The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (174 page)

“
We’re in a hell of a fix
”: corr, George G. Garton, CO, 391st Armored FA Bn, to JT, Apr. 13, 1963, JT, LOC MS Div, box 2 (“
they have us
”); Ossad and Marsh,
Major General Maurice Rose
, 28–35, 312–24, 343.

“
It can’t be him
”: Heinz,
When We Were One
, 154.

Rose would be interred
: memo to Brig. Gen. J. R. Ranck, QM, COMZ, Orleans, France, Dec. 4, 1959, M. Rose individual deceased personnel file, obtained under FOIA, U.S. Army Human Resources Command, July 2008; Palmer and Zaid, eds.,
The GI’s Rabbi
, 162 (
Kaddish
).

A war-crimes investigation
: Ossad and Marsh,
Major General Maurice Rose
, 339; Zumbro,
Battle for the Ruhr
, 227 (
Feral American troops
).

Fanatical resistance in Paderborn
: Albert R. Cupello et al., “Armored Encirclement of the Ruhr,” May 1949, AS, Ft. K, NARA RG 337, 78–79; Kessler,
The Battle of the Ruhr Pocket
, 107–8, 117–18; Zumbro,
Battle for the Ruhr
, 249–58 (
blood group tattoos
).

Easter Sunday dawned
: corr, Paul M. McGuire to JT, Sept. 6, 1963, JT, LOC MS Div,
LHD
, box 3 (“
Every time a battery
”); Kessler,
The Battle of the Ruhr Pocket
, 107; Zumbro,
Battle for the Ruhr
, 251–54 (
bicycles
).

At noon, observation planes
:
LO
, 359; Kessler,
The Battle of the Ruhr Pocket
, 118 (
Werner Osthelmer
).

Shortly after four
P.M.
the columns met
: The official Army history put the rendezvous at one
P.M.
, but that appears to be several hours too early (Albert R. Cupello et al., “Armored Encirclement of the Ruhr,” May 1949, AS, Ft. K, NARA RG 337, 78–79); Zumbro,
Battle for the Ruhr
, 260; Kessler,
The Battle of the Ruhr Pocket
, 119 (
hundred-mark notes
).

“
largest double envelopment
”:
SC
, 438; Zumbro,
Battle for the Ruhr
, 260;
LO
, 353 (
Hitler forbade withdrawal
); Francis Daugherty et al., “7th Armored Division’s Part in the Reduction of the Ruhr Pocket,” May 1950, AS, Ft. K, NARA RG 337, 63–66 (
imaginary Twelfth Army
); Kessler,
The Battle of the Ruhr Pocket
, 114–15 (“
All fear comes
”).

To bring that day closer
:
LO
, 363–66; AAR, “Operations in the Ruhr Valley,” 75th ID, n.d., CARL, N-13095 (
thermite grenades
); OH, “Crushing the Rose Pocket,” 97th ID, Apr. 7–19, 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, box 19066, folder 208 (
fifty flamethrowers
); corr, Robert W. Hasbrouck to wife, Apr. 16, 1945, Maurice Delaval papers, MHI, box 9 (“
so many interruptions
”); Francis Daugherty et al., “7th Armored Division’s Part in the Reduction of the Ruhr Pocket,” May 1950, AS, Ft. K, NARA RG 337, 85.

“
What is there left?
”: Carl Wagener, “Army Group B,” n.d., FMS, #B-593, MHI, 34–47.

“
Eighty years ago this month
”: Ridgway,
Soldier
, 139–40.

Moscow had accused Model
: Barnett, ed.,
Hitler’s Generals
, 329;
LO
, 369–72 (“
Have we done everything
”).

“
I sincerely believe
”: A decade later, Model’s son exhumed his remains in a moldering field marshal’s uniform; he was reburied in the German cemetery at Vossenack (Zumbro,
Battle for the Ruhr
, 375–79, 412; Kessler,
The Battle of the Ruhr Pocket
, 3, 206–10); Barnett, ed.,
Hitler’s Generals
, 329 (
Walther service revolver
).

“
a dark plowed field
”: Hastings,
Armageddon
, 419.

Allied intelligence originally estimated
: Frank A. Osmanski, “Critical Analysis of the Planning and Execution of the Logistic Support of the Normandy Invasion,” Dec. 1949, Armed Forces Staff College, Osmanski papers, MHI, 45; Benjamin A. Dickson, “G-2 Journal: Algiers to the Elbe,” MHI, 203–12 (
125,000
); Chandler, 2587 (“
at least 100,000
”).

