The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (153 page)

“
with the help of darkness and fog
”: De Lattre de Tassigny,
The History of the French First Army
, 291; memo, Reuben E. Jenkins to JLD, Feb. 24, 1947, Jenkins papers, MHI, box 1, 8 (
only a few thousand more troops
), 6 (“
confusion
”).

Still more disheartening
: Clayton,
Three Marshals of France
, 60–61; Mitchell,
Hitler’s Mountain
, 124 (“
I will not serve
”); Porch,
The Path to Victory
, 588 (
his antebellum name
); diary, JLD, Dec. 6, 1944, MHI (“
Having a great deal of trouble
”); Maule,
Out of the Sand
, 260–62 (“
the only failure in command
”); John Hixson and Benjamin Franklin Cooling, “Combined Operations in Peace and War,” 1982, MHI, 190–92 (
Even when reinforced
); OH, Russell L. Vittrup, 1989, Henry E. Fitzgerald, 1989, SOOHP, MHI, 124 (“
consternation and ill-feeling
”).

Seventh Army engineers trucked their storm boats
: Colley,
Decision at Strasbourg
, 144; Taggart, ed.,
History of the Third Infantry Division
, 278 (
dropped the Kehl bridge
); Yeide and Stout,
First to the Rhine
, 254 (
keep the pocket victualed
); Peter T. Heffner, Jr., VI Corps, Dec. 29, 1944, G-3 OR, NARA RG 498, box 3 (
Loudspeaker broadcasts
).

“
SHAEF treats us as bastard children
”: corr, T. R. Bruskin to wife, Apr. 15, 1945, a.p.

C
HAPTER
8: A W
INTER
S
HADOW

“We Are All So Human That It Is Pitiful”

Nine million Allied propaganda leaflets
: “The Psychological Warfare Division,” 1945, CMH, 8-3.6 BA, 45–48; Robert H. Garey, “Leaflet Operations in the Western European Theater,” SHAEF, July 1945, C. D. Jackson papers, DDE Lib, box 9, 1, 19, 25 (
one thousand tons
); Lerner,
Psychological Warfare Against Nazi Germany
, 239–40.

In the early days of this
“
nickeling
”: “The Psychological Warfare Division,” 1945, CMH, 8-3.6 BA, 47; Harris G. Warren, “Special Operations: AAF Aid to European Resistance Movements,” 1947, AFHRA, historical study no. 121, 44–45 (
as far afield as Italy
); “Psychological Warfare in the ETO,” n.d., USFET General Board study no. 131, NARA RG 407, E 427, 97-USF5-0.30, 32–33 (
T-1 Monroe Leaflet Bomb
); Robert H. Garey, “Leaflet Operations in the Western European Theater,” SHAEF, July 1945, C. D. Jackson papers, DDE Lib, box 9, 25 (
A single B-
24). Invented by a bomb squadron armament officer, the munition technically was known as “Bomb, Propaganda, T-1.”

Psychological warfare teams studied
:
TSC
, 344; “Psychological Warfare in the ETO,” n.d., USFET General Board study no. 131, NARA RG 407, E 427, 97-USF5-0.30, 8 (“
best fed Army
”), 43 (“
hog calling
”); “The Psychological Warfare Division,” 1945, CMH, 8-3.6 BA, 39–42 (Voice of SHAEF). Radio Luxembourg often broadcast damage reports as if they came from a clandestine German station in the Rhineland (AAR, 12th AG, vol. 14, NARA RG 331, E-200A, SHAEF, box 268, 187–91).

Millions of time-fuze incendiaries
: “The Psychological Warfare Division,” 1945, CMH, 8-3.6 BA, 53; OSS, “Simple Sabotage Field Manual,” Field Manual No. 3, Jan. 1944, 5, 11–14 (“
Try to commit acts
”).

Still Germany fought on
: Murphy,
Diplomat Among Warriors
, 240 (
unconditional surrender
); memo, Wallace Carroll, Office of War Information, Mar. 25, 1944, Wallace Carroll papers, LOC MS Div, box 1, folder: day files Mar. 1944, 1 (“
nothing to lose
”); Matloff,
Strategic Planning for Coalition Warfare, 1943–1944
, 529 (“
phrase coined at a conference
”), 431 (“
I want at all costs
”);
TSC
, 354–55 (“
a lawless conspiracy
”).

