The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (134 page)

“
German spoken
”
signs
: “Inside Paris,”
Newsweek
, Aug. 28, 1944, 25
+
; Pogue,
Pogue’s War
, 199 (“
Supplier of the Boche
”); Marshall,
Battle at Best
, 212 (“
Leave her alone
”); Edsel,
The Monuments Men
, 121 (“
Arrests and Purges
”); Aron,
France Reborn
, 423 (“
a psychosis
”); Riding,
And the Show Went On
, 318 (indignité nationale). Biographer Jonathan Fenby notes that the Aron figure was disputed, and that an Interior Ministry study found that the Resistance carried out 9,673 summary executions during the war. In Paris, 126,000 people were arrested for collaboration.
The General
, 659-60, 722.

At ten
P.M.
, the first of an eventual eighteen hundred
: AAR, “T Force and T Branch,” n.d., 12th AG, NARA RG 331, E 180, SHAEF, box 44; “T Force—The CIC in Paris,” Military Intelligence Service, No. 25, Jan. 1945, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #494L, 66
+
; AAR, T Force, n.d., 6th AG, G-2, Boris T. Pash papers, HIA, box 4, file 6; Gellhorn,
The Face of War
, 180–82 (“
Revenge me
”); Moorehead,
Eclipse
, 178 (“
a knock on my door
”).

“
a great city where everybody is happy
”: Liebling,
Mollie & Other War Pieces
, 235; Prinsburg (Minn.)
Record News
, Sept. 1944, 2 (“
never in my life been kissed
”); George E. McIntyre, “As Mac Saw It,” n.d., MHI; Collier,
Fighting Words
, 172 (“
Had we ever been away?
”); Nicholas,
The Rape of Europa
, 292 (
treasures from the Jeu de Paume
); Thornton,
The Liberation of Paris
, 154 (
Bank of France cellars
).

“
You’ve got just thirty seconds
”: OH, SLAM, 1973, George J. Stapleton, MHI, V, 19–28; Collier,
Fighting Words
, 173 (“
seventy-three dry martinis
”); Carpenter,
No Woman’s World
, 113 (
raspberries in liquer
); Marshall,
Battle at Best
, 212 (“
It’s the law
”); Blumenson,
Liberation
, 156 (“
the day the war should have ended
”).

“
Paris seems to have
”: Nichols, ed.,
Ernie’s War
, 354; Pyle,
Brave Men
, 314 (“
the loveliest, brightest story
”).

De Gaulle entered the city
: De Gaulle,
The Complete War Memoirs of Charles de Gaulle
, 648 (“
Nothing was missing
”); Aron,
France Reborn
, 293 (
whence he had fled
); Foote,
SOE in France
, 416 (
blotting paper
); Beevor and Cooper,
Paris After the Liberation, 1944–1949
, x (
He uttered hardly a word
); D’Este,
Decision in Normandy
, 517;
VW
, vol. 1, 488, 493; Collins and Lapierre,
Is Paris Burning?
, 349 (
Coleman lanterns
). Jonathan Fenby writes that de Gaulle made a perfunctory reference to “our dear and admirable Allies.”
The General
, 679–80. Michael Neiberg calls it “the best speech of his life.”
The Blood of Free Men
, 237.

“
City is scarcely damaged
”: memo, N. H. Vissering, SHAEF G-4, Aug. 30, 1944, NARA RG 331, SHAEF SGS, Geog Corr, box 108; “The Coal Situation on the Continent,” n.d., “G-4 History,” NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #553A-C; Harold S. Frum, “The Soldier Must Write,” 1984, GCM Lib (
charcoal burners
); “Paris Is Free!,”
Time
(Sept. 4, 1944): 34
+
(
cafés in Montparnasse
); Wieviorka,
Normandy
, 354 (
two thousand Resistance fighters and twenty-five hundred civilians
); Zaloga,
Liberation of Paris, 1944
, 83–90 (
twelve hundred casualties in the eastern suburbs
); Lankford, ed.,
OSS Against the Reich
, 175–77 (“
After a noisy hour
”); Chandler, 2108 (“
We should not blame the French
”). Some question whether Hitler personally asked, “Is Paris burning?” Neiberg,
The Blood of Free Men
, 214.

