The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (152 page)

“
Enthusiastic but often inaccurate
”: Chandler, 2466–69.

Eisenhower sold Devers short
: OH, Ira C. Eaker, Aug. 1, 1975, Thomas E. Griess, JLD, YCHT, box 81 (“
ablest commander I saw
”); diary, JLD, Nov. 7 and 18, 1944, MHI (“
very difficult man to handle
” and “
inspirational leader
”); Franklin L. Gurley, “The Relationship Between Jean de Lattre de Tassigny and Jacob L. Devers,” March 26, 1994, Sorbonne, NARA RG 319,
RR
background files, FRC 4 (“
never did learn to pronounce
”); OH, JLD, 1968, Thomas E. Griess, YCHT, box 110, 20 (“
gesture and the smile
”).

“
the same fine character as always
”: diary, JLD, Nov. 5, 1944, MHI.

“
the undercutting that goes on
”: corr, JLD to wife, Sept. 23, 1944, NARA RG 319,
RR
background papers, FRC 5; OH, Reuben Jenkins, Oct. 14, 1970, JLD, YCHT, box 94, 18–20 (“
lonely as the devil
”).

SHAEF’s orders called for 6th Army Group
:
RR
, 351–53.

Devers had grander ambitions
:
The Seventh United States Army in France and Germany
, vol. 2, 402;
RR
, 352–53; OH, JLD, Aug. 1971, Thomas E. Griess, YCHT, 16. (“
Don’t get stuck
”).

De Lattre made the first move
: De Lattre de Tassigny,
The History of the French First Army
, 225–30; John W. Price, “Forcing the Belfort Gap,” n.d., NARA RG 319,
RR
background files, FRC 5 (
Various deceptions
);
RR
, 414–18; author visit, Belfort, May 2009.

By Thursday, French tanks were
“
decisive everywhere
”: De Lattre de Tassigny,
The History of the French First Army
, 233–36;
RR
, 410.

Having forsaken a substantial wedge
: Friedrich-Wilhelm von Mellenthin, Army Group G chief of staff, ts, March 1946, FMS #A-999, MHI, 79; Seaman, “Reduction of the Colmar Pocket,”
Military Review
(Oct. 1951): 37
+
(
Confusion in the French ranks
); De Lattre de Tassigny,
The History of the French First Army
, 253–62 (
German
Feldpost
workers
);
RR
, 431 (
a spent force
).

Hope for a decisive breakthrough
: Seventh Army war diary, Nov. 20, 1944, MHI, 393; Robb,
The Discovery of France
, 227 (“
one of the masterpieces of man
”); Bonn,
When the Odds Were Even
, 111–16 (“
ersatz morale
”).

On November 19, the weight of metal
: OH, 79th ID, Saverne Gap, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder 156;
RR
, 368–71 (
44th Division rambled for nine miles
);
The Seventh United States Army in France and Germany
, vol. 2, 411 (
broke through to Sarrebourg
); Aron,
France Reborn
, 440–41 (
French policemen pulled on uniforms
); diary, JLD, Nov. 20, 1944, MHI (“
as hard as I have ever seen it rain
”).

Into the breach pried open
: Porch,
The Path to Victory
, 538 (“
We swear
”); Maule,
Out of the Sand
, 249 (“
Beat the devil
”).

“
The brave horses were galloping
”: “Capture of Strasbourg,” French 2nd AD, Jan. 28, 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder #247.

Tout au contraire: De Gaulle,
The Complete War Memoirs of Charles de Gaulle
, 824 (
five columns
); Colley,
Decision at Strasbourg
, 123–24 (“
We went roaring
” and “
sent windowpanes tinkling
”);
The Seventh United States Army in France and Germany
, vol. 2, 413–16 (
Sixteen strongholds
); Yeide and Stout,
First to the Rhine
, 243–44 (
tanks spilled into downtown Strasbourg
).

As rain drummed off his kepi
: Maule,
Out of the Sand
, 252–54; “Capture of Strasbourg,” French 2nd AD, Jan. 28, 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder #247; Susan Bernstein, “Goethe’s Architectonic
Bildung
and Buildings in Classical Weimar,” 2000, Johns Hopkins University Press,
http://www2.winchester.ac.uk/edstudies/courses/level%20two%20sem%20two/114.5bernstein.html
(“
tree of God
”); Porch,
The Path to Victory
, 606 (“
Now we can die
”).

