Schwerpunkt: From D-Day to the Fall of the Third Reich (5 page)

Monty’s plan was to have General Bradley’s troops secure the Cotentin Peninsula and its port at Cherbourg in the west while his British, Canadian, Polish, and French troops would secure the cities of Caen and Falaise in the east. It was planned that Caen would be taken by the night of June 6, 1944 and that Falaise would be taken within the first three weeks of the landings. Then, with these areas firmly in Allied hands, all troops would proceed east to Paris, retake the City of Lights and then move into Germany. Military plans, however, are notorious for going awry.

A full briefing of the final Overlord Plan took place on May 15, 1944 at Monty’s old school, St Paul. While I wasn’t allowed to be present for this final briefing, a drafty room at St Paul’s was set aside for this important meeting which was attended not only by Mr. Churchill, but by the King himself. I heard two funny stories about this most serious of occasions which just shows to go you that if you look hard enough, humor is everywhere. Everyone knows Monty is a ramrod straight, tea totaling Brit whose stuffiness is exceeded only by De Gaulle’s, which I know, is hard to believe. (Not that DeGaulle was stuffy, but that Monty could be bested on this characteristic). So Monty had set the date, place and time of the briefing and as the participants began arriving, one unlucky guy who was smoking a cigarette came in and was reamed a new asshole for smoking a fag in Monty’s presence. He quickly snuffed it out, I’m told, but following him was the Prime Minister smoking one of his ever present huge stogies. And following him, came the King of England, who, seeing Churchill’s cigar, lit up one of his own cigarettes, all while Monty was getting more and more irritated, maybe at the smoke but more probably because he couldn’t chastise these two fellas. The other guys, generals and statesmen alike, figured that if these two could smoke, so could they and the room must have been unbearable for HMS (“Having a Mounting Shit fit”) Montgomery.

Monty set the meeting to begin at 0900 and at precisely that moment, he ordered two guarding American MPs to lock the doors which apparently they did because a short time later, there was a loud banging coming from outside. HRH (“Having a Real Hissyfit”) Montgomery did all he could to ignore the distracting noise but eventually, he could stand it no longer and he ordered the doors to be opened. In walked Patton, in full military dress which, of course, included his ivory handled revolver strapped to his side. Nothing was said by either as Patton dutifully strode to his seat and sat with all due dignity. Wish I could have been a fly on the wall that day.

Monty had planned a schedule and he wanted his overall plan to be moving according to this schedule right from the git go. The desired objective for the end of the first day was to link up the five beaches to form one solid beachhead to a depth of six miles. That depth would have included the capture of Caen and its adjacent airfield at Carpiquet as well as the Caen-Cherbourg thoroughfare. Caen was 10 miles from the coast and he optimistically mentioned “knocking about a bit” in Falaise another 25 miles inland if the opportunity arose. The objective for DDay + 7 (6/13/44) was to have taken Cherbourg and two days later, to have taken the town of Saint Lo, 28 miles from Omaha Beach. By DDay + 17 (6/23/44), the Cotentin Peninsula was to be cleared. After that, the general plan called for the U.S. troops to head back south to capture Mortain, get to Le Mans and finally head towards Paris. The major problem with this part of the plan is the fact that the Cotentin Peninsula is a goddamn peninsula. If we weren’t careful, reinforcing Krauts could close us off at the neck and we’d be dead ducks. But with adequate air cover, the prize of Cherbourg would be worth the risk, I guess. Worth it to the guys on the other side of the Channel, of course, but maybe not to the guys on the business end of the attack.

By DDay + 35 (7/10/44), Allied troops were to be at the mouth of the Seine River and the Brittany Peninsula was to be secured. A drive east was to then take place with a crossing of the German borders shortly thereafter. I’m guessing that the Jerries might have something to say about this part of the plan. I can’t even imagine how we’re going to clear France in a month of the Krauts who’ve been there for about four years now but HBS (“His Brilliant Self”) Montgomery says it will be done and therefore, it will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.

