Introduction
1 D-day is a post-1940 standard abbreviation for the first day of
any military operation, just as H-hour specifies the start time of the undertaking.
2 The phrase was Rommel’s, referring to the impact of a future Allied invasion of France. Cornelius Ryan’s
The Longest Day (Simon & Schuster, 1959) was the first bestselling book about the dramatic hours of 6 June 1944, later a well-received Hollywood movie of 1962. The book appeared less than fifteen years after the events it narrated, and was based entirely on exhaustive first-hand interviews. It remains an invaluable primary source.
3 Judith A. Bellafaire,
The Army Nurse Corps in World War II (US Army Center of Military History, 2000);
WAAC-WAC 1942–1944, European Theatre of Operations (US Army Historical Section, ETO, 1945).
4 Jack Heath, courtesy of BBC,
The People’s War, 2005.
5 Robin Neillands,
The Battle of Normandy (Cassell, 2002), p. 407.
6 US Navy: USS
Thomas Jefferson; USS
Charles Carroll; USS
Samuel Chase; USS
Henrico; USS
Anne Arundel; USS
Dorotheal. Dix; USS
Thurston; Royal Navy: HMS
Empire Javelin; HMS
Empire Anvil; SS
Ben-My-chree; SS
Princess Maud; SS
Princess Leopold; SS
Prince Baudouin; SS
Prince Charles
1. France and America
1 ‘Moi qui vous parle en connaissance de cause et vous dis que rien n’est perdu pour la France. Les mêmes moyens qui nous ont vaincus peuvent faire venir un jour la victoire. Car la France n’est pas seule! Elle a un vaste Empire derrière elle. Cette guerre n’est pas limitée au territoire malheureux de notre pays. Cette guerre n’est pas tranchée par la bataille de France. Cette guerre est une guerre mondiale.
Quoi qu’il arrive, la flamme de la résistance française ne doit pas s’éteindre et ne s’éteindra pas.’
2 The third of his major speeches since taking office on 10 May. The first was ‘Blood, toil, tears, and sweat’ of 13 May, followed by ‘We shall fight on the beaches’ on 4 June, after Dunkirk.
3 He was never
brigadier, a French rank equivalent to corporal.
4 Peter Caddick-Adams, ‘Anglo-French Co-operation during the Battle of France’, in Brian Bond and Mike Taylor (eds),
The Battle for France and Flanders: Sixty Years On (Leo Cooper, 2001), pp. 35–51.
5 Courtesy of
L’Alliance Française de Londres.
6 ‘How de Gaulle Speech Changed Fate of France’,
BBC Newsnight, 18 June 2010.
7 Simon Berthon,
Allies at War (Carroll & Graf, 2001), p. 46.
8 ‘How de Gaulle Speech Changed Fate of France’, op. cit.
10 Jean Jammes, interview, Olney, Buckinghamshire, 2016.
11 Guy Hattu,
Journal d’un Commando Français (Librarie Bleue, 1994).
12 Donald Gilchrist,
Don’t Cry For Me (Robert Hale, 1982), p. 44.
13 In June 2014, I had the privilege of meeting most of the remaining Kieffer Commandos: François Andriot, Louis Bégot, Paul Chouteau, Hubert Faure, Léon Gautier, Jean Masson, Yves Meudal, Jean Morel and René Rossey.
14 Ed Stourton, interview, Chalke Valley History Festival, 2018.
15 Lord Moran,
Winston Churchill: The Struggle for Survival 1940–1965 (Constable, 1966), p. 88.
16 Author’s research; serving until the war’s end, Flagg would be slightly wounded in action on 11 November 1944.
17 It would remain part of the US Army until 1947.
18 The US Army grew to 5,400,888 in December 1943, and a year later 4,933,682 Americans were serving abroad in eighty divisions; these were supported by three divisions in reserve. In 1945 the US Army reached a total of ninety-one divisions, but three of these had to be broken up for reinforcements. The remaining eighty-eight were maintained at full combat strength despite the fact that by the end of the Ardennes campaign in January 1945, forty-seven regiments in nineteen divisions had suffered between 100 and 200 per cent battle casualties. The original, over-ambitious plan to create an army of 114 divisions was never realised.
19 Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain 1942, reproduced in book form by the Bodleian Library, Oxford (2004), pp. 10–11; 23–4.
20 Minnesota Military Museum correspondence, June 2017; Henke later earned a Silver Star in Tunisia, survived the war, returned as an honoured guest to Belfast in 1992, and died in 1998.
21 In fact the 34th Division were not destined to fight in Normandy, but shipped out to the Mediterranean in November 1942 for Operation Torch. Thereafter, they fought at Salerno, Monte Cassino and Anzio, ending their war in May 1945 in northern Italy.
22 Instructions, op. cit., pp. 22–3.
23 Philip D. Caine,
Spitfires, Thunderbolts and Warm Beer: An American Fighter Pilot Over Europe (Brassey’s, 1995), pp. 17–27.
24 Winston S. Churchill,
The Second World War, Vol. 3: The Grand Alliance (Cassell, 1950), pp. 538–40.
25 Charles ‘Chuck’ Hurlbut, Company ‘C’, 299th Combat Engineer Battalion, interview courtesy of Aaron Elson.
2. Atlantikwall
1 Oberfeldwebel Karl Daniel died aged twenty-nine whilst driving Rommel on 18 July 1944, and is buried at Champigny-Saint-André German military cemetery, block 10, grave 665.
2 Rommel appointed Helmuth Lang as
Ordonnanzoffizier (ADC) to keep a historical record, intending to write a book about his Second World War exploits after the war; he had already published a bestselling memoir of the First World War,
Infanterie greift an: Erlebnis und Erfahrung (
Infantry Attacks: Experience and Expertise) in 1937. Many of Lang’s notes made their way into
The Rommel Papers (ed. B. H. Liddell Hart, Fritz Bayerlein and Manfred Rommel, 1953); Lang did not write any memoirs, but assisted every biographer of Rommel. Friedrich Ruge wrote
Rommel in Normandy, based on Army Group ‘B’’s
Kriegstagebuch (war diary, or KTB), published by Macdonald & Jane’s (1979); on occasion, Ruge also used his own staff car.
3 Burkhart Müller-Hillebrand,
Das Heer 1933–1945, Entwicklung des organisatorischen Aufbaues, Vol. 3: Der Zweifrontenkrieg (Mittler, 1969), citing the
Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) war diary, gives the recorded ration strength in the west on 1 March 1944 as:
Heer: 806,927; SS and Police: 85,230; Kriegsmarine: 96,084; Luftwaffe: 337,140;
Wehrmachtsgefolge (Armed Forces Auxiliaries): 145,611; Foreign volunteers, mainly Eastern troops: 61,439; German allies: 13,631;
Total: 1,546,062. On the other hand, Horst Boog, Gerhard Krebs and Detlef Vogel, in
Germany and the Second World War, Vol. 7: The Strategic Air War in Europe and the War in the West and East Asia 1943–1944/5 (Oxford University Press, 2006), pp. 476–7, cites different figures for the same date:
Heer: 865,180; SS and Police: 102,610; Kriegsmarine: 102,180; Luftwaffe: 326,350;
Wehrmachtsgefolge: 157,210;
Sonstige (others): 91,110;
Total: 1,644,640, plus 114,921 horses; of the latter, 103,475 were issued to the
Heer and 4,139 to the Luftwaffe. Another source, Richard Hargreaves in
The Germans in Normandy (Pen & Sword, 2006), tries to break down the actual OB West (Rundstedt) figures as follows: Divisional and brigade units: 348,888; Non-divisional combat units: 58,047;
Fallschirmjäger: 39,476; Waffen-SS: 75,587;
Ersatzheer (training) units: 74,746;
Osttruppen: 39,000;
Hiwis: 28,000;
Total OB West: 663,744.
4 ETHINT B-283, Gen. Günther Blumentritt, ‘Evaluation of German Command and Troops in OB West’ (1946).
5 As argued by, for example, Max Hastings,
Overlord (Michael Joseph, 1984), p. 64.
6 Macbeth, Act 5, scene 2; ETHINT B-283, Blumentritt, ‘Evaluation’, op. cit.
7 Günther Blumentritt,
Von Rundstedt: The Soldier and the Man (Odhams, 1952), pp. 177–85, 197.
8 H. R. Trevor-Roper (ed.),
Hitler’s War Directives (Sidgwick & Jackson, 1964), Directive No. 51.
11 Blumentritt,
Von Rundstedt, op. cit., p. 203. While Blumentritt’s observations ring true, we must remember that many analyses written for the US Army by senior German officers in the first few years after the war, and other published memoirs such as Blumentritt’s, corresponded to guidance circulated unofficially by Genobst. Franz Halder, former Chief of the
Oberkommando des Heeres (Army General Staff) from 1938 to 1942. Halder, who had been imprisoned at Dachau concentration camp after the 20 July 1944 assassination attempt, directed that post-war military papers should be written to downplay the Wehrmacht’s mistakes, and exaggerate Hitler’s interference. For testifying against senior Nazis at Nuremberg, and helping the US Army’s European Theatre Historical Interrogations (ETHINT) of senior German officers (to which I frequently refer), Halder would be awarded the US Meritorious Civilian Service Award in 1961. Critics believe these German authors wrote a self-serving view of the war; certainly some of their earlier manuscripts were written from memory without access to official records, but many studies are still regarded as objective and reliable.
12 Throughout the war the three Lindemann cannon engaged in pointless exchanges with British guns, and by 1944 had expended some 2,226 shells at Dover.
13 These included huge quantities of captured Czech, Polish, French and Russian artillery systems, some of which dated back to 1914.
14 B. H. Liddell Hart (ed.),
The Rommel Papers (Collins, 1953), p. 457.
15 Paul Carell (pseudonym for SS-Lt-Col Paul Karl Schmidt),
Invasion – They’re Coming! (George Harrap, 1962; first pub. as
Sie Kommen! by Gerhard Stalling Ullstein, 1960), p. 21.
16 The indirect value of Operation Chastise, the famous dam-busting raid of 16–17 May 1943. Shortage of motor vehicles and fuel also made
Organisation Todt (OT) officials reluctant to undertake projects away from major railheads, an issue which the future Transportation Plan would further exacerbate.
17 Gilles Perrault,
Le Secret du Jour J (Librairie Arthème Fayard, 1964), p. 154.
18 Heinz Guderian,
Panzer Leader (Michael Joseph, 1952), p. 331.
19 ETHINT B-284, Gen. Warlimont, ‘OB West, 6 Jun–24 July 1944’ (1946).
20 Perrault,
Le Secret, op. cit., p. 154.
21 Blumentritt,
Von Rundstedt, op. cit., p. 195.
22 Rommel was not associated with the final defeat in Tunisia, having left North Africa beforehand.
23 SD –
Sicherheitsdienst, the Security Service of the SS. Horst Boog, Gerhard Krebs and Detlef Vogel,
Germany and the Second World War, Vol. 7, op cit., p. 581.
24 One of France’s oldest families, whose nobility stretched back fifty generations; their château is open to public view.
25 Blumentritt,
Von Rundstedt, op. cit., p. 204.
26 On 1 March 1944, the Seventh Army had 197,946 men and 33,739 horses; on the same date, the Fifteenth Army possessed 312,604 men and 33,162 equines; by 1 June 1944 this had risen to 43,000 horses for the Seventh Army, and again to 48,000 on 20 June.
27 Cited in Marc Hansen, ‘The German Commanders on D-Day’, in John Buckley (ed.),
The Normandy Campaign 1944: Sixty Years On (Routledge, 2006), p. 38.
28 ETHINT B-403, Genlt Reichert, ‘711th Inf. Division, 1 Apr 1943–24 Jul 1944’ (1947).
29 His full name was Leo Dietrich Franz, Freiherr (Baron) Geyr von Schweppenburg; historians often refer to him by part of his surname, Geyr.
30 Guderian,
Panzer Leader, op. cit., p. 329.
31 Geyr von Schweppenburg, ‘Invasion Without Laurels, Part 2’,
Australian Army Journal, No. 8 (1950), p. 25.
32 Guderian,
Panzer Leader, op. cit., pp. 332–3.
33 Marc Milner,
Stopping the Panzers (University Press of Kansas, 2014), Kindle, p. 1768.
34 Blumentritt,
Von Rundstedt, op. cit., pp. 208–9.
35 Liddell Hart (ed.),
The Rommel Papers, op. cit., p. 467.
36 Schweppenburg, ‘Invasion Without Laurels’, op. cit., p. 25.
39 Ian Gooderson, ‘Allied Fighter bombers versus German Armour in NW Europe 1944–1945: Myths and Realities’,
Journal of Strategic Studies, Vol. 14/2 (1991), pp. 210–31.
40 NARA FMS B-845, Genlt Karl-Wilhelm von Schlieben, ‘The 709th Infantry Division’ (1946).
41 Vince Milano & Bruce Conner,
Normandiefront. D-Day to St Lô (History Press, 2011), Kindle, p. 399.
42 Panzer IV and Panther, plus Independent Tank Battalions of Tiger and King Tiger; reconnaissance tanks included Lynx variant of Pz II or Pz III; assault guns were StuG III or StuG IV; anti-tank and artillery mounted weapons included
Jagdpanther, Jagdpanzer IV, Hummel, Wespe, Hornisse and
Marders, plus all the captured French tank hulls.
43 Max Hastings,
Overlord: D-Day and The Battle for Normandy (Michael Joseph, 1984), p.24.
44 John Keegan,
Six Armies in Normandy (Jonathan Cape, 1982), p. 60.
45 Blumentritt,
Von Rundstedt, op. cit., pp. 207–8.
46 Ruge,
Rommel in Normandy, op. cit., p. 165.
47 Blumentritt,
Von Rundstedt, op. cit., pp. 207–8.
49 William F. Buckingham,
D-Day: The First 72 Hours (History Press, 2004), Kindle, pp. 552–61.
51 Buckingham,
D-Day, op. cit., p. 552.
52 Edward R. Flint,
Development of British Civil Affairs during the Battle of Normandy, Jun-Aug 1944 (PhD Thesis, Cranfield University, UK Defence Academy, 2008) p. 215; Caen had a population of 70,000, though its arrondissement totalled 177,000. Bayeux totalled 7,000, and its arrondissement 54,000.
53 Blumentritt,
Von Rundstedt, op. cit., p. 207; it should be noted, however, that the author’s intention was to cast Rundstedt in a favourable light.
54 Obstlt. Fritz Ziegelmann, 352nd Infantry Division Normandy (NARA Foreign Military Studies, ETHINT B-021, 1946).
55 Flint,
Civil Affairs, op. cit., p. 215.
56 Carell,
Invasion, op. cit., p. 27; ten grams of sugar (three cubes) could rob 100 kg of cement of its binding cohesiveness.
57 Blumentritt,
Von Rundstedt, op. cit., p. 206.
58 Gen. Leo Freiherr Geyr von Schweppenburg, ‘Panzer Tactics in Normandy’ (NARA ETHINT-13, 1947).
59 John F. Hale and Edwin R. Turner,
The Yanks Are Coming (Midas, 1983), p. 162.
60 Richard L. DiNardo,
Mechanized Juggernaut or Military Anachronism? Horses and the German Army of World War II (Praeger, 1991), Kindle, pp. 1212, 1283.
62 Dr Reinhardt Schwartz, interview, Normandy, 1994.
63 R. L. DiNardo and Austin Bay, ‘Horse-drawn Transport in the German Army’,
Journal of Contemporary History, Vol. 23/1 (1988), pp. 129–42.
64 Romanian oil wells were heavily bombed in Operation Tidal Wave (aka ‘Soapsuds’) and after; this source of supply was finally terminated when Romania changed sides on 23 August 1944.
65 DiNardo,
Mechanized Juggernaut, op. cit., p. 1203.
66 Adam Tooze,
The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy (Viking, 2007).
67 Milano and Conner,
Normandieffront, op. cit., p. 606.
68 Robert Kershaw,
D-Day: Piercing the Atlantic Wall (Ian Allen, 1993), p. 36.
70 Rémy and Marguerite Cassigneul, interview, Tailleville, May 2014.
71 Volker Griesser,
The Lions of Carentan (Casemate, 2011), p. 83.
72 Heinrich Böll,
Briefe aus dem Krieg (Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 2003), letter, 1943.
73 Michael Strong,
Steiner’s War: The Merville Battery (self-published, 2013), pp. 12–13, 17.
74 Dollmann was so dangerously out of date that he would order the Panzer Lehr and 12th SS forward in daylight and in radio silence on 6 June, which contributed to the disorganisation of both and the loss of many vehicles.
75 Wilhelm Falley (91st
Luftlande) was killed by US paratroopers in the early hours of 6 June outside his HQ when setting off for Rennes; Marcks died from aerial attack on 12 June; Heinz Hellmich (243rd Division) was killed on 17 June; the following day, Rudolf Stegmann (77th Division) was struck in the head by 20mm
cannon fire from a strafing Allied plane; while Dietrich Kraiss (352nd Division) died of wounds on 6 August.
76 Horst family archives.
77 Michael Ginns, ‘The 319th Infantry Division in the Channel Islands’,
Channel Islands Occupation Review, No. 19 (1991).
78 Blumentritt,
Von Rundstedt, op. cit., p. 202.
79 The Allies had deceived the Germans into thinking that amongst the Allied divisions waiting to invade were the fictional 2nd British, and 9th and 21st US Airborne Divisions. These were in addition to the real British 1st and 6th, and US 13th, 17th, 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, plus the Polish Parachute Brigade – ten airborne formations allegedly just waiting to descend from the skies into German-occupied France.
80 Ruge,
Rommel in Normandy, op. cit., pp. 166–7.
81 ETHINT B-597, Gen. Wolfgang Pickert, ‘III Flak Corps Normandy, May–14 Sept 1944’ (1947).
82 ETHINT B-283, Blumentritt, ‘Evaluation’, op. cit.
84 Blumentritt,
Von Rundstedt, op. cit., p. 179.
85 7th Army
Kriegstagebuch, Report of
Sonderstab Oemichen, 13.5.44.
86 Maj. Friedrich Hayn,
Die Invasion: Von Cotentin bis Falaise (Kurt Vowinckel, 1954), p. 16.
87 At the last moment, when the initial reports of paratroop landings arrived, Dollmann’s chief of staff, Max Pemsel, cancelled the war games and insisted those who had set off return to their posts.
3. Heading Over There
1 The Canadian Active Service Force was mobilised on 1 September 1939 in anticipation of the declaration of war. The 1st Canadian Infantry Brigade was raised in Ontario and embarked for the UK on 17 December, arriving at Greenock on 25 December; 2nd Canadian Brigade was raised in western Canada, and embarked from Halifax on 22 December 1939; 3rd Canadian Brigade was raised in Quebec, moving to Halifax and embarking on 8 December, arriving on 17 December; all moved on to Aldershot on arrival.
2 Canadian conscripts were eventually sent to war in Europe, but not until November 1944.
3 Tony Foster,
Meeting of Generals (Methuen Ontario, 1986), p. 289.
4 Another 511 RCN personnel crewed Royal Navy vessels; Mark Zuehlke,
Juno Beach: Canada’s D-Day Victory (Douglas & McIntyre, 2004), Kindle, p. 742.
5 David Ian Hall, ‘Creating the 2nd Tactical Air Force: Inter-service and Anglo-Canadian Co-operation in the Second World War’,
Canadian Military Journal (Winter 2002–3), p. 41.
6 Rev. R. M. Hickey,
The Scarlet Dawn (Tribune Publishers, 1950), p. 112.
7 Given to the British under Lend-Lease in exchange for permanent US bases in Newfoundland and the Caribbean.
8 Barney Danson,
Not Bad for a Sergeant (Dundurn, 2002), chapter 2.
9 David Reynolds,
Rich Relations: The American Occupation of Britain 1942–1945 (HarperCollins, 1995), p. 339.
10 Stephen Dyson,
Tank Twins (Leo Cooper, 1994), p. 25.
11 Murrow was so pro-British and proficient in advancing the Allied cause over the airwaves that Churchill offered to make him joint director-general of the BBC, in charge of programming, in 1943. He declined, but was later awarded an honorary KBE (Knight Commander of the British Empire) for his friendship and services.
12 Michael Burleigh,
Mortal Combat (HarperCollins, 2010), p. 506.
13 Instructions, op. cit., pp. 7, 17.
15 Philip Ardery, telephone interview; see his memoir,
Bomber Pilot: A Memoir of World War II (University Press of Kentucky, 1978). Ardery died in May 2012 at his home in Louisville, Kentucky.
16 Cy Cyford, interview, Baltimore, 1984; he died in August 2008.
17 Lt Russell Chandler, Jr, interview courtesy of A. Russell Chandler III (
Aviation History, July 2004).
18 Capt. Curt Vogel, memoir courtesy of
www.458bg.com. Vogel flew thirty missions out of England, his last to Berlin the day before D-Day. He also served in Korea from 1951 to 1952, then pursued a successful legal career before dying in January 2007 in his native Missouri.
19 Mavis Boswell, interview, Truro, 1985.
20 David J. Pike,
Airborne in Nottingham: The Impact of an Elite American Parachute Regiment on an English City in World War II (self-published, 1991), p. 20–1.
21 R. S. Raymond,
A Yank at Bomber Command (David & Charles, 1977), p. x.
22 Allan Nevins,
A Brief history of the United States (Clarendon Press, 1942); Louis MacNeice,
Meet the US Army (Board of Education/Ministry of Information, HMSO, 1943).
24 Norman Longmate,
The GIs: The Americans in Britain 1942–1945 (Hutchinson, 1975), p. 301.
25 Birdie Schmidt, ‘Reminiscences About the ARC Aeroclub at Wendling, Gleaned from Reports Made to ARC English Headquarters’, 2017, courtesy of 392nd Bomb Group Memorial Association,
www.b24.net.
26 The Times, 4 August 1942.
27 Forrest C. Pogue,
Pogue’s War: Diaries of a WWII Combat Historian (University Press of Kentucky, 2001), p. 12.
4. The Commandos
1 Instructions, op. cit., pp. 24–5.
2 Pogue,
Pogue’s War, op. cit., p. 7.
3 William B. Dowling, interview, 2017, courtesy of 392nd Bomb Group Memorial Association,
www.b24.net.
5 Pike,
Airborne in Nottingham, op. cit., p. 11.
6 Cited in Hale and Turner,
The Yanks Are Coming, op cit., pp. 78–9.
7 Robert S. Arbib, Jr,
Here We Are Together: The Notebook of an American Soldier in Britain (Longman’s Green, 1946). Arbib later became a noted ornithologist and died in July 1987.
8 Bernard Sender, interview, 2017, courtesy of 392nd Bomb Group Memorial Association,
www.b24.net.
9 The Eighth Air Force peaked in 1944 at over 200,000 personnel, whilst the Ninth amounted to 185,000.
11 Bill Coughlan, letter,
Guardian, 4 January 2017.
12 Desperate women began to stain their legs with household items like gravy browning, coffee and cocoa powder to give the appearance of stockings, then drew a ‘seam’ down the backs of their legs with an eyebrow or eyeliner pencil, enlisting help to get it straight.
13 Davis,
Frozen Rainbows, op. cit., p. 47.
14 Margaret Seeley, interview, cited in Roderick Bailey,
Forgotten Voices of D-Day (Ebury Press, 2009).
15 Mavis Boswell, interview, op. cit.
16 Davis,
Frozen Rainbows, op. cit., p. 73.
17 Brian Selman, interview, Southampton, 2004.
18 Pogue,
Pogue’s War, op. cit., p. 33.
19 Instructions, op. cit., pp. 5–7.
20 Juliet Gardiner,
Over Here: The GIs in Wartime Britain (Collins & Brown, 1992), p. 56.
21 Instructions, op. cit., p. 18.
24 Isaac A. Coleman, interview, 1984, cited in Lynn L. Sims,
‘They Have Seen the Elephant’: Veterans’ Remembrances from World War II for the Fortieth Anniversary of VE-Day (Logistics Center, Fort Lee, Virginia, 1985).
25 There was a not dissimilar impact on the urban working class males of Britain who likewise were seen to benefit from their military service during 1914–18.
26 Current Affairs (ABCA Publication No. 26), 19 September 1942.
27 Bill Cheall,
Fighting Through from Dunkirk to Hamburg: A Green Howards Wartime Memoir (Pen & Sword, 2011), Kindle, p. 90.
28 George Richardson and George Self, interview, Normandy, 1994.
29 Reynolds,
Rich Relations, op. cit., p. 267.
30 Pike,
Airborne in Nottingham, op. cit., p. 15.
32 Capt. Robert K. Morgan and his crew actually flew twenty-nine combat missions with the 324th Bomb Squadron, but only twenty-five in the
Memphis Belle, during which time they shot down eight German aircraft. The story was remade as a feature film in 1990.
33 James A. McDowell, Park Tudor School Words of War Oral History Collection, Indiana State Library, 2011.
34 Anthony Powell,
A Dance to the Music of Time, Vol. 9: The Military Philosophers (Heinemann, 1968), p. 114.
35 Pogue,
Pogue’s War, op. cit., p. 15; Davis,
Frozen Rainbows, op. cit., p. 101.
36 Paul Wagner,
The Youngest Crew (Lagumo Press, 1997).
37 Marthe Watts,
The Men in My Life (Christopher Johnson, 1960), p. 234; see also Julia Laite, ‘Sex, War and Syndication: Organized Prostitution and the Second World War’, in
Common Prostitutes and Ordinary Citizens: Commercial Sex in London, 1885–1960 (Springer, 2017), pp. 149–70.
38 Martin W. Bowman,
We Were Eagles: The Eighth Air Force at War, Vol. 2: Dec 1943–May 1944 (Amberley, 2014), pp. 38–9.
39 Dyson,
Tank Twins, op. cit., p. 21.
40 James A. McDowell, interview, op. cit.
41 Owen Bowcott, ‘Top Brass Feared Worst as GIs and Good-time Girls Enjoyed Blackout’,
Guardian, 1 November 2005; Neil Tweedie, ‘How Our Piccadilly Commandos Had the GIs Surrounded’,
Daily Telegraph, 1 November 2005.
42 Caine,
Spitfires, Thunderbirds and Warm Beer, op. cit., p. 134.
43 Joan Wyndham,
Love Lessons: A Wartime Diary (Heinemann, 1985); obituary,
Daily Telegraph, 14 April 2007.
