The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (159 page)

Jones’s stand-fast decision
: “The Losheim Gap,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETO HD, UD 584, 32;
Ardennes
, 165–67; “Report of Action Against Enemy,” 106th ID, Jan. 6, 1945, Alan W. Jones papers, MHI, box 1; John C. Hollinger, “The Operations of the 422nd Infantry Regiment,” IS, 1949 (“
absolutely no expression
”).

“
My poor men
”:
TT
, 340.

Cooks made towering stacks of pancakes
: John P. Kline, “The Service Diary of German War Prisoner #315136,” n.d., CBM, MHI, box 2; OH, 106th ID, “German Breakthrough in the Ardennes,” n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folders 244–245a (
compass azimuth
); Dupuy,
St. Vith: Lion in the Way
, 123 (“
Where the hell are we?
”); “Report on Allied Air Force Operations,” May 21, 1945, SHAEF, A-3, CARL, N-9371; Royce L. Thompson, “Air Resupply to Isolated Units, Ardennes Campaign,” Feb. 1951, CMH, 2-3.7 AE P, 2–3, 26–29 (“
command incoordination
”).

“
Attack Schönberg
”:
TT
, 340.

At daybreak on Tuesday, three battalions
: OH, 106th ID, “German Breakthrough in the Ardennes,” n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folders 244–245a; corr, George A. Curtis, Sept. 7, 1957, CBM, MHI, box 4 (“
this isn’t exactly as we planned
”).

By one
P.M.
, at least one battalion
: memo, Distinguished Unit Citation nomination, 423rd Inf, CBM, MHI, box 4; “A Glimpse of War,” n.d., submitted by Robert Fullam, NWWIIM, 9 (“
their skin that yellow-white
”); OH, 106th ID, “German Breakthrough in the Ardennes,” n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folders 244–245a (“
Go blow it out your ass
”); Alan W. Jones, Jr., “The Operations of the 423rd Infantry,” IS, 1949, 26 (
Spirits soared for a moment
).

At 2:30
P.M.
, with two thousand of his men
:
http://www.purplehearts.net/descheneaux/descheneaux.htm
(“
like fish in a pond
”); OH, 106th ID, “German Breakthrough in the Ardennes,” n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folders 244–245a (“
Destroy all weapons
”);
TT
, 343–45 (
Descheneaux sat on the lip
); memo, Distinguished Unit Citation nomination, 423rd Inf, CBM, MHI, box 4; Leo R. Leisse, “Diary of an Ex-P.O.W.,” n.d., CBM, MHI, box 5, 2–4 (
Cavender had reached the same conclusion
); Richard A. Hartman, “The Combat History of the 590th Field Artillery Battalion,” 1949, CBM, MHI, box 2 (“
We surrender
”).

A few diehards lay low
:
Ardennes
, 170; Morelock,
Generals of the Ardennes
, 275 (“
I’ve lost a division quicker
”); memos, Jan. 26 and March 8, 1945, 365th Station Hospital, Alan W. Jones papers, MHI, box 1 (“
Detachment of Patients
”); Winton,
Corps Commanders of the Bulge
, 253–56, 412.

Long columns of prisoners plodded
: John P. Kline, “The Service Diary of German War Prisoner #315136,” CBM, MHI, box 2 (
wounded men wailing
); OH, Jacques Peterges, Aug. 5, 1981, and Adolf Schür, Aug. 10, 1981, CBM, MHI, box 6 (
catcalling
); William P. Kirkbridge, “Negotiations for the Surrender at Losheimergraben,” n.d., Richard H. Byers papers, 99th ID, MHI, box 1 (“
tanks towing other tanks
”).

“
Do not flee
”: corr, John I. Hungerford to JT, June 26, 1957, CBM, MHI, box 4; Leo R. Leisse, “Diary of an Ex-P.O.W.,” n.d., CBM, MHI, box 5, 3–4 (
back to belly
); Roger S. Durham, “The Past Is Present: The World War II Service of George E. Durham,” 1996, a.p., 174–75 (
potato skins
); John P. Kline, “The Service Diary of German War Prisoner #315136,” n.d., CBM, MHI, box 2 (“
made us take off our overshoes
”).

“
Bayonets aren’t much good
”: Carroll,
Behind the Lines
, 318–20.

“
Success—complete success
”:
TT
, 193.

“Why Are You Not Packing?”

A leaden overcast in Luxembourg City
: Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story
, 449 (
Coca-Cola
and “
lifeless chimneys
”); war diaries, Dec. 16, 1944, ONB papers, MHI; “Destroy the Enemy,”
Time
, Dec. 4, 1944; Weintraub,
11 Days in December
, 54–55 (“
There’s been a complete breakthrough
”).

