The Steel Wave
Authors: Jeff Shaara
CONTENTS
FOR LISA
TO THE READER
T
his book is the second volume of a trilogy, focusing primarily on America’s involvement in World War Two in Europe. In each book I’ve written, I’ve felt I should add the disclaimer that, no, this is not a blow-by-blow history, it is not a comprehensive collection of facts and figures. That kind of book certainly has its appeal, and professional historians are far better qualified to tackle that task than I am. This is a novel, and though I am careful to “get it right,” by definition the dialogue and inner thoughts of the characters have to be described as fiction. My research relies almost exclusively on original histories, memoirs, diaries, collections of letters, and photographs, as well as interviews with living veterans. This choice of sources reflects my attempt to get into the minds of these characters, to tell their story as they would tell it themselves. The events are true, the history accurate.
Pearl Harbor, Iwo Jima, Stalingrad, Hiroshima. Those names are familiar even if, often, the real story is not. But no event in the history of the Second World War has inspired more popular attention than what we call D-Day, the invasion of Normandy. Hollywood alone has offered dozens of films and countless documentaries that explore the events that we know by the date every schoolchild is taught: June 6, 1944. As I began the research for this book, I was deeply concerned that I would be telling you a story you already knew too well, but as my research progressed and I dug more deeply, my fears abated. I was surprised to find a story that spreads out with a far greater scope than what Hollywood (or your high school history textbook) typically offers us. As the characters became more familiar to me, I realized that the greatest drama here is not the event but the raw and frightening uncertainty for everyone involved. It is easy to view history in hindsight, as though it were a foregone conclusion how the war, or this particular piece of it, would turn out. But for those men whose deeds and accomplishments created this history, there were no foregone conclusions at all.
I also discovered that the story of D-Day is not merely the story of what happens on June 6. For most of us, our familiarity with the Normandy invasion comes from the few existing film clips of that one horrific day, used countless times in documentaries, dramas, and various historical features. Memoirs abound and accounts have been written from every perspective imaginable, many focusing on one awful place called Omaha Beach. Some of these accounts are familiar to any fan of John Wayne or Tom Hanks or Stephen Ambrose. But there is more to this story than one amphibious invasion across one stretch of sand. (Most Americans have heard of Omaha, and with good reason, but how many can name the other four beaches?)
Every war has its share of both glory and horror. I try not to succumb to the temptation to embellish history, to offer morality tales or lessons in hindsight. I make no snide winks toward the reader, subtle scolding that we should compare lessons learned then to lessons we should be learning today. That might make for a fine civics lecture or play into someone’s political agenda, but it has no place here.
My goal is to tell you a good story by taking you into the minds of several of the key participants, the men who made this history, to show you the events as they saw them, to hear their words and their thoughts as this extraordinary drama unfolds. From conflicts and strategy sessions between the men at the top to the grinding endurance of the young soldiers who face the enemy, this book is based on the accounts of the men who were
there.
The most gratifying parts of my research were the surprises I found, the voices I hadn’t heard before. I hope, by the end of this book, you are surprised as well.
My trilogy on the Second World War (of which this is the centerpiece) is the first time I have had the privilege of speaking to living veterans. Those soldiers are fewer in number every day, and in every instance, when I interviewed a veteran, he mentioned that fact. I feel strongly that this story has to be told with respect and accuracy. Tribute must be paid. To those soldiers, this is my respectful offering.
JEFF SHAARA,
May 2008
LIST OF MAPS
THE PLAN FOR OPERATION OVERLORD
DROP ZONES FOR THE AMERICAN AIRBORNE ASSAULT
D-DAY: THE LANDINGS
82ND AIRBORNE DROPS: THE BRIDGES OF LA FIÈRE AND CHEF-DU-PONT
BRITISH AND CANADIAN LANDINGS
THE AMERICAN ADVANCES TO ST. SAUVEUR-LE-VICOMTE/THE COTENTIN PENINSULA
AMERICAN ASSAULT ON LA HAYE-DU-PUITS
MONTGOMERY’S OPERATIONGOODWOOD
BRADLEY’S OPERATION COBRA
BRADLEY’S BREAKTHROUGH: PATTON’S SURGE INTO BRITTANY
VON KLUGE’S LAST-GASP ATTACK
PATTON DRIVES EAST: THE MANEUVER TOWARD BRADLEY’S “RIGHT HOOK”
THE GERMAN ESCAPE THROUGH THE ARGENTAN/FALAISE GAP
RESEARCH SOURCES
I am frequently asked for the sources I have relied upon. The following is a
partial
list of those whose firsthand accounts and overall historical perspectives proved invaluable to me in writing this book.
