The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (141 page)

The Siegfried Line
: interrogation, Erich Brandenberger, Sept. 1945, Third Army Intelligence Center, NARA RG 407, E 427, ML #978, 11;
SLC
, 34–35 (
Fatherland had been made invincible
); “Combat Engineering,” Aug. 1945, CE, historical report no. 10, CEOH, box X-30, 63 (
disguised as electrical substations
), 57;
LC
, 548–51 (
fields of fire
); G-2 analysis, XIX Corps, Sept. 14, 1944, Thomas L. Crystal papers, HIA (
fifteen big bunkers might be found
); “Breaching the Siegfried Line,” Dec. 5, 1944, Seventh Army, special intelligence bulletin, NARA RG 200, E 4100 (UD), Garrison H. Davidson personal office file, box 1.

But years of neglect had ravaged the West Wall
: interrogation, Erich Brandenberger, Sept. 1945, Third Army Intelligence Center, NARA RG 407, E 427, ML #978, 17–18; Lucian Heichler, “The Germans Facing V Corps, September 1944,” May 1952, NARA RG 319, R-series, #37, 2–5 (
Farmers laid roadbeds
); OH, Gerhard Graf von Schwerin, ETHINT 18, Oct.–Nov. 1945, MHI, 34 (
tool sheds or storage bins
); Rudolf Freiherr von Gersdorff, “The Battle of Schmidt,” Nov. 1945, FMS, #A-891, MHI (
hideouts for soldiers
); White,
Conquerors’ Road
, 12–13 (“
more like sewage works
”).

Hitler in mid-August ordered
:
LC
, 548–51; Wilmot,
The Struggle for Europe
, 478 (
finding keys to locked doors
);
Germany VII
, 633 (
League of German Maidens
); Cooper,
The German Army, 1933–1945
, 517 (
plucked from depots
); Lucian Heichler, “The Germans Facing V Corps, September 1944,” May 1952, NARA RG 319, R-series, #37, 5 (
Captured weapons from the Eastern Front
); Rudolf Christoph Freiherr von Gersdorff, ETHINT 53, Nov. 24, 1945, MHI, 1 (
large barrel of the MG-42
).

With characteristic agility, Rundstedt manned
:
SLC
, 43; Henry P. Halsell, “Hürtgen Forest and Roer River Dams,” n.d., CMH, 314.7, I-20 (
improvised with dismounted panzer crews
); Lucian Heichler, “The Germans Opposite XIX Corps,” May 1953, OCMH, NARA RG 319, R-series, #21, 77 (
49th Infantry Division
); Cooper,
The German Army, 1933–1945
, 517 (
two Luftwaffe divisions
);
Germany VII
, 634–35 (
160,000 stragglers had been redirected to the front
).

“
holding of the position until annihliation
”: John W. Mosenthal, “The Establishment of a Continuous Defensive Front by Army Group G,” Nov. 1955, OCMH, NARA RG 319, R-series, #68, 11; Lucian Heichler, “The Germans Facing V Corps, September 1944,” May 1952, NARA RG 319, R-series, #37, 30 (“
Every bunker, every block of houses
”).

“
It is a monument to stupidity
”: Semmes,
Portrait of Patton
, 223.

But the U.S. Army had little experience
: Hogg,
The Biography of General George S. Patton
, 116; “Combat Engineering,” Aug. 1945, CE, historical report no. 10, CEOH, box X-30, 65–66 (
single bunker atop a hill south of Aachen
).

Ordinary artillery barrages
:
SLC
, 45 (“
dust off
”); “Breaching the Siegfried Line,” XIX Corps, Oct. 2, 1944, CARL, N-7623, 9–15 (
Napalm
), 23–26 (
jeep-towed arc welder
); Kleber and Birdsell,
The Chemical Warfare Service
, 602–3; “Combat Engineering,” Dec. 1945, CE, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #547, 70 (
twenty-five to fifty pounds of explosives
), 66 (
made it hard for defenders to breathe
); memo, Albert H. Peyton to First Army CG, Oct. 20, 1944, NARA RG 407, ETO G-3 OR, box 9 (
large pillboxes required half a ton
).

As Rundstedt rushed defenders into the line
: AAR, “Reconnaissance in a Tactical Air Command,” 10th Photo Group, XIX Tactical Air Command, Ninth AF, 1945, CARL, N-9395, 29 (
200,000 aerial photos
);
LC
, 55;
SLC
, 37; “Mobility, Unused: Study Based on Lorraine Campaign,” Oct. 1952, MHI, OCMH WWII Europe Interviews (“
a ripe plum
”).