44 Amongst more conservative Britons, there was resentment in the way Americans threw their money around indiscriminately, but this was probably ‘old’ money resenting the new. It is also tempting to assert – though hard to prove – a concern that American ‘culture’ was somehow undermining or eroding ‘British values’ – whatever they were (there were old ‘American values’, too). Subliminally by 1944–5 the GIs, with their high wages, dashing uniforms and confident and flirtatious nature, may have come to represent in some minds the gradual dominance of the US in the Anglo-American alliance, but this may simply be the wisdom of hindsight.
45 Dougie Alford, interview, Truro, 1985.
46 Pogue,
Pogue’s War, op. cit., p. 16.
47 Derek James, ‘Voices of America’,
Let’s Talk, 19 July 2013.
48 Roy Bainton,
The Long Patrol (Mainstream, 2003), Kindle, pp. 3445, 3593, 3608.
49 Pike,
Airborne in Nottingham, op. cit., p. 10.
50 James, ‘Voices of America’, op. cit.
51 Gerald Astor,
The Mighty Eighth: The Air War in Europe as Told by the Men Who Fought It (Random House: New York, 1997), pp. 122–6; see also Bowman,
We Were Eagles, Vol. 2, op. cit., p. 7.
52 Harry H. Crosby,
A Wing and a Prayer: The ‘Bloody 100th’ Bomb Group of the US Eighth Air Force in Action over Europe in World War II (HarperCollins, 1993).
5. Warm Hearts
1 Mildred A. MacGregor,
World War II Front Line Nurse (University of Michigan Press, 2008), p. 23.
2 Norman ‘Bud’ Fortier,
An Ace of the Eighth (Presidio, 2003), p. 44.
3 John Robert ‘Bob’ Slaughter,
Omaha Beach and Beyond: The Long March of Sgt. Bob Slaughter (Zenith, 2007), pp. 47–50.
4 Fortier,
An Ace of the Eighth, op. cit., p. 46.
5 MacGregor,
World War II Front Line Nurse, op. cit., p. 32.
6 Harry P. Carroll, interview, cited in Sims,
‘They Have Seen the Elephant’, op. cit.
7 Dr Hal Baumgarten, telephone interview, June 1999; Hal died on Christmas Day 2016, aged ninety-one.
8 Stephen J. Ochs,
A Cause Greater Than Self (Texas A&M University Press, 2012), p. 42.
9 ‘God Was on the Beach on D-Day: Chaplain Burkhalter Tells Power of Prayers’,
Miami Daily News, 6 August 1944.
10 One of the US Army’s famous chaplains, Burkhalter landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day, later serving in Korea; he died in 1992 and is buried in Arlington cemetery.
12 Carl Dannemann, ‘Troopships That Took a GI to War and Back Again’, courtesy of Ocean Liner Museum/South Street Seaport Museum, New York.
13 Donald R. Burgett,
Currahee! A Screaming Eagle at Normandy (Random House, 1967), p. 52.
14 Belton Y. Cooper,
Death Traps: The Survival of an American Armored Division in World War II (Presidio, 1998), pp. 3–6.
15 Hobart Winebrenner and Michael McCoy,
Bootprints: An Infantryman’s Walk Through World War II (Camp Comamajo Press, 2005), pp. 6–11.
16 Charles Hurlbut, interview, op. cit.
17 Marsh,
The Sergeant’s Diary, op. cit.
18 MSgts Lincoln Couch and N. H. Gorges (eds), ‘History of the 756 Railway Shop Battalion’ (typewritten 82-page manuscript, n.d., but
c.1945), pp. 17–20.
19 Charles Hurlbut, interview, op. cit.
20 Guy Charland, interview, 2003, courtesy of Colin and Chad Charland and Aaron Elson.
21 Daniel Folsom, interview, 2005, Park Tudor School Words of War Oral History Collection, Indiana State Library.
22 Davis,
Frozen Rainbows, op. cit., pp. 32–47; having kindly agreed to an interview, Davis died in May 2015 before we could meet.
23 James H. Madison, ‘Wearing Lipstick to War: An American Woman in World War II England and France’,
Prologue, Vol. 39/3 (Fall 2007).
24 Ruth Haskins, interview, 2004, courtesy of BBC, WW2 People’s War, op. cit.
25 Bernard Peters, interview, Truro, 1985.
28 Stanley Jones, interview, Trowbridge, 1994.
29 Patricia Barnard, interview, 2004, courtesy of BBC, WW2 People’s War, op. cit.
30 Pogue,
Pogue’s War, op. cit., p. 21.
31 Omar N. Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story of the Allied Campaigns from Tunis to the Elbe (Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1951), p. 174. Eisenhower donated an American flag to Clifton College in 1953 as a thank you for the important role it played, which is flown every year on Independence Day, 4 July.
32 Clifton College soon reverted back to being a distinguished school; Norton Fitzwarren today is an HQ of the Royal Marines and the manor is its officers’ mess; Breamore House is open to the public and enormously proud of its wartime associations.
33 Evelyn Waugh,
Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder (Chapman & Hall, 1945).
34 Guy Charland, interview, op. cit.
35 Dale Gillespie, interview, Park Tudor School Words of War Oral History Collection, Indiana State Library; Gillespie died in January 2011.
36 Slaughter,
Omaha Beach and Beyond, op. cit., pp. 51–2.
37 Burgett,
Currahee!, op. cit., pp. 53–4.
38 Pogue,
Pogue’s War, op. cit., p. 25.
39 Daniel Folsom, interview, op. cit.
40 Slaughter,
Omaha Beach and Beyond, op. cit., p. 52.
41 Arthur Whalen, interview, 2005, Park Tudor School Words of War Oral History Collection, Indiana State Library.
42 George Forty,
Frontline Dorset: A County at War 1939–45 (Dorset Books, 1994), p. 79.
43 Handwritten diary of HM King George VI, Wednesday, 24 May 1944, Royal Archives, Windsor; by kind permission of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
44 Parnham, Littlecote and Wilton are all open to the public. In many ways the stereotypical English country mansion, and now a National Trust house open to the public, Basildon Park was the setting for
Pride and Prejudice (2005) and many scenes from
Downton Abbey (2010–15).
45 ‘Top Secret D-Day Plans Found Hidden Under Hotel’s Floorboards’,
Daily Telegraph, 9 February 2015.
46 Couch and Gorges (eds), ‘History of the 756 Railway Shop Battalion’, op. cit.
47 US Army Hospital at Kingston Lacy, National Trust Archives.
48 Jean Treasure,
The 228th American Hospital at Haydon Park near Sherborne, Dorset (self-published, 2004).There were several different kinds of hospitals: field (400-bed) and evacuation (400–750 beds); both were tented and fully mobile, being designed to follow the troops into battle. More permanent were station hospitals
(250–750 beds), general (1,000-bed) and convalescent (2,000–3,000 beds): these fixed establishments were the ones more often found in the grounds of country estates. They used large numbers of Quonset huts (the US equivalent of the prefabricated Nissen hut, a twenty-by-forty-foot half-cylinder tin shed erected on a concrete floor), which had flushing toilets, clean water and were heated by coal-burning stoves. Such hutted hospital complexes resulted in vast military villages springing up around England’s country houses. Siegfried Sassoon’s Georgian mansion in Wiltshire, Heytesbury House, was not untypical, accommodating the headquarters of the US XIX Corps, 7th Armored Group and 3253rd Signal Service Co. in the house and stables, whilst the 14th Field Hospital was scattered over its two-hundred-acre parkland. All of this infrastructure is now long gone, but the careful eye will detect initials and dates from the war years carved into the bark of the older trees, while the decaying concrete bases and remains of cinder pathways are to be found in the undergrowth of many a country estate.
49 Pike,
Airborne in Nottingham, op. cit., p. 16; LeFebvre served in HQ Company, 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry, and died in 2010.
6. A Question of Colour
1 Reynolds,
Rich Relations, op. cit., pp. 206–8.
2 Lt Helen Pavlovsky Ramsay, USNR, interview, US Navy Oral History program.
4 Valentine M. Miele, 16th Infantry, interview, 2014, courtesy of Aaron Elson.
5 Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story, op. cit., p. 279.
6 Stuart Preston obituary,
Daily Telegraph, 1 March 2005.
7 Henry Buckton,
Friendly Invasion: Memories of Operation Bolero (Phillimore, 2006), Kindle, p. 3542.
8 Reynolds,
Rich Relations, op. cit., pp. 418–22.
9 The majority of Canadian brides were British, the rest French, Belgian or Dutch. The record also shows that well over a thousand Poles, then stationed in Scotland, had taken local brides by 1943.
10 David P. Colley,
The Road to Victory: The Untold Story of Race and World War II’s Red Ball Express (Brassey’s, 2000), p. 71.
11 Leon Hutchinson, interview, 2003, Park Tudor School Words of War Oral History Collection, Indiana State Library.
12 Mary Pat Kelly,
Proudly We Served: The Men of the USS Mason (Naval Institute Press, 1995).
13 Sir James Grigg (1890–1964) was Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the War Office (i.e. a civil servant) who was promoted by Churchill to become Secretary of State for War (a political positon) in February 1942 – an unprecedented and unparalleled move in modern times; see also Thomas E. Hachey, ‘Jim Crow with a British Accent: Attitudes of London Government Officials Toward American Negro Soldiers in England During World War II’,
Journal of African American History, Vol. 59/1 (1974).
14 Patricia Barnard, interview, op. cit.
15 Cited in Reynolds,
Rich Relations, op. cit., p. 342.
16 Patrick Sawer, ‘Revealed: How Britons Welcomed Black Soldiers During WWII, and Fought Alongside Them Against Racist GIs’,
Daily Telegraph, 6 December 2015.
17 Ralph Ellison, ‘In a Strange Country’, in
Flying Home and Other Stories, ed. John F. Callahan (Random House, 1996); in 1953, Ellison would win the US National Book Award for Fiction for his major novel
The Invisible Man (1952); see also Daniel G. Williams, ‘“If we only had some of what they have”: Ralph Ellison in Wales’,
Comparative American Studies: An International Journal, 4/1 (2006).
18 Joseph O. Curtiss, interview, 1983; cited in Reynolds,
Rich Relations, op. cit., p. 24.
19 Cited in Robin Neillands and Roderick De Normann,
D-Day 1944: Voices from Normandy (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1993), p. 6; and author’s interview with 82nd Airborne Division veterans, 1994; see also Adam G. R. Berry,
And Suddenly They Were Gone: An Oral and Pictorial History of the 82nd Airborne Division in England, February–November 1944 (Overlord Publishing, 2017), and
My Clear Conscience: The Memoirs of Cpl. George Shenkle, Easy Company, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division (CreateSpace, 2014).
20 Forty,
Frontline Dorset, op. cit., p. 88.
22 Neville Paddy, interview, Truro, 1984.
23 Pike,
Airborne in Nottingham, op. cit., p. 27.
24 Slaughter,
Omaha Beach and Beyond, op. cit., p. 85.
25 Tim Parr, interview, Launceston, 1994.
26 Ann Willmott (née Rowan), interview courtesy of BBC, WW2 People’s War, op. cit.
27 The Crown in Kingsclere is still in business today.
28 James Hudson, interview, Washington DC, 1984.
29 Reynolds,
Rich Relations, op. cit., p. 121.
30 Pittsburgh Courier, 13 December 1941 and 31 January 1942.
31 Mike Pryce, ‘Naked Officers and Injured GI’s – War-time Britain Has Many Memories for Marjorie’,
Worcester News, 12 January 2009.
32 Nevil Shute,
The Chequer Board (Heinemann, 1947).
33 Reynolds discusses this case at length in
Rich Relations, op. cit., pp. 234–7.
34 Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower,
Crusade in Europe (Doubleday, 1948), Kindle, p. 4406.
35 A Welcome to Britain, op. cit.
36 Twelve O’Clock High marked a departure from the optimistic, morale-boosting genre of wartime films and a move towards a grittier realism that dealt with the realities of daylight precision bombing in 1943 without fighter escort, prior to the arrival of the long-range P-51 Mustang. It was directed by Darryl F. Zanuck, who will feature again in our story as producer of the 1962 story of D-Day,
The Longest Day.
37 Hale and Turner,
The Yanks Are Coming, op. cit., p. 158.
38 Buckton,
Friendly Invasion, op. cit., p. 1730.
40 Now Margaret Meen-Parker; see her article, ‘When They Arrived, I Was Nine’, 2017, courtesy of 392nd Bomb Group Memorial Association,
www.b24.net.
41 War Horse, of the 577th Bomb Squadron, was lost on her seventeenth mission over the North Sea on 4 January 1944 after bombing Kiel. Her crew of ten all perished. Her markings were described as a ‘helmeted horse’s head snorting steam from nostrils’; painted on her starboard nose was ‘Marcy’, named for Margaret Meen.
42 Meen-Parker, ‘When They Arrived’, op. cit.
7. Committees and Code Words
1 Andrew Roberts, in
Masters and Commanders: How Four Titans Won the War in the West, 1941–1945 (Harper, 2009), explores the workings of the Combined Chiefs during the war.
2 By April 1942, the Combined Chiefs had agreed to nine operations: Imperator, a major raid scheduled for the summer of 1942; Jubilee, against Dieppe; Wetbob, to capture and hold the Cherbourg peninsula in 1942; Sledgehammer, an assault on Le Havre in 1942; Roundup, a full-scale invasion of France in 1943; Lethal, a small-scale assault to seize and hold the Brest peninsula in 1943; Hadrian, to capture and hold the Cherbourg peninsula in 1943; Cruickshank, against the Low Countries in 1943; and Torch, an opposed invasion of north-west Africa in November 1942. Of these, only Jubilee and Torch were executed.
3 Eisenhower was promoted to brigadier general on 29 September 1941, acting major general on 27 March 1942, acting lieutenant general on 7 July the same year, and acting general on 11 February 1943. His substantive rank remained major general until 30 August 1943.
4 Previously known as Operation Gymnast, Torch involved three landings at Algiers, Oran and Casablanca. All were ineffectively opposed.
5 Churchill’s chosen name of ‘Symbol’ suggested a conference with a hidden agenda, whereas Husky referred to the coming trial of strength on Sicily between the big, strong (husky) Allied armies and their Axis counterparts (who may have looked husky, but weren’t).
6 Operation Sickle suggested the harvesting of Germany by the USAAF’s tool with its sharp, unforgiving curved blade; whereas Trident also reflected the Anglo-US–Soviet direction of the war; Quadrant – held in Quebec – acknowledged the Canadian contribution, thus implying its strategic direction was a four-way affair.
7 David Reynolds,
In Command of History (Allen Lane, 2004), p. 318.
8 Eisenhower,
Crusade in Europe, op. cit., p. 4303.
9 Lt Gen. Sir Frederick Morgan,
Overture to Overlord (Hodder & Stoughton, 1950).
10 Ex-Wren Ginger Thomas, interview courtesy of BBC, WW2 People’s War, op. cit.
11 History of COSSAC 1943–1944 (Historical Sub-Section, SHAEF, May 1944).
12 Ginger Thomas, interview, op. cit.
13 History of COSSAC 1943–1944, op. cit., p. 27; Rankin was a unsubtle reference to the Montanan legislator Jeannette Rankin (1880–1973), the first US Congresswoman, and only representative to oppose American involvement in both world wars; the code name was ironic, for it was felt the troublemaker couldn’t have opposed Operation Rankin, which would have been a non-belligerent occupation of an already-collapsed Germany.
14 Julian Paget,
The Crusading General: The Life of General Sir Bernard Paget (Pen & Sword, 2008), pp. 57–77.
15 Ginger Thomas, interview, op. cit.
16 Richard Collier,
D-Day: June 6 1944: The Normandy Landings (Cassell, 1992), p. 105.
17 Hughes-Hallett (1901–72) had observed the Norwegian campaign, planned and executed the August 1942 Dieppe raid, and would go on to prepare Force ‘J’, bound for Juno Beach.
18 Ginger Thomas, interview, op. cit.
19 By D+24 the British and Americans had each built ten airstrips within the beachhead, and by D+90 there were an astonishing eighty-nine temporary airfields in use, underlining the importance of air power. The runways were paved with steel mesh tracking (SMT) and perforated steel plate (PSP), which can still be seen today fencing the farms of Normandy.
20 The attackers lost 3,670 killed, wounded and taken prisoner, over half the force, and 106 RAF planes were destroyed. The Germans lost 500 men and 46 aircraft.
21 The National Archives (TNA): CAB 80/71, Memoranda (O) Nos. 331–400.
22 History of COSSAC 1943–1944, op. cit., p. 32.
24 Winston S. Churchill,
The Second World War, Vol. 6: Triumph and Tragedy (Cassell, 1953), p. 8.
25 Mick Crossley, interview, cited in Frank and Joan Shaw,
We Remember D-Day (Ebury Press, 1994), pp. 11–16.
26 Picture Post, 6 May 1944.
27 The fifty-nine Corncob vessels were sunk as follows: Utah Beach (Gooseberry 1), ten vessels; Omaha Beach (Gooseberry 2), fourteen ships; Gold Beach (Gooseberry 3), fifteen ships; Juno Beach (Gooseberry 4), eleven vessels; Sword Beach (Gooseberry 5), nine ships.
28 The Corncob warships included the old British battleship HMS
Centurion, cruiser HMS
Durban, Dutch cruiser
Sumatra and French battleship
Courbet. The upper decks of the Corncobs were used as facilities for first aid, repairs, fuelling and accommodation. See Brig. Sir Bruce White, Notes on Mulberry Harbours, 9 January 1981, Imperial War Museum; and Guy Hartcup,
Code Name Mulberry: The Planning, Building and Operation of the Normandy Harbours (Pen & Sword, 2006).
29 Winston S. Churchill,
The Second World War, Vol. 5: Closing the Ring (Cassell, 1951), p. 226; David Reynolds develops this point at length in
chapter 24 of
In Command of History, op. cit.
30 History of COSSAC 1943–1944, op. cit., p. 28.
31 Reynolds,
In Command of History, op. cit., p. 376.
32 History of COSSAC 1943–1944, op. cit.
33 Reynolds,
In Command of History, op. cit., p. 381.
35 George C. Marshall was clearly the front runner for the supreme command, but it became apparent that he was the key link in Washington DC and that Roosevelt had come to rely on him. Thus Marshall nominated Eisenhower, his star pupil, who had already been Mediterranean supremo and had previously authored draft invasion plans of France.
36 Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke,
War Diaries 1939–1945, eds. Alex Danchev and Dan Todman (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2001), pp. 546–7.
37 Desmond Scott,
Typhoon Pilot (Leo Cooper, 1982), p. 103.
38 George Chambers and William Brown, interviews, 1988, Imperial War Museum Sound Archive, ref. 10415.
39 Reynolds,
Rich Relations, op. cit., p. 345.
40 Montgomery to Brooke, letter, 4 April 1943, Imperial War Museum, BLM 49/25.
41 Alexander to Brooke, letter, 3 April 1943, Liddell Hart Military Archive, King’s College, London, 14/63.
42 Tom Bigland, interview, Shrewsbury, 1984; also Maj. Tom Bigland,
Bigland’s War: War Letters of Tom Bigland, 1941–45 (self-published, 1990), p. 62.
43 Norman Kirby,
1100 Miles with Monty: Security and Intelligence at Tac HQ (Alan Sutton, 1989), p. 32.
44 Alistair Horne and David Montgomery,
Monty 1944–1945 (Macmillan, 1994), p. 106.
45 Rommel the spaniel was killed in a traffic accident in the Netherlands on 18 December 1944.
46 Goronwy Rees,
A Bundle of Sensations: Sketches in Autobiography (Chatto & Windus, 1960).
47 Alanbrooke,
War Diaries 1939–1945, op. cit., entry for 30 November 1943, p. 486.
48 Ibid., entry for 11 December 1943, p. 496.
49 Ibid., entry for 21 September 1943, p. 454.
50 Carlo D’Este,
Bitter Victory: The Battle for Sicily, 1943 (Dutton, 1998), p. 106.
51 Field Marshal Montgomery of Alamein,
Memoirs (Collins, 1958), Kindle, pp. 3874–86.
52 Churchill,
Second World War, Vol. 5, op. cit., p. 393.
53 Eisenhower,
Crusade in Europe, op. cit., pp. 4320–9.
54 Ibid., Appendix C, Memo dated 8 August 1943.
55 Unlike the United States, post-war British governments have failed to take Churchill’s good advice to heart; the UK’s recent military code words are hardly inspirational and disgracefully blander than bland, as witnessed by, for example, Operations Corporate (Falklands, 1982), Granby (Kuwait, 1991), Palliser and Barras (Sierra Leone, 2000), Telic (Iraq, 2003), Fingal and Herrick (Afghanistan, 2002), Ellamy (Libya, 2011) and Shader (Syria, 2014).
56 Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story, op. cit., p. 222.
57 Henry J. Cordes, ‘D-Day: Was Omaha Beach Named in Honor of Local Man’s War Efforts?’,
Omaha World-Herald, 9 November 2008.
8. Soapsuds and Tidal Waves
1 Still a military airbase today, US records referred to De Koog airfield, spelt by the Dutch De Kooy.
2 Col. Hal Radesky, interview, 1987, courtesy of Strategic Air Command. This fine old soldier died in May 2014, aged ninety-five.
3 Marshal of the RAF Sir Arthur Harris,
Bomber Offensive (Collins, 1947), p.70.
4 This was Operation Margin, an attack on the MAN U-boat diesel engine factory on 17 April 1942; seven of the twelve Lancasters were shot down with the loss of forty-nine crewmen – thirty-seven killed and twelve taken prisoner. Many aircraft were damaged, Sqn Ldr Nettleton nursing his crippled Lancaster aircraft home, for which he would be awarded the Victoria Cross. Post-war analysis indicated the damage inflicted on the enemy was tiny.
5 Ken Delve,
D-Day: The Air Battle (Arms & Armour Press, 1994), p. 28.
6 Martin W. Bowman,
We Were Eagles, Vol. 1: The Eighth Air Force at War, July 1942 to November 1943 (Amberley, 2014).
7 Caine,
Spitfires, Thunderbolts and Warm Beer, op. cit., pp. 176–7.
8 Best described in Martin Middlebrook,
The Schweinfurt–Regensburg Mission: The American Raids on 17 August 1943 (Allen Lane, 1983).
9 Pierre Clostermann,
The Big Show (Chatto & Windus, 1951), p. 94.
11 David Ian Hall, ‘Creating the 2nd Tactical Air Force: Inter-Service and Anglo-Canadian Co-operation in the Second World War’,
Canadian Military Journal (Winter 2002–2003), p. 44.
12 Air Marshal Sir Denis Crowley-Milling, ‘Air Preparations’, in
Overlord 1944: Symposium of the Normandy Landings (RAF Historical Society, 1995), p. 28.
13 Scott,
Typhoon Pilot, op. cit., pp. 97–8.
14 Cy Cyford, interview, op. cit.
15 Bill Youngkin, ‘Carlos B. Pegues, WWII Veteran’,
The Eagle (Bryan, Texas), 9 May 2016.
16 Delve,
D-Day: The Air Battle, op. cit., pp. 24–8.
17 Caine,
Spitfires, Thunderbolts and Warm Beer, op. cit., p. 169.
19 William B. Dowling, interview, 2017, courtesy of 392nd Bomb Group Memorial Association,
www.b24.net.
20 Bernard Sender, interview, 2017, courtesy of 392nd Bomb Group Memorial Association,
www.b24.net.
21 Steven J. Zaloga,
Operation Pointblank 1944: Defeating the Luftwaffe (Osprey, 2011), pp. 22, 41 and 49.
22 Horne and Montgomery,
Monty 1944–1945, op. cit., p. 93.
23 Intelligence Analysis Division, European Branch,
Status of Air Prerequisites for Operation Overlord with Estimate of Situation (Staff Study, 29 March 1944); cited
in Eduard Mark,
Aerial Interdiction, Air Power and the Land Battle in Three American Wars (Center for Air Force History, 1994), pp. 216–17.
24 Crowley-Milling, ‘Air Preparations’, in
Overlord 1944, op. cit., p. 29.
25 Birdie Schmidt, ‘Reminiscences about the ARC Aeroclub at Wendling, Gleaned from Reports Made to ARC English Headquarters’, 2017, courtesy of 392nd Bomb Group Memorial Association,
www.b24.net.
9. COSSACs, Spartans and Chiefs
1 Admiral Sir Bertram H. Ramsay (eds. Robert W. Love & John Major),
The Year of D-Day (University of Hull Press, 1994), p. 18.
2 D. K. R. Crosswell,
Beetle: The Life of General Walter Bedell Smith (University Press of Kentucky, 2010).
3 Forrest C. Pogue,
US Army in World War II, ETO: The Supreme Command (Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1954), p. 61.
4 Crosswell,
Beetle, op. cit., p. 569.
5 Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story, op. cit., p. 226.
6 Peter Caddick-Adams, ‘General Sir Miles Christopher Dempsey (1896–1969) – Not a Popular Leader’,
RUSI Journal, Vol. 150/5 (October 2005).
7 Maj. Johnny Langdon, interview, Army Junior Division (AJD) Study Day, Staff College, 3 November 2000.
8 Griffiss was named for Lt Col Townsend Griffiss, a high-flying officer killed during a diplomatic mission on 15 February 1942 and one of the first US officers to die in Europe.
9 Edna Hodgson, interview, BBC, WW2 People’s War, op. cit.
10 Montgomery of Alamein,
Memoirs, op. cit.
11 Eisenhower,
Crusade in Europe, op. cit., pp. 270–1.
12 Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story, op. cit., p. 236.
13 Churchill,
Second World War, Vol. 5, op. cit., p. 431.
14 Alanbrooke,
War Diaries 1939–1945, op. cit., p. 558.
15 Craig L. Symonds,
Neptune: The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings (Oxford, 2014), pp. 179–80.
16 Robert Woollcombe,
Lion Rampant (Black and White Publishing, 2014), Kindle, p. 349.
17 Known as STANTA, an abbreviation of Stanford Training Area, the British Army retains 30,000 acres in the area today as a training ground.
18 Reg Warner, 1st/7th Middlesex, interview, Battersea, 1994.
19 In his military life, the author has exercised around both Imber and Stanta training areas and was often struck by the tragedy of both sets of communities that are no more.
20 ‘GHQ Exercise Spartan, March 1943’, [typewritten] Report No. 94 by Maj. C. P. Stacey, Historical Officer, Canadian Military HQ, 12 May 1943 [15 pp. plus appendices], Canadian military archives.
22 ‘Deception in Exercise Spartan’ [typewritten report], 11th Corps District, Home Forces, 2–12 March 1943, Imperial War Museum.
