NHHC, box 82, folder 46 (
Eighteen LCTs
); Lewis, “Landing Craft,” lecture, Sept. 18, 1944, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, box 199, 9 (
immersion rate
); AR, Don P. Moon, Force U, June 26, 1944, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #217 (
ships were overloaded anyway
).

The deadweight included
: “History of SHAEF, Feb. 13–June 6, 1944,” July 1944, NARA RG 319, 2-3.7 CB 8, chapter 3; Wilson, ed.,
D-Day 1944
, 204 (“
annoying and mysterious
”); Pogue,
Pogue’s War
, 92 (“
sparse and gray of hair
”); Tobin,
Ernie Pyle’s War
, 205 (“
scarecrow
”), 164–67 (“
All I do is drink
”).

“
I’m no longer content
”: Miller,
The Story of Ernie Pyle
, 321–30; Tobin,
Ernie Pyle’s War
, 221 (“
fucking throat
”), 168 (“
too late
”).

In claustrophobic holds
: Harold S. Frum, “The Soldier Must Write,” 1984, June 1, 1944 entry, GCM Lib (“
I love my fellow man
”); Liebling,
Mollie & Other War Pieces
, 177; Brown,
Many a Watchful Night
, 10 (
On
Augusta); Marshall, ed.,
Proud Americans
, 138 (“
old uneasiness
”).

More than five hundred weather stations
: R. J. Ogden, “Meteorological Services Leading to D-Day,” Royal Meteorological Society, Occasional Papers on Meteorological History, July 2001, 2, a.p.; Stagg,
Forecast for Overlord
, 51 (
reconnaissance planes
); Charles C. Bates, “Sea, Swell and Surf Forecasting for D-Day and Beyond: The Anglo-American Effort, 1943–1945,” 2010, a.p., 6 (
British beach watchers
); Charles C. Bates, e-mail to author, Nov. 11 and 23, 2007; Hogben, “The Most Important Weather Forecast in the World,”
London Review of Books
16, no. 10 (May 26, 1994): 21
+
.

Each Allied invasion constituent
: J. M. Stagg, “Report on the Meteorological Implications,” SHAEF, June 22, 1944, CARL, N-11359.

Eisenhower had never been fortunate
: Chandler, 1761; Eisenhower,
Eisenhower at War, 1943–1945
, 248; Charles C. Bates, “Sea, Swell and Surf Forecasting for D-Day and Beyond: The Anglo-American Effort, 1943–1945,” 2010, a.p., 13–15 (
Cyclonic disturbances
); diary, Kay Summersby, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 140 (“
very depressed
”).

At 4:30
A.M.
on Sunday
: Ryan,
The Longest Day
, 48; Botting,
The Second Front
, 62; “Memorandum of Record,” June 4, 1944, Arthur S. Nevins papers, MHI.

“
A series of depressions
”: “Report on the Meteorological Implications,” June 22, 1944, UK NA, CAB 106/976, 9–11; Stagg,
Forecast for Overlord
, 124 (
depression L5
); Bates and Fuller,
America’s Weather Warriors, 1814–1985
, 92–94 (“
quite impossible
”).

Eisenhower polled his lieutenants
: Kingston McCloughry,
Direction of War
, 138–39 (“
No part
”); Stagg,
Forecast for Overlord
, 102 (“
we must postpone
”).

At that moment the lights failed
: Kingston McCloughry,
Direction of War
, 138–39 (“
Jesus!
”);
Three Years
, 560 (
Sunday papers
).

Banks of gray cloud
: J. H. Patterson, ts, n.d., IWM, 05/491, 1/7, 3 (“
spindrift was flying
”);
IFG
, 80–81 (“
pyramidical waters
”); Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story
, 257 (
HORNPIPE BOWSPRIT
); memo, W. H. S. Wright to Henry Stimson, July 25, 1944, NARA RG 337, E 54, AGF top secret general corr, folder 319.1 (
frantic blinkering
).

