The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (156 page)

“
Ike was good
”: Crosswell,
Beetle
, 786.

The evening ended in stilted silences
: Eisenhower,
Eisenhower at War, 1943–1945
, 552 (“
evening of my life
”); Danchev, 634–35 (“
utterly failed
”); Ambrose,
Eisenhower: Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect, 1890–1952
, vol. 1, 361.

Eisenhower flew back to Versailles
: Carver, ed.,
The War Lords
, 533; Chandler, 2341 (“
Brooke seemed disturbed
”); Eisenhower,
Eisenhower at War, 1943–1945
, 550 (“
let it be sunny
”).

“
I greatly fear the dwindling
”: D’Este,
Decision in Normandy
, 265; Howard,
British Intelligence in the Second World War
, vol. 5,
Strategic Deception
, 199 (
fourteen British divisions
); memo, E. I. C. Jacob, Dec. 5, 1944. Also, BLM to A. Brooke, Oct. 26, 1944 (“
acute problem in the next six months
”), and A. Brooke to WSC, Nov. 3, 1944; WSC, “Personal Minute,” Dec. 3, 1944, and “Note on Reduction of 50 Div in 21 Army Group,” Dec. 8, 1944, and memo, WSC, Dec. 12, 1944: all in UK NA, WO 215/101;
VW
, vol. 2, 142–43 (
Wastage in infantry riflemen
); Hastings,
Armageddon
, 77 (
20 percent
).

“
All of us are now faced with an unanticipated shortage
”: FDR to WSC, Oct. 16, 1944, in NARA RG 165, E 422, WD, OPD, history unit, box 55.

The American dearth was even more problematic
:
GS
VI, 19; Matloff,
Strategic Planning for Coalition Warfare, 1943–1944
, 409 (
new B-29 bomber
); Eiler,
Mobilizing America
, 400 (
300,000 workers already building
), 397 (
occupational deferments
), 417n (
hard-pressed critical industries
); Bland, ed.,
George C. Marshall Interviews and Reminiscences for Forrest C. Pogue
, 390 (
Marshall felt pressure
).

To swell the ranks, Selective Service exemptions
: Kennedy,
Freedom from Fear
, 635; Eiler,
Mobilizing America
, 635 (
many new privates
); Palmer et al.,
The Procurement and Training of Ground Combat Troops
, 207, 224 (
ban on shipping eighteen-year-olds
);
LSA
, vol. 2, 506 (“
physically imperfect men
”); Wiltse, ed.,
Physical Standards in World War II
, 194 (“
such terms as ‘imbecile’”
), 42, 199–200 (“
put their hands under cars
”).

The need for more soldiers
:
LSA
, vol. 2, 316–17 (
two thousand a day
and
trench foot epidemic
); Palmer et al.,
The Procurement and Training of Ground Combat Troops
, 217 (
figure hit three thousand
); “Reinforcement System and Reinforcement Procedures in the European Theater,” n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, AG WWII operations reports, 97-USF-0.3.0, study no. 3 (
three hundred thousand individual replacement troops
); Robert J. Greenwald, “Human Logistics: The Supplying of Men, a Study of the Reinforcement System,” Jan. 31, 1945, ETOUSA, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #571-K, 94 (
below its authorized strength
); Bradley Commentaries, Chester B. Hansen collection, MHI, box 42 (“
life expectancy of a junior officer
”); diary, Dec. 3, 1944, GSP, LOC MS Div, box 3, folder 9 (“
Our situation is bad
”).

All combat arms felt pinched
: “Report of Observers, ETO,” Apr. 27, 1945, NARA RG 337, AGF OR no. 371 (“
delivery of armored replacements
”); Rush,
Hell in Hürtgen Forest
, 65 (“
black line on a map
”);
LSA
, vol. 2, 506 (
obsolete data
); Greenwald, “Human Logistics: The Supplying of Men, a Study of the Reinforcement System,” Jan. 31, 1945, ETOUSA, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #571-K, 75 (
actual figure was 83 percent
); Palmer et al.,
The Procurement and Training of Ground Combat Troops
, 216 (
a need for 300,000
).

Of more than eight million soldiers in the Army
: Weigley,
History of the United States Army
, 440; Palmer, “Procurement of Enlisted Personnel for the AGF: The Problem of Quality,” 1946, AGF, historical section S #4, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, box 150, 40 (
disproportionate
share
); Eric Klinek, “The Army’s Orphans: The United States Army Replacement System During World War II and Its Impact on Combat Effectiveness,” paper, SMH, Ogden, Utah, Apr. 19, 2008.

