The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (127 page)

“
I feel we’ll be getting to St. Lô
”:
CCA
, 383.

Tank companies now reported
: Doubler,
Closing with the Enemy
, 43–44; Mack Morriss, “My Old Outfit,” in
Reporting World War II
, vol. 2, 539 (“
a wall of fire
”); “Terrain—Cotentin Peninsula,” July 8, 1944, VIII Corps, NARA RG 498, G-3 OR, box 10 (“
spitting range
”); Charles H. Coates, “German Defense in Hedgerow Terrain,” WD Observer Board, July 27, 1944, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, AGF ETO C-117 (
intimacy neutralized Allied air and artillery
); Pyle,
Brave Men
, 255 (“
snipers everywhere
”); msg, 15th Army Group to SHAEF, Feb. 11, 1945, NARA RG 331, SHAEF SGS, 383.6/4 (
sliding scale of rewards
).

Enemy panzers, artillery, and savage small-arms fire
: Simpson,
Selected Prose
, 139, 122 (“
purr of the bullets
”), 125 (“
Some ideas stink
”); Linderman,
The World Within War
, 85 (“
I lie in the grass
”); Shephard,
A War of Nerves
, 252 (“
a soft siffle
”); Whitaker et al.,
Victory at Falaise
, 309–10 (
Mortar fragments
).

French civilians waving white strips
: Pyle,
Brave Men
, 284–85 (
eight cents
); Belfield and Essame,
The Battle for Normandy
, 132 (“
plastered to the walls
”); Wilson, ed.,
D-Day 1944
, 254 (
stiff-legged as wooden toys
); Rosse and Hill,
The Story of the Guards Armoured Division
, 33 (“
gigantic rake
”); Daglish,
Operation Goodwood
, 96 (
smoke tinted red
); Whitehead, “
Beachhead Don
,” 133 (“
not a building standing whole
”); Peckham and Snyder, eds.,
Letters from Fighting Hoosiers
, vol. 2, 120 (“
deserted and silent
”).

Each contested town, like each hedgerow
: memo, Royce L. Thompson, “ETO Invasion Casualties,” May 27, 1948, OCMH, GCM Lib, Royce L. Thompson collection, box 1; Osmont,
The Normandy Diary of Marie-Louise Osmont
, 88 (“
white as sheets
” and “
like hunted animals
”); Shephard,
A War of Nerves
, 252; memo, July 15, 1944, NARA RG 498, ETO, SGS, 333.5, 290/50/10/11/7-1, box 35; memo, First Army IG, Aug. 7, 1944, NARA RG 338, First Army AG Gen’l Corr, OIG, box 218 (
five hundred cases of suspected
“
S.I.W.
”); memo, Cleave A. Jones, July 17, 1944, SHAEF, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, UD 603, SLAM 201 file, box 1 (“
Have we 100 divisions
”).

“
Things are always confusing
”: Pyle,
Brave Men
, 269, 305; Hadley,
Heads or Tails
, 90 (“
make a ghost
”); Holt and Holt,
Major & Mrs. Holt’s Battlefield Guide to the Normandy Landing Beaches
, 133 (
slain by a mortar splinter
); L. F. Skinner, “The Man Who Worked on Sundays,” n.d., IWM, 01/13/1, 18 (“
I buried him close
”).

Only the sharpest weather eye
:
WaS
, 64; Stagg,
Forecast for Overlord
, 126; Bates and Fuller,
America’s Weather Warriors
, 96; Woodward,
Ramsay at War
, 164–65 (
SHAEF forecasters predicted
); Karig,
Battle Report: The Atlantic War
, 352–56 (
chance of a June gale
); “Operation OVERLORD: Report on the Effect of Bad Weather, 19–23 June 1944,” SHAEF, n.d., NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #220 (
three hundred to one
).

More than two hundred ships now plied
: “Report by the Allied Naval Commander-in-Chief,” Oct. 1944, NARA RG 407, ML, #624, 94–95;
CCA
, 423 (
218,000 tons
); Bynell, “Logistical Planning and Operations—Europe,” lecture, March 16, 1945, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, box 207, 5 (
30 percent less than planned
);
LSA
, vol. 2, 392–93 (
anchored off the wrong strand
); “Amphibious Operations: Invasion of Northern France,” CINC, U.S. Fleet, Oct. 1944, NARA RG 407, ML #252, box 24148, 5–13 (
officers in small boats
); Waddell,
United States Army Logistics
, 65, 134 (“
Please, oh, please
”).