But bombardment squadrons from Belfast
: Naval Guns, 26; S. C. Donnison, diary, June 3, 1944, IWM, 94/50/1 (“
three-quarter gale
”);
History of the Second World War
(periodical), part 65, 1974, 1796; “The Invasion of Normandy,” USNAd, vol. 5, 395–96; Yung,
Gators of Neptune
, 176; “Memorandum of Record,” June 4, 1944, Arthur S. Nevins papers, MHI (“
somewhat out of hand
”).

As anchors dropped and engines died
: Rick Atkinson, foreword,
Instructions for American Servicemen in France During World War II
, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008, v–xiii; Collier,
Fighting Words
, 159 (“Encore une verre”);
Medicine Under Canvas
, 77th Evacuation Hospital, 1949, 120 (“mama-oiselle”); Collins,
Lightning Joe
, 196–97 (“
Holy God
”); Liebling,
Mollie & Other War Pieces
, 175 (“
If God be for us
”); Linderman,
The World Within War
, 238 (“
twenty dollars a card
”); A. J. Liebling, “Cross-Channel Trip,” in
Reporting World War II
, vol. 2, 136 (“
Voltaire used the same gag
”); Ambrose,
Pegasus Bridge
, 67 (Stormy Weather).

the “D” in D-Day
: AAR, 146th Engineer Combat Bn, CEOH, box X-37A. There are various explanations for the term; some authorities assert it was first used in an Army order in 1918, with the “D” used as a code letter rather than an abbreviation.

The strange, tempestuous Sunday
: Kersaudy,
Churchill and De Gaulle
, 338–47.

The sad story was this
: Eden,
The Reckoning
, 525–26 (
greeted De Gaulle on the tracks
); “History of SHAEF, Feb. 13–June 6, 1944,” July 1944, NARA RG 319, 2-3.7 CB 8, 55–57; “The War of Will, Words and Images,” n.d., Wallace Carroll papers, LOC MS Div, box 1, 18–19; Kersaudy,
Churchill and De Gaulle
, 346–47 (“
in chains if necessary
”); Fenby,
The General
,
638–39; Beevor,
D-Day
, 21 (“
gangster
”).

No sooner had Churchill stormed
: Eisenhower,
General Ike
, 147 (
Deux Mètres
); Dallek,
Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 1932–1945
, 462 (“
balancing a chip
”); “Memorandum of Record,” June 4, 1944, Arthur S. Nevins papers, MHI (
he revealed to De Gaulle
); Aron,
France Reborn
, 27 (“
your forged notes
”); Fenby,
The General
, 638–39; Coles and Weinberg,
Civil Affairs
, 699 (“
violation of national sovereignty
”); “History of SHAEF, Feb. 13–June 6, 1944,” July 1944, NARA RG 319, 2-3.7 CB 8, 55–57 (
French liaison officers
); “Preparations for D-Day,” n.d., C. D. Jackson papers, DDE Lib, box 3; De Gaulle,
The Complete War Memoirs of Charles de Gaulle
, 559; Chandler, 1907; Davis,
Soldier of Democracy
, 494 (“
I cannot follow Eisenhower
”).

“
there is no room in war for pique
”: Foot,
SOE in France
, 386; Beevor,
D-Day
, 21 (“
treason
”); Fenby,
The General
, 641–42; memo, John J. McCoy to GCM, Apr. 26, 1944, GCM Lib, box 76, folder 3 (“
Frog File
”); Roberts,
The Storm of War
, 488 (
the hand that fed him
); Reynolds,
In Command of History
, 456 (“
not a scrap of generosity
”); Ferrell, ed.,
The Eisenhower Diaries
, 118 (“
sorry mess
”); memo, W. B. Smith to Hastings L. Ismay, Jan. 23, 1944, NARA RG 331, SHAEF SGS, Geog Corr, box 108 (“
Joan of Arc complex
”); Ambrose,
The Supreme Commander
, 386 (“
To hell with him
”).

