The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (129 page)

By late afternoon on July 15
:
BP
, 154; OH, 2nd ID, July 13–18, 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder 12 (
slabs of TNT
); Cawthon, “July, 1944: St. Lô,”
American Heritage
(June 1974): 4
+
(“
jerked with a rope
”); Linderman,
The World Within War
, 346 (“
the end of everything
”).

Before dawn on Monday, July 17
: Balkoski,
Beyond the Beachhead
, 262; memoir, William Puntenney, ts, n.d., MMD, 59–63 (
killing the new commander
);
St.-Lô
, 110–11 (
undershirts
);
BP
, 167 (
plasma bags
); Robert E. Walker, “With the Stonewallers,” ts, n.d., MMD, 65 (“
unbearably sorry scene
”).

But German defenses were melting
:
BP
, 170–71; Johns,
The Clay Pigeons of St. Lo
, 198, 233–34 (
stone sarcophagus
); Whitehead, “
Beachhead Don
,” 195 (“
Here among the dead
”); Miller,
Division Commander
, 90 (
slashed his arm
);
St.-Lô
, 117–19 (
seventeen strongpoints
); Balkoski,
Beyond the Beachhead
, 278 (
Howie’s body arrived by jeep
).

“
You couldn’t identify anything
”: “Between Collaboration and Resistance: French Literary Life Under Nazi Occupation,” New York Public Library, exhibition, June 2009; Carpenter,
No Woman’s World
, 59 (“
On this lake
”); Blumenson,
Liberation
, 28 (“
liberated the hell
”); Bair,
Samuel Beckett: A Biography
, 242–44; Perloff, “In Love with Hiding,”
Iowa Review
(2005): 82 (“
capital of ruins
”); Linderman,
The World Within War
, 117 (“
fence posts, teacups, doorbells
”); AAR, George V. Bleier, Jr., graves registration, 11th Inf, n.d., NARA RG 407, ETO G-3 OR, 290/56/5/1-3, box 11 (
booby-trapped German bodies
); “Graves Registration Service,” NARA RG 407, E 427, AG WWII operations reports, 97-USF5-0.3.0, no. 107, 10 (“
jerked by a rope
”).

“
If there was a world beyond
”: Cawthon, “Pursuit: Normandy, 1944,”
American Heritage
(Feb. 1978): 80
+
.

“
eaten the guts out
”: OH, 2nd ID, July 13–18, 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder 12.

“
Here!
”: Whitehead, “
Beachhead Don
,” 198; Balkoski,
Beyond the Beachhead
, 278. Many bodies of the division dead had yet to be recovered.

Rommel rose with the sun
: Irving,
The Trail of the Fox
, 372–74; Liddell Hart,
The Rommel Papers
, 463–64 (“
can take your mind off
”).

Troubles he had
: Ruge,
Rommel in Normandy
, 228;
VW
, vol. 1, 307; memoir, J. S. W. Stone, n.d., LHC, folder 5, 54 (“
funk holes
”).

“
Militarily things aren’t at all good
”: Liddell Hart,
The Rommel Papers
, 491–93; Davis,
Carl A. Spaatz and the Air War in Europe
, 460 (
six thousand half-ton bombs
);
BP
, 120 (
forty minutes
); Moorehead,
Eclipse
, 145 (“
nothing more to see
”); Aron,
France Reborn
, 106 (
Eight thousand French refugees
);
VW
, vol. 1, 316 (
a single battalion
).

On any given day now
: Liddell Hart,
The Rommel Papers
, 496, 486–87 (
Only 10,000 replacements
);
BP
, 181 (
80,000 artillery rounds
); Ruge,
Rommel in Normandy
, 213–19 (“
bleeding white
”); James Hodgson, “The Battle of the Hedgerows,” Aug. 1954, NARA RG 319, OCMH, R-54, box 8, IV-5 (
1.6 million German casualties
).

That bloodletting had intensified
: Gilbert,
The Second World War
, 544; Megargee,
Inside Hitler’s High Command
, 210; Erickson,
The Road to Berlin
, 228 (
shuffle through Moscow
).

Rommel’s disaffection grew
: Lewin,
Rommel as Military Commander
, 230; Young,
Rommel, the Desert Fox
, 165 (“
without the least regard
”); Speidel,
We Defended Normandy
, 84–85 (
dangerous talk
); Beevor,
D-Day
, 326–30 (
would consider taking command
); Barnett, ed.,
Hitler’s Generals
, 200 (
Rundstedt had been removed
); Günther Blumentritt, ETHINT 73, Jan. 8–11, 1946, MHI, 2–4 (“
make an end to the whole war
”); Carver, ed.,
The War Lords
, 197 (
250,000-mark gratuity
);
CCA
, 447 (“
I will be next
”).