But shortages were more common
: Waddell,
United States Army Logistics
, 75–76, 83 (
strict firing limits
); Bynell, “Logistical Planning and Operations—Europe,” lecture, Mar. 16, 1945, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, box 207, 5; Charles F. MacDermut and Adolph P. Gratiot, “History of G-4 Com Z ETO,” 1946, CMH, 8-3.4 AA, 73 (
bundles of maps
); “Supply and Maintenance on the European Continent,” NARA RG 407, E 427, AG WWII operations report no. 130, 97-USF5-0.3.0, 41; “G-4 History,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #553A-C, 22 (
145,000 tons
); Howard, lecture, Aug. 8, 1944, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, L-6-44, H-83, box 191, 9 (
expected to shoot 125 rounds
).

Salvation appeared to be rising
: Churchill,
Triumph and Tragedy
, 8 (“
synthetic harbors
”); H. D. Bynell, lecture, Oct. 31, 1944, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, L-7-44, box 199, 6 (
$100 million
); “Invasion Harbors Towed to France,” British Information Services, Oct. 17, 1944, Hanson Baldwin papers, YU, box 109, folder 862 (
another ten thousand now bullied
); Keegan,
Six Armies in Normandy
, 161;
IFG
, 25–26; “Prefabricated Ports,” Oct. 1944, British Information Services, Hanson Baldwin papers, YU, box 109, folder 862;
WaS
, 28 (
160 tugs
);
VW
, vol. 1, 88–90;
IFG
, 25–26;
WaS
, 26–27 (“
journey of self-immolation
”); Karig,
Battle Report: The Atlantic War
, 347 (
antique side-wheelers
); “Mulberry B,” SHAEF G-4, Nov. 1944, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #44 (
enormous tricolor
).

To this suicide fleet were added
: “Prefabricated Ports,” Oct. 1944, British Information Services, Hanson Baldwin papers, YU, box 109, folder 862; “Mulberry B,” SHAEF G-4, Nov. 1944, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #44 (
ten miles of floating piers
);
VW
, vol. 1, 88–90 (
two million tons
);
www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=8771
(
seventeen times more concrete
); Mason, ed.,
The Atlantic War Remembered
, 377 (“
One storm will wash
”); “Task Force 128: Report on Installation of Mulberry A,” n.d., DDE Lib, A. Dayton Clark papers, box 2 (
unloading had begun at Mulberry A
); Karig,
Battle Report: The Atlantic War
, 352–56 (
LSTs could be emptied
).

one of the worst June gales in eighty years
: Woodward,
Ramsay at War
, 164–65; log, H.M.S.
Despatch
, June 19, 1944, UK NA, WO 32/12211; “Construction Battalions in the Invasion of Normandy,” Nov. 30, 1944, SEM, NHHC, box 81, folder 28, 39–40 (
Anchors dragged and fouled
); Thompson,
The Imperial War Museum Book of Victory in Europe
, 96 (“
Storm continues
”).

Swept away they were, pier by pier
: “Task Force 128: Report on Installation of Mulberry A,” n.d., DDE Lib, A. Dayton Clark papers, box 2;
IFG
, 177 (
gunshots from sailors
); Buffetaut,
D-Day Ships
, 140–42;
CCA
, 423–26; Karig,
Battle Report: The Atlantic War
, 352–56 (
Distress calls jammed
); Love and Major, eds.,
The Year of D-Day
, 93 (“
a damnable spell
”).

After eighty hours, the spell broke
:
WaS
, 64 (“
a rent in the sky
”); log, H.M.S.
Despatch
, June 19, 1944, UK NA, WO 32/12211 (
Force seven gusts
); OH, Byron S. Huie, Jr., Aug. 18, 1944, NARA RG 38, E 11, U.S. Navy WWII Oral Histories, 5–6 (“
Not even a thousand-bomber raid
”); Belfield and Essame,
The Battle for Normandy
, 102–3; Fergusson,
The Watery Maze
, 346–47 (
small tanker deep in the dunes
); AAR, 21st Weather Squadron, AAF, 1944, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #493-A (
sea wrack
);
VW
, vol. 1, 272–73 (
two miles of articulated steel pier
).

Mulberry A was a total loss
: R. W. Crawford, “Guns, Gas and Rations,” June 1945, SHAEF G-4, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #145; Chalmers,
Full Cycle
, 238–39 (
Gooseberries were positioned
); Mason, ed.,
The Atlantic War Remembered
, 377 (“
formidable abortion
”).

Mulberry B ultimately did prove
: Buffetaut,
D-Day Ships
, 136 (
completed in mid-July
); Hickling and Mackillop, “The OVERLORD Artificial Harbors,” lecture, Nov. 6, 1944, CARL, N-12217; Charles C. Bates, “Sea, Swell and Surf Forecasting for D-Day and Beyond: The Anglo-American Effort, 1943–1945,” 2010, a.p., 20 (
Port Winston
); H. D. Crerar, “Notes on Conference Given by C-in-C 21 Army Group,” June 22, 1944, National Archives of Canada, RG 24, vol. 1054 2, file 215A21.016 (9) (“
at least six days behind
”);
WaS
, 65–66 (
until late July
);
VW
, vol. 1, 274 (
Rommel had exploited the bad weather
); “Supply and Evacuation by Air,” n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, AG WWII Operations Reports, 97-USF5-0.3.0, no. 26 (
hand grenades were flown
);
LSA
, vol. 1, 407 (
eight coasters deliberately beached
).