Eventual Allied victory
: McCreedy, “Planning the Peace: Operation Eclipse and the Occupation of Germany,”
JMH
(July 2001): 713
+
(
seventy-two studies
); Pogue,
George C. Marshall: Organizer of Victory
, 466 (
four in five Americans supported
); Ziemke,
The U.S. Army in the Occupation of Germany, 1944–1946
, 86–90 (
War Department’s top linguist
).

The victorious Red Army
: Mosely, “The Occupation of Germany,”
Foreign Affairs
(July 1950): 580
+
.

“
The defeat of Germany will leave Russia
”: Matloff,
Strategic Planning for Coalition Warfare, 1943–1944
, 523–24.

Winston Churchill also perceived
: Kimball,
Forged in War
, 286; Reynolds,
In Command of History
, 460–63 (“
naughty document
”). One prominent historian believes Stalin’s confirmational tick mark was intended for Romania only, and that in fact he wanted a 90 percent share in Bulgaria rather than Churchill’s proposed 75 percent (Plokhy,
Yalta
, 147).

Although the
“
percentages agreement
”: Hastings,
Winston’s War
, 415–19; Jenkins,
Churchill: A Biography
, 759–61.

That fall, a separate controversy
: Kimball,
Forged in War
, 275 (“
two Jeffersonian gentlemen farmers
”), 276 (“
unnatural, unchristian
”); Dallek,
Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 1932–1945
, 474 (“
re-creation of an agricultural state
”). Churchill’s change of heart may also have been encouraged by a U.S. agreement to continue providing American aid to Britain after the war (Stoler,
Allies in War
, 170).

“
They brought it on themselves
”: Moran,
Churchill: Taken from the Diaries of Lord Moran
, 190–91.

Others in the Anglo-American braintrust
: ibid., 193 (“
flew into a rage
”); Grayling,
Among the Dead Cities
, 161 (“
blind vengeance
”); Stimson and Bundy,
On Active Service in Peace and War
, 569–71 (“
general evils
”); Weinberg,
A World at Arms
, 796–97; Pogue,
George C. Marshall: Organizer of Victory
, 467 (
proposal to summarily shoot
).

“
The papers have taken it up
”: Stimson and Bundy,
On Active Service in Peace and War
, 580–81; Ziemke,
The U.S. Army in the Occupation of Germany
, 101–05.

“
a ruined no-man’s land
”: Collier,
The Freedom Road, 1944–45
, 189.

“
A policy which condones or favors chaos
”:
VW
, vol. 2, 147.

“
Henry Morgenthau pulled a boner
”: Stimson and Bundy,
On Active Service in Peace and War
, 580–81;
TSC
, 342 (“
inspired by the Jews
”).

This contretemps cooled Roosevelt’s enthusiasm
: Murphy,
Diplomat Among Warriors
, 228 (“
I dislike making detailed plans
”);
TSC
, 342–43 (
would not be enslaved
), 351; Mosely, “Dismemberment of Germany,”
Foreign Affairs
(Apr. 1950): 487
+
(
seven disparate states
); Mosely, “The Occupation of Germany,”
Foreign Affairs
(July 1950): 580
+
(
three occupation zones
); ALH, I-178–79; Weinberg,
A World at Arms
, 792–95.

No formal ratification of this plan
: Ambrose,
Eisenhower: Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect, 1890–1952
, vol. 1, 280 (
single Allied commander
); Chandler, 1873 (“
eastern portion of Germany
”); Murphy,
Diplomat Among Warriors
, 231–32 (“
not having any faith
”).

“
Something ‘big’ will come out of this war
”: Brower, ed.,
World War II in Europe: The Final Year
, 22.

Montgomery’s promise to Eisenhower
: Bryant,
Triumph in the West
, 252 (“
He has never commanded anything
”), 254 (“
You have always told me
”); Hastings,
Armageddon
, 153 (“
feeling of optimism
”); Crosswell,
Beetle
, 778 (“
Eisenhower is quite useless
”).

On Tuesday afternoon, November 28
:
VW
, vol. 2 167–68; Bryant,
Triumph in the West
, 258–59 (“
We talked for three hours
”).

