The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (120 page)

“
The first six hours
”: Wilson, ed.,
D-Day 1944
, 207; diary, Jack Shea [Cota aide], Nov. 1, 1944, NARA RG 407, CI 81, 29th ID, box 19138, 4–5 (“
You’re going to find confusion
”).

“
The government paid $5 billion
”: Robert K. Skagg, 741st Tank Bn, OH, June 18, 1944, NARA RG 407, 2-3.7 BG, AFIA; corr, Philip Cole to Ralph Ingersoll, Apr. 21, 1946, Thaddeus Holt papers, MHI, box 1 (“
alone and conspicuous
”).

“
We are starting
”: TR to Eleanor, June 3, 1944, TR, box 10; Renehan,
The Lion’s Pride
, 236–37; Balkoski,
Utah Beach
, 180 (“
I’ll see you tomorrow morning
”).

Far inland, at more than a dozen airfields
: Saunders,
The Red Beret
, 148; Thompson,
The Imperial War Museum Book of Victory in Europe
, 33 (“
a good stamp
”).

American paratroopers smeared
: Davis,
Soldier of Democracy
, 481; Rapport and Northwood,
Rendezvous with Destiny
, 82 (
minstrel act
); corr, Charles L. Easter to Marion Page, July 7, 1944, USMA Arch (“
$10,000 jump
”); Albert Hassenzahl, VHP, AFC/2001/001/5222 (“
I’m not going to die
”); Burgett,
Currahee!
, 77–78; Otis L. Sampson, “Destination,” n.d., JMG, MHI, box 12 (
brass-knuckle grip
); Carl Cartledge, 501st PIR, ts, n.d., NWWIIM (“
one for pain
”); Alosi,
War Birds
, 57 (
Carrier pigeons
); Astor,
June 6, 1944
, 128 (
trimmed the margins
).

“
We look all pockets
”: Simpson,
Selected Prose
, 119; Fauntleroy,
The General and His Daughter
, 107 (“
I have tried
”); diary, May 25 and June 5, 1944, JMG, MHI, box 10.

“
Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area
”: Chandler, 1908.

Just after six
P.M.
: Eisenhower,
Eisenhower at War, 1943–1945
, 252–53; Holt and Holt,
Major & Mrs. Holt’s Battlefield Guide to the Normandy Landing Beaches
, 45 (“
It’s very hard really
”); Beevor,
D-Day
, 27 (“
The idea, the perfect idea
”).

At aircraft number 2716
: manifest, aircraft 2716, in “D-Day Experience of Eugene D. Brierre,” ts, March 1998, NWWIIM; Taylor,
General Maxwell Taylor
, 77; Taylor,
Swords and Plowshares
, 75–76; Crosswell,
Beetle: The Life of General Walter Bedell Smith
, 623 (“
light of battle
”); Holt and Holt,
Major & Mrs. Holt’s Battlefield Guide to the Normandy Landing Beaches
, 45 (“
I hope to God
”).

Red and green navigation lights
: Drez, ed.,
Voices of D-Day
, 72–73; corr, Charles L. Easter to Marion Page, July 7, 1944, USMA Arch; Tapert, ed.,
Lines of Battle
, 157–58 (“
Give me guts
”); McNally,
As Ever, John
, 42 (
crew chiefs
); Burgett,
Currahee!
, 80 (“
Flap your wings
”); Rapport and Northwood,
Rendezvous with Destiny
, 79–80 (“
Stay, light
”).

“
Our flag bridge is dead quiet
”: Naval Guns, 31; John F. Latimer, ts, n.d., NARA RG 38, E 11, U.S. Navy WWII Oral Histories, 12 (“
trying to slip into a room
”).

Small craft struggled
: notes, Force O, n.d., NARA RG 407, 2-3.7 BG, AFIA (“
Men sick
”); Keegan,
Six Armies in Normandy
, 135; Chalmers,
Full Cycle
, 223 (
thirty degrees
); “The Invasion of Normandy,” USNAd, vol. 5, 405–8; McKernon,
Corry
, 32 (“
Seasick
”).

C
HAPTER
1: I
NVASION

The Far Shore

The singing stopped
: Robert H. George, “Ninth Air Force,” 1945, AFHRA, study no. 36, 62–63; Baedeker,
Northern France
, 161 (
famed for cattle
); Rapport and Northwood,
Rendezvous with Destiny
, 85 (“
Say hello
”); Wright and Greenwood,
Airborne Forces at War
, 50–58.