THE AMERICANS
General Omar Bradley
Captain Harry Butcher
Lieutenant William H. Callaway
General Joseph Lawton Collins
Historian (Lieutenant Colonel) Carlo D’Este
President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Lieutenant General James Gavin
Chaplain Raymond S. Hall (101st Airborne)
Historian Robert Leckie
Secretary of State George C. Marshall Private John Nowak (First Infantry Division)
Lieutenant General George S. Patton
Journalist Ernie Pyle
General Matthew Ridgway
Private Douglas C. Saum
THE BRITISH
Prime Minister Winston Churchill
Historian (General) David Fraser
Historian (Captain) Sir Basil Liddell Hart
Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery
General Sir Frederick Morgan
Air Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder
Brigadier General Desmond Young
THE GERMANS
Corporal Paul Carell
Colonel Hans von Luck
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel
Admiral Friedrich Ruge
Field Marshal Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt
Major Heinz Schmidt
Lieutenant General (Dr.) Hans Speidel
General Siegfried Westphal
The following have generously provided me with an astounding variety of research materials. I am enormously grateful to them all.
Fred Alexander, Franklin, North Carolina
Bruce Breeding, Lexington, Kentucky
Curtis Callaway, Danville, Virginia
Andrew Carroll, Washington, D.C.
Tony Collins, Washington, D.C.
Bert Conroy, Prospect, Kentucky
Colonel Keith Gibson, Lexington, Virginia
Major Daniel Hall, U.S.A.
W. D. Hardy, Hardin, Montana
V. F. Henderson, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland
Rocky Hoagland, Marysville, Washington
Phoebe Hunter, Missoula, Montana
Jack Ingram, Columbia, Maryland
Ira Jacobson, New York, New York
Bruce Ladd, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Bruce Novak, Needham, Massachusetts
John Tiley, Half Moon Bay, California
Kay Whitlock, Missoula, Montana
Michael Wicklein, Baltimore, Maryland
INTRODUCTION
I
n December 1941, only days after the Japanese launch their devastating surprise attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Japan’s ally Germany declares war on the United States. Americans quickly unite behind President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s call for action against the infamy inflicted upon our forces, and to most Americans the primary enemy is clearly the Japanese. But Roosevelt and most of his military strategists, including Chief of Staff George C. Marshall, recognize that America’s interests are threatened from two directions. Despite the outrage many Americans direct toward the Japanese, the military’s first priority must be to confront Adolf Hitler. Though the navy and the Marines will focus most of their energy in the Pacific, Roosevelt and Marshall plan at the same time for America’s ground forces to make their first strike across the Atlantic.
Well before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt had taken a stand against German aggressiveness in Europe by not-so-discreetly backing the British war effort. The Lend-Lease Act opened a floodgate of equipment and raw materials, food, and basic necessities that flowed in a continuous stream to the British. Despite some support for Hitler in the States, including angry opposition to Roosevelt from celebrities like Charles Lindbergh, the president unabashedly has referred to England as our most important ally.
Germany’s diplomatic outrage is entirely predictable, but even before war is declared, the German navy launches a devastating undersea campaign to destroy Allied shipping. Throughout the first three years of the war, German U-boats are nearly unstoppable. Hundreds of Allied merchant ships are sunk, including some within sight of the American coastline, spectacular displays of destruction that shock Americans from New York to Miami. It is a poignant reminder that Hitler’s ambitious claw does indeed reach the borders of the United States.
By 1941, Hitler’s war machine has washed over most of Europe. The armies of Poland, France, the Low Countries, Denmark, and Norway have been crushed. The British have been driven completely off the European mainland, their army nearly destroyed in the process. The British military and their American counterparts fully expect the Germans to invade the British Isles, a logical and strategically sound move. If the British are conquered, Hitler will control all he has sought in western Europe. His next step will very likely be a strike across the Atlantic, and Roosevelt knows that America’s armed forces are woefully ill-prepared for confrontation.