With the beaches again in disarray
: memo, R. C. Partridge and C. H. Bonesteel III, Dec. 31, 1943, NARA RG 407, ETO ML, #205, box 24143 (“
overwhelm us
”); “Official Study of Port of Cherbourg,” 1945, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #492 (
supplying up to thirty divisions
); Coles and Weinberg,
Civil Affairs
, 721 (“
most important port
”).

Great misfortune had befallen Cherbourg
: “Official Study of Port of Cherbourg,” 1945, RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #492 (
pillage by the heriditary enemy
); Baedeker,
Northern France
, 158–61; “Cherbourg, Gateway to France: Rehabilitation and Operation of the First Major Port,” 1945, NARA RG 319, ETO HD, 8-3.1 AE (
financed with German reparations
).

Now Cherbourg was again besieged
:
CCA
, 420–22; Whitehead, “
Beachhead Don
,” 146–47 (
French farmers tossed roses
); Pyle,
Brave Men
, 273–75 (“
terribly pathetic
”); Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story
, 308 (
Strauss waltzes
);
Three Years
, 596–97 (
hog calling
); Fussell,
Wartime
, 255 (“
bumf
”); Lasky, “Military History Stood on Its Head,”
Berlin Journal
14 (spring 2007), American Academy of Berlin: 20
+
(“Ei sörrender”).

An American ultimatum
: Ruppenthal,
Utah Beach to Cherbourg
, 172–77, 189; Whitehead,
World War II: An Ex-Sergeant Remembers
, 79 (“
All you sons-a-bitches
”).

In radio messages decrypted by Ultra
:
CCA
, 431–34 (“
bunker paralysis
”); Sunset 604, June 25, 1944, NARA RG 457, E 9026, SRS-1869 (“
greatly worn out
”); Reardon, ed.,
Defending Fortress Europe
, mss, 165 (
five thousand cows
); Saunders,
Royal Air Force, 1939–1945
, vol. 3, 123 (
four U-boats
);
CCA
, 434 (“
You will continue to fight
”).

Schlieben’s miseries multiplied
: “The Reminiscences of Alan Goodrich Kirk,” 1962, John Mason, Col U OHRO, NHHC, 349–50 (
bombardment force split
); Karig,
Battle Report: The Atlantic War
, 362–65.

Great salvos soon arced
: OH, John F. Latimer, n.d., NARA RG 38, E 11, U.S. Navy WWII Oral Histories, 19–20 (“
more concentrated firing
”); Morton L. Deyo, “Cherbourg,” Feb. 1956, SEM, NHHC, box 81, file 33;
IFG
, 198–205 (
most pugnacious German battery
).

Six miles east of Cherbourg
: Buffetaut,
D-Day Ships
, 151–52; AR, U.S.S.
Texas
, July 12, 1944, NARA RG 38, CNO, 370/45/3/1, box 1470, 3–5;
IFG
, 205–12 (
eight hundred rounds dumped on Battery Hamburg
).

In this General Collins was ready to oblige
: memo, Cleave A. Jones, June 22, 1944, SHAEF, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, UD 603, SLAM 201 file, box 1; Johnson,
History of the Twelfth Infantry Regiment in World War II
, 111 (
four hundred feet above
); Collins,
Lightning Joe
, 221 (“
The view of Cherbourg
”).

“
you can make the other fellow conform
”: OH, JLC, Jan. 21, 1954, CBM, NARA RG 319, OCMH, 2-3.7 CB 3; CBH, July 15, 1944, MHI, box 4 (
gift for persuasion
); Keegan,
Six Armies in Normandy
, 159 (
nonchalance about casualties
); Berlin,
U.S. Army World War II Corps Commanders
, 3–5 (
youngest of the thirty-four
), 16 (“
concentration and decision
”); diary, JMG, May 16, 1944, MHI, box 10 (“
runty, cocky
”); Collins,
Lightning Joe
, 2–3 (
New Orleans emporium
); OH, JLC, 1972, Charles C. Sperow, SOOHP, MHI, 6 (
malarial shakes
); Arlington National Cemetery website,
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/josephla.htm
; corr, JLC to Brentano’s, Oct. 24, 1944, JLC papers, DDE Lib, box 3, 201 file (Moby Dick); Carafano,
After D-Day
, 186 (“
An order is but an aspiration
”).