Those figures proved far too modest
: “Consumption Rates U.S. Forces from the Rhine to the Elbe,” May 11, 1945, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin history #27;
LO
, 359 (
seven corps and nineteen divisions
), 372 (
Stalingrad or Tunis
);
SC
, 440 (
dry-shod admiral
); Spayd,
Bayerlein
, 222–23 (“
I had some nice days
”).

“
We have prisoners like some people
”: Fauntleroy,
The General and His Daughter
, 181;
LO
, 370; Spayd,
Bayerlein
, 218 (
groomed their teams
).

“
Young men, old men
”:
LO
, 370–71.

GI sentries cradled their carbines
: OH, “Crushing the Rose Pocket,” 97th ID, Apr. 7–19, 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, box 19066, folder 208.

C
HAPTER
12: V
ICTORY

Mark of the Beast

For the final destruction
:
Stars and Stripes
, March 27, 1945, CBH letters, MHI (“
Omar the Warmaker
”); Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story
, 539 (
Eisenhower joined him
); diary, Third Army chief of staff, Feb. 9, 1945, Hobart Gay papers, MHI, box 2, 866–69; Hirshson,
General Patton: A Soldier’s Life
, 627–28 (
five-star rank insignia
); Ziemke,
The U.S. Army in the Occupation of Germany, 1944–1946
, 228–29 (
GIs had made a discovery
). Patton’s official date of rank as a four-star was April 14.

A photograph of the Führer
: Stafford,
Endgame 1945
, 74; White,
Conquerors’ Road
, 68 (“
Thy Strength
”); Codman,
Drive
, 281 (“
If that clothesline
”); Ziemke,
The U.S. Army in the Occupation of Germany, 1944–1946
, 229–31 (“
Jesus Christ!
”); Bradsher, “Nazi Gold: The Merkers Mine Treasure,”
Prologue
31, no. 1 (spring 1999): 7
+
(“
meeting payrolls
”).

Treasures already had been discovered
: “Civil Affairs and Military Government Activities in Connection with Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives,” NARA RG 407, E 427, USFET General Board study no. 36, 97-USF5-0.3.0, 27–29; Edsel,
The Monuments Men
, 281–83.

Here in
“
Room No. 8
”: Bradsher, “Nazi Gold: The Merkers Mine Treasure,”
Prologue
31, no. 1 (spring 1999): 7
+
(
concentration-camp victims
and “
richest man in the world
”); Tooze,
The Wages of Destruction
, 654 (
double-decker buses
); Nicholas,
The Rape of Europa
, 312, 333–36; Holland and Rothbart, “The Merkers and Buchenwald Treasure Troves,”
AB
, no. 93 (1996): 1
+
; Ziemke,
The U.S. Army in the Occupation of Germany, 1944–1946
, 231 (
each sack worth $25,000
); Slany,
U.S. and Allied Efforts to Recover and Restore Gold and Other Assets Stolen or Hidden by Germany During World War II
, 159–61; memo, Col. B. Bernstein to Brig. Gen. F. J. McSherry, “Contents of Mines in Merkers Area,” Apr. 18, 1945, Frank J. McSherry papers, MHI, box 53 (
galleries and shafts nearby
).

Patton facetiously proposed
: memo, Brig. Gen. Frank J. McSherry to DDE, “Gold and Art Treasure Found at Meikers [
sic
],” Apr. 10, 1945, McSherry papers, MHI, box 53 (
250 tons
); Crosswell,
Beetle
, 899 (“
every son of a bitch
”).

Eventually valued by SHAEF
: Bradsher, “Nazi Gold: The Merkers Mine Treasure,”
Prologue
37, no. 1 (spring 1999): 7
+
; Ziemke,
The U.S. Army in the Occupation of Germany, 1944–1946
, 229–31 (
ten-ton trucks
).

Similar removals were under way
: William F. Heimlich, “The Eagle and the Bear: Berlin, 1945–1950,” n.d., HIA, 46–52 (
AIRMAIL
); OH, Andrew J. Boyle, 1971, Frank Walton, SOOHP, MHI, 13–17; corr, DDE to Harry S. Truman, Aug. 8 and Sept. 24, 1945, NARA RG 498, ETO, secretary general staff, 333.5, box 35. In response to a Soviet protest, Eisenhower told Truman in a top-secret note, “I believe it may be granted that the Russian report is correct. Actually, equipment, documents and personnel exceeding the claims made were evacuated.”