Shortly before three
P.M.
, a SHAEF colonel
: memo, “Conference in War Room,” Dec. 16, 1944, Harold R. Bull papers, DDE Lib, box 2; “Excerpts from Diary, D/SAC,” Dec. 16, 1944, NARA RG 319,
SC
background files, 2-3.7 CB 8; Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story
, 449; Strong,
Intelligence at the Top
, 212–17 (“
it would be wrong to underrate
”).

Eisenhower and Bradley dined that night
:
http://www.ibiblio.org/lia/president/EisenhowerLibrary/_General_Materials/DDE_Biography.html
(
ascended from lieutenant colonel to general
); Miller,
Ike the Soldier
, 723 (
Piper Scotch
); diary, Dec. 17, 1944, CBH, MHI, box 4 (
five rubbers of bridge
).

Eisenhower in a subsequent cable to Marshall
:
TSC
, 375, 376n;
TT
, 186 (“
Tell him that Ike
”).

Other moves quickly followed
: DDE, “The Battle of the Ardennes Salient,” Dec. 23, 1944, Sidney H. Negrotto papers, MHI;
Ardennes
, 334 (
Army tactical doctrine
);
TSC
, 380 (“
By rushing out
”); Strong,
Intelligence at the Top
, 219 (“
Why are you not packing?
”).

In a message to Marshall
: Chandler, 2368; war diaries, Dec. 17, 1944, ONB papers, MHI (
at least fourteen German divisions
); diary, Dec. 17, 1944, CBH, MHI, box 4 (
sedatives
); memoir, H. Wentworth Eldredge, n.d., Thaddeus Holt papers, MHI (
buried secret documents
).

Still Bradley affected nonchalance
: diary, Dec. 17, 1944, Raymond G. Moses papers, MHI, box 1 (“
Rhine crossing plan
”); diary, Dec. 18, 1944, CBH, MHI, box 4 (“
I don’t take too serious
”). Gen. Sibert, the army group G-2, continued to see the offensive as a “diversionary attack” that “cannot be regarded as a major long term threat” (
TT
, 190).

Among those who no longer agreed
:
Ardennes
, 332 (
engineer company
); memoir, H. Wentworth Eldredge, n.d., Thaddeus Holt papers, MHI (“
Oh, what a beautiful mornin’”
); Carpenter,
No Woman’s World
, 209 (“
briskly up, over, and across
”).

Fourteen First Army divisions
:
Ardennes
, 259; “The Defense of St. Vith, Belgium,” n.d., AS, Ft. K, NARA RG 407, E 427, Miscl AG Records, #2280, 5–6 (
165-mile front
); Knickerbocker et al.,
Danger Forward
, 338 (
Church bells
); “Defense of Spa,” 518th M.P. Bn, n.d., in “History of the Ardennes Campaign,” NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584, box 2 (
civilian curfew
); Middleton,
Our Share of Night
, 341 (
tin pans and crockery
); Carpenter,
No Woman’s World
, 205–6 (
perimeter strongpoints
); Rosengarten, “With Ultra from Omaha Beach to Weimar, Germany,”
Military Affairs
(Oct. 1978): 127
+
(
German paratroopers
); Pogue,
Pogue’s War
, 296–97 (
lawyers and accountants
).

Soldiers in muddy boots tromped through the Britannique
: “Defense of Spa,” 518th M.P. Bn, n.d., in “History of the Ardennes Campaign,” NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584, box 2 (
twenty-one jailed collaborators
); Pogue,
Pogue’s War
, 294 (“
Thermite grenades
”); Zuckerman,
From Apes to Warlords
, 312 (
among those building bonfires
); OH, Robert A. Hewitt, 1981, Earl D. Bevan, SOOHP, MHI, 175; Benjamin A. Dickson, “G-2 Journal: Algiers to the Elbe,” MHI, 183 (
Kasserine Pass
).

Perhaps the prospect of a similar debacle
: The most comprehensive account of this episode is to be found in Hogan,
A Command Post at War
, 212.

“
probably the most shaken man I have ever seen
”: corr, E. N. Harmon to G. F. Howe, Oct. 21, 1952, OCMH, NARA RG 319, Howe papers, background files to
Northwest Africa
:
Seizing the Initiative in the West, USAWWII
; Bradley Commentaries, CBH, MHI, boxes 41–42 (“
almost went to pieces
”); Bolger, “Zero Defects: Command Climate in First U.S. Army, 1944–1945,”
Military Review
(May 1991): 61
+
; OH, Adolph Rosengarten, Jr., Dec. 22, 1947, FCP, MHI (
considered relieving Hodges
).

