The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (173 page)

Waters kept a pocket notebook
: John K. Waters, “Remembrances,” a.p., courtesy George Patton “Pat” Waters.

He also maintained a “Wartime Log
”: John K. Waters, “A Wartime Log,” a.p., courtesy George Patton “Pat” Waters.

The great Russian winter offensive
: Blatman,
The Death Marches
, 407; “Sketches from the Lives of the Kriegies of Oflag 64,” 1997, a.p., 34; OH, Brooks Kleber, June 27, 1989, William A. Young, III, Kleber papers, MHI, 8–18 (
secret radio
).

On February 26, the column was herded
: Margry, “The Hammelburg Raid,”
AB
, no. 91 (1996): 1
+
; Baron et al.,
Raid!
, 46–48.

Conditions at Hammelburg were wretched
: Deborah A. Smith, “American Prisoners of War in Germany, 1944–45: Hammelburg,” May 10, 1976, and OH, Brooks Kleber, June 27, 1989, William A. Young, III, both in Kleber papers, MHI, 19.

Patton had hoped to hear
: diary, Jan. 18, 1945, GSP, LOC, MS Div, box 3, folder 9; diary, Third Army chief of staff, Feb. 9, 1945, Hobart Gay papers, MHI, box 2, 722 (
Soviet intelligence
); Blumenson,
Patton: The Man Behind the Legend, 1885–1945
, 260–61 (
new arrivals at Hammelburg
);
PP
, 667 (“
We are headed
”); corr, GSP to Beatrice, March 25, 1945, GSP, LOC MS Div, box 13 (“
Hope to send an expedition
”).

The dubious honor of rescuing
: Baron et al.,
Raid!
, 21–25; “Interview of Major Abraham J. Baum,” Sept. 14, 1945, JT, LOC MS Div,
LHD
, box 1; Margry, “The Hammelburg Raid,”
AB
, no. 91 (1996): 1
+
; Whitaker, “Task Force Baum and the Hammelburg Raid,”
Armor
(Sept.–Oct. 1996): 20
+
; diary, Manton Eddy, XII Corp CG, March 26, 1945, FCP, MHI (
Patton ordered XII Corps
); Alexander C. Stiller, ts, n.d., GSP, LOC MS Div, box 49, folder 13; Blumenson, “The Hammelburg Affair,”
Army
(Oct. 1965): 16
+
(“
thrills and laughs
”).

Patton had proposed sending
: OH, Abraham Baum, “Interview by Mr. Lake, War Correspondent,” n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427; OH, Abraham J. Baum, Apr. 10, 1945, D. G. Dayton and S. J. Tobin, JT, LOC MS Div,
LHD
, box 1 (
fifteen maps
);
PP
, 668–70; Blumenson,
Patton: The Man Behind the Legend, 1885–1945
, 260–61 (
east of a corps driving north
); Sorley,
Thunderbolt
, 92–93 (“
What the hell
”); corr, GSP to Beatrice, March 27, 1945, GSP, LOC MS Div, box 13 (“
nervous as a cat
”);
PP
, 666 (“
I do not believe
”).

After skirmishes near Aschaffenburg
: Baron et al.,
Raid!
, 99–109. A meticulous contemporary effort by Peter Domes to reconstruct the raid can be found under “US Schedule,”
http://taskforcebaum.de/schedule/schedule%20us.html
.

American tank and machine-gun fire
: Margry, “The Hammelburg Raid,”
AB
, no. 91 (1996): 1
+
; Alexander C. Stiller, ts, n.d., GSP, MS Div, box 49, folder 13 (“
scattered like quail
”); Baron et al.,
Raid!
, 118–19, 133 (“
Mazel tov
”); “Notes on Task Force Baum, Narrative of Capt. Baum,” n.d., NWWIIM.

Here trouble awaited them
: Alexander C. Stiller, ts, n.d., GSP, MS Div, box 49, folder 13; Margry, “The Hammelburg Raid,”
AB
, no. 91 (1996): 1
+
.

Drumfire and coiling black smoke
: Herndon Inge, Jr., untitled memoir, n.d., MHI, 711–17;
LHD
, 292 (
offered absolution
), 294 (“
No smoking
”).

With consent from a German commandant
: corr, John K. Waters to Harry H. Semmes, Sept. 15, 1953, JT, LOC MS Div,
LHD
, box 1; OH, John K. Waters, 1980, William C. Parnell, III, 277–79; Baron et al.,
Raid!
, 156–57 (
coccyx
); Margry, “The Hammelburg Raid,”
AB
, no. 91 (1996): 1
+
(
paper bandages
).