Then France vanished
: Taylor,
Swords and Plowshares
, 77; Drez, ed.,
Voices of D-Day
, 64–69 (“
lighted tennis balls
”), 136 (“
keg of nails
”); 101st AB Div, CI #223, July 11–29, 1944, NARA RG 407, E-427-A (
jinking
); Carl Cartledge, 501st PIR, ts, n.d., NWWIIM (“
thick enough
”); John C. Warren, “Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 1956, AFHRA, historical study no. 97, 45.

Even as the cloud bank thinned
: corr, Michael C. Chester to JMG, Mar. 30, 1959, JMG papers, MHI, 1–5; 101st AB Div, CI #223, July 11–29, 1944, and “Operation of 507th PIR,” n.d., CI #170, NARA RG 407, E 427-A; Gerald J. Higgins, 101st AB Div COS, OH, Feb. 5, 1946, SLAM, MHI, box 2 (
bundles got stuck
); “Report of Investigation of Operation NEPTUNE,” Aug. 9, 1944, Air Inspector, HQ, USSAFE, NARA RG 498, ETO, SGS, 333.5 (
failed to descend to the specified jump height of 500 feet
); Astor,
June 6, 1944
, 144–45 (“
anything in my jump pants
”); corr, Charles L. Easter to Marion Page, July 7, 1944, USMA Arch (“
wall of flame
”); Tapert, ed.,
Lines of Battle
, 157–58 (“
a thousand years
”); Guy Remington, “Second Man Out,” in
The New Yorker Book of War Pieces
, 340 (
burning shreds
); Beevor,
D-Day
, 63 (“
watermelons falling
”).

“
I pulled up my knees
”: Astor,
June 6, 1944
, 142; Balkoski,
Utah Beach
, 112, 134.

Operation
ALBANY
:
“Notes on Utah Beach and the 1st Engineer Special Brigade,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #359A, 53–54; “Interview with Dr. Simon, Carentan,” Sept. 1, 1945, SLAM, MHI, box 2; Ruppenthal,
Utah Beach to Cherbourg
, 3; Balkoski,
Utah Beach
, 53–54; memo, “Glider Operation NEPTUNE,” 82nd AB Div IG, Aug. 4, 1944, MBR papers, MHI, box 21.

At four
A.M.
, as thousands
: Beevor,
D-Day
, 71 (“
ravens
”); OH, J. Milnor Roberts, Jr., SOOHP, 1982, HIA, box 1, 72–74 (“
shoot an arrow
”); “Operation MARKET: Air Invasion of Holland,” n.d., Hq, IX Troop Carrier Command, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, Act R, A-66, box 48, 56; Paul M. Davis and Amy C. Fenwick, “Development and Procurement of Gliders,” Mar. 1946, AFHRA, study no. 47, 164–67; John C. Warren, “Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 1956, AFHRA, historical study no. 97, 61 (
rarely if ever flown at night
); Lewis E. Johnston, ed., “The Troop Carrier D-Day Flights,” 2003, a.p., 64 (“
typewriter keys
”); Blair,
Ridgway’s Paratroopers
, 222, 235 (
Rommel’s asparagus
); Albert J. Randall, First Airborne Surgical Team, ts, June 8, 1945, “Medical Department Activities in ETO,” Office of the Surgeon General, NARA; Astor,
June 6, 1944
, 160; Ryan,
The Longest Day
, 128–39; Otis L. Sampson, “Destination,” ts, n.d., JMG papers, MHI, box 12, 12 (“
bees out of a hive
”).

Of more than six thousand jumpers
: “Rough draft of Gen. Maxwell Taylor’s report,” with jumpmaster reports, 101st AB Div, July 1, 1944, GCM Lib; Capt. R. H. Brown, HQ, 506th PIR, NARA HI (
telephone books
); “Employment of 75mm Pack Howitzers,” WD Observer Bd, Aug 1, 1944, CARL, N-7344; McNally,
As Ever, John
, 44 (“
men lying in the straw
”).

“L’invasion est arrivé”: Two versions of this anecdote can be found in Baldwin,
Battles Lost and Won
, 268, and Drez, ed.,
Voices of D-Day
, 92; Taylor,
Swords and Plowshares
, 79–81 (“Allez me tuer”); author visit, May 2009; John C. Warren, “Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 1956, AFHRA, historical study no. 97, 42; corr, Maxwell D. Taylor to SLAM, Feb. 25, 1946, SLAM, MHI, box 2; Gerald J. Higgins, 101st AB Div COS, OH, Feb. 5, 1946, SLAM, MHI, box 2; Ruppenthal,
Utah Beach to Cherbourg
, 22.

Five hours after leaping
: Balkoski,
Utah Beach
, 123–25.