Officers fussed over how to pack
: Pogue,
Pogue’s War
, 296–97 (“
I imagine that the Germans
”); Sylvan, 225 (
photos of President Roosevelt
); Carpenter,
No Woman’s World
, 212 (“
take my child
”); memo, IG, March 21, 1945, NARA RG 338, First Army AG General Corr, box 223 (
bolting for Huy
); Royce L. Thompson, “Military Impact of the German V-Weapons, 1943–1945,” July 31, 1953, CMH, 2-3.7 AE-P-4, 38 (
V-1s hit two fleeing convoys
).

When Hodges tarried at the Britannique
: Carpenter,
No Woman’s World
, 213 (“
Save yourself
”); OH, JLC, 1972, Charles C. Sperow, SOOHP, MHI, 229–30; Sylvan, 221 (
opened at midnight
); Morelock,
Generals of the Ardennes
, 150 (
food simmering
).

A British liasion officer
: Hastings,
Armageddon
, 205–7; Hogan,
A Command Post at War
, 217 (
flagged down passing truck drivers
), 223 (
not until a week into the German offensive
); Morelock,
Generals of the Ardennes
, 150 (
uncertain where the First Army command post
); corr, Weldon Hogie to family, Dec. 30, 1944, “Letters Back Home,” a.p., 82–83 (“
We can’t lose three months’ gains
”).

Evacuation of the vast supply dumps
: “Operational History of the Advance Section, COMZ,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #583F, 109; Robert M. Littlejohn, ed., “Battle of the Bulge,” 1955, chapter 21, PIR, MHI, 3–4 (
stocks could be found in the rear
); Fest, “The German Ardennes Offensive: A Study in Retrograde Logistics,”
Ordnance
(Feb. 1983): 51
+
; Wendt, “Logistics in Retrograde Movements,”
Military Review
(July 1948): 34
+
.

Three miles of primacord
: “Ardennes, Supply Installations, Withdraw of,” FUSA, Apr. 29, 1945, NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584, box 2; Cooper,
Death Traps
, 183 (
fuel dump covered several square miles
); “The Quartermaster in the Bulge,” in “History of the Ardennes Campaign,” NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584, box 2 (
ignited in a roadblock
); Wendt, “Logistics in Retrograde Movements,”
Military Review
(July 1948): 34
+
.

Crows or starlings might have been mistaken
: “Kampfgruppe von der Heydte,” FMS, #B-823, JT, LOC MS Div, box 38; interrogation, F. von der Heydte, Oct. 31, 1945, London, NARA RG 407, E 427, ML #1068;
Ardennes
, 271.

Operation
GREIF
, or
“
condor
”: DOB, 244 (
flamboyant Viennese commando
);
Ardennes
, 270 (
150th Armored Brigade
); Skorzeny,
Skorzeny’s Special Missions
, 156–58; interrogation, Otto Skorzeny, n.d., ETHINT 12, CBM, box 12; Weingartner, “Otto Skorzeny and the Laws of War,”
JMH
(Apr. 1991): 207
+
(Casablanca).

found to be wearing swastika brassards
: “The History of the CIC,” n.d., Intelligence Center, Ft. Holabird, CBM, box 6, 2–3, 10–12, 19; memo, Richard F. Shappell to Hugh M. Cole, May 14, 1945, FUSA G-2, Operation GREIF, NARA RG 407, E 429, ML #994 (
sixteen infiltrators
);
Ardennes
, 559 (
without effecting a single act
), 360–63; Weingartner, “Otto Skorzeny and the Laws of War,”
JMH
(Apr. 1991): 207
+
.

The sole accomplishment of
GREIF:
memo, C. Hodges to SHAEF, Dec. 20, 1944, NARA RG 331, E 1, SGS, “Assassins,” box 8; “The History of the CIC,” n.d., Intelligence Center, Ft. Holabird, CBM, box 6, 12; memo, FUSA to SHAEF, Dec. 22, 1944, NARA RG 331, E 1, SGS, “Assassins,” box 8 (“
dueling scars
”); Toland,
Battle
, 158–59 (
brawling over a ballerina
and
nuns
); CI News Sheet No. 12, Dec. 26, 1944, 21st AG, in FUSA G-2, Operation GREIF, NARA RG 407, E 429, ML #994 (
sulfuric acid
); Paul E. Kohli, “Stavelot, Belgium, 16–18 December 1944,” 1985, Columbus WWII Round Table collection, MHI, box 1, 5 (
spoke English better
); “The History of the CIC,” n.d., Intelligence Center, Ft. Holabird, CBM, box 6, 18 (
top button of a uniform
);
Ardennes
, 559 (“
Belgian or French café keepers
”).