‘
We hoped to land a wildcat
’: Alanbrooke,
War Diaries
, 29.2.44, p. 527
‘
Bootleggers from the 133rd Infantry’, and extra-curricular activities in the beachhead
: Atkinson,
The Day of Battle
, pp. 488–9
‘
if the German
’:
TBJG
, part II, vol. vii, 8.2.43, p. 296
36: The Soviet Spring Offensive
Meeting with Hitler
: 4.1.44, Manstein,
Lost Victories
, pp. 500–5
German army losing the equivalent of a regiment per day
:
GSWW
, vol. ix/1, p. 805
Wehrmacht strength in January 1944
:
ibid.
, p. 671
Red Army strength and weaknesses
: Glantz and House,
When Titans Clashed
, pp. 179–81
‘
wicked little eyes
’: Beria,
Beria, my Father
, p. 130
Korsun-Cherkassy
: see John Erickson,
The Road to Berlin
, London, 1983, pp. 177–9
‘
Our car passed the body
’: GBP, Dec. 1943 Leningrad-Novgorod operation: Bellamy,
Absolute War
, pp. 404-8
‘
The shells were throwing
’: Pavel Zolotov,
Zapiski minomyotchika, 1942– 1945
, Moscow, 2009, p. 107
‘
I realized that I
’, ‘covered in shit’:
ibid.
, pp. 112, 119
Gatchina palace as a brothel
: Werth,
Leningrad
, p. 188
‘
caught four Russian teenage boys
’: VCD, 8.2.44
German Ninth Army forcing civilians into no-man’s-land
:
GSWW
, vol. ix/1, pp. 689–90
Seydlitz and General Melnikov
: TsKhIDK 451p/3/7
37: The Pacific, China and Burma
‘
a disgraceful exhibition
’: Eichelberger, quoted Ellis,
The Sharp End
, p. 19
‘
Long-Range Strategic Plan
’: Hara Takeshi, ‘The Ichig
Offensive’, in Peattie, Drea and van de Ven,
The Battle for China
, pp. 393–4 Chiang Kai-shek and warning of Japanese offensive: van de Ven,
War and Nationalism in China
, p. 46
‘
an overland clearing operation
’:
ibid.
, p. 397
‘
trying to manure
’: quoted Theodore H. White,
In Search of History
, New York, 1978, p. 142
Chennault’s claims
: Spector,
Eagle against the Sun
, p. 350
‘very tedious’, ‘remained wet for weeks’, ‘There were four thousand men
’: Brigadier Bernard Fergusson, IMW 2586, quoted Julian Thompson,
Forgotten Voices of Burma
, London, 2009, p. 158
‘
it was extraordinary
’: Lt Richard Rhodes-James, 111th Brigade, IWM 19593
‘a lethal dose’, ‘You could see people
’: Maj. Desmond Whyte, RAMC, 111th Brigade, IWM 12570
‘
fighting the War of Independence all over again
’: quoted Louis Allen,
Burma: The Longest War
, London, 1984, pp. 320–1
‘
They had renounced
’: Maj. John Winstanley, B Company, 4th Battalion, Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment, IWM 17955
‘
The sheer weight of the attacks
’: Maj. Harry Smith, headquarters company, 4th West Kents, IWM 19090
Japanese 56th Division on Salween
: Asano Toyomi, ‘Japanese Operations in Yunnan and North Burma’, in Peattie, Drea and van de Ven,
The Battle for China
, pp. 365–6, 369–71
‘
This will burn the Limeys
’: Spector,
Eagle against the Sun
, p. 359
‘
By Christ, them little bastards
’: Lt K. Cooper, quoted Ellis,
The Sharp End
, p. 84
‘
Both officers and men look
’: quoted Fowler,
We Gave our Today
, p. 147
Combat fatigue in Imperial Japanese Army
: Kawano, ‘Japanese Combat Morale’, in Peattie, Drea and van de Ven,
The Battle for China
, p. 349
Air strengths in Ichig
Offensive
: Hagiwara, ‘ Japanese Air Campaigns in China’, in Peattie, Drea and van de Ven,
The Battle for China
, pp. 250–1
Chiang Kai-shek and Roosevelt
: Dreyer,
China at War
, pp. 284–5
‘
Hsueh defended the city
’: White and Jacoby,
Thunder out of China
, p. 183
‘
a Hollywood premier
’: Samuel Eliot Morison,
History of United States Naval Operations in World War II
, vol. viii:
New Guinea and the Marianas
, Annapolis, Md, 2011, p. 302
38: The Spring of Expectations
‘
very considerable investment
’: Butcher,
Three Years with Eisenhower
, 18.1.44, p. 403
‘
Anvil [would] have to be sacrificed
’: Bedell Smith to Eisenhower, 5.1.44, COSSAC File, W. Bedell Smith Papers, quoted Crosswell,
Beetle
, p. 557
‘
pitiless civil war
’: quoted Lacouture,
De Gaulle: The Rebel
, p. 508
‘
The capture of Rome is the only important objective
’: quoted Atkinson,
The Day of Battle
, p. 516
‘
Most wore sandals
’:
ibid.