At three
P.M.
on Saturday, August 26, De Gaulle appeared
: Aron,
France Reborn
, 297–300 (“
confides his safety
”); Foote,
SOE in France
, 416 (“
nunnery
”).

A million people or more lined the boulevard
: Beevor and Cooper,
Paris After the Liberation, 1944–1949
, 53; Thornton,
The Liberation of Paris
, 204–5 (
shots rang out
); Moorehead,
Eclipse
, 170–73 (“
like a field of wheat
”); Lankford, ed.,
OSS Against the Reich
, 175–77 (“
firing wildly with machine guns
”); corr, P. B. Rogers to family, Sept. 23, 1944, Pleas B. Rogers papers, MHI (
fired
“
to beat hell
”).

“
The huge congregation, who had all been standing
”: Beevor and Cooper,
Paris After the Liberation, 1944–1949
, 56; Voss,
Reporting the War
, 90–91 (
FFI fighters fired at the organ pipes
); Blumenson,
Liberation
, 166 (“
extraordinary example of courage
”); Maule,
Out of the Sand
, 226 (“
Have you no pride?
”).

“
The first wild shots
”: Aron,
France Reborn
, 300.

So ended the great struggle
: Keegan,
Six Armies in Europe
, 317; Fritz Bayerlein, ETHINT 67, Aug. 15, 1945, MHI, 7.

German casualties in the west
: memo, DDE to CCS, Aug 30, 1944, NARA RG 331, E 1, SHAEF SGS, 381; D’Este,
Decision in Normandy
, 517; Zetterling,
Normandy 1944
, 82; Ellis,
Brute Force
, 355–56; Zaloga,
Armored Thunderbolt
, 169; memo, DDE to CCS, Aug 30, 1944, NARA RG 331, E 1, SHAEF SGS, 381 (“
very badly cut up
”); Keegan,
Six Armies in Normandy
, 316 (
early warning network
); “The Process of Collapse of the German Armies,” Aug. 29, 1944, OSS, research and analysis, no. 2458, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, box 922 (
monthly casualties of a quarter million
); “Age-Distribution of Dead in the German Ground Forces,” Apr. 3, 1945, OSS, research and analysis, no. 1087.6, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, box 888.

Americans killed, wounded, missing, or captured
: The figures include air crews. D’Este,
Decision in Normandy
, 517.

In half a million sorties flown
:
VW
, vol. 1, 488.

The 82nd Airborne had given battle
: Gavin,
On to Berlin
, 12.

Normandy paid a fell price
: Blumenson,
Liberation
, 73 (
of 3,400 Norman villages and towns
); Vigneras,
Rearming the French
, 306 (
24,000 FFI fighters
); Wieviorka,
Normandy
, 131; Neiberg,
The Blood of Free Men
, 13; Kedward,
France and the French
, 298;
http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Paris/Monuments-Paris/Eiffel.shtml
.

Most prominent among the German dead
: Ruge,
Rommel in Normandy
, 246; Marshall,
A Ramble Through My War
, 232 (
merely lifting the eyelid
); Margry, “The Death of Rommel,”
AB
, no. 80 (1993): 38
+
(“
Just one thought
”).

The killers would come to Herrlingen
: Liddell Hart, ed.,
The Rommel Papers
, 501–5; Margry, “The Death of Rommel,”
AB
, no. 80 (1993): 38
+
(“
another of the old ones
”); Douglas-Home,
Rommel
, 210 (“
His heart belonged
”).

“
If I ever was brave
”: Miller,
The Story of Ernie Pyle
, 345.

“
a flat, black depression
”: Pyle,
Brave Men
, 319; Miller,
The Story of Ernie Pyle
, 364 (“
I have had all I can take
”); CBH, Sept. 2, 1944, box 4 (“
worn out, thin
”).

For many rank-and-file troops
: corr, T. M. Smith to family, Aug. 8, 1944 (“
spreading like a disease
”), and Aug. 15, 1944 (“
just a damn fool
”), HIA, Thor M. Smith papers, box 1; Pogue,
George C. Marshall of Victory
, 430 (
holiday gifts
); corr, P. B. Rogers, Aug. 17, 1944, Pleas B. Rogers papers, MHI (“
space for a long time
”).