Rundstedt’s successor
: MMB, 282–83 (
Cunning Hans
); Barnett, ed.,
Hitler’s Generals
, 404–5; Speidel,
We Defended Normandy
, 120–22 (“
obstinate self-will
”); Keegan,
Six Armies in Normandy
, 240 (“
couldn’t be grimmer
”); Liddell Hart, ed.,
The Rommel Papers
, 486–87 (“
growing worse every day
”);
VC
, 179 (
Kluge had endorsed
).

Fried eggs and brandy
: Ruge,
Rommel in Normandy
, 233; “Rommel’s Accident,”
AB
, no. 8 (1975): 42
+
; Luther,
Blood and Honor
, 229 (“
Who do you think
”).

During a conference at St.-Pierre
: Belfield and Essame,
The Battle for Normandy
, 149; McKee,
Caen: Anvil of Victory
, 256 (
efforts to conceal the noise
);
Germany VII
, 596–97 (
still expected in the Pas de Calais
).

Dietrich agreed that an attack seemed imminent
: Daglish,
Operation Goodwood
, 83–86; Liddell Hart,
The Tanks
, vol. 2, 362 (
ear pressed to the ground
); Irving,
The Trail of the Fox
, 417–18 (“
I obey only you
”).

The car raced east on Route D-4
: Fraser,
Knight’s Cross
, 510. Conflicting claims were advanced for this action. The British official RAF history credits Spitfires of Squadron No. 602, flying from airfield B11. Saunders,
Royal Air Force, 1939–1945
, vol. 3, 121.

Slugs stitched the left side of the Horch
: “Rommel’s Accident,”
AB
, no. 8 (1975): 42
+
; Young,
Rommel, the Desert Fox
, 170–71 (
Rommel lay in the roadbed
).

He was grievously hurt
: Brown,
Bodyguard of Lies
, 743–44; “Rommel’s Death Reported,” (Melbourne, Australia)
Argus
, Aug. 23, 1944, 16.

Not for weeks would Reich propagandists
: Bodo Zimmermann, 1946, FMS, #B-308, MHI, 121–22.

Rommel was right about the Allied attack
: Trafford Leigh-Mallory, “Daily Reflections on the Course of the Battle,” July 18, 1944, UK NA, AIR 37/784 (“
Aircraft were spread out
”); McKee,
Caen: Anvil of Victory
, 258–59 (“
little dots detach themselves
”).

The first bombing wave alone
: D’Este,
Decision in Normandy
, 371; “Operation Goodwood,” Oct. 1946, (U.K.) Military Operational Research Unit, report #23, CARL, R-14999, 15, 22 (
twenty-five pounds of high explosives
); Watney,
The Enemy Within
, 217 (“
canopy of noise
”); Copp, ed.,
Montgomery’s Scientists
, 85;
VW
, vol. 1, 338–39 (“
unalterable dignity
”); Liddell Hart,
The Tanks
, vol. 2, 366–67 (“
Move now!
”); Daglish,
Operation Goodwood
, 11 (
biggest tank battle fought by Britain
).

Operation
GOODWOOD
massed three British and Canadian corps
: “Operation Goodwood,” Oct. 1946, (U.K.) Military Operational Research Unit, report #23, CARL, R-14999, 7, 18–22;
VW
, vol. 1, 329–30, 336;
TSC
, 186–87 (“
draw the main enemy forces
”).

That modest, credible battle plan
: Callahan,
Churchill & His Generals
, 214–15; B. L. Montgomery, “Notes on Second Army Operations,” July 15, 1944, National Archives of Canada, RG 24, vol. 1054 2, file 215A21.016(9) (“
engage the German armor
”); BLM to A. Brooke, July 14, 1944, Alanbrooke papers, LHC, 6/2/27; Beevor,
D-Day
, 321 (“
Russian style
”
breakthrough
).

Montgomery had overegged the pudding
: AAR, “Operation Goodwood,” 1945, UK NA, CAB 106/959, 4–8; “Lessons from Operation Goodwood,” July 1944, UK NA, AIR 37/858; Liddell Hart,
The Tanks
, vol. 2, 360–61; Daglish,
Operation Goodwood
, 31–32 (
titanic battle
); Chandler, 2003–04 (“
burst into flames
”).