23 Alanbrooke,
War Diaries 1939–1945, op. cit., p. 388, entry for 7 March 1943.
24 John Nelson Rickard, ‘The Test of Command: McNaughton and Exercise Spartan, 4–12 March 1943’,
Canadian Military History, Vol. 8/3 (1999).
25 Crowley-Milling, ‘Air Preparations’, in
Overlord 1944, op. cit., p. 27.
26 Ibid.; see also Delve,
D-Day: The Air Battle, op. cit., pp. 15–21.
27 See obituary,
Daily Telegraph, 18 March 2006.
28 Capt. John Ross, interview, Alberta, 2004.
29 Brig. Peter Young,
Storm from the Sea (William Kimber, 1958), pp. 140–1.
30 Alan Whiting, interview, cited in Peter Liddle (ed.),
D-Day: By Those Who Were There (Pen & Sword, 1994), Kindle, pp. 592–601.
31 Max Arthur,
The Navy: 1939 to the Present Day (Hodder & Stoughton, 1997), p. 473.
32 The National Archives (TNA): Letter, Mountbatten, Combined Operations HQ to War Office, 1 May 1942.
33 Derek Oakley, ‘The Origin of the Green Beret’,
Globe and Laurel (Sept.–Oct. 2002), p. 346.
34 The National Archives (TNA): ‘Berets, Green – Introduction of’, 13 October 1942.
35 Donald Gilchrist,
Don’t Cry For Me, op. cit., p. 49.
36 Robert Luther ‘Bob’ Sales, 29th Division, interview, cited in Neillands and De Normann,
D-Day 1944, op. cit., p. 35; Sales died aged eighty-nine in February 2015.
37 Tom Duncan, 3 Commando, interview, Aberdeen, 1980; Duncan died in 2012.
38 ‘Lord Lovat: Obituary’,
Independent, 20 March 1995.
40 Bill Millin, interviews, 1975; 1979; 1984; 1994; 2004. See obituaries,
Scotsman, 11 March 2016, and
Daily Telegraph, 19 March 2016.
10. Rhinos, Camels and Roundabouts
1 David Holbrook,
Flesh Wounds (Methuen, 1966), p. 101.
2 Alistair Cooke,
American Journey: Life on the Home Front in the Second World War (Allen Lane, 2006), pp. 92–3.
3 Arthur Herman,
Freedom’s Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II (Random House, 2012), pp. 204–6; see also Douglas Brinkley, ‘The Man Who Won the War for Us’,
American Heritage, Vol. 51/3 (2000).
5 Peter Prior, interview, cited in Liddle (ed.),
D-Day: By Those Who Were There, op. cit., Kindle p. 391 and obituary,
Daily Telegraph, 30 May 2011.
6 William Tomko, interview courtesy of
Press of Atlantic City, 6 June 2014; he died in 2017.
7 Pete Fantacone, interview, June 2014, courtesy of oral history programme of the US Naval Institute.
8 John Sharples, interview, Portsmouth, 1994.
9 Ibid. Sharples and
LST-405 did, in fact, beach on Gold Beach in the late afternoon of D-Day.
10 Holbrook,
Flesh Wounds, op. cit., p. 124.
11 Wally MacKenzie, interview, 2009, courtesy of Stockport NVA (Normandy Veterans Association).
12 Arno J. Christiansen, interview, Imperial War Museum, Dept. of Documents, Ref. 13208.
13 ‘HMLBK-6: A Normandy Veteran’, at combinedops.com.
14 Col. H. S. Gillies, MC, DL, Typescript memoir, 1987, Imperial War Museum.
15 The 2nd Glosters suffered 678 casualties defending Cassel in 1940, 472 of them POWs; Maj. F. D. Goode, 2nd Glosters, Unpublished memoir, Soldiers of Gloucestershire Museum, Custom House, Gloucester Docks.
16 Peter Brown, interview 2004, courtesy of BBC The People’s War.
18 J. P. Kellett and J. Davies,
A History of the RAF Servicing Commandos (Airlife, 1989).
19 Courtesy of Jill Kidder and Geoff Slee, via combinedops.com.
20 David McKenna, ‘On the Trail of Britain’s WWII Explosive Beauty Spots’, BBC
News, 1 July 2013.
21 Midshipman Troy A. Shoulders,
The US Navy in Operation Overlord under the Command of Rear Admiral Alan G. Kirk (USNA Report, Annapolis, 1994), pp. 134–5.
22 Alan Moorhead,
Eclipse (Hamish Hamilton, 1945), p. 93.
23 Freddie Robertson and Jed Luckhurst, interviews, 2001, courtesy of combinedops.com.
24 John Emery, interview 2005, courtesy of BBC The People’s War.
25 Steven J. Zaloga,
D-Day Fortifications in Normandy (Osprey, 2005), pp. 9, 20, 27, 29.
26 Michael Dolski, Sam Edwards and John Buckley (eds),
D-Day in History and Memory (University of North Texas Press, 2014), p. 198.
27 Zaloga,
D-Day Fortifications, op. cit., p. 34.
28 Shoulders,
The US Navy in Operation Overlord, op. cit., p. 147.
29 US National Archives: US Assault Training Center ETO, ‘Conference on Landing Assaults, 24 May–23 June 1943’, N-6138-B.
30 Richard T. Bass,
Spirits of the Sand: The History of the US Army Assault Training Centre, Woolacombe (Short Run Press, 1991).
31 Roy Burton, 1st Grenadier Guards (Motor Battalion, Guards Armoured Division), interview, Stafford, 1994.
35 Charles Hurlbut, interview, op. cit.
36 Peggie Walsh, ‘D-Day Reflections from a Soldier’,
Huffington Post, 6 December 2017, text by Colonel Charles M. Hangsterfer.
37 D. Zane Schlemmer, interview, D-Day Overlord (French) archive.
38 Sub-Lt Peter Miles, RNVR, interview, Lechlade, 2002.
39 The National Archives (TNA): WO 222/97, 120304, ‘Secret – Notes on the Use of Benzedrine in War Operations’, Appendix ‘E’.
40 Len Bennett, interview, cited in Sean Longden,
To the Victor the Spoils (Arris, 2004), p. 123.
41 Historical Officer, Canadian Military Headquarters, Report No. 104, ‘Position and Roles of Canadian Forces in the United Kingdom’, 13 October 1943, para. 7.
43 The 21st Army Group commander was a notorious ‘hirer and firer’ throughout his career; Ramsden joined another ex-corps commander, Herbert Lumsden, who on arriving back in London announced, ‘I’ve just been sacked because there isn’t room in the desert for two cads – Montgomery and me.’
44 Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story, op. cit., p. 81.
46 Maj. R. J. Rogers, ‘Leadership Study of the 1st Infantry Division during WWII: Terry De La Mesa Allen and Clarence Ralph Huebner’ MA thesis, US Army Command and General Staff College, 1965; see also Steven Flaig, ‘Clarence R. Huebner: Story of Achievement’ (MSc thesis, University of North Texas, 2006).
47 Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story, op. cit., pp. 236–7.
48 Pogue,
Pogue’s War, op. cit., p. 24.
49 Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story, op. cit., pp. 227–8.
50 ‘The Secret Beach Where Britain Rehearsed D-Day’,
Scotsman, 29 May 2004.
51 Eddie Williams, interview, 2004, courtesy of BBC, WW2 People’s War, op. cit.
52 Edwin ‘Nobby’ Clarke, interview courtesy of BBC, WW2 People’s War, op. cit.
53 Maj. Gen. Derrick Bruce Wormald, DSO, MC, ‘Recollections of the Operations Undertaken by “A” Squadron of the 13th/18th Royal Hussars (QMO) During the 1944–45 Campaign in Europe’ (courtesy of Mark Hickman, The Pegasus Archive).
54 Recollections of Private Douglas Edwin Patrick Wileman and Lt Julius Arthur Sheffield Neave, both 13th/18th Hussars, 2004, Imperial War Museum Sound Archive, ref. 27183 and Documents, ref. 7872.
55 Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Chronicle, Vol. 3: July 1942–May 1944, pp. 282–92.
56 Capt. Douglas G. Aitken, RAMC, Typescript memoirs, Imperial War Museum Dept. of Documents, ref. 12085.
57 War Office figures calculated on an average Liberty ship’s capacity of 9,650 tons.
58 Rear Admiral Teddy Gueritz, interview, Portsmouth, 1994; Adm. Gueritz died in January 2009.
59 Lord Chief Justice Sir Robin Dunn, interview, London, 1994; Sir Robin Dunn,
Sword and Wig: Memoirs of a Lord Justice (Quiller Press, 1993), p.54; see also obituary,
Daily Telegraph, 31 March 2014.
60 Albert Walker, interview 2003, courtesy of BBC The People’s War.
61 Steven Sykes,
Deceivers Ever: Memoirs of a Camouflage Officer (Spellmount, 1990), pp. 119–20.
62 Maj. J. B. Higham and E. A. Knighton
, Movements (War Office/HMSO, 1955), chapter 8, section 5.
64 The DUKW’s initials stood for D = Designed (in 1942); U = Utility; K = All-wheel drive; W = Dual-tandem rear axles; a total of 20,000 were manufactured in the USA.
65 Douglas Day, interview, cited in Frank and Joan Shaw,
We Remember D-Day, op. cit., pp. 193–4.
66 With No. 5 Beach Group, formed round the 5th King’s Regt, they constituted No. 101 Beach Sub-Area.
67 Bill Adams, 1st Bucks Battalion, interview, Aylesbury, 1995.
68 Norman Smith, 48th Division and 22nd Field Dressing Station, interview Aylesbury, 1994.
11. Ducks and Eagles
1 Lt Cdr Maxwell O. W. Miller, RN, courtesy of combinedops.com.
2 United States Naval Administration in World War II, Vol. V: The Invasion of Normandy, Operation Neptune (Director of Naval History, 1948), pp. 361–2; one of these two Shermans was salvaged and stands at Slapton Sands as a memorial to the dead of the later Exercise Tiger.
3 Slaughter,
Omaha Beach and Beyond, op. cit., p. 80.
4 Valentine M. Miele, 16th Infantry, interview, 2014, courtesy of Aaron Elson.
5 Roland G. Ruppenthal,
US Army in World War II, ETO: Logistical Support of the Armies, Vol. 1: May 1941–September 1944, chapter 8, pp. 328–54.
6 Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story, op. cit., p. 278.
7 One of these was later salvaged and forms the memorial to US troops lost at Slapton Sands.
8 Lt Col. S. L. A. Marshall, ‘110th FA Bn on D-Day’, p. 2, courtesy of the Maryland Military Historical Society. These interviews date to September 1944, when the 29th Division were in reserve. Marshall’s efforts resulted in some of the most valuable D-Day historiography, for shortly after, the GIs were ordered back to the front, and many interviewees were killed in action during the final assault to liberate Brest, or in later fighting.
9 Arnold Hague Convoy Database. The
George Washington carried 6,326 troops, the
Britannic 5,574, the
Franconia 4,571 and the
Capetown Castle 5,350.
10 William S. Boice (ed.),
History of the Twenty-Second United States Infantry in World War II (22nd Infantry, 1959).
11 Richard M. Good, interview, 1984, cited in Sims,
‘They Have Seen The Elephant’, op. cit.
12 Theodore A. Wilson (ed.),
D-Day 1944 (University Press of Kansas, 1994), p. 224.
13 Gary Guimarra, unpublished paper. I am indebted to Maj. Gen. Graham Hollands for this reference.
14 Harry Cooper, interview courtesy of the
Los Angeles Times, 5 June 1994.
15 Milton E. Chadwick, interview, Ohio, 1994. He was a lifelong Anglophile, and I was sad to receive news of Chadwick’s death in July 2008.
16 Jack Schlegel, later chief of police in Shandaken, New York, interview. Schlegel died very shortly after this June 2014 interview, conducted in Normandy during a 70th Anniversary Reunion visit, when he stood with President Obama and 82nd Airborne colleagues at the US Omaha Beach cemetery. In June 1994, I watched this inspiring veteran, then aged seventy-one, undertake a parachute jump into his old Normandy drop zone.
17 Caddick-Adams,
Monty and Rommel, op. cit., p. 18. Fred Patheiger died in 1989, Bobbie Jack Rommel in 2009; Aaron L. Rommel was killed in action, 15 April 1945.
18 Sampson jumped into Normandy on D-Day, and again into Arnhem, and served in the Battle of the Bulge, where he was captured and imprisoned for four months. He saw action later in Korea and was Chief of US Army Chaplains from 1967–71, when he retired from a thirty-year career as both soldier and chaplain. He wrote the wonderfully titled
Look Out Below: A Story of the Airborne by a Paratrooper Padre (Catholic University of America Press, 1958) and died in 1996; see William J. Hourihan, PhD,
A Paratrooper Chaplain: The Life and Times of Chaplain (MG) Francis L. Sampson (Army Chaplain’s Branch, 2010).
19 Capt. F. O. Miksche,
Paratroops: The History, Organization, and Tactical Use of Airborne Forces (Faber & Faber, 1943), p. 64.
20 Papers of Lt Col Ferdinand Otto Miksche (1904–1992), Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King’s College, London. I am indebted to my friend and colleague Professor Chris Bellamy for this reference.
21 John Howard, interview, Browning Barracks, Aldershot, 1995.
22 David Wood, interview, cited in Bailey,
Forgotten Voices, op. cit.
23 SSgt Jim Wallwork, interview, Pegasus Bridge, 2004. Jim died in January 2013; see his many obituaries, e.g.
Independent, 30 January 2013, and
Daily Telegraph, 19 March 2013. He emigrated to Canada after the war and his moving obituary in the
Vancouver Sun concluded: ‘James Harley (Jim) Wallwork October 21, 1919–January 24, 2013; Jim glided peacefully on the last cast-off of his 93 years, January 24th 2013, White Rock, B.C.
26 Raymond ‘Tich’ Raynor, interview, Bletchley Park, 2006; the nickname Tich was due to his being the youngest in his family.
29 Stuart Tootal,
The Manner of Men: 9 Para’s Heroic Mission on D-Day (John Murray, 2013), Kindle, p. 1536.
30 Sgt Les Daniels, interview courtesy of pegasusarchive.org.
31 Lt Col. Stuart Tootal relates this at length in
chapter 5 of his excellent
The Manner of Men, op. cit.; Neil Barber also deals with this in
The Day the Devils Dropped In: The 9th Parachute Battalion in Normandy, D-Day to D+6: Merville Battery to the Chateau St Côme (Pen & Sword, 2002). Martin Lindsay went on to write
So Few Got Through (Collins, 1946), an acclaimed account of his service with the 51st Highland Division, and died in 1981; see obituary,
The Times, 7 May 1981. This author has interviewed friends and members of the Lindsay family and soldiers of 9 Para. Whereas Lindsay is easy to admire, Otway is a challenging figure, difficult to warm to, whose behaviour continues to perplex this author, as it did, seemingly, to many of his own battalion. Terence Otway died in 2006; see obituary,
Daily Telegraph, 25 July 2006.
32 This was Maj. Allen Parry; see Tootal,
The Manner of Men, op. cit., p. 1654.
33 Lt Gen. Sir Napier Crookenden and Air Marshal Sir Denis Crowley-Milling, ‘Planning the Operation’, in
Overlord 1944, op. cit., p. 34. Crookenden died in 2002; see obituary,
Daily Telegraph, 2 November 2002.
34 Brig. James Hill, interview, cited in Liddle (ed.),
D-Day, op. cit., pp. 588–9.
35 Lt Russell Chandler, Jr, interview courtesy of A. Russell Chandler III (
Aviation History, July 2004).
36 Barkston Heath, Cottesmore, Folkingham, Fulbeck, Saltby and Spanhoe for the 82nd, whilst the 101st took off from Exeter, Greenham Common, Merryfield, Membury and Upottery.
37 Lt Russell Chandler, Jr, interview, op. cit.
38 Dyson,
Tank Twins, op. cit., pp. 20–1.
40 Zuehlke,
Juno Beach, op. cit., p. 836.
41 Arthur Hill, interview, 2004, courtesy of Landing Craft Association, via Sub-Lt Peter Miles, RNVR.
42 Zuehlke,
Juno Beach, op. cit., p. 847.
43 Ramsay,
The Year of D-Day, op. cit., pp. 54–5.
44 The National Archives (TNA): WO 194/2317, ‘Exercise Trousers, 3rd Canadian Infantry Division’.
45 Symonds,
Neptune, op. cit., p. 210.
46 Laurie Burn, interview, 1994, via 13th/18th Hussars Old Comrades’ Association.
47 Patrick Hennessey,
Young Man in a Tank (self-published, 1984).
48 Ramsay,
The Year of D-Day, op. cit., p. 25. Ramsay’s diary entry here is for 12 February, but there was only one such exercise viewed from Fort Henry by this set of VIPs (Churchill, King George VI, Monty, Leigh-Mallory, Dempsey, Hobart, Vian, etc.), which was held on 4 April. The transposition of dates is confusing.
49 Gen. Sir Robert Ford, interview, 1990, during 4th/7th Dragoon Guards battlefield tour to Normandy; see also obituary,
Daily Telegraph, 26 November 2015.
50 In 2012, Fort Henry, specially built by Canadian Royal Engineers in 1943 for VIPs to watch landing exercises, was handed over to the care of the National Trust, due to its historical significance.
52 Paul Lund and Harry Ludlam,
The War of the Landing Craft (Foulsham, 1976), p. 146.
53 Willie Williamson, interview, 1994, courtesy of West Midlands Normandy Veterans Association (NVA).
54 Harry Yeide,
Steel Victory: The Heroic Story of America’s Independent Tank Battalions at War in Europe (Presidio, 2003), p. 30.
55 It was Basil Liddell Hart, the well-known writer, military theorist and correspondent of
The Times, who first drew Churchill’s attention to Hobart’s talents; later on Hobart was also sponsored and protected by Brooke.
56 Cited in Keith Grint, ‘Technologies’, in
Leadership, Management and Command (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008).
57 Each AVRE was equipped with a turret-mounted 290mm-calibre Petard mortar, which was loaded from the outside and designed to lob a forty-pound charge at concrete bunkers from a range of about eighty yards.
58 Tony Younger,
Blowing Our Bridges: A Memoir from Dunkirk to Korea via Normandy (Pen & Sword, 2004); see obituary,
Daily Telegraph, 26 July 2010.
59 Letter, OR 2, HQ 21st Army Group, Brig. Otway Herbert to War Office, 16 February 1944.
60 Adrian R. Lewis,
Omaha Beach: A Flawed Victory (University of North Carolina Press, 2001), p. 30.
61 Harry Yeide,
Weapons of the Tankers: American Armor in World War II (Zenith Publishing, 2006), p. 79.
62 Tim Kilvert-Jones,
Omaha Beach: V Corps’ Battle for the Normandy Beachhead (Leo Cooper, 1999), p. 76.
63 Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story, op. cit., pp. 214–15.
64 I am indebted to Maj. Gen. Scott-Bowden’s son, Brigadier Jamie, with whom I explored Normandy in 2008, for making available interview transcripts and articles by his father; see also obituary,
Independent, 15 April 2014.
12. Bigots and Tigers
1 Entry for 14 May 1944,
Among You Taking Notes: The Wartime Diary of Naomi Mitchison (Gollancz, 1985).
2 The Thistlethwaite family still own everything in the region today, except Southwick House.
3 Ramsay,
The Year of D-Day, op. cit., pp. 13–14.
4 Wren Kay Martin, interview, Frank and Joan Shaw Collection, D-Day Museum, Portsmouth.
5 The Admiralty never got round to returning Southwick House to the Thistlethwaite family and compulsorily purchased the mansion in 1950 – and it remains Ministry of Defence property at the time of writing.
6 SHAEF original copy No. 78, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Abilene, Kansas.
7 Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story, op. cit., p. 224.
8 US National Archives: Ref. N-11474.2, ‘Operation Overlord, Administrative Order No. 7’, South Western Zone (HQ Southern Base Section, SOS ETOUSA, US Army, 10 April 1944), declassified 31 December 1945.
9 Pogue,
Pogue’s War, op. cit., p. 30.
10 Stephen E. Ambrose,
D-Day (Simon & Schuster, 1994), p. 125.
11 Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story, op. cit., p. 223.
12 George M. Elsey,
An Unplanned Life: A Memoir (University of Missouri Press, 2005), p. 52; see obituary,
New York Times, 8 January 2016.
13 Wren Ginger Thomas, interview, op. cit.
14 Ramsay,
The Year of D-Day, op. cit., p. 78, entry for 29 May 1944.
15 Wren Jean Irvine, interview cited in Martin Bowman,
Remembering D-Day (Collins, 2004), p. 28.
16 Ramsay,
The Year of D-Day, op. cit., p. 78, entry for 29 May 1944.
17 The Commercial Motor, 3 November 1944, p. 248.
18 It was in the Western Desert when commanding the Eighth Army that Monty first devised the idea of Tactical (TAC), Main and Rear headquarters, enabling a higher formation, when necessary, to stay close to the battle, without loss of communication. His three trailers, now on display at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, comprised an office, a bedroom and a map room.
19 Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story, op. cit., pp. 253–4. The disparity in the overall totals of destroyers rests on the differing definitions of a destroyer by the USN and RN; some American destroyers and destroyer escorts were classified as frigates by the RN.
20 The eight maritime forces were the RN, USN, RCN, French, Polish, Dutch, Norwegian and Greek navies; seventy-five years later, the total of warships available for Overlord was more than the total surface fleet of the world’s principal navies. Ships totals from the D-Day Heritage Ships Association; for comprehensive list, see Warren Tute, John Costello and Terry Hughes,
D-Day (Sidgwick & Jackson, 1974), p. 256.
21 Sub-Lt Peter Miles, RNVR, interview, Lechlade, 2002, courtesy of the Landing Craft Association.
22 Lewis,
Omaha Beach, op. cit., p. 37.
23 The Defense of Gallipoli: A General Staff Study Prepared pursuant to instructions from Maj. Gen. Hugh A. Drum, Department Commander by G. S. Patton, Lt Col, General Staff. HQ Hawaiian Dept., Fort Shafter, 31 August 1936: ‘The Problem: To examine the methods used in defense against landing operations as illustrated by the Turkish defense of Gallipoli.’
24 Ramsay,
The Year of D-Day, op. cit., p. 24.
25 Maj. Stephen C. McGeorge, ‘Seeing the Battlefield: Brig. Gen. Norman D. Cota’s “Bastard Brigade” at Omaha Beach’, in
Studies in Battle Command (Combat Studies Institute, Fort Leavenworth, 2000).
26 Walsh, ‘D-Day Reflections from a Soldier’, op. cit.
27 B. S. Barnes,
The Sign of the Double ‘T’ (self-published/Sentinel Press, 1999), p. 61.
28 Interview, Brig. Sir Alexander Stanier, Bt., Shropshire, 1984; see his
Sammy’s Wars.
Recollections of War in Northern France and Other Occasions (Welsh Guards, 1998), pp. 38–9; also obituary
Daily Telegraph, 11 January 1995.
29 Ramsay,
The Year of D-Day, op. cit., pp. 60–1.
30 Lt Eugene E. Eckstam, MC, USNR (Ret.), ‘The Tragedy of Exercise Tiger’,
Navy Medicine, Vol. 85/3 (May–June 1994), pp. 5–7.
32 Max Arthur,
The Navy: 1939 to the Present Day (Hodder & Stoughton, 1997), pp. 476–7.
33 David Kenyon Webster,
Parachute Infantry: An American Paratrooper’s Memoir of D-Day and the Fall of the Third Reich (Bantam, 1994).
34 Forty,
Frontline Dorset, op. cit., pp. 80–1.
35 Daniel Folsom, interview, op. cit.
36 Pete Nevill, interview, 2005, courtesy of Imperial Museum Sound Archive, ref. 27499.
37 Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story, op. cit., pp. 247–8.
38 Mark Townsend, ‘Did Allies Kill GIs in D-Day Training Horror? Scores of US Soldiers Died in a Mock Invasion of a Devon Beach and Their Corpses Were Secretly Buried’,
Guardian, 16 May 2004.
39 United States Naval Administration in World War II: Vol. V, op. cit., p. 370.
40 Eckstam, ‘The Tragedy of Exercise Tiger’, op. cit.
13. Thunderclaps and Fabius
1 Churchill was here referring to Eisenhower’s position overseeing Operation Torch and the subsequent campaign in Tunisia of November 1942–May 1943.
2 Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story, op. cit., p. 239.
3 John Green, interview cited in Liddle (ed.),
D-Day, op. cit., pp. 352–9.
4 Horne and Montgomery,
Monty 1944–1945, op. cit., p. 90.
5 Alanbrooke,
War Diaries 1939–1945, op. cit., p. 538.
6 Gen. Sir John Kennedy,
The Business of War (Hutchinson, 1957), pp. 326–7.
7 Ramsay,
The Year of D-Day, op. cit., pp. 52–3.
8 Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story, op. cit., pp. 239–41.
9 Prof. Richard Holmes, interview, UK Defence Academy, Shrivenham, 2001.
10 Ramsay,
The Year of D-Day, op. cit., pp. 52–3; naval split: Churchill,
Second World War, Vol. 5, op. cit.
11 All figures: author’s calculations from list on ships in Tute, Costello and Hughes,
D-Day, op. cit., p. 256.
12 Goronwy Rees, interview recorded for Thames Television,
The World at War, 1973, Imperial War Museum.
13 Eisenhower
, Crusade in Europe, op. cit., p. 269.
14 Harry C. Butcher,
My Three Years with Eisenhower (Simon & Schuster, 1946).
15 Sir John Wheeler Bennett,
King George VI: His Life and Times (Macmillan, 1958), pp. 599–600.
16 Kennedy,
The Business of War, op. cit., p. 328. The final conference was interpreted convincingly in the 2004 made-for-television movie
Ike – Countdown to D-Day, in which actor Tom Selleck re-enacted some of Eisenhower’s most difficult decisions and personality clashes during the ninety days before the invasion.
17 Lord Ismay
, The Memoirs of Gen. The Lord Ismay (Heinemann, 1960), p. 352.
18 Alanbrooke,
War Diaries 1939–1945, op. cit., p. 547, entry for 17 May 1944.
19 Bernard Montgomery,
The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Montgomery (Collins, 1958), p. 221.
21 Christopher D. Yung,
Gators of Neptune: Naval Amphibious Planning for the Normandy Invasion (Naval Institute Press, 2006), p. 153. The name ‘Fabius’ came from the Roman commander who exhausted Hannibal with well-prepared and -executed skirmishes, and was regarded as the model for George Washington’s strategy against the British.
