The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (140 page)

Prodigal wastage, always an American trait
: memo, “Supply Discipline,” ONB, July 23, 1944, Walter J. Muller papers, HIA, box 8; Henry F. Pringle, “Weapons Win Wars,” n.d., CMH, 2-3.7 AB.B, 187 (“
extremely high
”); “Supply: Oversea Theaters of Operation,” 1945, NARA RG 319, background files, 2-3.7 (
mine detectors
); Waddell,
United States Army Logistics
, 149 (
a hundred miles every hour
); Hastings,
Armageddon
, 23 (
22 million jerricans
);
LSA
, vol. 2, 203 (
7 million more
); Chandler, 2200 (“
it is now costing us
”).

All this fell largely unforeseen
: memo, Raymond G. Moses to ONB, Sept. 26, 1944, and draft memo to W. B. Smith, Nov. 7, 1944, Moses papers, MHI, box 1; Graham and Bidwell,
Coalitions, Politicians & Generals
, 259 (
crates of oranges
); OH, J. C. H. Lee, March 21, 1947, FCP, MHI (
regretted not playing bridge
); Frank A. Osmanski, “Critical Analysis of the Planning and Execution of the Logistic Support of the Normandy Invasion,” Dec. 1949, Armed Forces Staff College, Osmanski papers, MHI, 29 (
ad hoc dumps
); minutes, Military Shipments Priority Meeting, Sept. 9, 1944, NARA RG 331, E 1, SHAEF SGS, box 54 (“
stretched to the limit
”); memo, Raymond G. Moses to ONB, Sept. 26, 1944, Moses papers, MHI, box 1 (“
For a period of about one month
”).

COMZ improvised, with mixed results
: “Pluto: Pipeline Under the Ocean,”
AB
, no. 116 (2002): 2
+
(“
Bambi
”); Moore, “Operation Pluto,”
Proceedings
(June 1954): 647
+
; Freeman W. Burford, “The Inside Story of Oil in the European War,” Nov. 25, 1946, NARA RG 319, CMH background file, 2-.37 CB 6; Mason, ed.,
The Atlantic War Remembered
, 417 (“
scandalous waste
”).

A terrestrial innovation was the Red Ball Express
: Henry F. Pringle, “Weapons Win Wars,” n.d., CMH, 2-3.7 AB.B, 188; Andrew T. McNamara, “QM Activities of II Corps … and First Army Through Europe,” 1955, chapter 46, PIR, MHI, 142 (
Cub planes
);
BP
, 691 (
300,000 gallons of gasoline
); “Red Ball,” Feb. 3, 1945, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #281, 1–3, 14, 16–18, 28–29, 40, 55, 56–57, 63–65 (“
steep hill
”); memoir, Robert P. Patterson, ts, 1947 (?), a.p., 273 (“
gas splashing inside
”); “Shipping Situation and Supply Requirements,” Nov. 25, 1944, COM Z, G-4, CARL, N-6726 (“
deadlined
”); OH, Henry S. Aurand, 1974, William O. Morrison, SOOHP, MHI (
nine thousand were trucks
). At war’s end, the U.S. Army had 464 truck companies in Europe, each typically with 48 trucks (Eudora Ramsay Richardson and Sherman Allan, “Quartermaster Supply in the ETO in WWII,” vol. 1, 1947, QM School, Camp Lee, Va.).

Roads deteriorated in the autumn rains
: Waddell,
United States Army Logistics
, 124–31; “Supply: Oversea Theaters of Operations,” 1945, NARA RG 319, background files, 2-3.7 (
ruination of five thousand tires
); D’Este,
Patton: A Genius for War
, 649 (
Lee requested thirteen infantry battalions
); “Subsistence in the ETO,” 1959, Robert M. Littlejohn papers, HIA (
shoot-to-kill authority
); Gropman, ed.,
The Big “L,”
389 (
400000 tons
);
LSA
, vol. 2, 140; OH, Henry S. Aurand, 1974, William O. Morrison, SOOHP, MHI (“
greatest killer of trucks
”).

A single train could haul
: Gropman, ed.,
The Big “L,”
389–90 (
almost five thousand miles of track
);
LSA
, vol. 1, 551 (
obliterated by years of Allied bombing
); “Supply and Maintenance on the European Continent,” USFET General Board study no. 130, NARA RG 407, E 427, 97-USF5-0.3.0, 30–36; Waddell,
United States Army Logistics
, 118 (
creeping across bridges
); “Military Railway Service,” USFET General Board study no. 123, NARA RG 407, E 427, 97-USF5-0.3.0 (
line to Paris
and
as far away as Persia
); H. H. Dunham, “U.S. Army Transportation in the ETO,” 1946, CMH, 4-13.1 AA 29, 232 (
flagging with lighters
); “Activities and Organization of COMZ,” U.S. Senate hearing, May 28, 1945, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #89, 21–22 (
thirteen hundred muscular American engines
); memo, COMZ assistant G-5, Feb. 18, 1945, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #494U (
eleven thousand miles
).