, p. 528
‘
it is astonishing
’: Alanbrooke,
War Diaries
, p. 561
‘
inexplicable
’: Field-Marshal Earl Alexander of Tunis,
The Alexander Memoirs, 1940–1945
, London, 1962, p. 127
‘
How do you like that?
’: Vernon A. Walters,
Silent Missions
, New York, 1978, p. 97, quoted Atkinson,
The Day of Battle
, p. 575
‘
just a bit of cheap bluff
’: General der Infanterie Blumentritt, debriefing 6.8.45, NA II 407/427/24231
Dempsey on Eisenhower
: conversation with Clive Duncan, to whom I am most grateful for this detail in a letter, 7.9.11
Three Skytrains shot down by Allied ships
: Bill Goff, HMS
Scylla
, SWWEC,
Everyone’s War
, no. 20, Winter 2009
‘
the light would disappear
’: Harley A. Reynolds, ‘The First Wave’,
American Valor Quarterly
, Spring/Summer 2009, pp. 15–22
‘
the whole horizon
’: FMS B-403
‘
Some boats were coming back
’: Reynolds, ‘The First Wave’,
American Valor Quarterly
, Spring/Summer 2009, pp. 15–22
‘
Am very satisfied
’: Hamilton,
Monty: Master of the Battlefield
, p. 621
39: Bagration and Normandy
‘
heat of high-summer days
’: Lt Rudolf F., 6.Inf.Div., 23.6.44, BfZ-SS 27 662 A
‘
We really had a black day
’: Uffz. Julfried K., Pz.Aufkl.Abt.125, 25.Pz.Gren. Div., 24.6.44, BfZ-SS 45 402
‘
the traffic controller
’: Lt Degan, quoted Paul Adair,
Hitler’s Greatest Defeat
, London, 1994, p. 106
‘
The Ivans broke through
’: Uffz. Alfons F., 206th Inf.Div., 28.6.44, BfZ-SS 56 601 C
‘
When we entered Bobruisk
’: Grossman papers, RGALI 1710/3/50
‘Our people whom we’ve liberated
’: letters from Vladimir Tsoglin to his mother, in I. Altman (ed.),
Sokhrani moi pisma
, Moscow, 2007, pp. 260–75
‘
The enemy has now done
’: San.O’Gefr. Otto H., Herres-Betr.Kp. 6, 13.7.44, BfZ-SS 24 740
‘
If the Russians keep up
’: O’Gefr. Otto L., Fl.H.Kdtr.(E) 209/XVII, 10.7.44, BfZ-SS L 55 922
‘
A partisan, a small man
’: Grossman papers, RGALI 1710/3/47
NKVD in Lwów
: Rees,
World War II behind Closed Doors
, p. 274
‘
Their effect should be
’: O’Gefr. Otto L., Fl.H.Kdtr.(E) 209/XVII, 10.7.44, BfZ-SS L 55 922
‘
The Russians are attacking constantly
’: Gefr. Heinrich R., Bau-Pi.Btl.735, 26.7.44, BfZ-SS 03 707 D
‘
one can no longer
’: O’Gefr. Karl B., Rgts.Gru.332, 28.7.44, BA-MA H 34/1
‘
columns of soldiers and refugees
’: Erika S., Ragnit, 28.7.44, BA-MA H34/1
‘
It’s perfect logic
’: P. I. Troyanovsky,
Na vosmi frontakh
, Moscow, 1982, p. 183
‘
Stalin will avenge us
!’: RGALI 1710/1/123
‘
NPT below rank major
’: I am most grateful to Mr S. W. Kulhmann, for sending me a photocopy of his father’s field notebook, with this instruction, 5.2.11 ‘