The severest shortage was of that priceless creature
: Crosswell,
Beetle
, 797; Weigley,
History of the United States Army
, 464 (
27 rifle companies
); “Reinforcement System and Reinforcement Procedures in the European Theater,” n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, AG WWII operations reports, 97-USF-0.3.0, study no. 3 (“
We find ourselves totally out
”); Fussell,
The Boys’ Crusade
, 96 (“
Nobody gets out
”); Fussell,
Doing Battle
, 122 (“
no infantryman can survive
”).

Frantic efforts were made
: Crosswell,
Beetle
, 788 (
Seventeen of those divisions
); Palmer et al.,
The Procurement and Training of Ground Combat Troops
, 472–74 (
sixteen platoon leaders
); Report No. ETO-5, n.d., Surveys of Attitudes of Soldiers Fighting in the ETO, NARA RG 330, E 94, 6 (“
show them how to load their rifles
”).

Crash programs to convert quartermaster soldiers
: Robert J. Greenwald, “Human Logistics: The Supplying of Men, a Study of the Reinforcement System,” Jan. 31, 1945, ETOUSA, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #571-K, 84–85; Report No. ETO-5, n.d., Surveys of Attitudes of Soldiers Fighting in the ETO, NARA RG 330, E 94, 13 (“
miracle men
”); Steckel, “Morale Problems in Combat,”
Army History
(summer 1994): 1
+
(“
retreads
”); Edward J. Drea, “Unit Reconstitution: A Historical Perspective,” Dec. 1983, CSI, 19 (
refused to accept hundreds
); inspection report, 16th Reinforcement Depot, Dec. 29–31, 1944, NARA RG 498, 290/57/30/4, box 2, file 3 (“
State of mind of men
”); Crosswell,
Beetle
, 789 (“
aren’t good for anything else
”); Fussell,
Doing Battle
, 108 (“You
are expendable
”).

Even the deployment of intact divisions
: “History of the Red List,” 1946, CMH, 3-5.1 A BA, 1-4, 55f, 60–66, 75.

The Red List was a paragon of efficiency
: memo, DDE to GCM, Feb. 17, 1945, NARA RG 498, SGS IG, 333.5 (“
feeling of being a lost soul
”); Greenwald, “Human Logistics: The Supplying of Men, a Study of the Reinforcement System,” Jan. 31, 1945, ETOUSA, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #571-K, 34 (
adhesive tape
); “History of the Ground Force Replacement System, ETO,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETO HD file #571A (
World War I–vintage rifles
); OH, Andre Beaumont, n.d., ROHA,
http://oralhistory.rutgers.edu
(“
We left Fort Meade
”).

Replacements traveled for days
: Robert J. Greenwald, “Human Logistics: The Supplying of Men, a Study of the Reinforcement System,” Jan. 31, 1945, ETOUSA, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #571-K, 16–17, 21; corr, DDE to GCM, Feb. 25, 1945, NARA RG 498, SGS IG, 333.5 (“
We have reduced the figure
”); inspection report, 16th Reinforcement Depot, Dec. 29–31, 1944, NARA RG 498, 290/57/30/4, box 2, file 3 (“
stockage depots
”); Eric Klinek, “The Army’s Orphans: The United States Army Replacement System During World War II and Its Impact on Combat Effectiveness,” paper, SMH conference, Apr. 19, 2008, Ogden, Utah (
combat skills deteriorated
); “History of the Ground Force Replacement System, ETO,” n.d., chapter 4, “Major Problems Encountered by Ground Force Reinforcement Command,” NARA RG 498, ETO HD file #571F, 346 (“
had not bathed in thirty days
”).

“
We want to feel that we are a part of something
”: Report No. ETO-5, n.d., Surveys of Attitudes of Soldiers Fighting in the ETO, NARA RG 330, E 94, 14; Robert J. Greenwald, “Human Logistics: The Supplying of Men, A Study of the Reinforcement System,” Jan. 31, 1945, ETOUSA, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #571-K, 34–36 (“
scared the pants off
”).

Court House Lee proposed on December 1
: Robert J. Greenwald, “Human Logistics: The Supplying of Men, a Study of the Reinforcement System,” Jan. 31, 1945, ETOUSA, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #571-K, 34–35, 65, 36 (
almost half a million replacements
); Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story
, 446–47 (“
cannon fodder implication
”); memo, “Replacement System,” July 29, 1944, 9th ID IG, NARA RG 498, box 9, file 34 (“
morale of our officers
”).

Now the Army’s ability to replenish its ranks
: Lee,
The Employment of Negro Troops
, 688–89 (
shortage of 23,000
);
LSA
, vol. 2, 321–28 (
truncated to two weeks
).