“
the number of divisions required to capture the number of ports
”: Whipple, “Logistical Bottleneck,”
IJ
(March 1948): 6
+
.

Fifty-four ports had been studied
: R. W. Crawford, “Guns, Gas and Rations,” SHAEF G-4, June 1945, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #145; “American Port Plans, August to November 1944,” n.d., NARA RG 319, background files, 2-37 CB 6 (
half eventually played a role
);
RR
, 575 (
one-third of all Allied supplies
);
LSA
, vol. 2, 71 (
Cherbourg tripled its expected cargo
); OH, Henry S. Aurand, 1974, William O. Morrison, SOOHP, MHI (“
Napoleon’s hand
”); Whipple, “Logistical Bottleneck,”
IJ
(March 1948): 6
+
(
two hundred by mid-October
).

Clearly the solution was to be found in Antwerp
:
LC
, 211;
LSA
, vol. 2, 52 (“
blood transfusion
”); John Connell, “Over Age in Grade,” n.d., 11th Port Engineer Special Brigade Group, MHI, 99–100 (“
What a life!
”).

Every Village a Fortress

A stubby C-47 transport plane
: Margry, ed.,
Operation Market-Garden Then and Now
, vol. 1, 27 (
B-58
);
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brussels_Airport
.

There he found Eisenhower
: Ambrose,
Eisenhower: Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect, 1890–1952
, vol. 1, 348. Ambrose puts the meeting on Eisenhower’s B-25 aircraft.

“
Well, they’re nothing but balls
”: OH, Miles Graham, Jan. 19, 1949, “Allied Strategy After Fall of Paris,” R. W. W. “Chester” Wilmot, LHC, LH 15/15/48; Ambrose,
Eisenhower: Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect, 1890–1952
, vol. 1, 348–49 (
Patton actually running the war
).

For a long hour they bickered
: Wilmot,
The Struggle for Europe
, 489 (
capture the Ruhr with twenty divisions
);
TSC
, 255.

Eisenhower agreed that the Ruhr
: OH, DDE, n.d., CJR, box 43, file 7 (“
What the hell?
”).

“
Our fight must be with both hands
”:
VW
, vol. 2, 22;
SLC
, 120–22.

“
Just when a really firm grip was needed
”: BLM to Brooke, Sept. 10, 1944, AB papers, LHC, 6/2/27.

Regardless of American requirements
: OH, Miles Graham, Jan. 19, 1949, “Allied Strategy After Fall of Paris,” R. W. W. “Chester” Wilmot, LHC, LH 15/15/48 (
350 to 400 tons
); Hinsley, 542 (
Dieppe and Le Havre
);
VC
, 310 (“
one good Pas de Calais port
” and “
last priority
”); Second Army war diary, “The First 100 Days,” Sept. 7, 1944, UK NA, WO 285/9;
VW
, vol. 2, 131–32 (
would not open until mid-October
), 15;
SLC
, 208; Hastings,
Armageddon
, 23 (
fourteen hundred three-ton British trucks
); Crosswell,
Beetle
, 707.

Another grim battlefield development
: Hamilton,
Monty: Final Years of the Field-Marshal, 1944–1976
, 42 (
War Office cable
); Longmate,
Hitler’s Rockets
, 164–74 (
Stavely Road
and “
flying gas mains
”); Collier,
The Defence of the United Kingdom
, 406;
AAFinWWII
, 542 (
refused to publicly acknowledge
).

The true culprit, the V-2 rocket
: Collier,
The Defence of the United Kingdom
, 521;
Germany VII
, 438 (
fifty big train engines
). A 1960 movie based on Von Braun’s life,
I Aim at the Stars
, inspired the proposed subtitle, “But Sometimes I Hit London.” Mallon, “Rocket Man,” review of Michael J. Neufeld,
Von Braun
,
New Yorker
(Oct. 22, 2007): 170
+
(
young Prussian Junker
).