no prisoners
’, G. Steer, 1/4th KOYLI, SWWEC 2002.1644
‘
heavy losses
’: 27.6.44, TNA KV 9826
‘
had the unusual gift
’: C. J. C. Molony,
The Mediterranean and Middle East
, London, 1984, vol. vi, part 1, p. 511, quoted Atkinson,
The Day of Battle
, p. 300
‘
Complete change so far as
’: Myles Hildyard unpublished diary, 22.6.44 (private collection)
‘
You should make an end
’: Blumentritt, ETHINT 73
‘
The Germans haven’t much left
’: quoted Martin Blumenson,
The Duel for France 1944
, New York, 2000, p. 23
‘
a dirty bush war
’: Peter Lieb,
Konventioneller Krieg oder Weltanschauungskrieg? Kriegführung und Partisanenbekämpfung in Frankreich 1943/44
, Munich, 2007, p. 176 (‘schmutziger Buschkrieg’)
US Army psychiatric casualties in the Second World War
: Albert J. Glass,
‘
Lessons Learned
’, in Albert J. Glass (ed.),
Neuropsychiatry in World War II
, Washington, DC, Office of the Surgeon General, 1973, vol. ii, pp. 1015–23
‘
heavy bombers cannot participate intimately
’: Montgomery quoted GBP
‘
I am viewing the prospects
’: 14.7.44, PDDE, p. 2004
40: Berlin, Warsaw and Paris
‘
changing horses
’:
GSWW
, vol. ix/1, p. 855
‘
not altogether displeased
’: Smith,
Mussolini
, p. 358
‘
not to optimize
’:
GSWW
, vol. ix/1, p. 829
More than 5,000 suspected opponents
:
ibid
., p. 912
‘
The generals who carried out
’: Gefr. Heinrich R., Bau-Pi.Btl.735, 5.7.44, BfZ-SS 03 707 D
‘
Our lives are not worth
’:
ibid.
‘
With the German greeting
’: Dr K., Feldlaz.8, 8.Jäg.Div., BA-MA RH 13 v.53
‘
Certainly it looks bad
’: Uffz. Werner F, 12.Pz.Div., 28.7.44, BfZ-SS 23 151 E
‘And soon they’ll be
’: E.H., 26.7.44, BA-MA H 34/1
‘
Dearest, do not be afraid
’: O’Gefr M., Div.Vers.Rgt.195, 27.7.44, BA-MA H 34/1
‘
thirty thousand-odd
’: quoted Roberts,
Masters and Commanders
, p. 504
‘
The effect of the major conflicts
’: Keitel and Jodl, FMS A-915
‘
Psychologically I am finding
’: Gefr. Karl B., schw.Art.Abt.460, 20.7.44, BfZ-SS 25 345 D
‘
We’ve just received
’: Lt Hans R., le.Flak-Abt.783(v.), 30.7.44, BfZ-SS L49 812
‘
Round us no fewer
’: O’Gefr. F.-H.B., 11.Inf.Div., 30.7.44, BfZ-SS 34 427
here
Red Army losses in Bagration: Krivosheev,
Soviet Casualties and Combat Losses
, pp. 144–6
Wehrmacht losses
: Rüdiger Overmans,
Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkriege
, Munich, 1999, pp. 238 and 279, quoted
GSWW
, vol. ix/1, pp. 66 and 805
‘
The Poles are strange
’: letters from Efraim Genkin to his family, 18.8.44, in Altman (ed.),
Sokhrani moi pisma
, Moscow, 2007, pp. 276–82