22 Slaughter,
Omaha Beach and Beyond, op. cit., p. 87.
23 Lt George (Jimmy) Green, 551st Landing Craft Assault (LCA) Flotilla and HMS
Empire Javelin, interview, Help for Heroes battlefield tour Normandy, 2008.
24 United States Naval Administration in World War II: Vol. V, op. cit., p. 366.
25 Sgt Vincent ‘Mike’ McKinney, 16th Infantry Regiment, interview, 1999, courtesy of Aaron Elson.
26 Stanier,
Sammy’s Wars, op. cit., pp. 39–40.
27 Stanley Ernest Hodge, MM, interview, 43rd Division reunion, 2005; Hodge later transferred to the 4th Dorsets of the 43rd Wessex Division.
28 Ken Watts, interview, 2004, courtesy of BBC, WW2 People’s War, op. cit.
29 Ian C. Hammerton,
Achtung! Minen! The Making of a Flail Troop Commander (self-published, 1991), p. 62. I accompanied Ian Hammerton on several battlefield tours across Europe, beginning in 1999, and was sad to learn of his death in January 2017.
30 John Lanes, interview via Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry Old Comrades Association, 1994.
31 The APFU film and photographic footage of the exercise is in the Imperial War Museum.
32 Bracklesham Bay is littered with the wrecks of RAF and Luftwaffe aircraft from the Battle of Britain, a pair of swimming tanks from the Fabius exercises, and landing craft that sank during Operation Neptune.
33 Zuehlke,
Juno Beach, op. cit., p. 857.
34 Doris Hayball, interview via Australian War Memorial, Canberra, 1994.
35 HMS
Glenearn was a converted eighteen-knot cargo vessel of 10,000 tons that acted as mother ship to the two flotillas (twenty-four) of smaller landing craft (LCAs) she carried.
37 Peter Cruden, No. 6 Commando, interview courtesy of Littlehampton Fort Restoration Project, op. cit.
38 Lord Lovat, interview via Colin Hughes, 7th R. Warwicks & No. 4 Commando, 1994.
39 Ramsay,
The Year of D-Day, op. cit., p. 63.
40 Dempsey and his staff would return on 6 June 1948 to present two fine stained-glass windows commemorating their moment of peace before the storm.
41 Royal Army Chaplain’s Department (RAChD) archives, Amport House, Andover, Hampshire.
42 Alanbrooke,
War Diaries 1939–1945, op. cit.; Stan Proctor,
A Quiet Little Boy Goes to War (self-published, 1996).
44 Ben Kite,
Stout Hearts: The British and Canadians in Normandy 1944 (Helion, 2014), p. 152.
45 Norman Smith, interview, op. cit.
46 Pogue,
Pogue’s War, op. cit., p. 22.
47 John McGregor,
The Spirit of Angus (Phillimore, 1998), p. 112.
48 Eric Patience, interview, 1994, Romford, Essex.
49 Lund and Ludlam,
The War of the Landing Craft, op. cit., p. 146.
50 Lord Lovat,
March Past (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1978).
51 Maj. F. D. Goode, unpublished memoir, op. cit.
14. My Headmaster Was a Spy
1 Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story, op. cit., p. 247. Many of these ‘hards’ still exist around southern England’s minor ports – great ramps assembled from smaller concrete non-slip ‘chocolate bars’, which aided vehicular and personnel access direct onto landing craft and LSTs.
2 Arthur Berry, interview 2004, courtesy BBC The People’s War.
3 First World War battlefield on Gallipoli.
4 Abbreviation of
Stammlager, a German prisoner-of-war camp.
5 Jack Swaab,
Field of Fire: Diary of a Gunner Officer (Sutton, 2006), Kindle, pp. 2744–94.
6 Capt. Douglas G. Aitken, RAMC, Typescript memoirs, Imperial War Museum Dept. of Documents, ref. 12085.
7 Ralph Frederick Cheshire, interview, 2004, courtesy of BBC, WW2 People’s War, op. cit.
8 Jim Sullivan, interview, Portsmouth, 1994.
9 Charles Hanaway, interview, 2001, courtesy of warlinks.com.
10 Moorhead
, Eclipse, op. cit., pp. 89–90.
11 Charles Hanaway, interview, op. cit.
12 Robert Woollcombe,
Lion Rampant: The Memoirs of an Infantry Officer from D-Day to the Rhineland (Black and White Publishing, 2014), Kindle p. 149.
13 Cited in George E. Koskimaki,
D-Day with the Screaming Eagles (Vantage Press, 1970), p. 1. Lt Dick Winters wrote up his early experiences on 22 June 1944, while recovering from a wound in a Normandy aid station. Koskimaki was the first US veteran of D-Day this author met, when aged thirteen in 1974; the wonderful Koskimaki, author of three books about his beloved 101st, died in February 2016.
14 George Rosie, interview, 2013, courtesy of the 506th Airborne Infantry Regiment Association.
15 Eric Broadhead, interview, Frank and Joan Shaw Collection, D-Day Museum, Portsmouth.
16 Valentine M. Miele, interview, op. cit. The USS
Samuel Chase was a purpose-built 9,000-ton landing ship, which participated in five major US amphibious assaults:
Torch, Husky, Avalanche, Overlord and Anvil; she carried thirty-three Higgins boats (LCVPs).
17 Dr Hal Baumgarten, telephone interview, June 2011.
18 Alex Hankin, Wessex Film and Sound Archive, 22 September 1999/Hampshire Record Office: W/C35/5/18, courtesy of Alresford Museum Photograph Gallery and Iris Crowfoot.
19 Henry ‘Jo’ Gullet,
Not As a Duty Only: An Infantryman’s War (Melbourne University Press, 1976), p. 132.
20 Pogue,
Pogue’s War, op. cit., p. 39.
21 Koskimaki,
D-Day with the Screaming Eagles, op. cit., p. 5.
22 SSgt Jim Wallwork, interview, op. cit.
23 Lt Peter Prior, interview cited in Liddle (ed.),
D-Day, op. cit., pp. 403–19.
24 Mary E. Harrison, interview cited in Shaw and Shaw,
We Remember D-Day, op. cit., pp. 162–4. Harrison also wrote a poem about the potency of her creations. She had modelled Cologne for an RAF thousand-bomber raid; when comparing the photographs before and after, she was stricken with guilt. ‘My Hands’ begins, ‘Do you know what it is like to have death in your hands?’ It was published in the
Voice of War Anthology (Michael Joseph, 1995).
25 Elsie Horton, interview, 2004, courtesy of BBC, WW2 People’s War, op. cit.
26 Andrew Holborn,
The D-Day Landing on Gold Beach (Bloomsbury Academic, 2015), p. 113.
27 Tim Parr, interview, op. cit.
28 Mollie Panter-Downes,
London War Notes 1939–1945, ed. William Shawn (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1971), p. 322.
29 Brian Selman, interview, op. cit.
30 Joan Dale, interview, 2004, courtesy of BBC, WW2 People’s War, op. cit.
31 Symonds,
Neptune, op. cit., p. 221.
32 Gullet,
Not As a Duty Only, op. cit., p. 132.
33 Shaw and Shaw,
We Remember D-Day, op. cit., p. 77.
34 Gerald Reybold, interview, 1994, cited in Forty,
D-Day Dorset, op. cit., p. 107.
35 Brian Selman, interview, op. cit.
36 Peter and Keith Ashton,
Hampshire and the United States (self-published, 1986), p. 45.
37 The
Princess Maude had also lifted troops off the Dunkirk beaches in 1940; Hurlbut, interview, op. cit.
38 Pogue,
Pogue’s War, op. cit., p. 40.
39 Lionel Thomas, interview, NFU (National Farmers’ Union) Conference, 1992.
40 Pogue,
Pogue’s War, op. cit., pp. 36–7.
41 Tute, Costello and Hughes,
D-Day, op. cit., p. 111.
42 John Colville,
Footprints in Time: Memories (Collins, 1976), p. 160. Colville as a pilot in the 2nd TAF was on leave from his job as Churchill’s private secretary, hence knowing the Overlord secret. Because of this, he was not allowed to fly over France until after D-Day.
43 James Kyle,
Typhoon Tale (self-published, 1989), pp. 152–3; John Leete,
The New Forest at War (Sutton, 2004), p. 64.
44 Val Gilbert, ‘D-Day Crosswords Are Still a Few Clues Short of a Solution’,
Daily Telegraph, 3 May 2004.
45 Andrew Rawson (ed.),
Eyes Only: The Top Secret Correspondence Between Marshall and Eisenhower (The History Press, 2012), Kindle, pp. 2749–62.
46 Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story, op. cit., pp. 223–4.
47 Rawson (ed.),
Eyes Only, op. cit., pp. 1899–2001.
48 Horne and Montgomery,
Monty 1944–1945, op. cit., p. 99.
49 Goronwy Rees, interview cited in Bailey,
Forgotten Voices, op. cit.
50 Tute, Costello and Hughes,
D-Day, op. cit., p. 85.
51 Corey Charlton, ‘Top Secret Documents Unearthed by Officer’s Son Reveal the Names of Second World War D-Day Operations Were Changed Almost Three Weeks Before Invasion’,
Daily Mail, 26 December 2014.
52 Alexander Baron,
From the City, From the Plough (Jonathan Cape, 1948), pp. 7–8.
53 Norman Brooks, interview, courtesy of BBC, WW2 People’s War, op. cit.
54 Symonds,
Neptune, op. cit., pp. 231–2.
15. Big Week, Berlin and Nuremberg
1 Vincent Orange, ‘Arthur Tedder and the Transportation Plan’, Buckley (ed.),
The Normandy Campaign 1944, op. cit., pp. 147–8.
2 This was C. K. M. Douglas, senior forecaster, Dunstable Central Forecasting Office (Meteorological Office); see Brian Audric,
The Meteorological Office Dunstable and the IDA Unit in World War II (Occasional Papers on Meteorological History, No. 2, September 2000).
3 Maj. Jon M. Sutterfield, ‘How Logistics Made Big Week Big’,
Air Force Journal of Logistics, Vol. 24/2.
4 Cited in Collier,
D-Day, op. cit., p. 41.
5 Elmer Bendiner,
The Fall of Fortresses: A Personal Account (Putnam’s, 1980), p. 139.
6 Maj. Timothy A. Veeder,
An Evaluation of the Aerial Interdiction Campaign Known as ‘The Transportation Plan’ for the D-Day Invasion, Early January 1944–Late June 1944 (Research Paper, US Air Command & Staff College, 1997), p. 6.
7 Morgan,
Overture to Overlord, op. cit., p. 102.
8 Richard G. Davis, ‘Gen. Carl Spaatz and D-Day’,
Air Power Journal (Winter 1997).
9 Carl F. Spaatz papers, Box I: Official, April 1944, Library of Congress.
10 Wesley Frank Craven and Maj. James Lea Cate,
The Army Air Forces in World War II, Vol. 2: Europe: Torch to Pointblank, August 1942 to December 1943 (Chicago University Press, 1949), p. 735.
11 Richard G. Davis, ‘Pointblank vs Overlord: Strategic Bombing and the Normandy Invasion’,
Air Power History, Vol. 41/2 (Summer 1994), pp. 4–13.
12 Henry Probert,
Bomber Harris: His Life and Times (Greenhill, 2001), pp. 300–3.
13 Cited in Delve,
D-Day: The Air Battle, op. cit., p. 44.
14 Vern L. Moncur (1916–1985) Manuscript Collection, File MS 221, Family History Center, Brigham Young University–Idaho.
16 Fortier,
An Ace of the Eighth, op. cit., p. 127.
17 The tower in the Humboldthain Park was one of several designed to defend Berlin and is the only one surviving; its lower two floors are open to the public for ninety-minute tours by the Berlin Underground Association.
18 Gerda Drews, interview, 2014, courtesy of Elinor Florence’s Wartime Wednesdays.
19 Ursula von Kardorff,
Diary of a Nightmare: Berlin 1942–1945 (Rupert Hart-Davis, 1965), pp. 91–2.
20 Christabel Bielenberg,
The Past Is Myself (Chatto & Windus, 1968), p. 127.
21 James Hudson,
There and Back Again: A Navigator’s Story (Tucann Books, 2001), pp. 143–50.
22 Zaloga,
Operation Pointblank 1944, op. cit., pp. 84–9.
23 Arthur William Doubleday, RAAF, interview, Australian War Memorial.
24 Wg Cdr F. Lord and Flt Lt P. Fox, ‘The Nuremberg Raid’,
South African Military History Journal, Vol. 4/3 (June 1978).
26 The best account is Martin Middlebrook,
The Nuremberg Raid: 3–31 March 1944 (Allen Lane, 1973).
27 Peter Gray, ‘Caen – the Martyred City’, in Buckley (ed.),
The Normandy Campaign 1944, op. cit., p. 162; Delve,
D-Day: The Air Battle, op. cit., states 63,609 tons (p. 55), whereas Veeder,
An Evaluation of the Aerial Interdiction Campaign, op. cit., states totals of 29,019 sorties, with 75,433 tons of bombs dropped.
28 Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris,
Bomber Offensive (Collins, 1947), pp. 203–4.
30 Wireless Operator/Air Gunner Bertie ‘Butch’ Lewis, interview, op. cit.
31 Hampden 4,000 pounds, Wellington 4,500 pounds.
32 Clostermann,
The Big Show, op. cit., p. 148.
33 Alanbrooke,
War Diaries, 1939–1945, op. cit., p. 543, entries for 2 and 3 May 1944.
34 Cited in Veeder,
An Evaluation of the Aerial Interdiction Campaign, op. cit., p. 30.
35 Clostermann,
The Big Show, op. cit., p. 147.
36 Directive by the Supreme Commander to USSTAF and Bomber Command for Support of Overlord during the preparatory period, 17 April 1944, cited in Veeder,
An Evaluation of the Aerial Interdiction Campaign, op. cit., pp. 14–15.
37 Crookenden and Crowley-Milling, ‘Planning the Operation’,
Overlord 1944, op. cit., p. 35.
39 Scott,
Typhoon Pilot, op. cit., p. 101.
40 Figures calculated from naval-history.net.
41 Wilbur R. Richardson, interview, Planes of Fame Air Museum, Chino, California, 1984, where Richardson worked as a ground volunteer each Saturday.
42 Fortier,
An Ace of the Eighth, op. cit., pp. 190–2.
43 Franklin L. Betz, interview courtesy of 329th Bomb Group Archives.
44 Fortier,
An Ace of the Eighth, op. cit., pp. 190–2.
16. Fortitude, FUSAG and France
1 Sun Tzu,
The Art of War (Oxford University Press, 1963), p. 66.
2 Jane Fawcett (née Hughes), interviews, Bletchley, September 1997 and June 2004. I was most sad to read of the death of this sparkling, formidable and seemingly indestructible lady; see obituary,
Daily Telegraph, 25 May 2016.
4 Richard Townshend Bickers,
Air War Normandy (Leo Cooper, 1994), p. 43.
5 Ralph Bennett,
Ultra in the West: The Normandy Campaign 1944–45 (Hutchinson, 1979), p. 15.
7 The Public Record Office (PRO) is now The National Archives (TNA), located at Kew in Surrey; Bletchley Park has been open to the public since 1993.
8 T. L. Cubbage, ‘The Success of Operation Fortitude: Hesketh’s History of Strategic Deception’,
Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 2/3 (1987), pp. 327–46.
9 Anthony Cave Brown,
Bodyguard of Lies (HarperCollins, 1975).
10 David Kahn,
Hitler’s Spies: German Military Intelligence in WWII (Macmillan, 1978), p. 493.
11 Michael Howard,
Intelligence in the Second World War, Vol. 5: Strategic Deception (HMSO, 1990), pp. 115, 168; Bennett,
Ultra in the West, op. cit., p. 53; this was Enigma signal KV 5792.
12 Of the real forty-five divisions, twenty-three were British and Canadian, twenty American divisions, one Free French and one Polish.
13 Roger Hesketh,
Fortitude: The D-Day Deception Plan (Overlook, 2000), p. 244.
14 Sir John Masterman,
The Double-Cross System in the War of 1939 to 1945 (Yale University Press, 1972), p. 156.
15 Hein Severloh,
WN 62: A German Soldier’s Memories of the Defense of Omaha Beach, trans. Robert R. Wolf (HEK Creativ Verlag, 2015), p. 84.
16 Juliet Gardiner,
D-Day: Those Who Were There (Collins & Brown, 1994), p. 121.
17 Maj. Ernest S. Tavares, Jr, USAF,
Operation Fortitude: The Closed Loop D-Day Deception Plan (Research Report for the Air Command & Staff College, Maxwell AFB, 2001), p. 29.
18 Gardiner,
D-Day, op. cit., pp. 76–7.
20 Ray Marshall, interview, 2004, courtesy of the Royal Artillery Firepower Museum Archives.
21 Expanded from the force used in the Western Desert and commanded by Lt Col David Strangeways, ‘R’ Force fielded scout cars; vehicles equipped with loud speakers to broadcast the sounds of tanks; Royal Engineers camouflage units; and No. 5 Wireless Group which could simulate the radio traffic of an army corps.
22 Gardiner,
D-Day, op. cit., p. 74.
23 John Emery, interview, op. cit.
24 M. E. Clifton James,
I Was Monty’s Double (Rider & Co./Popular Book Club, 1957).
25 ETHINT P-038, Genlt Praun, ‘German Radio Intelligence’ (1950), Ref. A56970.
26 The National Archives (TNA): ADM 1–27186, ‘Review of Security of Naval Codes and Cyphers, Sept 1939–May 1945’ (Naval Signals Division, Nov. 1945), pp. 84–5; see also Peter Matthews,
SIGINT: The Secret History of Signals Intelligence 191–-45 (History Press, 2013).
27 R. A. Ratcliff,
Delusions of Intelligence: Enigma, Ultra, and the End of Secure Ciphers (Cambridge University Press), p. 46.
28 ETHINT B-675, Obst. Staubwasser, ‘Army Group B Intelligence Estimate, 1 Jun 1944’ (1947).
29 ETHINT P-038, Praun, ‘German Radio Intelligence’, op. cit.
30 Walter Schellenberg,
The Schellenberg Memoirs: Memoirs of Hitler’s Spymaster (André Deutsch, 1956), p. 418.
31 F. P. Pickering, ‘Notes on Field Interrogation of Various German Army and Air Force SIGINT Personnel, Berchtesgaden, 18–20 May, 1945’ (NARA RG 457, Entry P-4/Box 1/NR 7419/TICOM IF-5 Declassified 18 Jan. 2012), and ‘Notes on Interrogation of Obstlt. Friedrich’ (NARA/TICOM 1–13, 16 June 1945, Declassified 18 Jan. 2012).
32 Robert Gerwarth,
Hitler’s Hangman: The Life of Heydrich (Yale University Press, 2011).
33 Horst Boog, ‘A Luftwaffe View of the Intelligence War’,
Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 5/2 (April 1990).
34 Schellenberg,
Schellenberg Memoirs, op. cit., p. 418.
35 Kenneth J. Campbell, ‘Walter Schellenberg: SD Chief’,
American Intelligence Journal, Vol. 25/2 (Winter 2007–8), pp. 88–94; Reinhard R. Doerries (ed.),
Hitler’s Last Chief of Foreign Intelligence: Allied Interrogations of Walter Schellenberg (Frank Cass, 2003).
36 Thaddeus Holt,
The Deceivers: Allied Military Deception in the Second World War (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004), pp. 218, 270.
37 Kenneth J. Campbell, ‘Gen. Erich Fellgiebel: Master of Communications Intelligence’,
National Intelligence Journal, Vol. 1/1 (2009), pp. 43–63.
38 Boog, ‘A Luftwaffe View of the Intelligence War’, op. cit.
40 Ben Macintyre,
Operation Mincemeat (Bloomsbury, 2010), Kindle, pp. 4201–46. Roenne was married to the extraordinarily well-connected Ursula von Bülow, of the very old aristocratic family that had produced generations of writers, scholars, statesmen and generals. There is circumstantial evidence that Roenne possibly suspected he was submitting inflated Allied data and false locations, but that his strong Christian ethics were guiding him to subvert Hitler’s regime; he was another who perished in the aftermath of the Stauffenberg Plot; see also David Johnson,
Righteous Deception: German Officers Against Hitler (Praeger, 2001).
41 My thanks to ‘German Intelligence on Operation Overlord’, Christos Military and Intelligence Corner (22 June 2012), courtesy of chris.intelblog@yahoo.com.
42 Much of avenue Foch was occupied by German headquarters: the
Kommandantur was at No. 72; SD Signals occupied No. 78; other SD departments were at Nos. 60, 77 and 83.
43 Olivier Wieviorka,
The French Resistance (Harvard University Press, 2016), p. 435.
44 David Pryce-Jones,
Paris in the Third Reich (Collins, 1981).
45 Philip W. Blood,
Hitler’s Bandit Hunters: The SS and the Nazi Occupation of Europe (Potomac Books, 2006).
46 ‘Der Militärbefehlshaber in Frankreich, 1a Nr.558/44 g.Kdos v.12.2.44. Betr.: Banden-und Sabotagebekämfung’ (BA-MA Freiburg, RW 35/551); Peter Lieb,
Konventioneller Krieg oder Weltanschauungskrieg? Kriegführung und Partisanenbekämpfung in Frankreich 1943–44 (Oldenbourg, 2007).
47 ‘Geheime Kommandosache [Secret Commando Operation], 12 February 1944’ (BA-MA Freiburg, RW35/551).
48 Gaël Eismann,
Hôtel Majestic: Ordre et sécurité en France occupée, 1940–1944 (Editions Tallandier, 2010), pp. 431–7.
49 Allan Mitchell,
Nazi Paris: The History of an Occupation, 1940–1944 (Berghahn, 2008), p. 159.
50 This was Enigma signal KV 7502. Perrault,
Le Secret du Jour J, op. cit., pp. 184–5; Bennett,
Ultra in the West, op. cit., p. 51.
51 F. H. Hinsley et al.,
British Intelligence in the Second World War, Vol. 3, Part 2 (HMSO, 1988), p. 54.
52 Aurélie Luneau,
Radio Londres, 1940–1944: Les voix de la liberté (Librairie Académique Perrin, 2005). The significance of the Verlaine poem was first identified in an SD/
Abwehr report of 14 October 1943, filed after the interrogation of two captured
résistants.
53 Ralph-Georg Reuth,
Rommel: The End of a Legend (Haus, 2006), p. 174.
54 Les Français parlent aux Français broadcast nightly to France between 6 September 1940 and 22 November 1944. Although Buckmaster later claimed credit for the idea, the concept of inserting messages to Resistance groups in BBC broadcasts can be traced to Georges Bégué, the first SOE agent to land on French soil.
55 Hubert Verneret,
Que faisiez-vous au temps chaud?: Journal de guerre d’un adolescent (Éditions Desvignes, 1972), English edn,
Teenage Resistance Fighter (Casemate, 2017), p. 24.
56 Franck Bauer, interview, Paris, June 1994. I was sad to read of Bauer’s death whilst writing this book; the last BBC wartime announcer, he died aged ninety-nine in April 2018.
57 Marie-Josèphe Bonnet (ed.),
Les Voix de la Normande combattante – Éte 1944 (Éditions Ouest-France, 2010).
58 Richard Collier,
Ten Thousand Eyes (Collins, 1958), p. 256.
59 André Heintz, interview, Caen, June 1994.
60 Paddy Ashdown,
The Cruel Victory: The French Resistance, D-Day and the Battle for the Vercors 1944 (Collins, 2014), p. 172.
61 The immediate results were fifty-two locomotives were destroyed on 6 June and railway lines in south-eastern France cut in more than five hundred places, isolating Normandy from 7 June (1965 report, Counter-insurgency Information Analysis Center). Likewise, the telephone network in the invasion area was put out of order. From around 20 June most French railways were rendered inoperable, though the Marseilles–Lyon line through the Rhône Valley was kept open
despite the efforts of the Resistance. While German reserves did reach the
Normandiefront, they did so with significant delays. The overall French assessment was that the Resistance delayed up to twelve divisions for eight to fifteen days.
62 Jean Dacier,
Ceux du Maquis (Arthaud, 1945), p. 79, cited in Ashdown,
The Cruel Victory, op. cit., p. 172.
63 Collier,
Ten Thousand Eyes, op. cit., p. 257.
64 Caroline Bannock and James Meikle, ‘D-Day: Memories from the Frontline’,
Guardian, 5 June 2014.
65 Jean-Louis Crémieux-Brilhac, interview, Paris, June 1994.
66 This misquotes Verlaine slightly, for in the original the poet wrote ‘
Blessant mon coeur’ (Wound my heart). The story of the BBC coded messages is taught to all French schoolchildren today.
67 Carell,
Invasion, op. cit., pp. 27–9; Ryan,
The Longest Day, op. cit., pp. 31–6.
68 Perrault,
Le Secret du Jour J, op. cit., pp. 155–60.
69 Kahn,
Hitler’s Spies, op. cit., pp. 510–11.
70 Maurice Buckmaster,
They Fought Alone: The True Story of SOE’s Agents in Wartime France (Odhams, 1958), cited in Edward Stourton,
Auntie’s War: The BBC During the 2nd World War (Doubleday, 2017), p. 356
71 ETHINT-1, ‘Interrogation of Gen. Warlimont by Maj. Ken Hechler’ (19–20 July 1945). Warlimont was referring to the transfer of the 91st
Luftlande Division, several armoured battalions and anti-tank battalions to the Cotentin peninsula and for the assembly by OKW of the Panzer Lehr Division. In ETHINT B-675, ‘Oberst Staubwasser’s Army Group B Intelligence Estimate, 1 Jun 1944’, it is claimed the German High Command were convinced that Normandy would be the site of Allied landings in April or May 1944; both NARA, Maryland. See also The National Archives (TNA): TICOM report I-143, ‘Interrogation of Genobst. Jodl’ (27 September 1945), p. 3.
72 The National Archives (TNA): TICOM report I-143, ‘Interrogation of Genobst. Jodl’ (27 September 1945), p. 3.
73 Not to be confused with Asnières-sur-Mer behind Juno Beach.
74 The National Archives (TNA): TICOM report I-109, ‘Translation of a Report by Lt. Ludwig’ (24 September 1945), pp. 15–18.
78 Kahn,
Hitler’s Spies, op. cit., p. 499.