The rocket had long been expected
: minutes, British chiefs of staff meeting, July 11, 1944, NARA RG 331, E 3, box 129; Hinsley, 421–23 (
Saturation bombing of Peenemünde
);
Germany VII
, 443 (
tendency to break up
); Howard,
British Intelligence in the Second World
War, vol. 5,
Strategic Deception
, 180–81 (
British government also considered evacuating
).

The initial volley had been fired
: M. C. Helfers, “The Employment of V-Weapons by the Germans During World War II,” 1954, OCMH, NARA RG 319, 2-3.7 AW, 72; Collier,
The Defence of the United Kingdom
, 408 (
outside Nijmegen
); King and Kutta,
Impact
, 245 (“
Will you please report
” and “
It must be towards Arnhem
”); OH, Miles Dempsey, June 4, 1946, R. W. W. “Chester” Wilmot papers, LHC, 15/15/30 (
favored a more easterly advance
).

“
This delay
,”
he added
:
VW
, vol. 2, 22.

“
E. is spending a few days in bed
”: diary, Kay Summersby, Sept. 11, 1944, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 140.

“
Monty seems unimpressed
”: desk calendar, DDE, Sept. 11–13, 1944, Barbara Wyden papers, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 1.

“
He let himself go on subject of Monty
”: Love and Major, eds.,
The Year of D-Day
, 137.

At a moment when strategic harmony
: OH, SLAM, 1973, George J. Stapleton, SOOHP, MHI, III, 2–3;
VW
, vol. 2, 351–52; msg, DDE to ONB, Sept. 15, 1944, ONB papers, MHI (“
There is no reason
”);
PP
, 552 (“‘
clever son of a bitch
’”); OH, DDE, n.d., CJR, box 43, file 7, 17, 36–37 (“
psychopath
”).

He also authorized Montgomery to communicate directly
: Chandler, 2133–34;
VW
, vol. 2, 24 (“
Ike has given way
”).

“
Montgomery suddenly became obsessed
”: Chandler, 2144.

Just after six
P.M.
on the warm, clear Monday
: After various units claimed to have been first into Germany, an Army historical investigation concluded that Holzinger and his patrol had earned the distinction. Emerson F. Hurley, “Study of the First Entry into Germany in World War II,” n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, 605-CAV-0.20;
SLC
, 3.

Up the slope for four hundred yards
: “Unit History, 85th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron,” 5th AD, n.d., and letter, W. W. Holzinger, Nov. 3, 1947, NARA RG 407, E 429, 95-USF 2-0.3.0; Pogue,
Pogue’s War
, 264.

By midnight, other patrols from the 4th and 28th Infantry Divisions
: Pogue,
Pogue’s War
, 264; MacDonald,
The Battle of the Huertgen Forest
, 6 (
Three corps abreast
); memo, commanders’ conference, First Canadian Army, Oct. 16, 1944, National Archives of Canada, RG 24, vol. 1054 2, file 215A21.016(9) (“
cuckoos
”); Heinz,
When We Were One
, 29, 258 (“
eating away at each other
”);
RR
, 223 (
spied French dragoons
); Robichon,
The Second D-Day
, 295–96; William K. Wyant, “Seventh Army History,” n.d., NARA RG 319, background historical file, FRC 4.

From the North Sea to the Mediterranean
: Greenfield, ed.,
Command Decisions
, 345;
BP
, 701–2; Roskill,
White Ensign
, 390 (
evacuating southern Greece
); “Germany’s War Effort and Its Failure,” Oct. 8, 1945, U.K. chiefs of staff committee, Joint Intelligence Subcommittee, ANSCOL, NARA RG 334, E 315, 91 (
operational life of a U-boat commander
);
GS
V, 343–45;
SLC
, 14 (
114,000 officers and 3.6 million enlisted
).

“
I would like to place the Western front
”: Rundstedt also had presided over a kangaroo “court of honor” convened to expel from service officers implicated in the July 20 assassination plot. Barnett, ed.,
Hitler’s Generals
, 201.

From his new headquarters near Koblenz
:
Germany VII
, 632–35 (
fighting strength in the west
);
VC
, 317–24 (“
roughly 1,700
”); interrogation, Erich Brandenberger, Sept. 1945, Third Army Intelligence Center, NARA RG 407, E 427, ML #978, 1–2, 14 (
two hundred postal detachments
); “Weaknesses in Germany’s Capacity to Resist,” JIC assessment, UK COS brief and action report, Sept. 27, 1944, NARA RG 331, E 3, SHAEF SGS, box 132 (
tanks and trucks to ammunition and uniforms
);
LC
, 33 (
created in late summer
);
SLC
, 15 (
Begun in 1936
).