“
to paint his canvas in rather glowing colors
”: OH, M. Dempsey, March 8, 1951, G. S. Jackson, UK NA, CAB 106/1061; OH, M. Dempsey, Mar. 28, 1952, B. H. Liddell Hart, UK NA, CAB 106/1061 (“
did not take Eisenhower into his confidence
”); Hamilton,
Master of the Battlefield
, 760 (“
had to be overconfident
”).

“
like a fleet raising anchor
”: Daglish,
Operation Goodwood
, 101–03; AAR, “Operation Goodwood,” 1945, UK NA, CAB 106/959, 4–8 (
one vehicle every twenty seconds
); “Operation Goodwood,” Oct. 1946, (U.K.) Military Operational Research Unit, report #23, CARL, R-14999, 5 (
long fields of fire
), 15, 22; Watney,
The Enemy Within
, 217 (“
angry women swishing
”); Liddell Hart,
The Tanks
, vol. 2, 363–64 (
three hundred yards every two minutes
); William Steel Brownlie, “And Came Safe Home,” ts, n.d., IWM, 92/371, 18 (“
grey wall of shellbursts
”);
VW
, vol. 1, 340–41 (
rail embankment
).

Torrid orange sheaves
: Daglish,
Operation Goodwood
, 131; OH, Hans von Luck, with author, Mar. 3, Apr. 7, 1994, Hamburg; Luck,
Panzer Commander
, 157 (“
like torpedoes
”); AAR, “Operation Goodwood,” 1945, UK NA, CAB 106/959, 4–8 (“
great difficulty in locating
”); Baynes,
The Forgotten Victor
, 203–4 (
sixteen Shermans stood burning
); Rosse and Hill,
The Story of the Guards Armoured Division
, 42.

Many more tanks soon burned
: Belfield and Essame,
The Battle for Normandy
, 155; Liddell Hart,
The Tanks
, vol. 2, 362–63; “Operation Goodwood,” Oct. 1946, (U.K.) Military Operational Research Unit, report #23, CARL, R-14999, 18; “Lessons from Operation Goodwood,” July 1944, UK NA, AIR 37/858 (
smokeless powder
); Howard and Sparrow,
The Coldstream Guards, 1920–1946
, 268 (“
Violent, impassable fire
”).

“
Some tank crews are on fire
”: John M. Thorpe, “A Soldier’s Tale, to Normandy and Beyond,” ts, Nov. 1982, IWM, 84/50/1, 96–98; William Steel Brownlie, “And Came Safe Home,” ts, n.d., IWM, 92/371, 19 (“
burnt and injured men
”); Arthur,
Forgotten Voices of World War II
, 337 (“
horrible graveyard
”).

“
Operations this morning a complete success
”:
VW
, vol. 1, 344–46, 355–57; BLM to DDE, July 18, 1944, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 83 (“
Am very well satisfied
”); Fraser,
And We Shall Shock Them
, 335 (
pure fantasy
); McKee,
Caen: Anvil of Victory
, 278 (“
Second Army attacked and broke through
”); “Caen: The Big Break-Through,” (U.K.)
Daily Mail
, July 19, 1944, 1.

“
E worried
”: desk calendar, July 19, 1944, Barbara Wyden papers, DDE Lib, box 1;
VW
, vol. 1, 347–50 (“
groaning with enemy
”); Copp and McAndrew,
Battle Exhaustion
, 124–25 (“
men who were still alive
”); Rosse and Hill,
The Story of the Guards Armoured Division
, 46 (“
tropical violence
”); Howard and Sparrow,
The Coldstream Guards, 1920–1946
, 270 (
rum rations
).

The offensive had liberated another thirty-four square miles
: “Operation Goodwood,” Oct. 1946, (U.K.) Military Operational Research Unit, report #23, CARL, R-14999, 15, 22; AAR, “Operation Goodwood,” 1945, UK NA, CAB 106/959, 4–8 (
Canadian First Army vanguard
); Daglish,
Operation Goodwood
, 170, 183 (
panzer forces were lured
); Reynolds,
Steel Inferno
, 186–87; Liddell Hart,
The Tanks
, vol. 2, 369. Most of the lost British tanks were soon repaired or replaced. “Operation Goodwood,” Oct. 1946, (U.K.) Military Operational Research Unit, report #23, CARL, R-14999, 15, 22.