79 E. R. Hooton,
Eagle in Flames: The Fall of the Luftwaffe (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1997), p. 284. This was the P-47 flown by 2nd Lt William E. Roach of 358th Squadron (355th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force). Roach, on his third mission of 7 November 1943, became disoriented in poor weather, spotted an airfield, landed, taxied after a vehicle and shut down; only then did he realise the people surrounding the plane wore the wrong uniforms; the US Signal Corps photo #204141 shows its recapture by the US 809th TD Battalion at Göttingen /Bad Worlshofen on 8 April 1945.
80 Chester Wilmot,
The Struggle for Europe (Collins, 1952), p. 246; Perrault,
Le Secret du Jour J, op. cit., pp. 184–5.
82 The National Archives (TNA): Enigma signal KV 3242, dated 8 May 1944, from Luftflotte 3, Ref. HW (Intercepted German Cipher Messages) 11/2781; Bennett,
Ultra in the West, op. cit., p. 51.
83 The National Archives (TNA): Enigma signal KV 3763, dated 8 May, Ref. HW (Intercepted German Cipher Messages) 11/2784; Bennett,
Ultra in the West, op. cit., pp. 50–1.
84 Severloh,
WN 62, op. cit., p. 23.
17. The Giants
1 Dyson,
Tank Twins, op. cit., p. 18.
2 Woollcombe,
Lion Rampant, op. cit., p. 107.
3 Lovat,
March Past, op. cit.
4 Montgomery,
Memoirs, op. cit., pp. 209–10.
5 Colonel Red Reeder,
Born at Reveille: Memoirs of a Son of West Point (Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1965), Kindle, p. 4307.
6 Moorhead,
Eclipse, op. cit., pp. 83–4.
8 I was given a copy of Ike’s inspiring Sandhurst speech when I graduated from there, thirty-five years later, in 1979; it has travelled well across the years: ‘
You young men have this war to win. It is small unit leadership that is going to win the ground battle, and that battle must be won before that enemy of ours is finally crushed. You must know every single one of your men. It is not enough that you are the best soldier in that unit, that you are the strongest, the toughest, the most durable, and the best equipped technically. You must be their leader, their father, their mentor, even if you are half their age. You must understand their problems. You must keep them out of trouble. If they get in trouble, you must be the one to go to their rescue. Then you will be doing your duty and you will be worthy of the traditions of this great school and of your great country. To each one of you I wish Godspeed and Good Luck.’
9 Life, 60th Anniversary D-Day Commemorative Issue (LIFE, 2004).
10 Harold Akridge, interview courtesy of National D-Day Museum, New Orleans.
11 Walsh, ‘D-Day Reflections from a Soldier’, op. cit.
12 Lewis Goodwin, interview, Portsmouth, 1994.
13 Ramsay,
The Year of D-Day, op. cit., p. 80.
14 Churchill dealt with the issue of his going to Normandy at length in
The Second World War, Vol. 5, op. cit., pp. 546–51.
15 Courtesy of Nicholas de Rothschild, whose home, Exbury House, was then HMS
Mastodon.
16 Lund and Ludlam,
The War of the Landing Craft, op. cit., p. 148.
17 Norman Green, interview cited in Shaw and Shaw,
We Remember D-Day, op. cit., p. 44.
18 Lt Harold B. Sherwood Jr, USNR, interview, Washington DC, 1984.
19 Patton immediately confided to his own diary that for his blatant mistruth ‘the lightning did not strike me’; Horne and Montgomery,
Monty 1944–45, op. cit., p. 106.
20 Trevor Hart-Dyke,
Normandy to Arnhem: A Story of the Infantry (4/Yorks Volunteers, 1966), p. 1.
21 Cited in Hastings,
Overlord, op. cit., p. 47.
22 Forty,
D-Day Dorset, op. cit., p. 85.
23 Tim Saunders,
Commandos and Rangers: D-Day Operations (Pen & Sword, 2010), Kindle, p. 3042.
24 Tracy Craggs, ‘An “Unspectacular” War? Reconstructing the History of the 2nd Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment during the Second World War’ (PhD thesis, University of Sheffield, 2007), pp. 51–2.
25 Thomas G. Finigan, interview, 1993, Imperial War Museum Sound Archive, ref. 12989.
26 William Douglas Home,
Sins of Commission (Michael Russell, 1985), p. 40.
27 The National Archives (TNA): ADM 1/29985: ‘2nd Bn Essex Regiment Sea Loading Accident’.
28 Donald S. Vaughan, 79th Armoured Division, interview cited in Jon E. Lewis (ed.),
D-Day as They Saw It: The Story of the Battle by Those Who Were There (Robinson Publishing, 2004), p. 96.
29 Edward Wallace, interview cited in Bailey,
Forgotten Voices, op. cit.
30 Vernon Church, interview, 2004, courtesy of BBC, WW2 People’s War, op. cit.
31 Maj. Ellis ‘Dixie’ Dean, ‘13th Battalion The Parachute Regiment: Luard’s Own’ (unpublished memoir), courtesy of pegasusarchive.org.
32 William Cockburn, interview, 2004, courtesy of BBC, WW2 People’s War, op. cit.
33 Charles R. Cawthon,
Other Clay. A Remembrance of the World War II Infantry (University of Nebraska Press, 2004), p.33
34 2nd Lt Wesley R. Ross, ‘Essayons – Journey With the Combat Engineers in World War II’ (unpublished), pp. 19, 32, 35, courtesy of 6th Corps Combat Engineers Association.
35 Interviews by Frank Whelan,
The Morning Call, 29 May 1994 and 6 June 2004.
36 Stephen E. Ambrose,
D-Day, op. cit., p. 140.
37 Ramsay,
The Year of D-Day, op. cit., p. 63. This resulted in the sinking of
MTB-708 on 5 May.
38 Marcus Cunliffe,
History of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment 1919–1955 (William Clowes, 1956), p. 121.
39 J. L. Moulton,
Haste to the Battle: A Marine Commando at War (Cassell, 1963), p. 56.
40 Baron,
From the City, From the Plough, op. cit., p. 77.
41 Mike McKinney, interview, op. cit.
42 Harry Cooper, interview, op. cit. USS
Henrico, in company with the USS
Samuel Chase and HMS
Empire Anvil, six LCI(L)s, six LSTs, and ninety-seven smaller craft formed Assault Group ‘O-1’.
43 Capa transferred to the USS
Samuel Chase for his passage across the Channel. Fuller’s
The Big Red One was released in 1980; Capa related his view of D-Day in his autobiography,
Slightly Out of Focus (Henry Holt, 1947).
44 Geoff Ziezulewicz, ‘1st Infantry Division Led Assault on D-Day: Youngest “Big Red One” GI at Normandy Remembers Pivotal Day’,
Stars and Stripes, 28 August 2006. Argenzio was born on 8 June 1927 and died in 2010; thus he may have been the youngest soldier of any nation fighting on D-Day.
45 LCI(Large) 35 first proceeded to Penarth, south Wales, and was originally assigned to Force ‘U’, before being switched to Force ‘S’ in Newhaven; Stanley Galik archives, courtesy of galik.com website.
46 Kenneth P. Baxter, MC, memoir, Warren Tute Collection, D-Day Museum, Portsmouth and National Army Museum.
47 Sub-Lt (later Capt.) Michael Hugh Hutton, RN, interview, Portsmouth, 1994. Captain Hutton died in 2003.
48 Swaab,
Field of Fire, op. cit., p. 2892.
49 Memoirs of Peter Mitchell, courtesy of David Mitchell, op. cit.
50 Moorhead,
Eclipse, op. cit., pp. 88–9.
51 Lewis E. Johnston of Air Mobility Command Museum, Delaware, interview, 2013.
52 David Irving,
The Trail of the Fox (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1977), pp. 356–8. The letter was a central feature of the 2014 ITV drama-documentary
If I Don’t Come Home: D-Day Letters; see obituary,
Daily Telegraph, 3 March 2009.
53 Moorhead,
Eclipse, op. cit., pp. 85, 90.
54 ‘HMS
Glenearn’, combinedops.com.
55 Craggs, ‘An “Unspectacular” War?’, op. cit., p. 117.
56 Lt George (Jimmy) Green, 551st Landing Craft Assault (LCA) Flotilla and SS
Empire Javelin, interview, Help for Heroes Bicycle Battlefield Tour of Normandy, 2008; he died in 2011.
57 Charles Shaeff, interview courtesy of
Los Angeles Times, 5 June 2014, National D-Day Memorial, Bedford, Virginia, and VMI interview, February 2005; Shaeff died in March 2017.
58 Obituary for John ‘Frank’ Dulligan, died 2 October 1985, Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, courtesy of Dulligan family; his letter was cited by Ryan,
The Longest Day, op. cit., p. 71.
59 ‘Biography of Hyam Haas’, courtesy of Justin Army Oral History Center.
60 Memoirs of Peter Mitchell, courtesy of David Mitchell, op. cit.
61 Alan Johnson, interview courtesy of the Stockport and District NVA (Normandy Veterans Association).
62 ‘Biography of Hyam Haas’, op. cit.
63 Alan Wellington, interview, 2006, via Age Concern, Shrewsbury. SS
City of Canterbury delivered GIs to Omaha on D+1.
64 Dennis Chaffer, interview, Kirklees, West Yorkshire, 1994.
65 Harold Addie, interview courtesy of the Stockport and District NVA (Normandy Veterans Association).
66 Dick Boustred, interview cited in Shaw and Shaw,
We Remember D-Day, op. cit., p. 115.
67 James Douglas, interview, Falkirk, 1994. Based at RAF Tangmere, 126 (Canadian) Wing was part of No. 83 in Coningham’s 2nd TAF. Douglas eventually helped establish the airstrip at Bény-sur-Mer, operational on 16 June, ten days after he had landed.
68 Harry Farrar, interview, 2004, courtesy of BBC, WW2 People’s War, op. cit.
69 Virginia Fraser, ‘Lord Lovat: He Was a Giant Among Giants on D-Day’,
Daily Telegraph, 6 June 2014.
18. Weathermen
1 Moorhead,
Eclipse, op. cit., p. 85.
2 Ryan,
The Longest Day, op. cit., pp. 62–3.
3 James R. Fleming, ‘Sverre Petterssen and the Contentious (and Momentous) Weather Forecasts for D-Day’,
Endeavour, Vol. 28/2 (June 2004).
4 Lawrence Hogben, interview, France, June 1994, and obituary,
Daily Telegraph, 4 March 2015.
5 Stagg (1900–75) was knighted in 1954 and published his own account in
Forecast for Overlord (Ian Allan, 1971).
6 Charles R. Cawthon,
Other Clay. A Remembrance of the World War II Infantry (University Press of Colorado, 1990), p. 45.
7 Ramsay,
The Year of D-Day, op. cit., pp. 78–80.
8 Jim Booth, interview, June 1994, via Peter Shand-Kydd, X-Craft Association. Specifically designed to attack the battleship
Tirpitz lurking in her Norwegian fjords, X-Craft were offered to the USN to help direct their D-Day flotillas, who nevertheless declined them. Their use as navigation beacons off Juno and Sword on D-Day, Operation Gambit, was considered a huge triumph and more than justified their development.
9 David Keys, ‘Concrete Traces Reveal Eisenhower’s D-Day HQ: Historians Have Found the Site of the Allies’ Wartime Command Post in a Hampshire Wood’,
Independent, 13 May 1994.
10 Churchill,
Second World War, Vol. 5, op. cit., pp. 518–21.
11 Alanbrooke,
War Diaries, 1939–1945, op. cit., p. 515.
12 Lawrence Hogben, interview, op. cit.
13 Audric,
The Meteorological Office Dunstable, op. cit.
14 Sverre Petterssen,
Weathering the Storm: Sverre Petterssen, the D-Day Forecast and the Rise of Modern Meteorology, ed. J. R. Fleming (American Meteorological Society, 2001).
15 Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story, op. cit., p. 253.
16 John Cox,
Storm Watchers: The Turbulent History of Weather Prediction from Franklin’s Kite to El Niño (Wiley, 2002).
17 Ramsay,
The Year of D-Day, op. cit., p. 82.
18 Eisenhower,
Crusade in Europe, op. cit., p. 274.
19 Dr Irving P. Krick,
The Role of Caltech Meteorology in the D-Day Forecast (American Meteorological Society, 1984).
20 Neillands and De Normann,
D-Day 1944, op. cit., p. 58.
21 Ramsay,
The Year of D-Day, op. cit., p. 82.
22 John Winton,
Freedom’s Battle, Vol. 1: The War at Sea 1939–45 (Hutchinson, 1967), p. 408.
23 Leslie Hasker, interview, June 2005, courtesy of BBC, WW2 People’s War, op. cit.
24 Eisenhower,
Crusade in Europe, op. cit., pp. 274–7.
25 Joe McCabe, ‘How Blacksod Lighthouse Changed the Course of the Second World War’,
Irish Independent, 1 June 2014.
26 Lawrence Hogben, interview, op. cit.
27 Alan G. Kirk, ‘Report of Commander, Western Task Force’, 15 September 1944 (NARA), p. 18.
28 Deutsche Wetter Dienst (DWD) Meteorological Library, Offenbach, 4 June 2014.
29 Prof. Werner Schwerdtfeger, ‘The Last Two Years of Z W G, Parts 1 and 2’,
Weather: Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vols. 41/4 and 5 (April and May 1986).
30 Robert Kershaw explores this mismatch in
D-Day: Piercing the Atlantic Wall, op. cit., pp. 88–9.
31 Correspondence,
London Review of Books, Vol. 16, Nos. 12–17 (23 June–8 September 1994).
32 Tempelhof (1907–85) was a
Kriegsakademie graduate who had also served with 21 Panzer Division and had an English wife.
33 Hayn,
Die Invasion, op. cit., p. 16.
34 Gen. Eberhard Wagemann, interview, Hamburg, June 1984. Wagemann (1918–2010) served with 22 Panzer Division in Normandy and later rose to major general in the
Bundeswehr and was commandant of its
Führungsakademie, 1974–7, where he used the example of Feuchtinger’s absence as an illustration of ‘catastrophic command’.
35 Hans von Luck,
Panzer Commander (Praeger, 1989), Kindle, p. 136.
36 Ramsay,
The Year of D-Day, op. cit., p. 83.
37 Lawrence Hogben, interview, op. cit. He left the room before the decision was made.
38 Eisenhower,
Crusade in Europe, op. cit., p. 275. No one actually recorded those present or the text of Ike’s actual words to confirm Overlord, although ‘OK, let’s go’ seems to be the consensus. The various eyewitness accounts state between eleven and fourteen were present at the final Southwick 5 June conference, but even the time was variously recorded as 4, 4.15 and 4.30 a.m. See Tim Rives, ‘“OK, We’ll Go”: Just What Did Ike Say When He Launched the D-day Invasion 70 Years Ago?’,
Prologue, Spring 2014.
39 Alanbrooke,
War Diaries 1939–1945, op. cit., p. 554.
40 Ramsay,
The Year of D-Day, op. cit., p. 83.
41 Martin Gilbert,
Road to Victory: Winston S. Churchill, Vol. 7 (Heinemann, 1986), p. 794.
42 Charles R. Cawthon,
Other Clay, op cit., p. 46.
43 Cited in Rives, ‘“OK, We’ll Go”’, op. cit.
44 John Ross,
Forecast for D-Day: And the Weatherman Behind Ike’s Greatest Gamble (Lyons Press, 2014).
45 Lawrence Hogben, interview, op. cit.
46 Zoe Jackson, Stephen Grey, Thomas Adcock, Paul Taylor and Jean-Raymond Bidlot, ‘The Waves at the Mulberry Harbours’,
Journal of Ocean Engineering and Maritime Energy, Vol. 3/1 (2017), pp. 185–92.
47 Wilmot,
Struggle for Europe, op. cit., p. 246.
48 Jim Booth, interview, op. cit.
19. The Great Armada
1 David Holbrook,
Flesh Wounds (Methuen, 1966), pp. 118–19.
2 Courtesy of Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum, Bungay,
www.aviationmuseum.net. Varner’s thirty-first and last mission was on 10 August 1944, when
Call Me Later bombed a railroad bridge at Joigny; afterwards, the crew returned to America aboard RMS
Aquitania with 5,000 German prisoners and 2,000 US wounded.
5 Lt Russell Chandler, Jr, interview, op. cit.
7 Thorne ‘Douglas Gordon (Part 1): Bail Out or Glide for England’,
Canadian Legion Magazine, op cit.
8 Personal log book, Flight Lt Tony Cooper, No. 64 Sqn, RAF Museum Archives, Hendon.
9 Clostermann,
The Big Show, op. cit., p. 161.
10 Clarence E. ‘Bud’ Anderson,
To Fly and Fight: Memoirs of a Triple Ace (Pacifica Military History, 2001).
11 Richard P. Hallion,
The US Army Air Forces in World War II: D-Day 1944: Air Power Over the Normandy Beaches and Beyond (Air Force History & Museums Program, 1994), p. 8.
12 Vogel, memoir, op. cit.
13 Hudson,
There and Back Again, op. cit., p. 176. James Hudson died in 2013.
14 Jim Frolking flew fifty-two combat missions with the 479th Fighter Group: fifty in the P-38 and two in P-51s. He was shot down by flak on 7 October 1944, over the Netherlands; the Dutch underground rescued him and advancing Canadian troops liberated him a few weeks later. ‘Normandy to the Netherlands: A Fighter Pilot’s View’, talk to Lakewood Historical Society, Ohio, 2018.
15 Richard Payne, interview, Portsmouth, June 1994.
16 Brenda McBryde, interview, September 1997, via Col. John Watts, MC.
17 John Grant, interview, Portsmouth, June 2004.
18 ‘D-Day, 70 Years On: “We Watched an American Destroyer Slowly Demolished by Shore Batteries”’,
Observer, 1 June 2014.
19 Garry Johnson and Christopher Dunphie,
Brightly Shone the Dawn: Some Experiences of the Invasion of Normandy (Frederick Warne, 1980), p. 56.
20 Max Hastings,
Bomber Command (Michael Joseph, 1979), Appendix A, p. 354.
21 Lt Russell Chandler, Jr, interview, op. cit.
22 James L. Bass,
Fait Accompli: A Historical Account of the 457th Bomb Group (JLB Publications, 1995).
23 Frank L. Betz and Kenneth H. Cassens (eds),
379th Bombardment Group (H) Anthology, Nov. 1942–July 1945 (Turner Publishing, 2000).
24 Charles H. Freudenthal,
A History of the 489th Bomb Group (American Spirit Graphics, 1989).
25 Henry Tarcza, interview courtesy of 95th Bomb Group Memorials Foundation.
26 Birdie Schmidt,
Reminiscences about the ARC Aeroclub at Wendling, op. cit.
27 Zdenĕk Hurt
, Czechs in the RAF (Red Kite Books, 2004).
28 The ten minesweepers were HMSs
Albury, Halcyon, Kellett, Lydd, Pangbourne, Ross, Salamander, Saltash, Speedwell and
Sutton, mostly members of the 4th Minesweeping Flotilla; the eleven requisitioned steamers at Dunkirk and D-Day were
Biarritz, Brigadier, Canterbury, Dinard, Lady of Mann, Maid of Orleans, Royal Ulsterman, Prague, St Julien, Princess Maude and
Ben-my-Chree (author’s research).
30 Knight Commander of the Bath (KCB) 1940; Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE) 1944. He would have undoubtedly become Viscount Ramsay in the New Year’s Honours List of 1946, had he not been tragically killed in an air crash at Toussus-le-Noble, France, on 2 January 1945.
31 ‘British West European Force’ (BWEF) was soon changed to the more pleasing ‘British Liberation Army’ (BLA).
33 Ludovic Kennedy,
On My Way to the Club (Collins, 1989).
34 Lund and Ludlam,
War of the Landing Craft, op. cit., pp. 167–9.
36 Sir Alexander Stanier, Bt, interview, Shropshire, 1984.
37 Tom Bigland, interview, Shrewsbury, 1984.
39 Historical Section, Commander US Naval Forces Europe (OMNAVEU),
Administrative History of US Naval Forces in Europe, 1940–1946, Vol. 5: The Invasion of Normandy: Operation Neptune (London, 1946), pp. 301–37.
40 Ramsay,
The Year of D-Day, op. cit., entry for 24 March 1944, p. 48.
41 Austin Prosser, interview, Lechlade, 2002, via Sub-Lt Peter Miles, RNVR, Landing Craft Association.
42 Charles Lilly, ‘Landing in Normandy’, undated memoir courtesy of ww2lct.org.
43 Stan Hough, interview, 2004, courtesy of BBC, WW2 People’s War, op. cit.
44 LCT-2428 lies in Bracklesham Bay, her cargo of tanks and bulldozers littering the seabed, providing much interest to local diving clubs.
45 Moorhead,
Eclipse, op. cit., pp. 93–5.
46 Bill Millin, interviews, op. cit.
47 Capt. Eric W. Bush (1899–1985) archive, Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King’s College London.
49 Field Marshal the Lord Bramall, interview, Chalke Valley History Festival, July 2016.
50 Charles H. Freudenthal,
History of the 489th Bomb Group, (self-published, 1989).
51 Edward Francis Wightman, diary, courtesy of Lynette Foster, née Wightman.
52 Bill O’Neill, ‘D-Day as Seen from US
LCT-544’, 1994, memoir courtesy of ww2lct.org.
53 Vernon Scannell, in his autobiographical novel
Argument of Kings (Robson, 1987), p. 145.
54 Bob Heath, interview, Orpington, 1994.
55 Joseph Alexander, memoir courtesy of ww2lct.org.
56 Thomas Carter,
Beachhead Normandy: An LCT’s Odyssey (Potomac Books, 2012), p. 78.
57 Other sources state these were
LCT(A)-2404 and
LCT(A)-2301.
58 Ross, ‘Essayons’, op. cit., p. 41.
59 Stan Blacker, interview, 2002, via Sub-Lt Peter Miles, RNVR, Landing Craft Association, Lechlade.
60 Eric Brown, interview, 2002, via Sub-Lt Peter Miles, RNVR, Landing Craft Association, Lechlade.
61 Tony Lowndes, interview, 2002, via Sub-Lt Peter Miles, RNVR, Landing Craft Association, Lechlade.
62 Neillands and De Normann,
D-Day 1944, op. cit., pp. 120–2.
63 Rev. Canon Mike Crooks, RN, interview courtesy of Portsmouth D-Day Story Museum Archives.
64 Sir John Ford, KCMG, MC, Newcastle, Staffordshire, 1999.
65 Rt Hon. Sir Stephen Brown, GBE, PC, interview aboard MV
Minerva, Normandy, 6 June 2014.
66 Ryan,
The Longest Day, op. cit., p. 99.
67 Symonds,
Neptune, op. cit., p. 249.
68 Some sources give 121 RCN ships in Neptune; see Fraser McKee, ‘Ships of the Royal Canadian Navy Present off Juno Beach on 6–7 June 1944’,
www.nauticapedia.ca, and ‘Canadian Participation on D-Day and in the Battle of Normandy’,
www.forces.gc.ca.
69 ‘D-Day: Canadian Troops Land in Normandy as Part of the Largest Invasion in History’, courtesy of cbc.ca.
70 Alan Johnson, interview, 2002, via Sub-Lt Peter Miles, RNVR, Landing Craft Association, Lechlade.
71 Leslie Hasker, interview, op. cit.
72 Vice Admiral Sir Louis Le Bailly, interview, London, 1992.
73 Ronald Martin, interview, Imperial War Museum Sound Archive.
74 John Dennett, interview, 1994, courtesy of Wirral and Chester Branch of the NVA.
75 Gilchrist,
Don’t Cry for Me, op. cit., pp. 50–1.
76 Lund and Ludlam,
War of the Landing Craft, op. cit., p. 168.
77 R. G. Watts, interview, 2003, courtesy of BBC, WW2 People’s War.
78 Edward Francis Wightman, diary, op. cit.
79 Buster Brown, interview, op. cit.
80 Kennedy,
On My Way to the Club, op. cit.
82 Peter Walker, interview, Portsmouth, June 1994.
83 Historia, No. 69 (1969);
39–45 Magazine, No. 96 (1994).
84 Tadeusz Lesisz, interview, Bolton, 1985; see also obituary,
Independent, 12 October 2009.
20. Shells, Rockets and Flies
1 Carell,
Invasion, op. cit., pp. 30–2.
5 Rt Hon. Sir Stephen Brown, interview, op. cit.
6 Stan Hough, interview, op. cit.
7 Philip Webber, interview, Dewsbury, 1994.
8 Edward Francis Wightman, diary, op. cit.
9 Patrick Delaforce,
Monty’s Ironsides (Bounty Books, 1999), p. 30.
10 Alfred Lane, memoir courtesy of Royal Engineers Museum, Gillingham, Kent.
11 After Action Report, ‘15. Vorpostenflottille/2. Sicherungs-Division (Boulogne), 6. Juni, 1944’, NARA.
12 In Kirk’s Western Area: 324 warships (including 151 RN, 166 USN, 6 French, 1 Dutch); in Vian’s Eastern sector, 348 naval vessels (306 RN, 30 USN, 3 French, 3 Polish, 3 Norwegian, 2 Greek and 1 Dutch).
13 Douglas Reeman,
D-Day 6th June 1944: A Personal Reminiscence (Arrow, 1984), pp. 1–7. Reeman died in 2017, his obituary recording his possession of ‘a chair from HMS
Victory and a Nelsonian cannon, its muzzle trained permanently towards France’.
14 Thomas Nutter, interview, 2004, courtesy of BBC, WW2 People’s War, op. cit.
15 Don Hunter, interview, HMS
Belfast, Queen’s Jubilee Pageant, June 2012.
16 29th Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla and 31st and 32nd Minesweeping Flotillas.
17 Reeman,
D-Day 6th June 1944, op cit., pp. 8–9.
18 Richard Llewellyn, interview, 1994, courtesy of Wirral and Chester Branch of the NVA.
19 Zaloga,
D-Day Fortifications, op. cit., p. 38.
20 Stephen Barney, interview, aboard MV
Minerva, Normandy, 6 June 2014.
21 Bud Taylor, interview, USS
Pennsylvania Reunion, San Diego, California, 1998. Bud died in 2015.
22 Donald C. Derrah, personal war diary, USS
Shubrick (DD-639), courtesy of ussshubrick.com; Thomas B. Allen, ‘The Gallant Destroyers of D-Day’,
Navy History Magazine, Vol. 18/3 (June 2004).
23 Woodrow ‘Woody’ Derby, interview, USS
Nevada Reunion, Burlingame, California, 1998.