The general Plan for DDay, accepted by the officers and commanders, was essentially this:

U.S. VII Corp: Land on and secure Utah Beach then link up with the airborne and Omaha troops. Secure the Cotentin Peninsula and finally move to take Cherbourg and its critical ports. This would encompass a march of approximately 50 miles.

U.S V Corp: Land on Omaha Beach then link up with US VII and British XXX and U.S. 1
^st
Infantry Division (the Big Red One) to achieve a lodgment. They were then to move to Caumont and St. Lo to preclude the Germans from using the intersecting roads through St. Lo.

British XXX Corp: Land on Gold Beach and meet up with the Americans on their right and the Canadians on their left. They were to gain control of Arromanches so a portable Mulberry Harbor could be established and they were then to take control of the roads around and through Bayeux.

Canadian III Division: Land on Juno Beach, take out the immediate coastal defenses and reach the airfield at Carpiquet just to the west of Caen.

British III Infantry Division: Land on Sword Beach, link up with the British airborne and Juno troops and then capture the city of Caen by day’s end.

The mission of the airborne troops, both British and American, was to prevent German reserve troops from reinforcing their comrades on the beaches. On the west, the American 82
^nd
and 101
^st
were under orders to take roads and destroy certain bridges. Roadways were to be held and train routes interrupted. The fewer Krauts who arrived at the beaches meant better odds for our survival on those beaches. Our intelligence told us that the enemy troops who would be there to greet us were really nothing to worry about. Our guys would be facing old men; young boys; foreign troops conscripted from countries the Jerries conquered; and tired men in France for a rest. Should be pretty much of a cake walk but that’s what makes me nervous. If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

The specific plan for DDay itself was essentially this:

While General Montgomery was in charge of all Land Troops, General Bradley was in charge of the American First Army troops and General Miles Dempsey was in charge of the British and Canadian Second Army troops. Under Bradley’s command were General Collins and General Gerow, the former leading the Utah beach landings and the latter leading the Omaha beach landings. Utah Beach was actually added as an afterthought when it was decided that we’d need to capture Cherbourg in the Cotentin Peninsula.

General Ritchie led the Gold beach landings for the British and General Crocker led the Canadian landings on Juno and the British landings on Sword. I heard that the British named their Beaches after fish, the Canadians named their beach after the warrior goddess, and our two beach names were places two American soldiers were from. On a day when names had to be picked, two guys just happened to be on a work detail, which is where they met General Bradley. He asked them where they were from and now I bet their hometown names are going to be remembered by a lot of men for a lot of years.

With everyone onboard for the Plan as presented, the only remaining item was to fix the day and hour for the invasion. The only days now suitable for landings were June 5
^th
, 6
^th
, or 7
^th
which meant launching in the early morning hours the day before. Eisenhower’s decision was tied to the vagaries of moon, tide and weather. He needed to send the invading ships through the Channel at night. He required a late rising moon and a low tide at dawn. The American paratroopers of the 82
^nd
and 101
^st
Divisions and the paratroopers of the British 6
^th
Division needed the moon but not an early rising moon. To be silhouetted against the dark sky by a bright moon would be disastrous and projections were already running high that these troops would likely sustain casualty rates of up to 75 per cent. While the moon had to be there to illuminate their drop zones, it couldn’t be there any time before they got to these zones.

The first wave invading troops needed a low tide at dawn so all the obstacles expected and reported to be in place could be seen and disarmed by the Engineering Battalions, submarines and Frogmen. Ike wanted 40 minutes of daylight before the ground assault so the bombers could finish their job and skeedaddle. He wanted NO friendly fire instances. While he knew and could control the dates of launching when the moon was out and the tides were low, he couldn’t do a goddamn thing about the weather that accompanied those celestial events. The success of Operation Overlord, the largest seaborne invasion in the history of the world, hell, the largest invasion of any kind in the history of the world, depended on bringing men, tanks, trucks, food, fuel, transportation, ammunition, defensive protection and about a million other things across the darkened Channel without Field Marshal Erwin Rommel or Field Marshal von Rundstedt catching wind of it and moving their reserve units beachward to target the incoming crafts with more power than was already at their disposal.