“
fundamental inability to make sound strategic judgments
”: Megargee,
Inside Hitler’s High Command
, 232–36; Overy,
Why the Allies Won
, 227 (
tactical edge
); “The Effectiveness of Third Phase Tactical Air Operations,” AAF Evaluation Board, Aug. 1945, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, box 15 (
thirty-one airfields
); Murray and Millett,
A War to Be Won
, 416–17; Thompson,
The Imperial War Museum Book of Victory in Europe
, 135 (“
much more amusing
”).

“
a vivid moral structure
”: Fussell,
The Boys’ Crusade
, ix.

Soviet troops in Poland
: Some historians put the toll at Majdanek at three hundred thousand or more. Weinberg,
A World at Arms
, 708.

“
I have just seen the most terrible place
”: Robert H. Abzug, “The Liberation of the Concentration Camps,” in
Liberation 1945
, 35–36; “Murder, Inc.,”
Time
(Sept. 11, 1944): 36 (“
Children’s shoes
”); William J. vanden Heuvel, “Comments on Michael Beschloss’
The Conquerors
,”
SHAFR Newsletter
, March 2003, 27
+
(“
systematic murder
”).

“The saviors come not home”: Harold S. Frum, “The Soldier Must Write,” 1984, GCM Lib; Whitehead, “
Beachhead Don
,” 365 (“
like a lamb
”).

It will be my cross
: Carroll,
Behind the Lines
, 69–73.

“
It is summer
”: Stiles,
Serenade to the Big Bird
, 215.

A final gesture of American arms
: Eisenhower,
Crusade in Europe
, 316 (“
show of force
”); Huie,
The Execution of Private Slovik
, 106–7 (
Benjamin Franklin
).

Hurriedly trucked to Versailles
: Miller,
Division Commander
, 100; Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story
, 396 (“
Khaki Bill
”); Ent, ed.,
The First Century
, 165 (
three-cent postage stamp
).

C
HAPTER
4: P
URSUIT

“The Huntsman Is Hungry”

Naples in August 1944 still carried scars
: Taylor and Taylor, eds.,
The War Diaries
, 128 (
carved from the bones of saints
); Kennett,
G.I.: The American Soldier in World War II
, 204–5 (
one-third of all arriving cargo
); Lewis,
Naples ’44
, 134–35 (
civilian suits
); Richler, ed.,
Writers on World War II
, 477 (“
kingdom come
”).

The city was
“
colorful
”: Fairbanks,
A Hell of a War
, 224; Taylor and Taylor, eds.,
The War Diaries
, 448 (
touch their testicles
); Lewis,
Naples ’44
, 93 (“
romantic frustration
”); Vining, ed.,
American Diaries of World War II
, 114 (
prices had jumped thirtyfold
); diary, Cyrus C. Aydlett, July 15, 1944, NWWIIM (“
Piece ass!
”).

More than ever Naples was a military town
: Fisher,
Cassino to the Alps
, 292–99.

under Plan 4-44
: Hewitt, “Planning Operation Anvil-Dragoon,”
U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings
(July–Aug. 1954): 731
+
; “Southern France,” n.d., NARA RG 319, OCMH background files, chapter 10 (
nine hundred vessels
);
IFG
, 238–39.

By August 13, the 36th and 45th Infantry Divisions
: “Southern France,” n.d., NARA RG 319, OCMH background files, chapter 10; Mauldin,
Up Front
, 198–99 (
moldering corpses
); Even,
The Tenth Engineers
, 38 (
makeshift aircraft carrier
); Wyant,
Sandy Patch
, 114–15 (“
Many a New Day
”); Taggart, ed.,
History of the Third Infantry Division
, 202 (
never glanced up
).

Pacing the bridge of the flagship
: OH, “The Reminiscences of Admiral H. Kent Hewitt,” Col U OHRO, 1962, 6: 1–3;
AAAD
, 21–23;
DOB
, 30–32.

DRAGOON
had begun dreadfully
: Hewitt, “Planning Operation Anvil-Dragoon,”
U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings
(July–Aug. 1954): 731
ff.
; John A. Moreno, “The Death of Admiral Moon,” n.d., a.p., 225
+
; Alter and Crouch, eds., “
My Dear Moon
,” no pagination; OH, “The Reminiscences of Admiral H. Kent Hewitt,” Col U OHRO, 1962, 24: 33–35 (“
I don’t think it’s as bad
”).