24 Ryan,
The Longest Day, op. cit., p. 186; Symonds,
Neptune, op. cit., p. 265.
25 Logbook courtesy of Stanley R. Rane, Jr.
26 Air Commodore R. H. G. Weighill, CBE, DFC, interview, RAF Halton, 1984.
27 Symonds,
Neptune, op. cit., p. 263.
28 Obituary, Air Marshal Sir Peter Wykeham,
Independent, 28 February 1995.
29 Ernest Hemingway, ‘Voyage to Victory’,
Collier’s, 22 July 1944.
30 Samuel Eliot Morison,
History of US Naval Operations in World War II, Vol. XI: The Invasion of France and Germany 1944–1945 (Oxford University Press, 1957), p. 138.
31 Photographer Robert Capa memorably bent these rules, disembarked, took some pictures and then re-embarked. By contrast, BBC reporters, having trained extensively in their War Reporting Units after Exercise Spartan, were integrated into the assault units and allowed ashore, as were military photographers.
32 Hemingway, ‘Voyage to Victory’, op. cit.
33 Carter,
Beachhead Normandy, op. cit., pp. 79–80.
34 Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story, op. cit., p. 252.
35 Ibid., p. 253. George Petty was one of the pioneer artists of the American pin-up, known for his paintings of skimpily clad women that appeared in
Esquire magazine from 1933 until 1956.
36 Carter,
Beachhead Normandy, op. cit., pp. 79–80.
37 ‘Biography of Hyam Haas’, op. cit.
38 ‘D-Day, 70 Years On’, op. cit.
39 Interview, Brigadier Robin McGarel-Groves, Hampshire, 1994; he died in 2014.
40 ‘D-Day, 70 Years On’, op. cit.
41 Stephen Barney, interview, op. cit.
42 John Carey,
William Golding: The Man Who Wrote Lord of the Flies (Faber & Faber, 2009), pp. 100–5; Peter Green, ‘The Stranger from Within: William Golding: The Man Who Wrote
Lord of the Flies’,
New Republic, 1 September 2010.
43 Rt Hon. Sir Stephen Brown, interview, op. cit.
44 Basil Heaton, interview, Shrewsbury, 1984; ‘D-Day, 6 June 1944’, memoir, Flintshire Record Office; see also obituary,
Daily Telegraph, 29 May 2012.
45 James Matthew Weller, interview, National World War II Museum Oral History Program, New Orleans. Weller died in June 2017.
46 Fran Baker (ed.),
Hot Steel: The Story of the 58th Armored Field Artillery Battalion (Delphi Books, 2014); ‘After Action Report, 58th Field Artillery Battalion, 6 June 1944’, NARA. The 58th lost nine officers and thirty-two enlisted men killed and wounded on D-Day, along with five M-7s, five half-tracks, four jeeps, three 6×6 trucks and two L-4 spotter planes.
47 John H. Glass, interview, 1992, courtesy of Musée des Épaves Sous-Marines du Débarquement, Port-en-Bessin.
48 Charles Hurlbut, interview, op. cit.
49 Sir Alexander Stanier, interview, op. cit.
21. Boats and Bugles
1 Scott,
Typhoon Pilot, op. cit., pp. 110–11.
2 Sub-Lt W. B. Carter,
D-Day Landings (Silent Books, 1993), p. 9.
3 Omaha Beachhead (War Dept., US Army Historical Division, Washington DC, September 1945), p. 38.
4 Maj. Thomas S. Dallas, Bn Executive, ‘After Action Report, 1st Bn Command Group, 116th Infantry Regt, 29th Infantry Division, 19 June 1944’, courtesy of
www.dday-overlord.com.
5 Symonds,
Neptune, op. cit., p. 229.
6 Charles Hurlbut, interview, op. cit.
7 Edwin ‘Nobby Clarke’, interview, 2004, courtesy of BBC, WW2 People’s War, op. cit.
8 Samuel Eliot Morison,
History of United States Naval Operations in WWII, Vol. XI: The Invasion of France and Germany (Little, Brown, 1957), pp. 170–1. With both the sinking of the
Corry and the
Meredith the official USN position was that a sea mine was the culprit, though in each case, all the documentary evidence pointed to shore batteries (for USS
Corry) and a glider bomb (for USS
Meredith).
10 Unnamed jeep driver, 5th Bn, Kings Regiment, No. 5 Beach Group, interview, 1994, via Sub-Lt Peter Miles, RNVR, Landing Craft Association.
11 Lt Robert A. Jacobs, interview courtesy of 389th Bomb Group Memorial Exhibition, Hethel, Norwich.
12 Reeder,
Born at Reveille, op. cit., p. 4564.
13 Calculations taken from Port-en-Bessin, in the centre of the invasion coast.
15 Robert D. Blegen, ‘LCT(5) Flotilla 18 at Omaha Beach, D-Day, June 6, 1944’, memoir, ww2lct.org/history/stories/flot_18_at_omaha.htm.
16 Omar Bradley and Clay Blair,
A General’s Life: An Autobiography by General of the Army Omar N. Bradley (Simon & Schuster, 1983), p. 252.
17 Gilchrist,
Don’t Cry for Me, op. cit., p. 46.
18 Stan Hough, interview, op. cit.
19 Charles Hurlbut, interview, op. cit.
20 Reg Clark, interview 2003, courtesy of BBC The People’s War.
21 The Imperial War Museum holds the duffle coat that was worn by Lt Gerald Roy Clark, RNVR, commander of
LCT-770.
22 Gilchrist,
Don’t Cry for Me, op. cit., p. 49.
23 Alan Higgins, interview, 1994, via Sub-Lt Peter Miles, RNVR, Landing Craft Association.
24 Gilchrist,
Don’t Cry For Me, op. cit., p. 49.
25 John ‘J.J.’ Witmeyer, interview courtesy of National World War II Museum Oral History Program, New Orleans. Witmeyer died in September 2014.
26 Charles Norman Shay, interview, Omaha Beach, Saint-Laurent-sur-Mer, 5 June 2018.
28 Alfred M. Beck, Abe Bortz, Charles W. Lynch, Lida Mayo and Ralph F. Weld,
United States Army in World War II: The Corps of Engineers: The War Against Germany (Center of Military History, US Army, 1985), p. 320.
29 Ross, ‘Essayons’, op. cit., pp. 37–43.
30 John R. Armellino, interview, 2000, courtesy of John N. Armellino and Laurent Lefebvre at
www.americandday.org.
31 Bill Ryan, interview, April 1994, courtesy of Wirral and Chester Branch of the NVA. Ryan died in 2015.
32 James Holland,
Twenty-One: Coming of Age in World War II (Harper, 2006), p. 42.
33 Dr Hal Baumgarten, interview, op. cit.
34 Walsh, ‘D-Day Reflections from a Soldier’, op. cit.
35 James Baker, DSM, interview, 1994, courtesy of Wirral and Chester Branch of the NVA. Jim died in 2016.
36 Reg Cole, interview, op. cit.
37 Jack Heath, courtesy of BBC, WW2 People’s War, 2005.
38 R. G. Watts, interview, 2003, op cit.
39 Eric Neville Hooper, interview, Imperial War Museum Sound Archive, ref. 11208/reel 11.
22. Night Flyers
1 Broadcast on 8 June 1944.
War Report: A Record of Despatches Broadcast by the BBC’s War Correspondents with the Allied Expeditionary Force, 6 June 1944–5 May 1945 (Oxford University Press, 1946), p. 60; my thanks to BBC Radio 4 stalwart Ed Stourton for reminding me of
War Report.
2 Kevin Wilson,
Men of Air: The Doomed Youth of Bomber Command (Hachette, 2008), p. 362.
4 Stephanie Nield, ‘Our Founder’s Role in D-Day’s Secret Mission’, Leonard Cheshire Foundation, 6 June 2014.
5 The National Archives (TNA): AIR/27/2128.
6 Laurie Brettingham,
Even When the Sparrows Were Walking: The Origin and Effect of No. 100 Bomber Support Group RAF, 1943–45 (Gopher Publishers, 2001), pp. 43–52.
7 The translated text read, ‘Urgent Message from the Supreme Command of the Allied Expeditionary Force to the inhabitants of this town. So that the common enemy is defeated, the Allied air forces will attack all transport hubs and all the ways and means of communications vital to the enemy. If you are reading this leaflet you are in or near a centre essential to the enemy for the movement of troops and their equipment. The vital objective which you are near to is going to be incessantly attacked. You quickly leave with your family, for a few days, the danger zone where you are. Do not clutter the roads. Spread out into the countryside,
as far as possible. LEAVE THE AREA! YOU DO NOT HAVE A MINUTE TO LOSE!’
8 An allusion to Churchill’s radio broadcast of 9 February 1941, addressed to the United States, which concluded: ‘Give Us The Tools: And We Will Finish The Job’.
9 The National Archives (TNA): TICOM report I-109, ‘Translation of a Report by Lt Ludwig’ (24 September 1945), p. 18.
10 Kershaw,
D-Day, op. cit., p. 90.
11 This was at Marigny, site of the start of Operation Cobra in late July.
12 ‘D-Day Airborne Deceptions: The Tempsford Squadrons’ Involvement’,
Tempsford Veterans and Relatives Association Newsletter (Summer 2011).
13 My thanks to Lt. Col. Alan Miller for alerting me to Poole. The officer (awarded an MC) and his SAS team spent 42 days behind German lines, being captured when they tried to cross through the front. See his obituary,
Daily Telegraph, 7 July 2015.
14 Meyer was CO of
915. Grenadier-Regt, part of Dietrich Kraiss’ 352nd Infantry Division.
15 Ben Macintyre,
SAS: Rogue Heroes (Viking, 2016), p. 215.
17 Ibid. See also AVM Jack Furner, ‘100 Group – Confound and …’,
RAF Historical Society Journal, No. 28 (2003), pp.24–32, and Martin Streetly, ‘100 Group – Fighter Operations’,
RAF Historical Society Journal, No. 28 (2003), pp. 33–42.
18 Lt Russell Chandler, Jr, interview, op. cit.
19 Clostermann,
The Big Show, op. cit., p. 161.
20 By contrast, 195,255 sorties had been flown in the preceding two months (1 April–5 June 1944), or an average of one every 30 seconds for the entire 65-day period; see Delve,
D-Day: The Air Battle, op. cit., p. 81.
21 In fact, the concept had been laid down earlier, before Leigh-Mallory’s approval, in SHAEF Operational Memorandum No. 23, ‘Distinctive Marking – Aircraft’, issued on 18 April 1944; orders were issued to No. 11 Group RAF and IX Fighter Command USAAF in ‘Joint Air Plan and Executive Orders for Operation Neptune’, issued at Uxbridge, 25 May 1944.
22 Stephen J. Thorne, ‘Douglas Gordon (Part 1): Bail Out or Glide for England’,
Canadian Legion Magazine, 26 December 2018.
23 Delve,
D-Day: The Air Battle, op. cit., p. 80.
24 Lew Johnston, ‘Troop Carrier D-Day Flights: Fighter Cover’, op. cit.
26 Donald MacKenzie, ‘At a B-26 Marauder Base in England’,
New York Daily News, 7 June 1944.
27 Daily Telegraph, 7 June 1944; Dominic Phelan,
Cornelius Ryan: D-Day Reporter (self-published, 2014), Kindle, pp. 19–20.
28 Neal Beaver, interview, February 2013, via Lewis Johnston of the Air Mobility Command Museum, Dover AFB, Delaware.
29 Jack Schlegel, interview, op. cit.
30 Beaver, interview, op. cit.
31 Philip Warner,
The D-Day Landings (William Kimber, 1980), pp. 33–4.
32 This was the Knollwood Maneuver (designed to capture Knollwood airbase, near Fort Bragg), which began on 7 December 1943 and involved over 10,000 participants.
33 Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story, op. cit., pp. 234–6.
34 Eisenhower,
Crusade in Europe, op. cit., pp. 270–1.
35 Harry C. Butcher,
Three Years with Eisenhower: The Personal Diary of Capt. H. C. Butcher, Naval Aide to General Eisenhower, 1942–45 (Heinemann, 1946).
36 Wallace C. Strobel and Leonard Crawford, interviews, June 2018, Band of Brothers Aldbourne to Berchtesgaden battlefield tour.
37 Butcher,
Three Years with Eisenhower, op. cit.
38 Volker Griesser,
The Lions of Carentan (Casemate, 2015), p. 82.
39 Martin Pöppel,
Heaven and Hell: The War Diary of a German Paratrooper (Spellmount, 1988), pp. 172–4.
40 Holland,
Twenty-One, op. cit., pp. 311–12.
41 Griesser,
Lions of Carentan, op. cit., p. 83.
42 Ernst W. Flöter with Lynne Breen,
I’ll See You Again, Lady Liberty: The True Story of a German Prisoner of War in America (WingSpan Press, 2014), p. 23.
43 Paul Golz, interview, June 2016, courtesy of Liesl Bradner.
44 The Château de Bernaville now houses the Normandy Institute, whose mission is to ‘engage leaders and educators in shaping the future creating strategic alliances, advancing understanding of history, and applying this knowledge to complex global issues’.
45 Ruge,
Rommel in Normandy, op. cit., pp. 162–3.
46 Jay Wertz,
D-Day: The Campaign Across France (Casemate/Monroe, 2012).
47 The National Archives (TNA): WO 171/1249.
48 Sgt Herb Fussell, interview, Ranville, Normandy, October 2008. Because of their language skills, several Pathfinders were of Jewish or Continental origin and were given pseudonyms; due to a likelihood of being cut off, alone, behind enemy lines, many other Pathfinders were also given fake identities also, hence Fussell/‘Ramage’.
49 ‘Post Op. Report by Capt. Mildwood on Pathfinder Troops Drop onto DZ “K”, Normandy’ (dated Oct. 1944), courtesy of paradata.org.uk.
50 WACO eventually made 14,000 of their CG-4A gliders, which were known to the British as the Hadrian.
51 Maj. Leon B. Spencer, ‘They Flew into Battle on Silent Wings: World War II Glider Pilots of the US Army Air Force’, p. 2
52 Tony Reichhardt, ‘The Pilot Who Led the D-Day Invasion’,
Smithsonian Air and Space Magazine, 6 June 2014.
53 Lew Johnston, ‘Troop Carrier D-Day Flights: The Heart of the Matter’, Air Mobility Command Museum, 6 June 2001, op. cit.
54 Mark Alexander and John Sparry
, Jump Commander: In Combat with the 505th and 508th Parachute Infantry Regiments, 82nd Airborne Division, in WWII (Casemate, 2010), p. 274.
55 Privates Robert L. Leaky and Pete Vah and Corporal Kenneth A. Vaught died instantly, Private Eddie O. Meelberg later that night.
56 Corteil and Glen died together on 6 June and were buried together in Ranville War Cemetery.
57 Tute, Costello and Hughes,
D-Day, op. cit., p. 149.
58 Neal Beaver, interview, op. cit.
60 Col. C. H. Young,
Into the Valley: The Untold Story of USAAF Troop Carrier in World War II, from North Africa through Europe (PrintComm, 1995).
61 Thirty-nine square kilometres.
62 Maj. Leon B. Spencer, USAFR (ret.), ‘Normandy D-Day CG-4A Glider Crash Claims Life of General Don F. Pratt’,
Silent Wings (National WWII Glider Pilot Association, June 1997); courtesy of worldwar2gliderpilots.blogspot.com.
63 Flöter and Breen,
I’ll See You Again, op. cit., p. 27; Wertz
, D-Day, op. cit., pp. 82–3.
64 Lynda Laird, photo exhibition: ‘
Dans le noir’, words by Odette Brefort, Deauville, 21 October 2017.
65 Renée Olinger, interview, Thury-Harcourt, June 1994.
66 Pierre Labbé, interview, Normandy, February 2014.
67 ‘They Came Out of the Sea!’,
Press Democrat, 22 May 1994.
68 René Baumel, interview, Normandy, June 2013.
69 Jean Mignon, interview, Normandy, June 2013.
70 Marcel Rousseau, interview, Normandy, June 2013.
71 Griesser,
Lions of Carentan, op. cit., p. 88.
72 Kevin M. Hymel, ‘Dropping into Normandy: First-Hand Accounts of the D-Day Airborne Invasion’,
Warfare History Network, 6 June 2018.
73 Griesser,
Lions of Carentan, op. cit., p. 89.
74 Wertz,
D-Day, op. cit., p. 137.
76 Schlegel took Falley’s personal swastika flag as a souvenir, hid it before he was taken prisoner, retrieved it after the war and later gave it to the Airborne Museum in Sainte-Mère-Église. The current owners of the Château de Bernaville have recently discovered an aerial photo showing Falley’s crashed staff car. Falley is buried in the German military cemetery, Orglandes, block D, row 10, grave 207.
77 Marguerite Catherine, interview, Picauville, June 2013.
78 Dalton Einhorn,
From Toccoa to the Eagle’s Nest: Discoveries in the Bootsteps of the Band of Brothers (Booksurge Publishing, 2009).
23. Across the Water and Into the Trees
1 John Golley,
The Day of the Typhoon: Flying with the RAF Tankbusters in Normandy (Patrick Stephens, 1986), pp. 16–17.
2 Hayn,
Die Invasion, op. cit., pp. 16–20.
3 Projector Infantry Anti-Tank, the British bazooka.
4 Len Buckley, interview, Bayeux, June 2014.
5 Gen. Eberhard Wagemann, interview, op. cit.
6 Neillands and De Normann,
D-Day 1944, op. cit., p. 101.
7 Charles ‘Wagger’ Thornton, interview, 1993, Imperial War Museum Sound Archive, ref. 11559.
8 Raymond ‘Tich’ Raynor, interview, Bletchley Park, 2006.
9 Helmut Römer, interview, Dusseldorf, 1995, and numerous interviews with Arlette Gondrée, Pegasus Bridge Café.
10 John Howard, interview, Browning Barracks, Aldershot, 1995.
11 Stephen E. Ambrose,
Pegasus Bridge (Simon & Schuster, 1997), pp. 122–4.
12 Stourbridge News, 29 May 1997.
13 Broadcast on 8 June 1944.
War Report, op. cit., p. 63.
16 Col. Keith Nightingale, ‘The Taking of La Fière Bridge’,
Small Wars Journal (28 May 2012).
18 William Falduti, ‘The Invasions of Normandy and Holland’, Nutley Historical Society (New Jersey), 29 May 2009.
19 Company ‘F’, 2nd Platoon Mortar Squad: Lt Cadish, KIA 6 June; Sgt John Ray, DOW 7 June; Sgt Edward White, KIA 6 June; Cpl Vernon Francisco, KIA 3 January 1945; PFC Charles Blankenship, KIA 6 June; PFC Clifford Maughan, taken prisoner; PFC Penrose Shearer, KIA 6 June; PFC Alfred Van Holsbeck, KIA 8 June; PFC Ernest Blanchard, survived; Pvt. H. T. Bryant, KIA 6 June; Pvt. Phillip Lynch, KIA 13 January 1945; Pvt. Kenneth Russell, survived; Pvt. John Steele, survived; Pvt. Ladishaw Tlapa, KIA 6 June; Pvt. Steven Epps, survived.
20 See Ryan,
The Longest Day, op. cit., pp. 133–6.
21 Emile Ozouf, interview, Sainte-Mère-Église, June 2014.
22 Pöppel,
Heaven and Hell, op. cit., p. 174.
23 Otto Bügener would be killed on 27 June 1944 and is buried with 555 other Germans in the Saint-Manvieu Commonwealth War Cemetery, Cheux, in plot 17.B.2.
24 John Ross, interview, op. cit.
25 Aaron Elson,
A Mile in Their Shoes: Conversations with Veterans of World War II, ‘The Last Hurrah’: interview with Ed Boccafogli, Clifton, New Jersey, 19 February 1994, courtesy of
www.tankbooks.com.
26 Mathias was allegedly the first American officer to fall on D-Day; Stephen E. Ambrose, ‘The Kids Who Changed the World’,
Newsweek, Vol. 132/2 (13 July 1998).
27 Bernd Horn & Michel Wyczynski, ‘A Most Irrevocable Step: Canadian Paratroopers on D-Day: The First 24 Hours, 5–6 June 1944’,
Canadian Military History, Vol.13/3 (2004).
28 Hymel, ‘Dropping into Normandy’, op. cit.
29 Major Brandenberger as he became, later won a Silver Star and served in Korea.
30 Elson,
A Mile in Their Shoes, op. cit.
31 David Owen,
Portrait of a Parachutist, unpublished manuscript, 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion Archives.
32 Hymel, ‘Dropping into Normandy’, op. cit.
33 John Feduck, interview, 19 December 2001, courtesy of Oral History Project, 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion Archives.
34 Muir’s sacrifice brought him a posthumous Distinguished Service Cross. He lies buried at Colleville-sur-Mer cemetery, plot C, row 12, grave 5.
36 Richard ‘Sweeney’ Todd, interview, Pegasus Bridge, July 2005. Seventeen years after D-Day he played the character of Maj. John Howard in
The Longest Day. Todd died in 2009.
37 Henry John ‘Tod’ Sweeney, interview during Normandy battlefield tour, June 1995. Col. Tod Sweeney MC died in June 2001.
38 Hymel, ‘Dropping into Normandy’, op. cit.
39 Justin Covington, ‘D-Day Army Paratrooper Tom Rice Recalls Dropping into Normandy’, circa.com, 6 June 2018.
40 Horn and Wyczynski, ‘A Most Irrevocable Step’, op. cit.
41 Lt Col. G. F. P. Bradbrooke, letter, 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion Archives.
42 Bill Brown and Terry Poyser,
Fighting Fox Company: The Battling Flank of the Band of Brothers (Casemate, 2014).
43 Sgt Marion Grodowski, winner of
four Bronze Stars, died in January 2012, aged ninety-one.
44 Vandervoort would win two Distinguished Service Crosses and be played by John Wayne in
The Longest Day. He died in 1990.
45 Wertz,
D-Day, op. cit., p. 90.
46 Lt Russell Chandler, Jr, interview, op. cit.
47 David Howarth,
Dawn of D-Day (Collins, 1959), Kindle, pp. 1514–44.
48 Col. John Watts, MC, interview, Warminster, September 1997. He wrote
Surgeon at War (Allen & Unwin, 1955) and died in 2010.
49 David Tibbs, MC, interview, Oxford, January 2014; sadly, I was unable to interview him again, for he died in August 2017 whilst I was writing this book. See also Capt. David Tibbs,
Parachute Doctor, ed. Neil Barber (Sabrestorm, 2012), pp. 45, 49, 50.
50 Beaver, interview, op. cit.
51 David Tibbs, MC, interview, op. cit.
52 Prof. Robert Elmore, interview, Kellogg College, Oxford, 1994. Prof. Elmore died in 2016.
53 Luck,
Panzer Commander, op. cit., p. 3222.
54 Neillands and De Normann,
D-Day 1944, op. cit., p. 101.
55 Carell,
Invasion, op. cit., p. 38.
56 Michael Hanlon, ‘Paratroopers Landed at Night’,
Toronto Star, 6 June 1994.
57 ‘Remembering Two Canadian Chaplains Who Fell on D-Day’, 6 June 2014, courtesy of The Mad Padre blog. Rev. Harris is buried at Ranville War Cemetery, plot VA, row C, grave 6.
58 Doug Morrison, interview with Bernd Horn, February 2002.
59 Wertz,
D-Day, op. cit., p. 84.
60 Strong,
Steiner’s War, op. cit.
62 ETHINT FMS B-403, Joseph Reichert, ‘The 711th Infantry Division and the Airborne Invasion’; Col. C. P. Stacey,
Official History of the Canadian Army in the 2nd World War, Vol. 3: The Victory Campaign: Operations in NW Europe, 1944–45 (Queen’s Printer, 1966), p. 121.
63 Strong,
Steiner’s War, op. cit., pp. 85–7; Tootal,
The Manner of Men, op. cit.
65 Strong,
Steiner’s War, op. cit.
66 Barber,
The Day the Devils Dropped In, op. cit.
67 David Tibbs, MC, interview, op. cit.
68 Laurie Weeden, interview, Normandy, 6 June 2014.
69 John Howard, interview, op. cit.
70 David Reynolds, ‘The Runaway Boy Hero of D-Day: At 14, He Lied His Way into the Army. At Just 16 He Parachuted into France … With His Frantic Family Hot on His Tail’,
Daily Mail, 17 May 2014.
71 Jack Schlegel, interview, op. cit.
72 His son, Joseph Beyrle, Jr, served with the 101st in Vietnam and was later US ambassador to Russia (2008–12). Beyrle, Sr, died whilst visiting the old 101st camp at Toccoa, Georgia, in 2004 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
73 They were Privates Arthur Platt and Tom Billingham; no one was ever charged with their murder.
74 David Tibbs, interview, op. cit.; Tibbs,
Parachute Doctor, op. cit., p. 46.
75 Griesser,
Lions of Carentan, op. cit., p. 96.
76 George E. ‘Pete’ Buckley, memoir cited in Johnston, ‘Troop Carrier D-Day Flights’, op. cit.
77 Griesser,
The Lions of Carentan, op cit., p.91.
78 Spencer Wurst,
Descending From the Clouds (Casemate, 2004), p. 205 and see interview at
http://jumpwith.pathfindergroupuk.com. A North African veteran, SSgt Spencer Wurst was commissioned in 1945, retiring as colonel; he died in 2015 and was buried in Arlington cemetery.
79 Griesser,
The Lions of Carentan, op cit., p.91.
80 Henri Biard, interview, Normandy, June 2013.
81 Griesser,
Lions of Carentan, op. cit., p. 91.
82 Carell,
Invasion, op. cit., pp. 47–51.
83 Broadcast on 8 June 1944.
War Report, op. cit., pp. 66–7.
84 Spencer, ‘Glider Crash Claims Life of General Don F. Pratt’, op. cit.
85 By Air to Battle: The Official Account of the British Airborne Divisions (His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1945).
86 Hastings,
Overlord, op. cit., p. 74; statistics from Steven J. Zaloga,
Utah Beach (Osprey, 2004), p. 64.
87 Tootal,
The Manner of Men, op. cit., Kindle p. 2821.
88 Col. James J. Roberts, Jr, CO, Fulbeck AFB (Lincolnshire) After Action Report, 313th Troop Carrier Group, 52nd Troop Carrier Wing, IX Troop Carrier Command, Ninth Air Force.