Hitler had other ideas
: Doubler,
Closing with the Enemy
, 127 (
elaborate constellation of forts
).

The next morning, a battalion from the 5th Infantry Division
:
LC
, 139–41, 145–46, 157 (“
hell hole
”); AAR, 2nd Bn, 11th Inf, n.d., NARA RG 407, ETO G-3 OR, box 11; John K. Rieth, “We Seek: Patton’s Forward Observers,” 2002, a.p., 101.

Patton would gain other bridgeheads
:
LC
, 93–96; Rickard,
Patton at Bay
, 107, 160, 230–31; Ludewig,
Rückzug
, 22 (
“thrash about and bite”
); Ayer,
Before the Colors Fade
, 166 (“
I have studied the German
”).

Farther north, First Army’s prospects
:
SLC
, 46–48, 56.

“
We all seemed for the moment
”: Baker,
Ernest Hemingway
, 539–40.

On Friday, September 15, the division command post
: AAR, “Penetration of Siegfried Line,” 4th ID, n.d., CARL, N-12159.1;
SLC
, 52–53, 61–65.

On First Army’s left flank, XIX Corps
:
SLC
, 106, 111–15; MacDonald,
The Battle of the Huertgen Forest
, 58–59.

That left the last, best chance
:
SLC
, 66, 29; OH, JLC, Jan. 21, 1954, CBM, NARA RG 319, OCMH background file, 2-3.7 CB 3 (“
the real route
”);
Blue Spaders
, 74 (
twin fortification belts
).

Collins now made a tactical choice
: OH, JLC, 1972, Charles C. Sperow, SOOHP, MHI, 219;
Blue Spaders
, 76; Clay,
Blood and Sacrifice
, 213; Collins,
Lightning Joe
, 269, 279; Wheeler,
The Big Red One
, 329 (
Germans would abandon Aachen
).

The sudden appearance of VII Corps
: Lucian Heichler, “The Germans Opposite VII Corps in Sept. 1944,” Dec. 1952, CMH, CMH 2-3.7 EB, 12, 18–19.

Into this chaos
:
SLC
, 71, 81; Gerhard Graf von Schwerin, ETHINT 18, Oct.–Nov. 1945, MHI, 44 (“
Santa Clauses
”);
http://www.waffenhq.de/biographien/biographien/schwerin.html
; Whiting,
The Home Front: Germany
, 176 (“
splendid battlefield commander
”); Fritz Krämer, ETHINT 24, Nov. 17, 1945, MHI, 1 (“
He was intelligent
”).

“
I stopped the absurd evacuation
”: Gerhard Graf von Schwerin, ETHINT 18, Oct.–Nov. 1945, MHI, 37–41.

A day passed, and then another
: MacDonald,
The Battle of the Huertgen Forest
, 37; Reynolds,
How I Survived the Three First Wave Invasions
(
half-eaten meals
).

But the momentum had seeped out of Collins’s attack
:
SLC
, 86; Meyer A. Edwards, Jr., et al., “Armor in the Attack of a Fortified Position,” May 1950, AS, Ft. K, NARA RG 337, 62–64 (
two-hundred-mile round-trip
);
Blue Spaders
, 77 (
Fifty rounds from a tank destroyer
). The official Army history contends that the 3rd Armored Division was authorized 232 tanks, but it was one of two “heavy” armored divisions actually authorized more than 300.

The dawning realization that the Americans intended
: Clay,
Blood and Sacrifice
, 214 (
Wild Buffaloes
);
Stolberg: Penetrating the Westwall
, 19;
SLC
, 81–82 (
forcibly evacuated
); Lucian Heichler, “The Germans Opposite VII Corps in Sept. 1944,” Dec. 1952, NARA RG 319, R-series, #38, 56; Gerhard Graf von Schwerin, ETHINT 18, Oct.–Nov. 1945, MHI, 48–53 (“
Fate
”).

A German counterattack on Sunday
: Wheeler,
The Big Red One
, 332; Lewis, ed.,
The Mammoth Book of Eyewitness World War II
, 434 (“
like a huge torch
”); Heinz,
When We Were One
, 23–25 (“
a Last Greeting
”).

After five days of fighting, Collins had gashed
:
SLC
, 86;
Blue Spaders
, 84–85 (
meandering stone town
); Collins,
Lightning Joe
, 270; Stanhope B. Mason, “Reminiscences and Anecdotes of World War II,” 1988, MRC FDM, 234 (
tacked blankets across holes
); “Aachen: Military Operations in Urban Terrain,” 1999, 26th Infantry Regiment Association, 10.