No one was more fretful than Omar Bradley
: The tank figure includes those in Ninth Army, temporarily seconded to 21st AG (Royce L. Thompson, “Ardennes Campaign Statistics,” Apr. 1952, OCMH, NARA RG 319, E 97,
LSA
vol. 1, background files, box 7).

mustered less than 80 percent
: “Report of Operations,” n.d., 12th AG, vol. 2, G-1 section, CARL, 30; Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story
, 446–47 (“
Don’t they realize
”).

“Go Easy, Boys. There’s Danger Ahead”

Allied intelligence first recognized in September
: Hinsley, 550–55; Bennett,
Ultra in the West
, 189–99; “Estimate No. 37,” First Army, G-2, Dec. 10, 1944, USAREUR staff ride, Dec. 2001 (
Skorzeny
); memo, K. W. D. Strong, SHAEF, to army groups, Oct. 19, 1944, NARA RG 331, SHAEF SGS, 383.6/4, box 86.

The U.S. First Army had flown
: Hinsley, 558–59 (
361 reconnaissance sorties
);
AAFinWWII
, 679 (
canvas-covered flatcars
); Bennett,
Ultra in the West
, 196 (
two hundred troop trains
).

None of this suggested an enemy offensive
: Royce L. Thompson, “American Intelligence on the German Counteroffensive,” vol. 1, Nov. 1949, CMH, 2-3.7 AE P-1 (
counterattack force
); Hinsley, 558–59 (“
true counter-offensive
”); Sibert, G-2, 12th AG, “Military Intelligence Aspects of the Period Prior to the Ardennes Counter Offensive,” sent to Hanson Baldwin, Jan. 2, 1947, CBM, MHI, box 6, 8–9 (
reconnaissance of the Meuse bridges
);
VW
, vol. 2, 175 (“
bruited drive on Antwerp
”).

Those nearest the front
: “Estimate of Enemy Capabilities Prior to the Counter-Offensive,” n.d., in “History of the Ardennes Campaign,” NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584, box 1, 4 (
officers interviewing German prisoners
);
TSC
, 365 (
assumed to be green units
); Royce L. Thompson, “American Intelligence on the German Counteroffensive,” vol. 2, “Division Level,” March 1949, CARL, N-16829.2 (“
German army
[
is
]
disintegrating
”);
Ardennes
, 59–61.

Several factors fed this disregard
:
TSC
, 372 (
Hitler rather than the prudent Rundstedt
);
VW
, vol. 2, 171 (“
in the hands of soldiers
”); 21st AG intelligence review, Dec. 3, 1944, Oscar W. Koch papers, MHI, box 12 (
No sensible field marshal
); Pogue, “The Ardennes Campaign: The Impact of Intelligence,” lecture, Dec. 16, 1980, NSA Communications Analysis Association, a.p. (“we
would not attack
”); Sibert, G-2, 12th AG, “Military Intelligence Aspects of the Period Prior to the Ardennes Counter Offensive,” sent to Hanson Baldwin, Jan. 2, 1947, CBM, MHI, box 6, 3 (“
intentions of a maniac
”).

Top Allied officers also had become overly enchanted
: Bennett,
Ultra in the West
, 191; “Synthesis of Experiences in the Use of Ultra Intelligence by U.S. Army Field Command in the ETO,” n.d., NARA RG 457, E 9002, NSA, SRH-006, 12–16.

“
They had become so dependent
”: OH, Richard Collins, 1976, Donald Bowman, SOOHP, MHI, 8; OH, Ralph Hauenstein, Jan. and Feb. 2102, author, Palm Beach and Naples, Fla. The list of Ultra recipients grew to about six hundred by March 1945 (“List of Recipients,” March 25, 1945, Richard Collins papers, MHI, box 1).

“
Instead of being the best
”: E. T. Williams, “Reports Received by U.S. War Department on Use of Ultra in the European Theater,” Oct. 1945, NARA RG 457, E 9002, NSA, SRH-037, 1, 13; Bennett,
Ultra in the West
, 202–3; Lewin,
Ultra Goes to War
, 428–33.

Some would later claim clairvoyance
: “Estimate No. 37,” First Army, G-2, Dec. 10, 1944, USAREUR staff ride, Dec. 2001;
TSC
, 366–68 (
a windy alarmist
); OH, E. T. Williams, May 30–31, 1947, FCP, MHI; Strong,
Intelligence at the Top
, 242–43;
TT
, 76–77 (
departure from Spa
); Weigley,
Eisenhower’s Lieutenants
, 460.