Baum’s tanks meanwhile
: Alexander C. Stiller, ts, n.d., GSP, MS Div, box 49, folder 13; Herndon Inge, Jr., untitled memoir, n.d., MHI, 711–17; OH, Col. Paul R. Goode, May 17, 1945, JT, LOC MS Div,
LHD
, box 2 (
he confronted 1,291
).

It was now 6:30
P.M.
: Baron et al.,
Raid!
, 162–64.

Evening’s first stars glittered
: OH, Col. Paul R. Goode, May 17, 1945, JT, LOC MS Div,
LHD
, box 2; OH, R. S. Garner, 707th Tank Bn, 28th ID, May 4, 1945, NARA RG 407, Miscl AG records, ML 857, box 19133 (
a few compasses
).

Scouts reported ambushes and roadblocks
: “Notes on Task Force Baum,” 4th AD, Apr. 10, 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427, file 604-0.3.0, box 12337; OH, R. S. Gardner, 28th ID, May 4, 1945, 707th Tank Bn, 28th ID, May 4, 1945, NARA RG 407, Miscl AG records, ML 857, box 19133.

“
A sheet of hell
”: Baron et al.,
Raid!
, 202–3; Alexander C. Stiller, ts, n.d., GSP, MS Div, box 49, folder 13 (“
they destroyed us
”).

“
Every man for himself
”: Baron et al.,
Raid!
, 202–3; Margry, “The Hammelburg Raid,”
AB
, no. 91 (1996): 1
+
; OH, Brooks Kleber, June 27, 1989, William A. Young, III, Kleber papers, MHI, 21–22 (“
Get a good sleep
”).

“March 27
:
‘
Shot
’”: John K. Waters, “Remembrances,” a.p., courtesy George Patton “Pat” Waters.

Not for some days
: Baron et al.,
Raid!
, 250.

Patton both evaded responsibility
: Phillips,
The Making of a Professional
, 184 (
undersized force
);
PP
, 667 (“
I felt by hazarding
”); D’Este,
Patton: A Genius for War
, 717 (
long after the raid
).

“
I had known of the camp
”: corr, GSP to Beatrice, March 31, 1945, GSP, LOC MS Div, box 13.

“
They are trying to make an incident
”: corr, GSP to Beatrice, Apr. 13, 1945, GSP, LOC MS Div, box 13.

Ten days after the raid
: Margry, “The Hammelburg Raid,”
AB
, no. 91 (1996): 1
+
; Baron et al.,
Raid!
, 244–49 (“
courageous devotion
”).

Patton had abused his authority
: Hirshson,
General Patton: A Soldier’s Life
, 623; Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story
, 542–43 (“
Failure itself
”); Chandler, 2616–17 (“
crackpot actions
”).

Lovers’ Quarrels Are a Part of Love

Eisenhower’s office in Reims
: Williams, “Supreme Headquarters for D-Day,”
AB
, no. 84 (1994): 1
+
; Kessler,
The Battle of the Ruhr Pocket
, 49 (
Military convoys crawled
);
SC
, 420 (
more than five thousand
); Joseph R. Darnall, “Powdered Eggs and Purple Hearts,” 1946, MHUC, group 1, box 24, 180 (
jitterbugging soldiers
).

“
France smells wonderful
”: corr, Howard J. Silbar to family, Apr. 15, 1945, Silbar papers, MHI, box 1.

Eisenhower
“
looked terrible
”: Bradley and Blair,
A General’s Life
, 410; Morgan,
Past Forgetting
, 216–17 (“
physical and mental condition
”); Crosswell,
Beetle
, 878–89 (“
Ike shouts and rants
”).

The supreme commander needed rest
: Morgan,
Past Forgetting
, 217–18; Thomas W. Mattingly and Olive F. G. Marsh, “A Compilation of the General Health System of Dwight D. Eisenhower,” Mattingly papers, DDE Lib, box 1; D’Este,
Eisenhower: A Soldier’s Life
, 679–81 (“
Those of us
”).

“
Ike has learnt his lesson
”: Roberts,
Masters and Commanders
, 560.

“
As soon as you have joined hands
”: Chandler, 2552, 2593 (“
simplicity itself
”).

“
I get tired of trying to arrange
”: ibid., 2521; “Strategy of the Campaign in Western Europe, 1944–1945,” n.d., USFET, General Board study no. 1, 97 (
ten thousand German soldiers
); OH, John Whiteley, May 15, 1963, CJR, box 44, folder 3 (“
if anything was to be done
”).

Montgomery was gobsmacked
:
VW
, vol. 2, 299–301; Crosswell,
Beetle
, 887 (“
blow from Ike
”); Hamilton,
Monty: Final Years of the Field-Marshal, 1944–1976
, 446 (“
violent, pro-American
”), 458 (“
prolong the war
”); Roberts,
Masters and Commanders
, 564 (“
only himself to blame
”).