A captured German engineer was persuaded
: Charles V. von Lüttichau, “The Fall of Strasbourg and the Birth of the Colmar Pocket,” n.d., NARA RG 319, OCMH, R-series, #129, 2–3, 13–14;
RR
, 380–81; AAR, XV Corps, Jan. 23, 1945, Wade H. Haislip papers, MHI, box 2; “Capture of Strasbourg,” French 2nd AD, Jan. 28, 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder #247 (“
solid artillery argument
”).

“
Lots of dead civilians
”: diary, Nov. 25, 1944, Kingsley Andersson papers, HIA, box 1; “Capture of Strasbourg,” French 2nd AD, Jan. 28, 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder #247 (“
One by one
”).

Strasbourg’s emancipation
: “Natzweiler-Struthof,” USHMM,
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007260
. British troops had overrun the Breendonk internment camp near Antwerp in September (
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005423
).

Built in 1941, Natzweiler had housed
: Turner and Jackson,
Destination Berchtesgaden
, 97 (
socially unfit
); Yurka N. Galitzine, “Investigation Report on the Life in a German Extermination Camp (KZ Natzweiler),” n.d., C. D. Jackson papers, DDE Lib, box 2 (
sweets and cakes
and
urn of ashes
); J. M. Barnes, Royal Army Medical Corps, “Report on a Third Visit to France,” Feb. 1945, Boris T. Pash papers, HIA, box 2, folder 1; Evans,
The Third Reich at War
, 607 (
mustard gas
).

The second discovery was no less portentous
: corr, J. R. Oppenheimer and Luis Alvarez to Robert Furman, June 5, 1944, Boris T. Pash papers, HIA, box 3, folder 2; memo, S. A. Goudsmit, “Strassburg [
sic
] Intelligence on German Nuclear Physics,” Dec. 17, 1944, and “Progress Report #8—Strasbourg Operation, ALSOS Mission,” Dec. 7, 1944, Boris T. Pash papers, HIA, box 2, folders 1 and 3; Pash,
The Alsos Mission
, 155–57; Groves,
Now It Can Be Told
, 212–23.

“
most complete, dependable and factual information
”: memo, L. R. Groves to Maj. Gen. Clayton Bissell, March 16, 1945, George Bryan Conrad papers, USMA Archives; memo, S. A. Goudsmit, “Strassburg [
sic
] Intelligence on German Nuclear Physics,” Dec. 17, 1944, Boris T. Pash papers, HIA, box 2, folder 1 (“
two slide rules
”); “Alsos Mission History,” n.d., and “Report by the Scientific Chief of the ALSOS Mission,” n.d., Boris T. Pash papers, HIA, box 2, folder 8; Pash,
The Alsos Mission
, 159 (“
the Nazis had not progressed
”).

Leclerc and his lieutenants bivouacked
: “Capture of Strasbourg,” French 2nd AD, Jan. 28, 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder #247 (“
its pretentious design
”); Gray,
The Warriors
, 4–5 (
switched their storefront signage
); Aron,
France Reborn
, 437–38 (
deported to Germany
). The French refused to print 6th Army Group guarantees of the Geneva Conventions, forcing Seventh Army to put up its own posters to that effect (Seventh Army war diary, Dec. 6–10, 1944, MHI, 426–35).

“
There is no question that the French hate
”: Gray,
The Warriors
, 200.

A ceremony near the cathedral
: “Capture of Strasbourg,” French 2nd AD, Jan. 28, 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder #247; Franklin Louis Gurley, “Policy Versus Strategy: The Defense of Strasbourg in Dec. 1944,” 1992, NARA RG 319,
RR
background files, FRC 5 (“
never give it back
”).

For nearly three months Seventh Army
: Seventh Army war diary, Sept. 26, 1944, MHI, 266.

Eight hundred outboard-motor operators
: “The Crossing of the Rhine,” 1945, CEOH, box X-25, folder 2; Seventh Army war diary, Sept. 19, Nov. 7, and Nov. 18, 1944, MHI, 256, 356, 380; corr, Garrison H. Davidson to Hal C. Pattison, CMH, July 23, 1988, NARA RG 319,
RR
background files, FRC 4 (
SHAEF rejected a proposal
).

Even if the bridge from Strasbourg to Kehl
:
The Seventh United States Army in France and Germany
, vol. 2, 419; OH, Reuben Jenkins, Oct. 14, 1970, Thomas E. Griess, JLD, YCHT, box 94, 29–30 (
Patrols found few defenders
);
RR
, 439; Colley,
Decision at Strasbourg
, 150; corr, Garrison H. Davidson, Apr. 21, 1953, CEOH, box X-25 (
On Thanksgiving night, Patch’s engineers
).