“
Ike does
not
agree
”: Howarth, ed.,
Monty at Close Quarters
, 16.

“
He thinks Bradley has failed him
”: Bryant,
Triumph in the West
, 258–59.

“
We have achieved none of this
”: msg, BLM to DDE, Nov. 30, 1944, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 83; Chandler, 2325.

On Friday, December 1
: Sylvan, 197 (
hives
); Bradley and Blair,
A General’s Life
, 346 (“
as angry as I had ever seen him
”).

“
There are certain things in your letter
”: Chandler, 2323–25.

“
such canalized egotism
”: Hart-Davis, ed.,
King’s Counsellor
, 265, 311 (“
mental unstability
”).

“
He had no competence in the fine art
”: Ambrose,
The Supreme Commander
, 512.

A British official who watched Montgomery
: Hamilton,
Monty: Final Years of the Field-Marshal, 1944–1976
, 117 (“
like a little bird
”); Danchev, 620 (“
goes on harping
”).

But others in the highest British circles
: Churchill,
Triumph and Tragedy
, 267 (“
We have of course sustained
”);
VW
, vol. 2, 167 (“
We have definitely failed
”);
TSC
, 315 (“
a decisive break
”); Love and Major, eds.,
The Year of D-Day
, xliii (“
no prospect of Ike
”).

Some of Montgomery’s partisans were more savage
: Danchev, 625, 628.

The fairways at Reims
: Sixsmith,
Eisenhower as Military Commander
, 178 (
never swung a golf club
); Danchev, 627–30 (“
Eisenhower completely fails
”).

At Montgomery’s request, another high-command conclave
: Baedeker,
Belgium and Holland
, 239–40;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maastricht
;
www.fortified-places.com/sieges/maastricht1673.html
.

Eisenhower and Tedder spent Wednesday
: Bradley and Blair,
A General’s Life
, 347; Chandler, vol. 5, chronology, 175; Signal Corps footage,
http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675070150_General-Eisenhower_Omar-Bradley_Bernard-Montgomery_World-War-II
(
smartly tailored
); “Extracts from report of Maj. Gen. K. W. D. Strong,” Nov. 29, 1944, BLM corr, DDE Lib, PP-pres, box 83 (
twenty German divisions a month
); Hastings,
Armageddon
, 140 (
less than ten miles
), 148.

“
The master plan
”: “Notes of Meeting at Maastricht on 7.12.1944,” Tedder notes, Sidney H. Negrotto papers, MHI, box 4; copy in Harold R. Bull papers, DDE Lib, box 2.
VW
, vol. 2, 167–68.

Round and round they went
: Bradley and Blair,
A General’s Life
, 347 (“
tedious affair
”); Ambrose,
The Supreme Commander
, 610.

“
The meeting was affable
”: corr, D/SAC to CAS, Nov. 7, 1944, NARA RG 319,
SC
background files, 2-3.7 CB 8 (“
Another balls up
”).

“
I personally regard the whole thing
”: Bryant,
Triumph in the West
, 264–65; Hamilton,
Monty: Final Years of the Field-Marshal, 1944–1976
, 163.

Bradley a few days later wrote
: Hamilton,
Monty: Final Years of the Field-Marshal, 1944–1976
, 163 (“
He refused to admit
”); D’Este,
Eisenhower: A Soldier’s Life
, 635 (“
an indication that I had failed
”); corr, Everett S. Hughes to wife, Dec. 1, 1944, Hughes papers, LOC MS Div, box II:3, folder 4 (“
We are all so human
”).

Staking Everything on One Card

An iron sky roofed the gray-green Taunus Hills
: Alfred Jodl, ETHINT 51, July 31, 1945, MHI, 24.

To the unschooled eye
: Kappes, “Hitler’s Ultra-Secret Adlerhorst,” 2003,
http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/articles/adlerhorst.aspx
(
Interior furnishings
); White,
Conquerors’ Road
, 54–57 (
heavy metal doors and peepholes
); Raiber, “The Führerhauptquartiere,”
AB
, no. 19 (1977): 1
+
(
Artificial trees
); “Kransberg-die Perle in Taunus,”
www.kransberg.com
(
centuries of neglect
).