89 Martin Wolfe,
Green Light! A Troop Carrier Squadron’s War from Normandy to the Rhine (Center for Air Force History, 1993), pp. 116–17.
90 Howarth,
Dawn of D-Day, op. cit., p. 86.
91 Donald R. Burgett,
Currahee! A Paratrooper’s Account of the Invasion (Presidio, 1967), pp. 87–8.
93 Huggett’s jump jacket is an exhibit at the Dead Man’s Corner D-Day Experience Museum, Saint-Côme-du-Mont, Carentan.
94 Neillands and De Normann,
D-Day 1944, op. cit., p. 102. Huggett was lucky, for the rest of his battalion left Swansea aboard the troopship USS
Susan B. Anthony, which struck a mine off Omaha Beach on 7 June; the ship hit the bottom, allowing all 2,689 personnel aboard to be rescued.
95 Russell Chandler, Jr, interview, op. cit.
96 Dan Hartigan, interview with Bernd Horn, 30 October 2000.
97 The ‘single German bunker’ was Arthur Jahnke’s W5 (now the Musée du Debarquement Utah Beach); Griesser,
Lions of Carentan, op. cit., p. 93.
98 David Tibbs, interview, op. cit.; Tibbs,
Parachute Doctor, op. cit., p. 46.
24. Utah: Ivy Division
1 NARA FMSB-844: Obstlt Günther Keil, ‘Commitment of the 1058th Infantry Regiment’ (1946).
2 Jahnke, recollections,
Utah Musée du Débarquement; Carell,
Invasion, op. cit., pp. 41–5, 57–67, 71–5.
3 Gerald Astor,
June 6, 1944: The Voices of D-Day (St Martin’s Press, 1994), p. 279.
4 Then called the Navy Medal of Valor.
5 All Overlord historians incorrectly report Rommel’s visit to Jahnke as 11 May, the earliest being Paul Carell in
Invasion, op. cit., p. 42.
6 Jahnke survived the war, dying in 1960. A press photograph, dated 30 May 1944, exists of Schlieben and the newly decorated Jahnke marching past the 3rd Company on what will become Utah Beach. Rommel inspected Jahnke’s HQ in WN.104 (often wrongly named WN.5), on La Madeleine beach. This is now the Utah Beach Museum. Rommel then stopped by at the 709th Infantry Division’s headquarters in the Château de Chiffrevast, a huge castle north of Valognes.
7 NARA FMS B-845, op. cit.
8 Alexandre Renaud,
Sainte Mère Église: First American Bridgehead in France (Julliard, 1984), pp. 14–21.
10 Schlieben formerly commanded the 18th Panzer Division. His reinforcements were the 635th, 649th, 795th and 797th
Ost Battalions; see ETHINT B-845, Genlt. Karl Wilhelm von Schlieben, ‘709th Inf. Division & the Defense of Cherbourg’ (1948).
11 Jong was mercifully not expected to fight for the US Army, but conveyed first to Britain as a POW, then to America, where he later took citizenship and died in Illinois in 1992.
12 Reynaud,
Sainte Mère Église, op. cit., p. 28.
13 As the 1057th Grenadiers did not have an
Ost-Bataillon, these were either individuals, or units attached to the neighbouring 709th Division.
14 Janice Holt Giles (ed.),
The GI Journal of Sgt Giles (Houghton Mifflin, 1965), p. 34.
15 ETHINT B-621, Genlt. Wilhelm Richter, ‘716th Inf. Division Normandy’.
16 Pogue,
Pogue’s War, op. cit., pp. 85–6.
17 Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Centre (CSDIC) POW interrogation report SAR. 455, ‘Information obtained from PW DZ/3095(M) Oberleutnant Lomtatidse, CO 4th Coy, 795th Georgian Bn’ (29 June 1944).
18 Milton Shulman,
Defeat in the West (Secker & Warburg 1947), pp. 131–2.
19 Jahnke,
Utah Musée du Débarquement; Carell,
Invasion, op. cit., pp. 41–5.
20 Utah Beach and Beyond (Historical Division, US War Department, 1948), p. 18.
22 Stephen E. Ambrose,
Band of Brothers, E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne: From Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, 1992), p. 87.
23 Colonel Russell Potter ‘Red’ Reeder,
Born at Reveille: The Memoirs of an American Soldier (Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1966).
24 Despite being a popular officer within his Regiment, Hervey Tribolet would be relieved of command on 11 June for his slow progress and was replaced by Col. Robert Foster.
25 Reeder,
Born at Reveille, op. cit., p. 4541.
26 Ryan,
The Longest Day, op. cit., p. 94; and author’s research.
27 Howarth,
Dawn of D-Day, op. cit., p. 1719.
28 Jahnke,
Utah Musée du Débarquement; Carell,
Invasion, op. cit., pp. 41–5, 57–67, 71–5.
29 This comprised 11 LSTs (ten towing Rhinos), 2 Landing Craft, Hospital, 168 LCT ‘types’, 84 minor craft with 28 escorts.
30 Utah Beach and Beyond, op. cit., p. 44.
31 Jahnke,
Utah Musée du Débarquement; Carell,
Invasion, op. cit., pp. 41–5, 57–67, 71–5.
32 Alan G. Kirk, ‘Report of Commander, Western Task Force’, 15 September 1944 (NARA), p. 18.
33 Courtesy of Halsey Vail Barrett, Jr. His father was navigator aboard
PC-1261 and died in August 2008.
34 Jahnke,
Utah Musée du Débarquement; Carell,
Invasion, op. cit., pp. 41–5, 57–67, 71–5.
35 Tute, Costello and Hughes,
D-Day, op. cit., p. 177.
36 Jahnke,
Utah Musée du Débarquement; Carell,
Invasion, op. cit., pp. 41–5, 57–67, 71–5.
37 ‘“
J’ai Débarqué le Premier en Normandie” – le Colonel Schroeder à Utah Beach’, VSD Magazine, No. 874 (2 June 1994).
38 Howarth,
Dawn of D-Day, op. cit., p. 1761.
39 John C. Ausland, ‘A Soldier Remembers Utah Beach’,
International Herald Tribune, 6 June 1984.
40 Interview by David Venditta,
The Morning Call (Allentown, Pennsylvania), 2 June 1994.
41 Jahnke,
Utah Musée du Débarquement; Carell,
Invasion, op. cit., pp. 41–5, 57–67, 71–5.
42 Howarth,
Dawn of D-Day, op. cit., p. 1812.
43 Utah Beach and Beyond, op. cit., p. 44.
44 Interview by David Venditta,
The Morning Call, 5 June 2012.
45 John P. McGirr, interview, 1984; see also 65th Armored Field Artillery Association (ed.),
The Thunderbolt Battalion, 1941–45: Rounds Complete (Fidelity Press, Philadelphia, 1947).
46 Beck et al.,
The Corps of Engineers, op. cit., p. 333.
47 Kevin Dougherty, ‘Veteran Frogman Was Among First to Hit Normandy Beaches’,
Stars and Stripes, 6 June 2008.
48 Interview by Brian Albrecht,
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), 6 June 2009.
49 Rob Morris, ‘A Combat Engineer on D-Day’, courtesy of Warfare History Network, 22 June 2016.
50 Joseph Balkoski,
Utah Beach: The Amphibious Landing and Airborne Operations on D-Day (Stackpole, 2005), p. 238.
51 Dr William Boice,
History of the Twenty-Second United States Infantry (22nd Infantry, 1959).
52 Howarth,
Dawn of D-Day, op. cit., p. 1871.
53 Beck et al.,
The Corps of Engineers, op. cit., p. 334. A shell-splattered part of Utah’s sea wall now sits as an exhibit outside the main entrance to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans.
54 Jahnke,
Utah Musée du Débarquement; Carell,
Invasion, op. cit., pp. 41–5, 57–67, 71–5.
55 Interview by David Venditta,
The Morning Call, 5 June 2013.
56 Russell Miller
, Nothing Less Than Victory: An Oral History of D Day (William Morrow & Co., 1993).
57 Venditta,
The Morning Call, 5 June 2013, op. cit.
58 Dewitt Gilpin, ‘D+365’,
Yank Magazine, 4 August 1945.
59 Jahnke,
Utah Musée du Débarquement; Carell,
Invasion, op. cit., pp. 41–5, 57–67, 71–5.
60 Astor,
June 6, 1944, op. cit., p. 267.
61 Boice,
History of the Twenty-Second United States Infantry, op. cit.
62 Joseph Michael Suozzo, interview, San Diego, 1984, via Sub-Lt Peter Miles, RNVR, Landing Craft Association. They were towed back to Portsmouth, Suozzo winning a Silver Star for his coolness under fire; he died in 2008.
63 Lund and Ludlam,
War of the Landing Craft, op. cit., pp. 178–9.
64 Astor,
June 6, 1944, op. cit., p. 271.
65 Neillands and De Normann,
D-Day 1944, op. cit., p. 122.
66 Ship’s log,
LCT-645, courtesy of Charles Summers.
67 Astor,
June 6, 1944, op. cit., p. 270.
68 Lund and Ludlam,
War of the Landing Craft, op. cit., p. 181.
69 ‘D-Day, 70 Years On’, op. cit.
70 65th Armored Field Artillery Association (ed.),
Rounds Complete, op. cit.
71 Frank Cooney, interview, 2002, Park Tudor School Words of War Oral History Collection, Indiana State Library
72 Stars and Stripes, 6 July 1944.
73 Astor,
June 6, 1944, op. cit., p. 275.
74 Howarth,
Dawn of D-Day, op. cit., p. 1999.
75 Rev. George W. Knapp,
A Chaplain’s Diary (Deeds Publishing, 2011), Kindle, pp. 681–707.
76 Interview by David Venditta,
The Morning Call, 24 March 2003.
77 Astor,
June 6, 1944, op. cit., p. 273.
78 Craig S. Chapman,
Battle Hardened: An Infantry Officer’s Harrowing Journey from D-Day to V-E Day (Regnery, 2017), Kindle, p. 783.
79 Ausland, ‘A Soldier Remembers’, op. cit.
25. Wet Feet
1 David P. Colley,
The Road To Victory: The Untold Story of Race and World War II’s Red Ball Express (Brassey’s, 1999), pp. 2–3.
2 Ausland, ‘A Soldier Remembers’, op. cit.
3 ‘Maj. Gen. Raymond O. Barton’, courtesy of Charles A. Lewis.
4 Boice,
History of the Twenty-Second United States Infantry, op. cit.
5 Raymond Bertot, interview, Varreville, 2004.
6 Boice,
History of the Twenty-Second United States Infantry, op. cit.
7 Reeder,
Born at Reveille, op. cit., p. 4209.
8 Tute, Costello and Hughes,
D-Day, op. cit., p. 182.
9 John C. McManus,
The American at D-Day: The American Experience at the Normandy Invasion (Forge Books, 2004).
10 Astor,
June 6, 1944, op. cit., p. 276.
11 Neillands and De Normann,
D-Day 1944, op. cit., p. 131.
12 NARA FMS B-845, op. cit.
13 NARA FMS B-260, Genmaj. Gerhard Triepel, ‘6 June: Cotentin Coast Artillery’ (1946).
14 Jahnke,
Utah Musée du Débarquement; Carell,
Invasion, op. cit., p. 74.
15 Reeder,
Born at Reveille, op. cit., p. 4596.
17 Marvin Jansen,
Strike Swiftly: The 70th Tank Battalion from North Africa to Normandy to Germany (Presidio, 1997), pp. 135–40.
18 Lt Col Maynard D. Pederson et al.,
Armor in Operation Neptune (Research Report, Armored School Fort Knox, 1948–9), p. 72.
19 Tim Wells, ‘Elliot L. Richardson Remembers D-Day’,
D.C. Bar, 26 May 2017. Richardson later became Richard Nixon’s attorney general, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998.
20 Ausland, ‘A Soldier Remembers’, op. cit.
21 Interview by David Venditta,
The Morning Call, 6 June 1985.
22 Howarth,
Dawn of D-Day, op. cit., pp. 1881–921.
23 Koskimaki,
D-Day with the Screaming Eagles, op. cit., p. 165.
24 Reeder,
Born at Reveille, op. cit., p. 4622.
25 Chapman,
Battle Hardened, op. cit., p. 822.
26 Hastings,
Overlord, op. cit., p. 86.
27 Sgt Vincent ‘Mike’ McKinney, interview, op. cit.
28 Neillands and De Normann,
D-Day 1944, op. cit., pp. 135–6.
30 I was very proud to have met Reeder, who died in 1998.
31 Boice,
History of the Twenty-Second United States Infantry, op. cit.
32 Burgett,
Currahee!, op. cit., p. 112.
33 Lt Col John Dowdy would be killed in action on 16 September 1944, by then holder of the Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars and a Bronze Star.
34 In fact, Edward Niland was captured after bailing out and lived until 1984; memoir courtesy of Pete (Preston) Niland, ‘Niland Brothers: The Story Behind Saving Private Ryan’, 10 January 2011.
35 Robert Niland is buried at Colleville, plot F, row 15, grave 11, next to his brother Preston, at grave 12.
36 Princess Marie ‘Missie’ Vassiltchikov,
The Berlin Diaries 1940–1945 (Chatto & Windus 1985), p. 178.
37 Ursula von Kardorff,
Diary of a Nightmare: Berlin 1942–1945 (Rupert Hart-Davis, 1965), p. 112.
38 Peter Longerich,
Goebbels (The Bodley Head, 2015), Kindle p.12347. The source was the
Forschungsamt (‘Research Office’ of the Air Ministry), established by Hermann Göring in 1933, and numbering 6,000 by 1944. It monitored and decoded internal and external communications, but cooperated little with other Nazi organisations, including Göring’s own Luftwaffe.
39 Friedrich von der Heydte was a cousin of Claus von Stauffenberg. After the latter had tried and failed to assassinate Hitler on 20 July, von der Heydte was in danger of being summoned to Berlin for questioning. However, his name was misspelled on the arrest warrant and – apparently – an unfortunate major by the name of ‘von der Heide’ was instead arrested on the Eastern Front, and spent the rest of the war behind bars.
40 Renaud,
Sainte Mère Église, op. cit., pp. 65–6.
41 Linda Hervieux’s excellent
Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Day’s Black Heroes, at Home and at War (Harper, 2015) deals with this hitherto unknown aspect of the US Army on D-Day.
42 Beck et al.,
The Corps of Engineers, op. cit., p. 337.
43 Carl Bialik, ‘The Challenge of Counting D-Day’s Dead’, ABC News, 6 June 1014.
44 Utah Beach and Beyond, op. cit., p. 56.
45 Symonds,
Neptune, op. cit., pp. 203–5, 355–6.
46 Guy Hartcup,
Code Name Mulberry: The Planning, Building and Operation of the Normandy Harbours (David & Charles, 1977).
47 Renaud,
Sainte Mère Église, op. cit., p. 99.
48 Commander John F. Curtin, USNR, ‘2nd Beach Battalion After Action Report’, 25 July 1944.
49 Kenneth Slawenski, ‘Holden Caulfield’s Goddam War’,
Vanity Fair, February 2011.
50 ‘How a Soldier Shot a Famous General’s Funeral in Normandy after D-Day,
Los Angeles Times, 8 May 2014.
51 Brig. Gen. Roosevelt remains only one of thirty-five men to earn all three top valour awards: Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross (or Navy Cross) and Silver Star. Roosevelt’s son, Quentin, was also present on 6 June 1944, landing on Omaha with the 1st Infantry Division and later earning himself a Silver Star.
26. Omaha: Blue and Gray
1 HQ 100th Bombardment Group (H), Office of the Operations Officer, APO #634, 7 June 1944, ‘Report of the Operations Officer, Missions of June 6, 1944’ (Pennsylvania State University Special Collections Library, Eighth Air Force Archive).
2 Albert J. Parisi, ‘Recalling a World in Flames’,
New York Times, 5 June 1994.
3 Colonel Louis Hervelin, interview, Yorkshire Air Museum, 2004.
4 Zaloga,
D-Day Fortifications, op. cit., pp. 5–16.
5 André Legallois, interview, La Cambe, June 2004; Lucien and Germaine Rigault, interview, La Cambe, 6 June 2014. Lucien Rigault died in November 2014, followed by his wife Germaine in September 2015.
6 Karl Wegner, interview, June 1993, by Vince Milano; courtesy of
Der Erste Zug.
7 ETHINT B-021, Obstlt. Fritz Ziegelmann, ‘352nd Infantry Division in Normandy’ (1946).
8 Milano and Conner,
Normandiefront, op. cit., p. 487.
9 By 25 July, the 352nd Infantry Division would have suffered 8,583 casualties, or 67 per cent of its 6 June strength of 13,228 men.
10 Gotthard Liebich, interview, Omaha Beach, June 2004. He was captured on 7 June and sent to England. In 1948 he married an English girl, stayed in touch with the Leterrier family, took British citizenship and settled in St Albans.
11 ETHINT B-021, Ziegelmann, ‘352nd Infantry Division’, op. cit.
12 Severloh,
WN 62, op. cit., pp. 47–51.
13 Daily Telegraph, 30 May 2004.
14 Severloh,
WN 62, op. cit., pp. 47–51.
16 Maj. Carrol B. Smith, ‘116th Infantry, Omaha Beach, 6–10 June 1944’ (Advanced Officers’ Course, Infantry School, Ft Benning, Georgia, 1946–7), pp. 11–12. Today, the wide-open sands of Omaha Beach can be confusing because the shingle bank mentioned in contemporary accounts was afterwards bulldozed away, and not a trace remains, except at the western and eastern extremities.
18 Henri Biard, interview, Normandy, June 2013.
19 Cawthon,
Other Clay, op cit., pp. 69–70.
20 Smith, ‘116th Infantry, Omaha Beach’, op. cit., p. 12.
21 Capt. Charles H. Kidd, ‘The Operation of Company “M”, 116th Infantry in the Landing on Omaha Beach’ (Advanced Officers’ Course, Infantry School, Ft Benning, Georgia, 1946–7), pp. 36–40.
22 The US 17th Airborne Division did not arrive in England until 26 August 1944 and would first see action in the Battle of the Bulge.
23 Smith, ‘116th Infantry, Omaha Beach’, op. cit., p. 19.
24 See Gary Sterne,
The Cover-Up at Omaha Beach: D-Day, the US Rangers and the Untold Story of Maisy Battery (Pen & Sword, 2013). Both the Pointe du Hoc and Maisy sites have been developed as museums, Maisy most recently by the Briton who bought the site in 2004, opening it to the public in 2006.
25 Smith, ‘116th Infantry, Omaha Beach’, op. cit., p. 23.
26 Joseph Balkoski,
Omaha Beach (Stackpole, 2004), pp. 264–5.
27 Kidd, ‘Operation of Company “M”’, op. cit., p. 16.
29 Obituary,
Baltimore Sun, 13 July 2010.
30 Slaughter,
Omaha Beach and Beyond, op. cit., p. 20. One of the founders of the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia, Bob Slaughter died in 2012.
31 Ray Nance was the last of the Bedford Boys to die, in 2009; see obituary,
New York Times, 22 April 2009.
32 See: Alex Kershaw,
The Bedford Boys (Da Capo, 2003). Nineteen Company ‘A’ Bedford boys were killed on D-Day, with four more in the ensuing Normandy campaign.
33 Slaughter,
Omaha Beach and Beyond, op. cit., p. 113.
34 Smith, ‘116th Infantry, Omaha Beach’, op. cit., p. 10.
35 George (Jimmy) Green, interview, op. cit.
36 John Joseph Barnes, interview, 6 November 2001, courtesy of New York State Military Museum.
37 George (Jimmy) Green, interview, op. cit.
39 Slaughter,
Omaha Beach and Beyond, op. cit., p. 116.
40 Nance interview with
USA Today of 6 June 1994 cited in
LA Times article, ‘Ray Nance dies at 94; D-day survivor was last of Bedford Boys’, Dennis McLennan, 6 May 2009.
41 S. L. A. Marshall, ‘First Wave at Omaha Beach’,
The Atlantic (November 1960). The piece contained numerous inaccuracies: Marshall spoke of seven LCAs, not six, and omitted to name any British LCA crewmen, other than explicitly stating they were frightened and behaved in a cowardly fashion.
42 Slaughter,
Omaha Beach and Beyond, op. cit., pp. 105–11.
44 Robert L. Sales, interview, 1999, courtesy of National D-Day Memorial, Bedford, Virginia. Bob died in 2015.
45 Dr Hal Baumgarten, interview, op. cit.
47 ‘3rd Armored Group, 6 June 1944, After Action Report’ (NARA).
48 Yeide,
Steel Victory, op. cit., p. 52.
49 S3 Journal, 743rd Tank Battalion, 6 June 1944 (NARA).
50 ‘D-Day: The View from a Tank on Omaha Beach’,
Agence France-Presse, 23 May 2014.
51 Upham retired as a lieutenant general commanding the US Second Army and died in 1993.
52 Marshall, ‘First Wave at Omaha Beach’, op. cit.
53 Robert L. Sales, interview, op. cit.
54 Smith, ‘116th Infantry, Omaha Beach’, op. cit., p. 16.
55 Cawthon,
Other Clay, op cit., p. 51
56 George (Jimmy) Green, interview, op. cit.
27. Omaha: Cota Takes Command
1 Interview by Cynthia Simison, ‘World War II – Fifty Years Later’, in
The Republican (Springfield, Massachusetts), 6 June 1994. Drega died in 1996.
2 Roosevelt was born in 1887, Cota in 1893.
3 Kilvert-Jones,
Omaha Beach, op. cit., pp. 75–6.
4 Donald R. McClarey,
The American Catholic, 6 June 2009.
5 Robert Buckley, memoir, January 1945, courtesy of Clive Tirlemont, Mémoire & Data.
6 Seth Shepherd, ‘The Story of the LCI(L)-92 in the Invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944’, in Commander Arch A. Mercy and Lee Grove (eds.),
Sea, Surf and Hell: The US Coast Guard in World War II (Prentice Hall, 1945). Shepherd died in 2006.
8 Maj. Gen. John C. Raaen, Jr, lecture, USAEUR (US Army Europe), 1979.
9 Smith, ‘116th Infantry, Omaha Beach’, op. cit., p. 20.
11 Maj. Gen. Robert Riis Ploger, interview, Washington DC, June 1984. A decorated Vietnam veteran, Gen. Ploger died in 2002, having never recovered from the death of his son during the 9/11 attacks.
12 ‘
LCT-149, After Action Report, 26 June 1944’ (NARA).
13 ‘
LCT-207, After Action Report, 25 June 1944’ (NARA).
14 Interview by Dave Bergmeier,
Abilene (Kansas)
Reflector-Chronicle, 7 June 2009. Conwell died in 2016.
15 Maj. Gen. John Raaen,
Intact: A First-Hand Account of D-Day (Reedy Press, 2012), p. 49.
16 Cawthon,
Other Clay, op cit., pp. 53–7.
17 ‘111th Field Artillery Battalion on D-Day’, After Action Report (NARA), pp. 1–2.
19 ‘111th Field Artillery Battalion on D-Day’, op. cit., pp. 1–2.
20 Smith, ‘116th Infantry, Omaha Beach’, op. cit., p. 36.
21 Charles Lilly, ‘Landing in Normandy’, undated memoir, courtesy of ww2lct.org.
22 Cawthon,
Other Clay, op cit., pp. 58–60.
23 Saturday Evening Post, 10 June 1944.
24 Col. Paul W. Thompson, ‘D-Day on Omaha Beach’,
The Infantry Journal, Vol. 66 (June 1945), p. 40.
25 Ross, ‘Essayons’, op. cit., pp. 47–8.
26 ‘111th Field Artillery Battalion on D-Day’, op. cit., p. 3.
27 Pederson et al.,
Armor in Operation Neptune, op. cit., p. 98.
28 Cawthon refuted this in
Other Clay, stating that he received two separate wounds to opposite sides of his face, at different times, which gave the appearance of a bullet passing through. See
Other Clay, pp. 58–9.
29 Ross, ‘Essayons’, op. cit., pp. 43–4.
30 ‘The Citizen Soldiers of the 111th Field Artillery’, op. cit.
31 ‘111th Field Artillery Battalion on D-Day’, op. cit., pp. 3–4.
33 For his gallantry and leadership on 6 June, Meeks was awarded a Silver Star. He kept the boots he wore on D-Day and in 1998 they were donated by his son to the D-Day Memorial, Bedford, Virginia.
34 Kidd, ‘Operation of Company “M”’, op. cit., p. 19.
36 The National Archives (TNA): CAB 106/1055.
39 Kidd, ‘Operation of Company “M”’, op. cit., pp. 21–2; Smith, ‘116th Infantry, Omaha Beach’, op. cit., p. 22.
40 Balkoski,
Omaha Beach, op. cit., pp. 284–8.
41 Kidd, ‘Operation of Company “M”’, op. cit., pp. 21–2.
42 Stephen Badsey and Tim Bean,
Battle Zone Normandy: Omaha Beach (Sutton, 2004), p. 156.
43 Smith, ‘116th Infantry, Omaha Beach’, op. cit., p. 22.
44 Daniel Folsom, interview, op. cit.
45 Dr Robert Barnes Ware is buried at Colleville, plot G, row 17, grave 8.
46 Both Hoback brothers are commemorated at Colleville, Bedford at plot G, row 10, grave 28, Raymond on the Memorial to the Missing.
47 Barran Tucker, interview, US Department of Veterans Affairs, 30 May 2014.
48 Pogue,
Pogue’s War, op. cit., p. 57.
49 Pederson et al.,
Armor in Operation Neptune, op. cit., p. 121.
50 Kidd, ‘Operation of Company “M”’, op. cit., pp. 36–40.
51 Cawthon,
Other Clay, op cit., pp. 57–63.
52 Smith, ‘116th Infantry, Omaha Beach’, op. cit., p. 36.
53 Slaughter,
Omaha Beach and Beyond, op. cit., p. 118.
54 Obituary,
Baltimore Sun, 13 July 2010; also see Holbrook Bradley,
War Correspondent: From D-Day to the Elbe (iUniverse, 2007).
55 Lawrence A. Bekelesky is buried at Colleville, plot B, row 5, grave 44.
28. Rangers, Lead the Way!
1 Thomas M. Hatfield,
Rudder: From Leader to Legend (Texas A&M University Press, 2011), p. 117.
2 Douglas Brinkley,
The Boys of Pointe du Hoc (William Morrow, 2005), pp. 66–8.