Eisenhower knew almost nothing
: diary, JLD, Nov. 24, 1944, MHI; Colley,
Decision at Strasbourg
, 135–36 (“
happy and boyish
” and “
impassive Alsatian faces
”);
http://www2.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/lewis_clark/exploring/ch1-1.html
(
the name
“
America
”); Steidl,
Lost Battalions
, 126 (
St.-Dié’s textile mills
); Turner and Jackson,
Destination Berchtesgaden
, 92 (
grenades and dynamite
); Marshall,
A Ramble Through My War
, 168 (“
wanton destruction
”).

A final forty-mile drive
: Colley,
Decision at Strasbourg
, 135–36;
RR
, 439–40 (
Heritage Hotel
).

The supreme commander wasted no time
: memo, ONB to G-3, 12th AG, Nov. 26, 1944, NARA RG 319,
RR
background files, FRC 5 (
Bradley agreed that the transfer
);
RR
, 439–40.

“
He’s in the mud
”: Colley,
Decision at Strasbourg
, 136–38.

New reports of a German counterattack
:
RR
, 382–86; Weigley,
Eisenhower’s Lieutenants
, 407 (
only massed artillery
); corr, Robert R. Smith, CMH, to Thomas E. Griess, USMA, Nov. 28, 1978, NARA RG 319,
RR
background files, FRC 4 (“
helluva way to get to Berlin
”).

“
Ike, I’m on the Haguenau
”: The river at Haguenau is in fact named the Moder, a tributary of the Rhine.

“
I’ve got everything in the woods
”: Colley,
Decision at Strasbourg
, 136–38;
RR
, 439–42; corr, Hal. C. Pattison, CMH, to Garrison H. Davidson, Aug. 1, 1968, NARA RG 319,
RR
background files, FRC 4 (
Patton’s army should be shifted
).

Devers grew shrill
:
RR
, 439–42, 575; Colley,
Decision at Strasbourg
, 136–38 (
likened it to Patton’s effort in August 1943
);
DOB
, 162–64 (
a misbegotten analogy
).

Eisenhower remained immovable
: corr, Robert R. Smith, CMH, to Thomas E. Griess, USMA, Nov. 28, 1978, NARA RG 319,
RR
background files, FRC 4;
Three Years
, 702–5 (
no
“
definitely decisive area
”);
RR
, 439–42 (“
mad as hell
”).

The trio of generals retired for a few hours’ sleep
: Seventh Army war diary, MHI, 400–403;
LC
, 520–21 (“
offers the best chance
”).

“
The decision not to cross the Rhine
”: diary, JLD, Nov. 24 and 26, 1944, MHI.

Even the Army official history
:
RR
, 563 (“
difficult to understand
”), 445 (“‘
strategy’ of firepower and attrition
”); Mansoor,
The GI Offensive in Europe
, 207 (
neither a coherent strategic goal
); corr, Robert R. Smith, CMH, to Thomas E. Griess, USMA, Nov. 28, 1978, NARA RG 319,
RR
background files, FRC 4 (“
misusing 6th Army Group
”); Friedrich-Wilhelm von Mellenthin, Army Group G chief of staff, ts, March 1946, FMS #A-999, MHI, 100–112 (
gave the Germans a respite
).

Surely the supreme commander’s personal distaste
: corr, Thomas E. Griess, USMA, to Robert R. Smith, CMH, Dec. 19, 1978, NARA RG 319,
RR
background files, FRC 4; OH, Reuben Jenkins, Oct. 14, 1970, Thomas E. Griess, JLD, YCHT, box 94, 35–36 (
played favorites with Bradley
);
RR
, 439–40 (“
member of the same team
”); Colley,
Decision at Strasbourg
, 178, 154 (“
bring the war to a quicker end
”); diary, JLD, Dec. 19, 1944, MHI (“
The tragedy to my mind
”).

Yet Devers made errors of his own
:
RR
, 433, 437; Charles V. von Lüttichau, “The Fall of Strasbourg and the Birth of the Colmar Pocket, n.d., NARA RG 319, OCMH, R-series, #129, 24–26 (“
out of the question
”); diary, JLD, Dec. 2, 1944, MHI (“
It is hoped that the French Army
”).