Three German divisions soon sealed
: Lucian Heichler, “The Germans Opposite VII Corps in Sept. 1944,” Dec. 1952, CMH, CMH 2-3.7 EB, 83–84, 36 (“
Each and every house
”);
SLC
, 88 (“
the last bullet
”).

A Market and a Garden

Since its founding in 1835
: Ivan Sache and Jan Martens, “Presentation of Leopoldsburg,” Apr. 14, 2006,
http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/be-vlilp.html
.

Now the Germans were gone, again
: memoir, J. S. W. Stone, Royal Engineers, LHC, folder 5, 70–71 (
painted wooden hives
);
http://home.mweb.co.za/re/redcap/rmp.htm
; Horrocks,
A Full Life
, 210; AAR, “Operation Market Garden,” 21st AG, n.d., UK NA, AIR 37/1249, appendix D (
two thousand truckloads
).

On the radiant Sunday morning of September 17
: C. D. Renfro, 101st AB, liaison to XXX Corps, “Operation Market,” Oct. 10, 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder #226; Ryan,
A Bridge Too Far
, 146 (“
sniper’s smocks
”); Horrocks,
Corps Commander
, 98–99 (
huge sketch map
).

At eleven
A.M.
Lieutenant General Brian Horrocks
: Horrocks,
Corps Commander
, 98–99; Moorehead,
Eclipse
, 239 (“
ecclesiastical face
”).

Horrocks was made for such moments
: Keegan, ed.,
Churchill’s Generals
, 225–36; MMB, 238–39; Warner,
Horrocks
, 101–3, 110 (
Montgomery summoned him in August
); Baynes,
Urquhart of Arnhem
, 101 (
a tad frail
).

Eyes alight, graceful hands gliding
: Urquhart,
Arnhem
, 184–85; C. D. Renfro, 101st AB, liaison to XXX Corps, “Operation Market,” Oct. 10, 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder #226; AAR, Operation Market Garden, 21st AG, n.d., CARL, R-13333, 3 (“
dominate the country
”); Belchem,
All in the Day’s March
, 224 (
V-2 rocket sites
); Verney,
The Guards Armoured Division
, 99 (
spearheaded by three armored divisions
); code names, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder 226-A (
HAMLET
).

Linking these towns was a single narrow highway
:
SLC
, 131;
GS
V, 527–28 (
Nine substantial bridges
);
SLC
, 131–32;
www.rollintl.com/roll/rhine.htm
(“
distributaries
”); Baedeker,
Belgium and Holland
, 400 (
retirement mecca
); Middlebrook,
Arnhem 1944
, 49 (“
exceedingly healthy atmosphere
”).

Horrocks paused, glancing at his notes
: AAR, “Operations in Holland,” First Allied Airborne Army, Dec. 1944, ANSCOL, NARA RG 334, E 315, Act R A-104, box 62, 19; OH, Brian Urquhart, Jan. 24, 1967, CJR, box 108, folder 6 (“
carpet of airborne troops
”).

As this unfolded, the land assault
:
SLC
, 133–34; Horrocks,
Corps Commander
, 98–99 (“
absolutely vital
”).

“
the enemy has by now suffered
”: weekly intelligence summary no. 26, SHAEF, Sept. 16, 1944, JMG, MHI, box 15.

German strength facing the 100,000-man XXX Corps
: AAR, Operation Market Garden, 21st AG, n.d., CARL, R-13333, 36; Fitzgerald,
History of the Irish Guards in the Second World War
, 486 (“
easier for a rich man
”).

Irish Guards officers looked especially pensive
: Horrocks,
Corps Commander
, 100.

Tanks trundled forward, slowly
: ibid., 209–10.

“
What do you think of the plan?
”: C. D. Renfro, 101st AB, liaison to XXX Corps, “Operation Market,” Oct. 10, 1944, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder #226.

Horrocks was in fact fretful
: Badsey,
Arnhem 1944
, 11–12; Keegan, ed.,
Churchill’s Generals
, 236–38 (“
I shan’t invalid you
”); Horrocks,
A Full Life
, 210 (
no attack he had launched on a Sunday
).

From a nearby radio came word
: Horrocks,
Corps Commander
, 100–101.

Many others invested in
MARKET GARDEN
: Chandler, 1947 (
Under relentless pressure
); office diary, First Allied Airborne Army, Sept. 10–17, 1944, Floyd Lavinius Parks papers, MHI, box 2 (
less than a week
); Greenfield, ed.,
Command Decisions
, 334 (
created at War Department insistence
); Brereton,
The Brereton Diaries
, 343 (
eighteen operational plans
); Baynes,
Urquhart of Arnhem
, 76 (
WILD OATS
); Lewin,
Montgomery as Military Commander
, 338 (“
cowpats
”).