At 9:30
P.M.
the supreme commander again
: Wilmot,
The Struggle for Europe
, 224–25 (“
unexpected developments
”); Charles C. Bates, “Sea, Swell and Surf Forecasting for D-Day and Beyond: The Anglo-American Effort, 1943–1945,” 2010, a.p., 15–16 (
H.M.S.
Hoste); “Report on the Meteorological Implications,” June 22, 1944, UK NA, CAB 106/976, 9–11.

Eisenhower polled his subordinates
: Bates and Fuller,
America’s Weather Warriors
, 94; “Memorandum of Record,” June 4, 1944, Arthur S. Nevins papers, MHI.

For a long minute
:
CCA
, 272–74; Crosswell,
Beetle
, 622; George E. Creasy, OH, Feb. 4, 1947, FCP, MHI; Kingston McCloughry,
Direction of War
, 138–39 (“
We’ll go
”); Stagg,
Forecast for Overlord
, 112–15 (“
Don’t bring any more
”).

Across the fleet
: “So appears this fleet majestical / Holding due course to Harfleur,”
Henry V
, act III, prologue, 16–17.

“
Up anchor!
”: Naval Guns, 23–28; Wilson, ed.,
D-Day 1944
, 110; Moorehead,
Eclipse
, 105 (“
Ships were heaving
”); Roskill,
White Ensign
, 371; “War Diary of Force ‘U,’” June 5, 1944, SEM, NHHC, box 82, folder 46; John A. Moreno, “The Death of Admiral Moon,” n.d., a.p. 225
+
(“
England expects
”).

By midmorning the heavy skies
: Brown,
Many a Watchful Night
, 12 (“
tropical in its colors
”); Stafford,
Ten Days to D-Day
, 264 (
chalk cliffs
); John F. Latimer, n.d., NARA RG 38, E 11, U.S. Navy WWII Oral Histories (“
one’s eye for beauty
”); Liddle,
D-Day by Those Who Were There
, 91 (“
Road to the Isles
”); Sylvan, 8 (
Rome had fallen
).

Leading the fleet
:
VW
, vol. 1, 67–69; “Report by the Allied Naval Commander-in-Chief, Expeditionary Force,” Oct. 1944, NARA RG 407, ML #624, box 19117, 144; Wilson, ed.,
D-Day 1944
, 109; “The Invasion of Normandy,” USNAd, vol. 5, 437–39; “Navigational Aspects of the Passage and Assault in Operation OVERLORD,” Nov. 1944, bulletin Y/39, COHQ, CARL, N-6530.18, 1–3; Howarth,
Dawn of D-Day
, 202–3 (“
street lamps
”).

As the invasion convoys swung
: Belfield and Essame,
The Battle for Normandy
, 83 (“
all ways at once
”); Balkoski,
Omaha Beach
, 176 (
Lousy Civilian Idea
); Lewis, “Landing Craft,” lecture, Sept. 18, 1944, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, box 199, 12–13;
IFG
, 84; Howarth,
Dawn of D-Day
, 145 (“
an ominous impression
”); Settle,
All the Brave Promises
, 6 (“
swallow a pork chop
”).

For those who could eat
: AAR, “Report on Operation Neptune,” HQ Co, CT 16, June 16, 1944, NARA RG 407, 2-3.7 BG, AFIA; Cawthon,
Other Clay
, 48 (“
edge of eternity
”); Thompson,
The Imperial War Museum Book of Victory in Europe
, 27–29 (“
in case you stop one
”); Gaskill, “Bloody Beach,”
American Magazine
(Sept. 1944): 26
+
(“
Happy D-Day
”); McKee,
Caen: Anvil of Victory
, 141, 360 (
“Bring me my bow of burning gold”
); Sommers, “The Longest Hour in History,”
Saturday Evening Post
(July 8, 1944): 22
+
(
stripped each bridge
); Heinz,
When We Were One
, 10–11 (“
dress blues
”); diary, Cyrus C. Aydlett, June 6, 1944, NWWIIM (“
Mr. Whozits”
); Lankford, ed.,
OSS Against the Reich
, 56–57 (
punching bag
).