Other swag included ground-to-air missile
: William F. Heimlich, “The Eagle and the Bear: Berlin, 1945–1950,” n.d., HIA, 46–52; Rudolf Lusar, “The German Weapons and Secret Weapons of World War II and Their Subsequent Development,” 1956, CMH (
patents
); Longmate,
Hitler’s Rockets
, 375–76 (
seventy-five rockets
). For details of Soviet removals see Dobbs,
Six Months in 1945
, 242–47.

Patton had one more discovery
: diary, Third Army chief of staff, Feb. 9, 1945, Hobart Gay papers, MHI, box 2, 866–69;
LO
, 375–78; Allen,
Lucky Forward
, 279 (
flush toilets
).

the Americans liberated a concentration camp
: Robert H. Abzug, “The Liberation of the Concentration Camps,” in
Liberation 1945
, 33; case file, Buchenwald KZ, n.d., Donald McClure papers, HIA, box 1 (
eighty satellite camps
).

“
We passed through the stockade
”: Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story
, 539.

An inmate pointed out a gallows
: Ziemke,
The U.S. Army in the Occupation of Germany, 1944–1946
, 231;
PP
, 684 (“
mammoth griddle
”); James J. Weingartner, “Early War Crimes Trials,” in
Liberation 1945
, 82–83 (
vengeful inmates
); Thompson,
Men Under Fire
, 138 (“
mark of the beast
”); White,
Conquerors’ Road
, 91–92 (“
ash and human debris
”); Schudel, “General Witnessed History at Nazi camp, Panama Canal,”
WP
, Aug. 7, 2012, B6.

“
Still having trouble
”: Codman,
Drive
, 282–83.

Eisenhower and Bradley agreed to spend
: Ziemke,
The U.S. Army in the Occupation of Germany, 1944–1946
, 232–33 (
125 miles
); MacDonald,
The Mighty Endeavor
, 476–77;
LO
, 380.

Despite great bounds
: Ryan,
The Last Battle
, 314 (
226 miles
);
LO
, 384.

“
Ike, I don’t know
”: diary, Third Army chief of staff, Feb. 9, 1945, Hobart Gay papers, MHI, box 2, 866–69; Weintraub,
15 Stars
, 331 (
hordes of refugees
).

Another anxiety weighed
:
LO
, 407.

How did a police state perish?
: Timothy Naftali, “Creating the Myth of the
Alpenfestung
,” in Bischof and Pelinka, eds.,
Austrian Memory & National Identity
, 203–46.

As early as the fall of 1943
: Jenkins, “The Battle of the National Redoubt,”
Military Review
(Dec. 1946): 3
+
; Crosswell,
Beetle
, 883 (“
bitter guerrilla warfare
”); memo, DDE to ONB, “Security of Troops,” Feb. 20, 1945, NARA RG 331, E 1, SHAEF SGS, file 371.2, box 65 (“
nests of guerrillas
”); Hinsley, 613; Timothy Naftali, “Creating the Myth of the
Alpenfestung
,” in Bischof and Pelinka, eds.,
Austrian Memory & National Identity
, 213, 236n (
quarter-million Ultra intercepts
); Pogue,
George C. Marshall
, 557 (“
no indications
”).

Far more credulous
: Strong,
Intelligence at the Top
, 255 (“
no more chances
”); OH, Kenneth Strong, May 15, 1963, CJR, box 95, folder 5, 1–2 (“
die together
”);
VW
, vol. 2, 302–4 (“
most important ministries
”); Minott,
The Fortress That Never Was
, 29, 88–94 (
more obdurate than Cassino
).

An OSS psychological portrait
: Walter C. Langer, “A Psychological Analysis of Adolf Hitler—His Life and Legend,” n.d., OSS, NARA RG 226, 190/3/6/01, box 1, 244–49; OSS, “Report from Switzerland,” March 1, 1945, NARA RG 226, M 1642, R-83, frame 333 (
150 trucks
); memo, R&A London to Chandler Morse, Harold Barger, “Subject: Pickaninny—Economic Capabilities of the Alpine Area,” March 29, 1945, OSS, NARA RG 226, E 73, box 3 (“
absence of sugar
”); OSS Berne to OSS director, “Official Dispatch,” March 16, 1945, NARA RG 226, M 142, R-30, frames 99–100 (
antitank guns
); memo, William J. Donovan to FDR, March 26, 1945, NARA RG 226, M-1642, R-25, frames 441–42 (“
go underground
”).