Ike had weather reports brought to him twice a day, at 2130 at night and at 0400 in the morning. The weather was the one thing about our plan that we had absolutely no control over and couldn’t make early plans for. We started paying particular attention to it as May turned into June. On June 1
^st
, the weather turned cooler with light showers. Evening brought a SW wind with overcast skies. Thunder clouds were rolling in and the barometer dropped. June 2
^nd
brought clearer weather by day with nice sunny periods but depressions were developing over the North Atlantic. A bank of thunder clouds rolled in and our Chief Meteorologist said that gale force winds and low clouds (which would make flying impossible) were a very real possibility. The next day, June 3
^rd
gave us weather that was dry and warm by day but heavy clouds were again rolling in by evening. The Meteorologists could not agree on a prediction because a storm was brewing in the Channel. How big of a storm it was going to be was completely unknown. The report for the next day, June 4
^th
, was that the high pressure system responsible for the fairly nice weather we’ve been experiencing was being overtaken by depressions. It started raining and gusting winds developed. Our Chief Meteorologist was a Scotsman named Captain Stagg. He and his fellow weathermen predicted that there was a very good probability that from the 4
^th
until about June 8
^th
, there would be heavy clouds and very high winds over the Normandy beaches which would prevent airplanes from flying. This obviously meant there would be no air cover for the landing troops and the seas in the Channel those troops had to cross would be disastrously choppy. Heavy rains were also predicted to continue.

Knowing that June 4
^th
was a no go because of the low clouds, high winds and vomit inducing waves, we looked to the next day but we were looking at it through almost hurricane gale winds at our outpost. Eisenhower had no choice but to postpone the invasion and pray for cooperative weather to launch on the 5
^th
which would mean all troops would reach the shores of France and the invasion would take place on June 6, 1944. The immediate impact of this decision to postpone, though, was to prolong the agonizing wait on the beaches and tent cities of England for the lucky men. For the unlucky men in the first waves of the invading force who had already departed for France, it meant they had to return, now on stormy seas. It meant they prayed even harder that their boats would stay in the mine swept channels and not be blown over to the uncleared areas. They were called back just as the seas started churning and the clouds started opening. Gale force winds blew in and Sunday the 4
^th
was one hell of a shitty day outside. Heavy rain and gusting, heavy winds left no doubt that the weather was not cooperating with us.

My brother wrote to me though and that brightened my spirits in spite of the monsoon brewing outside.

May 31, 1944

Hiya Frank,

Well, as much as I hated being cooped up in England before, that all now seems like fun and games because as of last week, we were suddenly locked into our holding area in England and no more trips to town were permitted. Before, I had most of southern England to roam around in and now we are literally locked behind barbed wire fences, surrounded by armed MPs. We couldn’t escape if we wanted to which we don’t because now, the real briefings about what plans they have for us have begun. We sit through these briefings knowing that our lives depend on what we are hearing. Church attendance has sky rocketed and movies and good meals are all being brought to us. I have a sneaking suspicion that all this good will is probably related to the degree of difficulty our mission is going to involve. It sounds kind of scary. We’re not allowed to say anything at all and you probably won’t get this until after we’re where we’re supposed to be going but I just wanted to write to let you know that pretty soon, we’re going to be shipped out but I can’t tell you where. So until the next time you hear from me, Adieu mon frère. I love you.

Harold

At 0330 in the morning on June 5
^th
, Ike held another meeting with Group Captain Stagg and the rest of the SHAEF commanders. I still remember that while the air outside was dark and stormy, the air inside was so tense and heavy, I could have cut it with a knife. The weathermen assembled and confirmed that had we gone ahead with our launch earlier yesterday, those boats would now be crashed and swamped because of the current weather on the coast of France. Then Captain Stagg, in that Scottish brogue he had, gave us a ray of sunshine in this otherwise bleak and dismal rainstorm. He told us that there was a small window of possible opportunity. He said that his Meteorologists more or less agreed that the current storm would end late on Monday the 5
^th
and that there would be something like 36 hours before it started up again. He stressed that while it wouldn’t be clear and calm, it would probably be quiet enough to fly airplanes, sail boats, and land troops during this window.