“Wir fahren gegen England”: Howarth,
Dawn of D-Day
, 90–92; author visits, May 1996 and May 2009, including Musée Airborne exhibits; Jutras,
Sainte-Mère-Église
, 11; Holt and Holt,
Major & Mrs. Holt’s Battlefield Guide to the Normandy Landing Beaches
, 49–50 (
listening to the BBC
).

“
almost no chance to sustain
”: “Capture of Ste. Mère Église,” Regimental Study No. 6, n.d., CMH, 2–8.

Alas, the drops in Operation
BOSTON:
Gilmore, ed.,
U.S. Army Atlas of the European Theater in World War II
, 18–20; memo, “Glider Operation NEPTUNE,” 82nd AB Div IG, Aug. 4, 1944, MBR papers, MHI, box 21 (
Less than half of the following gliders
); JMG, “Account of D-Day,” ts, n.d., JMG papers, MHI, box 12; AAR, JMG, Aug. 16, 1944, “Debriefing Conference—Operation NEPTUNE,” CARL, N-12198; Booth and Spencer,
Paratrooper
, 179–81; AAR, “508 Regiment After the Drop,” n.d., MMD, 26–29 (“
he could not take any prisoners
”).

Of the division’s three parachute infantry regiments
: Howarth,
Dawn of D-Day
, 93.

“
with eyes open
”: Ryan,
The Longest Day
, 114–17.

Lieutenant Colonel Edward C. Krause
: Wills,
Put on Your Boots and Parachutes!
, 82; AAR, 3rd Bn, 505th PIR, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI #170; “Capture of Ste. Mère Église,” Regimental Study No. 6, n.d., CMH, 2–8; Balkoski,
Utah Beach
, 152.

“
I am in Ste. Mère
”: Marshall,
Night Drop
, 18;
CCA
, 289; Balkoski,
Utah Beach
, 113 (
first town in France
).

By dawn, 816 planes
: Balkoski,
Utah Beach
, 113; Blair,
Ridgway’s Paratroopers
, 236–37 (
only one of six regiments
); John C. Warren, “Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 1956, AFHRA, historical study no. 97, 36, 59 (
advance weather plane
); Ruppenthal,
Utah Beach to Cherbourg
, 15 (“
not an unmixed evil
”); McNally,
As Ever, John
, 44 (
wires snipped
); Wills,
Put on Your Boots and Parachutes!
, 88 (
lie on their backs
).

an American light bomber flew
: AAR, “Reconnaissance in a Tactical Air Command,” 10th Photo Group, XIX Tactical Command, Ninth AF, 1945, CARL, N-9395.

Fifty miles to the east
: Arthur,
Forgotten Voices of World War II
, 301–2 (
stuffed moose head
);
VW
, vol. 1, 156.

Two parachute brigades
:
VW
, vol. 1, 149–50; Wilmot,
The Struggle for Europe
, 234–35; Shannon and Wright,
One Night in June
, 52; Saunders,
Royal Air Force, 1939–1945
, vol. 3, 108 (
only seventeen dropped
); Saunders,
The Red Beret
, 159 (
wrapped around his legs
).

Less fortunate were the men
: Thompson,
The Imperial War Museum Book of Victory in Europe
, 41; Liddle,
D-Day by Those Who Were There
, 76 (
tea bags
), 81 (“
silken circles
”); Shannon and Wright,
One Night in June
, 83 (
Dives muck
).

Amid calamity came a celebrated success
: Urquhart,
A Life in Peace and War
, 49
(Saxon king
); Holt and Holt,
Major & Mrs. Holt’s Battlefield Guide to the Normandy Landing Beaches
, 217–19 (“
Flying Morgue
”); Liddle,
D-Day by Those Who Were There
, 66 (
spiked with rum
); Ambrose,
Pegasus Bridge
, 5–13 (“
Cow Cow Boogie
”); Chatterton,
The Wings of Pegasus
, 138; Thompson,
The Imperial War Museum Book of Victory in Europe
, 36 (“
a giant sheet
”); Howarth,
Dawn of D-Day
, 46–47.

“
Anything that moved
”: Ambrose,
Pegasus Bridge
, 76–83.

One platoon commander fell dead
: Holt and Holt,
Major & Mrs. Holt’s Battlefield Guide to the Normandy Landing Beaches
, 217–21 (
asked in vain to be shot
).

Across the Orne and Dives
: Chatterton,
The Wings of Pegasus
, 140–41; Howarth,
Dawn of D-Day
, 64 (
double bed
); Ryan,
The Longest Day
, 108–9 (“
They got my mate
”);
VW
, vol. 1, 155.

Perhaps the most perilous mission
:
VW
, vol. 1, 154–55;
By Air to Battle
, 85 (
banded pigeon
); Shannon and Wright,
One Night in June
, 83 (
sixty lengths of bangalore
).