Allied planners had presumed that Berlin
: Chandler, 2561, 2568 (“
In none of this do I mention Berlin
”).

The Red Army was thirty miles from Berlin
:
LO
, 340–41;
GS
VI, 132–33; Murphy,
Diplomat Among Warriors
, 229; OH, Arthur Nevins, Aug. 15, 1972, Maclyn P. Burg and John E. Wickman, Nevins papers, DDE Lib, 60;
SC
, 445; Chandler, 2553n (“
unfortunate incidents
”).

On a single day in early April
: That aircraft incident occurred on April 2 (Chandler, 2602).

Postwar occupation zones already
: Greenfield, ed.,
Command Decisions
, 387; Kershaw,
Hitler, 1936–45: Nemesis
, 786 (“
Destructive Measures
”); Ambrose,
Eisenhower and Berlin, 1945
, 29–30, 42; OH, John Whiteley, May 15, 1963, CJR, box 44, folder 3; OH, DDE, n.d., CJR, box 43, file 7, 26 (“
What would you have done
”).

None of this went down easily
: Kimball, ed.,
Churchill & Roosevelt: The Complete Correspondence
, vol. 3, 604;
SC
, 442 (“
The commander in the field
”).

“
We might be condemned
”: Greenfield, ed.,
Command Decisions
, 380.

“
Berlin remains
”: Kimball, ed.,
Churchill & Roosevelt: The Complete Correspondence
, vol. 3, 604–5.

“
very logical objectives
”: ibid., 608.

“
I shall not attempt any move
”:
SC
, 468.

The Allied juggernaut in the west had grown
: More than two-thirds of the divisions were American (
LO
, 322).

They faced a tatterdemalion enemy
: 12th AG, G-2 summary no. 43, March 25, 1945, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, UD 603, box 3.

Gasoline had grown precious
: German gasoline production was less than one-tenth what it had been a year earlier (“Target Priorities of the Eighth Air Force,” May 15, 1945, Carl A. Spaatz papers, LOC MS Div, box 326, folder VIII A.F., 23); Robert J. C. Osborne et al., “The 9th Armored Division in the Exploitation of Remagen Bridgehead,” March 1950, AS, Ft. K, 9 (“
fifty-man panzer crew
”).

Montgomery had not quite yielded
: Chandler, 2594;
SC
, 446 (“
It is quite clear
”).

Lovers’ quarrels
: War Department translation. Kimball, ed.,
Churchill & Roosevelt: The Complete Correspondence
, vol. 3, 604, 612.

With Armed Forces Radio playing
: Knickerbocker et al.,
Danger Forward
, 380 (“
Last Round-up
”); Robert J. C. Osborne et al., “The 9th Armored Division in the Exploitation of Remagen Bridgehead,” March 1950, AS, Ft. K, 30; Schrijvers,
The Crash of Ruin
, 141 (“
dream roads
”); Triplet,
A Colonel in the Armored Regiments
, 232–33 (
cloverleaf ramps
); Jack A. Marshall, “Once Upon a War,” 2009, a.p., 131–32 (“
Onward, Christian Soldiers
”); OH, Andrew J. Boyle, 1971, Frank Walton, SOOHP, MHI, 11–14 (
mobile microfilm teams
).

Towns fell quickly
: Sylvan, 351 (
box of cigars
); corr, Gerald Ritchie, 6th Airborne Div, to Elspeth, Apr. 10, 1945, IWM, P. 182 (“
Alice in Wonderland
”); Patton,
War as I Knew It
, 282;
LO
, 350 (
false rumors
); Graham,
No Name on the Bullet
, 95 (“
How I want
”).

The hour had come to cinch
:
LO
, 351–52; Friedrich,
The Fire
, 139 (
the very air had first turned yellow
); Zumbro,
Battle for the Ruhr
, 225–26 (
motley brigade
).

General Collins’s VII Corps
: Ossad and Marsh,
Major General Maurice Rose
, 22–23, 33–34; Cooper,
Death Traps
, 277–79 (
roadside ditch
).

Flame, smoke, and percussive gunfire
: OH, JLC, Jan. 25, 1954, CBM, NARA RG 319, OCMH, 2-3.7,
SLC
background files, box 184; OH, JLC, 1972, Charles C. Sperow, SOOHP, MHI, 202; Cooper,
Death Traps
, 191 (
nearly four hundred tanks
); Ossad and Marsh,
Major General Maurice Rose
, 38, 46, 49; memo, Col. E. V. Freeman, memorial division, Office of the Quartermaster General, Nov. 16, 1949, M. Rose individual deceased personnel file, obtained under FOIA, U.S. Army Human Resources Command, July 2008 (
repeatedly declared himself
); Heinz,
When We Were One
, 154 (“
I have a son
”).