5 Goranson died at Libertyville, Illinois, in 2012.
6 NARA FMS B-432: Obstlt. Fritz Ziegelmann, ‘The Invasion: 352nd Infantry Division’.
7 Omaha Beachhead, 6 June–13 June 1944 (American Forces in Action Series, Historical Division, War Department, 1945), p. 79.
8 NARA FMS B-432: Ziegelmann, ‘The Invasion’, op. cit. He talks of being at ‘Pillbox 67’, but this cannot be right because WN67 was beyond the Pointe du Hoc, near Grandcamp, and had no line of sight to Omaha; Ziegelmann also spoke of Pillbox 76 being attacked by enemy commandos (Rangers), ‘but after being repelled with casualties withdrew toward Gruchy’, which is near WN74.
9 NARA FMS B-432: Ziegelmann, ‘The Invasion’, op. cit.
10 Cited in Brinkley,
The Boys of Pointe du Hoc, op. cit., p. 136.
11 Helmut Konrad von Keusgen,
Pointe du Hoc: Rätsel um einen deutschen Stützpunkt (Hek Creativ, 2006), p. 82.
12 Steven J. Zaloga,
Rangers Lead the Way: Pointe-du-Hoc D-Day 1944 (Osprey, 2009), pp. 10–30.
13 André Heintz, interview, op. cit.
14 W. C. Heinz, ‘I Took My Son to Omaha Beach’,
Collier’s, 11 June 1954.
17 ‘Lost Lancaster Crew Identified after 68 Years by Wireless Operator’s Wedding Ring’,
Daily Telegraph, 1 October 2012.
19 Heinz, ‘I Took My Son to Omaha Beach’, op. cit.
20 COHQ (Combined Operations HQ), ‘Mechanical Aids for Scaling Cliffs’, Bulletin X/40 (September 1944).
21 Leonard Lomell, interview, WW2 Ranger Battalions National Reunion, New Orleans, August 2001; he died in 2011.
25 Heinz, ‘I Took My Son to Omaha Beach’, op. cit.
26 Ronald L. Lane,
Rudder’s Rangers (Ranger Associates, 1979), p. 91.
27 Hatfield,
Rudder: From Leader to Legend, op. cit., p. 129.
29 My thanks to my colleague Frank Baldwin for this reference; their citations are at The National Archives (TNA): WO/373/50.
30 Heinz, ‘I Took My Son to Omaha Beach’, op. cit.; obituary, Lt Colonel Thomas H. Trevor,
Daily Telegraph, 26 November 2011.
31 Leonard Lomell, interview, op. cit.
33 Ibid. Jack Kuhn ended up as chief of police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and died in 2002.
34 Each German strongpoint at Omaha was afterwards mapped in detail; see
From Report on German Fortifications (Office of Chief of Engineers, US Army, 1944).
35 Raaen, lecture, op. cit.
36 William B. Kirkland, Jr,
Destroyers at Normandy: Naval Gunfire Support at Omaha Beach (Naval Historical Foundation, Washington DC, 1994), pp. 28–30.
37 Austin Prosser, interview, op. cit.
38 Kirkland,
Destroyers at Normandy, op. cit., p. 33.
39 Kilvert-Jones,
Omaha Beach, op. cit., p. 127.
40 O’Neill, ‘D-Day as Seen from US
LCT-544’, op. cit.
41 Blegen, ‘LCT(5) Flotilla 18 at Omaha Beach’, op. cit.
42 Tom Bernard, ‘64 Hours of Battle’,
Yank, 18 June 1944.
44 Bill Ryan, interview, op. cit.
45 Heinz, ‘I Took My Son to Omaha Beach’, op. cit.
46 Gettysburg Times, 5 June 1959.
47 ‘Omaha Beach, As It Was and Is; Eisenhower Conducts Tour for CBS Show’,
New York Times, 6 June 1964.
48 Hatfield,
Rudder: From Leader to Legend, op. cit., p. 157.
49 Gordon A. Harrison,
Cross-Channel Attack (US Army Center of Military History, 1951), p. 322.
50 Ryan,
The Longest Day, op. cit., p. 210.
51 Hatfield,
Rudder: From Leader to Legend, op. cit., p. 166.
52 Lane,
Rudder’s Rangers, op. cit.
29. Omaha: Big Red One
1 Walsh, ‘D-Day Reflections from a Soldier’, op. cit.
2 Pluskat’s bunker was at WN59; see Ryan,
The Longest Day, op. cit., pp. 116–19, 173–4. Pluskat survived the war and died in June 2002. New evidence suggests Pluskat may have hoodwinked Ryan for
The Longest Day, and was actually absent from his post. ‘At 0300 hours on 6 June 1944 a blacked-out armada was seen on the horizon from WN.62 and three white and three red flares were fired off inviting the recognition signal of the day. WN.60 also fired off its recognition flares. The armada did not reply … Machine-gunner Gefreiter Hein Severloh suggested to his artillery officer, Oblt Frerking at WN.62, that Maj. Pluskat should be informed. A short while later Frerking emerged from his bunker and told Severloh that Pluskat could not be found at his HQ, nor at his forward command post, nor at his quarters. It was common knowledge that Pluskat had spent a lot of time in the company of four ladies of the Front-Theatre in recent days, though he knew that the invasion was imminent.’ See: Helmut, Freiherr von Keusgen,
Stützpunkt WN.62 (HEK Verlag, Garbsen, 2004), p. 52.
3 Severloh,
WN 62, op. cit., p. 52.
6 Franz Gockel, interview at WN62, 6 June 2004.
7 Badsey and Bean,
Battle Zone Normandy: Omaha Beach, op. cit., p. 24.
8 Surpassed only by firing 435,165 rounds during 738 days of combat in Vietnam.
9 John C. McManus, ‘The Man Who Took Omaha Beach’,
Politico Magazine, 5 June 2014.
10 Steven Flaig, ‘Clarence R. Huebner: An American Military Story of Achievement’ (Master’s thesis, University of North Texas, 2006).
11 Although I have served with many individually mobilised 29th Infantry Division soldiers in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan.
12 ‘Biography of Hyam Haas’, op. cit.
14 Obituary, Frederick E. Boyer,
Baker City Herald, 7 March 2018.
15 Obst Walter Korfes: Château de Sully; I Battalion: Maisons; 1.Kompanie: Port-en-Bessin; 2.Kp: Sainte-Honorine; 3.Kp: Colleville; 4.Kp: Longues; II Battalion: Saint-Croix; 5.Kp: north of Creully; 6.Kp: Bazenville; 7.Kp: Saint-Croix; 8.Kp: north of Creully: III Battalion: Château du Jucoville; 9.Kp: Château de Gruchy, Englesqueville; 10.Kp: Saint-Laurent; 11.Kp: Manoir de Than, Vierville; 12.Kp: Grandcamp: 439
Ost-Bataillon: Les Veys.
16 Severloh,
WN 62, op. cit., pp. 53–4.
18 ‘Opening Omaha Beach: Ensign Karnowski and NCDU-45’, 6 June 2014, courtesy of Dr Frank Blazich, Jr, historian, US Navy Seabee Museum.
19 Severloh,
WN 62, op. cit., p. 58.
20 Beck et al.,
The Corps of Engineers, op. cit., pp. 323–5.
21 ‘Opening Omaha Beach’, op. cit.
22 Obituary, Robert N. Lowenstein, courtesy of 299th Combat Engineers Association.
23 John C. McManus,
The Dead and Those About to Die: D-Day: The Big Red One at Omaha Beach (NAL/Penguin, 2014), p. 69.
24 Pederson et al.,
Armor in Operation Neptune, op. cit., pp. 79–80.
25 BBC,
Journeys to the Bottom of the Sea – D-Day: The Untold Story, aired 20 May 2002.
26 Pederson et al.,
Armor in Operation Neptune, op. cit., pp. 80–90.
28 Spalding interview cited in Pogue,
Pogue’s War, op. cit., pp. 64–75.
30 McManus,
The Dead and Those About to Die, op. cit., pp. 182–3.
31 Joseph P. Vaghi, ‘Easy Red Beach, Normandy’, memoir courtesy of 6th Naval Beach Battalion Association; obituary,
Washington Post, 8 September 2012.
32 Manuel Perez, ‘Carusi’s Thieves’, courtesy of 6th Naval Beach Battalion Association. Perez died in 2003.
33 Vaghi, ‘Easy Red Beach, Normandy’, op. cit.
34 Perez, ‘Carusi’s Thieves’, op. cit.
35 Edward Colimore, ‘A Medic’s Memory of D-Day: Unimaginable Carnage’,
Philadelphia Inquirer, 6 June 2016. Friedenberg died in 2018.
37 Interview by Cynthia Simison, ‘World War II – Fifty Years Later’, in
The Republican (Springfield, Massachusetts), 6 June 1994.
38 ‘Biography of Hyam Haas’, op. cit.
39 Perez, ‘Carusi’s Thieves’, op. cit.
40 Blegen, ‘LCT(5) Flotilla 18 at Omaha Beach’, op. cit.; ‘Report of Damage to Landing Craft due to Enemy Action, by Commander, LCT Flotilla 18’ (11 July 1944).
41 Dean Weissert, interview, 2005, Library of Congress Veteran’s History Project.
43 Interviews by Frank Whelan,
The Morning Call, 29 May 1994 and 6 June 2004.
44 ‘After Action Report, USS
Frankford’, 6 June 1944 (NARA).
45 Walsh, ‘D-Day Reflections from a Soldier’, op. cit.
46 Wilhelm Gerstner, interview, Normandy, June 2013.
47 The Anti-Tank Battalion of 352nd Division (HQ at Vouilly) comprised a company of fourteen or fifteen Marder 75mm self-propelled guns (based at the Ferme Buhours de Bricqueville); a company of ten StuG 75mm assault guns (Château de Colombières); and a company of nine Opel-mounted 37mm flak guns (HQ Pont l’Abbé).
48 Obituary,
New York Times, 21 February 2014.
49 Col. S. B. Mason,
Danger Forward: The Story of the First Division in World War II (Society of the First Division, 1947).
50 ‘Biography of Hyam Haas’, op. cit.
52 Pogue,
Pogue’s War, op. cit., pp. 64–75.
53 Killen is buried at Colleville cemetery, plot J, row 15, grave 23.
30. Omaha: E-3 – the Colleville draw
1 Interview by David Venditta,
The Morning Call, 25 May 2009.
2 Carell,
Invasion, op. cit., p. 84; Franz Gockel, interview, op. cit.
3 Courtesy of
www.wpepe.com/dday. Pepe died in April 2017, requesting the ‘few handfuls of costly Omaha sand’ he had brought home on a return trip ‘be added to my ashes and spread out over the ocean, when I will once again join my Band of Brothers’.
5 Franz Gockel, interview, op. cit.
6 Henri Leroutier, interview, Trevières, November 2013.
7 Kilvert-Jones,
Omaha Beach, op. cit., p. 149. Friedman would win a Silver Star for his actions on D-Day; he died in 2002 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
8 Venditta,
The Morning Call, op cit.
9 Franz Gockel, interview, op. cit.
10 Carell,
Invasion, op. cit., p. 84; Franz Gockel, interview, op. cit.
11 Venditta,
The Morning Call, op cit.
12 Kilvert-Jones,
Omaha Beach, op. cit., p. 152.
13 Ziezulewicz, ‘1st Infantry Division Led Assault on D-Day’, op. cit.
14 John Finke, interview, 1972, Thames Television,
World at War archives. Finke died in 1996 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
15 The two-dollar bill is now a prized exhibit at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia.
16 Charles Hurlbut, interview, op. cit.
18 O’Neill, ‘D-Day as Seen from US
LCT-544’, op. cit.
19 ‘
LCT-199, After Action Report’, 26 June 1944 (NARA); this report was endorsed on 7 August with Admiral Hall’s recommendation of a Silver Star for the skipper.
20 ‘
LCT-305, After Action Report’, 13 June 1944; ‘Damage Report’, Commander 18th LCT Flotilla, 11 July 1944 (both NARA).
21 Charles Hurlbut, interview, op. cit.
22 O’Neill, ‘D-Day as Seen from US
LCT-544’, op. cit.
23 ‘Auszug aus dem Fernsprech-Meldebuch (1a) der 352. I.D (Extracts from Telephone Diary of 352nd Division (Coastal Defence Section Bayeux))’, cited in David C. Isby (ed.),
The German Army at D-Day (Greenhill, 2004), p. 210.
24 Severloh,
WN 62, op. cit., pp. 115–16.
25 ‘Extracts from Telephone Diary of 352nd Division’, op. cit., p. 211.
27 Valentine M. Miele, interview, op. cit. Miele died in June 2017.
28 Major Carl W. Plitt, Regimental S-3, ‘16th Infantry: Summary of Regimental Situation on D-Day, 6 June 1944’ (NARA/ Box 5919).
29 McManus,
The Dead and Those About to Die, op. cit., p. 179.
30 Plitt, ‘16th Infantry: Summary of Regimental Situation’, op. cit.
31 Personal Wartime Memoir of Maj. Charles E. Tegtmeyer, Medical Corps, Regimental Surgeon, 16th Infantry (US Army Medical Department, Office of Medical History, 1960). Tegtmeyer received a Distinguished Service Cross for his actions on 6 June.
32 Yeide,
Steel Victory, op. cit., pp. 51–2.
33 McManus,
The Dead and Those About to Die, op. cit., pp. 180–1.
34 Yeide,
Steel Victory, op. cit., pp. 51–2.
35 Personal Wartime Memoir of Maj. Charles E. Tegtmeyer, pp. 4, 9.
36 Kilvert-Jones,
Omaha Beach, op. cit., pp. 154–5.
37 ‘God Was on the Beach on D-Day’, op. cit.
38 Interview,
Daily Gazette (Utah) and Associated Press, 12 July 2014.
39 Details of the medal recipients are contained in Phil Nordyke’s
American Heroes of World War II: Normandy June 6, 1944 (Historic Ventures, 2014).
40 Walsh, ‘D-Day Reflections from a Soldier’, op. cit.
41 Robert Capa,
Slightly Out of Focus (Henry Holt, 1947), Kindle, p. 1649.
42 Franz Gockel, interview, op. cit.
43 Interview with Corporal Steven Hoffer, cited in Balkoski,
Omaha Beach, op. cit., p. 254.
44 Capa,
Slightly Out of Focus, op. cit., p. 1684.
45 Franz Gockel, interview, op. cit.
46 Franz Gockel’s boots and Bible are now exhibits at the National World War II Museum, New Orleans.
47 Capa,
Slightly Out of Focus, op. cit., pp. 1729–39.
49 Severloh,
WN 62, op. cit., pp. 70–2.
50 Capa,
Slightly Out of Focus, op. cit., p. 1770.
52 Madalena Araujo, ‘Robert Capa’s “Lost” D-Day Photos May Never Have Been Shot at All, says His Former Editor’, CNN, 12 November 2014.
53 I am enormously grateful to internationally renowned photo-critic A. D. Coleman and his
www.nearbycafe.com website for alerting me to the alternative history of Robert Capa on D-Day, reconstructed in thirty-seven forensic articles spanning four years.
54 Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story, op. cit., pp. 270–2.
55 At his death in 2012, Chet Hansen was probably the last to have had a ringside view of the SHAEF commanders before, during and after the invasion; see obituary,
New York Times, 25 October 2012.
56 Balkoski,
Omaha Beach, op. cit., p. 262.
57 John L. Armellino, memoir courtesy of Laurent Lefebvre, Omaha Beach Memorial.
59 Mike McKinney, interview, op. cit.
60 Monteith is another name that crops up in
Saving Private Ryan.
61 ‘Company “L” After Action Report’ (NARA).
62 Charles Hurlbut, interview, op. cit.
63 Maj. Gen. J. Milnor Roberts, ADC to Gen. Gerow, memoir, 2004, American Veterans Center, Arlington, Virginia.
64 Donald E. Rivette, ‘Notes on 6 June, 1944’, courtesy of Richard Rivette,
The Mountain Enterprise (California), 6 June 2008.
67 Plitt, ‘16th Infantry: Summary of Regimental Situation’, op. cit.
68 Yeide,
Steel Victory, op. cit., p. 53.
69 ‘Biography of Hyam Haas’, op. cit.
70 Pierre Darondel, interview, La Cambe, June 2013.
71 ‘German Soldier Buried 60 Years After Dying in Battle’,
Daily Telegraph, 7 June 2004.
72 ‘Remains of Five Nazi Soldiers Killed on D-Day Are Discovered in France’,
Daily Mail, 20 May 2009.
73 ‘Willmar Sailor’s Remains Return Home 72 Years After His D-Day Death’,
Star Tribune, 28 April 2016.
74 ‘Twin Brothers Reunited 74 years After WWII Death at Normandy
, Associated Press, 19 June 2018.
75 Rear Admiral Edward Ellsberg,
The Far Shore: An American at D-Day (Dodd, Mead, 1960), p. 300.
76 Beck et al.,
The Corps of Engineers, op. cit., pp. 340–4; Major Brett Peters, ‘Mulberry-American: The Artificial Harbour at Omaha’ (MA thesis, US Army Command & General Staff College, 2011), pp. 42–3.
77 Peters, ‘Mulberry-American’, op. cit., pp. 44–50.
79 Mike McKinney, interview, op. cit.
80 Cole C. Kingseed (ed.),
From Omaha Beach to Dawson’s Ridge: The Combat Journal of Captain Joe Dawson (Naval Institute Press, 2005), pp. 155–6.
31. Gold: Men of the Double-T
1 Tute, Costello and Hughes,
D-Day, op. cit., p. 199.
2 As at Omaha, the 736th Grenadier Regiment was part of Richter’s 716th Infantry Division, but under command of Dietrich Kraiss and the 352nd Division; on 29 May 1944, the 441st
Ost-Bataillon was located as follows – HQ: Crépon; 1st Company: Vaux; 2nd Company: Reviers; 3rd Company: Meuvaines; 4th Company: Ver-sur-Mer.
3 Russell Miller,
Nothing Less Than Victory: An Oral History of D-Day (Michael Joseph, 1993).
4 Howarth,
Dawn of D-Day, op. cit., p. 174.
5 The National Archives (TNA): WO 291/246, ‘[British] Army Operational Research Group (AORG): Opposition encountered on British beaches in Normandy on D-Day’ (1945).
7 Fred Archer, interview, Brighton, 2014. He was captured on D-Day with the 9th Parachute Bn; the Maquis later helped him to escape from a hospital in Paris.
8 Some sources claim this unit comprised five battalions (
Schnelle-Abteilungen 505, 507, 513, 517, 518). Obstlt Hugo von und zu Aufsess died in action on 18 July 1944, and his unit was disbanded on 5 September.
9 John Shanahan, interview, Manchester, June 1994.
10 Max Hearst, interview, 1991, cited in B. S. Barnes,
The Sign of the Double ‘T’: The 50th Northumbrian Division July 1943–December 1944 (Sentinel Press, 1999), p. 62.
11 Cheall,
Fighting Through from Dunkirk to Hamburg, op. cit., p. 96.
12 Sir Alexander Stanier, interview, op. cit.; see his
Sammy’s Wars, op. cit., pp. 37–8; also obituary
Daily Telegraph, 11 January 1995.
13 Initially the inexperienced 49th (West Riding) Division had been slated to lead the assault on Gold Beach.
14 Peter Martin, interview cited in Bailey,
Forgotten Voices, op. cit.
15 Private George Worthington, interview, 1991, cited in Barnes,
The Sign, op. cit., p. 62.
16 Private J. Foster, interview, 1995, cited in ibid.
17 Stanley Dwyer, interview cited in ibid., p. 65.
18 The Northumberland Hussars (a former horsed yeomanry regiment) were given two extra anti-tank batteries for D-Day: Stanier’s 231st Brigade would land with the 234th and 288th Batteries; Knox’s 69th Brigade was to be supported by the 99th Battery, while the 198th Battery would land after the first assault.
19 No. 10 Beach Group Comprised: RN Beach Commando Unit Q & RN 7th Beach Signal Section; 6th Borderers; 25th and 31st Field Dressing Stations, 30th, 41st
and 42nd Field Sanitary Units, 24th and 30th Field Transfusion Units, RAMC; 12th Ordnance Beach Depot, RAOC; 73rd, 112th, 120th, 173rd and 243rd Pioneer Companies; 25th Beach Recovery Section, REME; 5th Detail Issue Depot, 356th and 705th General Transport Companies and 244th Petrol Depot, RASC; 90th Field Company, 51st Mechanised Equipment Section, 23rd and 1,035th Port Operating Companies and 23rd Stores Section, Royal Engineers; 240th Provost Company, Corps of Military Police; 108th RAF Beach Flight and 55th Balloon Squadron, RAF.
20 In British and Canadian armoured formations, a squadron equated to a company and a troop to a platoon; regiments comprised three squadrons, each of four troops of four Shermans (total sixteen), plus three in Sqn HQ; regimental HQ possessed another four, with a large Recon Troop of eleven Start M5 tanks.
21 Wheeled and tracked Royal Artillery regiments comprised three eight-gun batteries, each of two four-gun troops; most operated the 25-pounder field gun.
22 The National Archives (TNA): ADM 179/1558, ‘Force G Operations Order’.
23 The National Archives (TNA): CAB 106/1060, ‘Brigadier Hargest Reports, 6 June–10 July’.
24 Ryan,
The Longest Day, op. cit., p. 216.
25 Ten LCOCU personnel were decorated for ‘gallantry, skill, determination and undaunted devotion to duty during the initial landings on the coast of Normandy’, winning three DSCs, an MC and six DCMs.
26 Warner,
The D-Day Landings, op. cit., pp. 121–2.
27 The National Archives (TNA): ADM 179/505, ‘Report of Eastern Task Force G’.
28 Neillands and De Normann,
D-Day 1944, op. cit., p. 163.
29 Roger Hill,
Destroyer Captain (Collins, 1975); and see obituary,
Daily Telegraph, 22 May 2001.
30 Johnson and Dunphie,
Brightly Shone the Dawn, op. cit., p. 72.
31 The National Archives (TNA): WO 171/517, ‘50th Infantry Division, 6 June 1944’.
32 Geoffrey Picot,
Accidental Warrior: In the Front Line from Normandy till Victory (Penguin, 1994), pp. 43–4.
33 Letter of 23 June 1944, courtesy of his daughter Susan Dudley-Ward.
34 Andrew Holborn,
The D-Day Landing on Gold Beach, 6 June 1944 (Bloomsbury, 2017), Kindle, pp. 3385–400.
35 Ryan,
The Longest Day, op. cit., p. 217.
36 Neillands and De Normann,
D-Day 1944, op. cit., p. 164.
37 Gardiner,
D-Day, op. cit., pp. 156–7.
38 Major A. R. C. Mott, memoir, Imperial War Museum, Documents ref. 8217.
39 Hastings,
Overlord, op. cit., p. 106.
40 Ambrose,
D-Day, op. cit., p. 523.
41 Holborn,
The D-Day Landing on Gold Beach, op. cit., Kindle, p. 3426.
42 The National Archives (TNA): WO 171/1285, ‘1st Dorsets War Diary, June 1944’.
43 WO 171/517: ‘HQ 50th Division War Diary June 1944’, op. cit.
44 Les Holden, memoir cited in Holborn,
The D-Day Landing on Gold Beach, op. cit., p. 3871.
45 Gardiner,
D-Day, op. cit., p. 157.
46 WO 171/517: ‘HQ 50th Division War Diary June 1944’, op. cit.
47 The National Archives (TNA): WO 171/1305, ‘1st Hampshires War Diary, June 1944’.
48 Ambrose,
D-Day, op. cit., p. 521.
50 Dr Christopher Bartley, interview, Oxford, 1994.
51 Lt Col. C. A. R. Nevill, ‘We Landed on D-Day’, memoir courtesy of Devon and Dorsets Museum, The Keep, Dorchester; see his obituary,
Daily Telegraph, 12 October 2002.
52 The National Archives (TNA): WO 171/1278, ‘2nd Devons War Diary, June 1944’.
53 The National Archives (TNA): WO 171/714, ‘HQ 231 Brigade War Diary, June 1944’.
54 Charles Hargrove, interview, Paris, June 1994.
55 Holborn,
The D-Day Landing on Gold Beach, op. cit., p. 3741; memoir courtesy of the Johnson family.
56 Hastings,
Overlord, op. cit., p. 107.
57 Neillands and De Normann,
D-Day 1944, op. cit., p. 166.
58 Brigadier Sir Nick Somerville, interview, Hampshire, June 1984.
59 The National Archives (TNA): WO 171/1298, ‘2nd Glosters War Diary, June 1944’.
60 TNA: WO 171/1305, ‘1st Hampshires War Diary’, op. cit.
61 WO 171/517: ‘HQ 50th Division War Diary June 1944’, op. cit.
62 Memoir courtesy of Rev. Robert Watt’s son, Tom Watt.
63 Charles Hargrove, interview, op. cit.
64 The National Archives (TNA): WO 171/1380, ‘2nd South Wales Borderers War Diary, June 1944’.
65 Holborn,
The D-Day Landing on Gold Beach, op. cit., p. 3769.
66 Gardiner,
D-Day, op. cit., p. 158.
67 Warner,
The D-Day Landings, op. cit., pp. 232–3.
68 Holborn,
The D-Day Landing on Gold Beach, op. cit., p. 4368.
69 Edward Austin Baker, interview, 2008, Imperial War Museum Sound Archive, ref. 31328.
70 Kershaw,
D-Day, op. cit., p. 261.
71 Gullet,
Not As a Duty Only, op. cit., p. 136.
72 The National Archives (TNA): WO 171/651, ‘HQ 69 Brigade War Diary, 6 June 1944’.
73 Lt Gen. Sir B. G. Horrocks (Intro.),
A Short History of 8th Armoured Brigade (8 Armd Bde, 1945), ch. 4.
74 Boustred, interview cited in Shaw and Shaw,
We Remember D-Day, op. cit., p. 115.
75 The National Archives (TNA): WO 171/1398, ‘5th East Yorks War Diary, June 1944’.
76 The National Archives (TNA): WO 373/48/78, Roger Francis Bell, Citation for award.
77 Gullet,
Not As a Duty Only, op. cit., p. 136.
78 In the pecking order of gallantry and service medals, the Victoria Cross (VC) rates above all others, followed by Distinguished Service Order (DSO), Order or
Member of the British Empire (OBE/MBE), Military Cross (MC) and mention in despatches.
79 Lt Col. R. H. W. S. Hastings (1917–90), interview, Alresford, 1980; see his autobiography,
An Undergraduate’s War (Bellhouse Publishing, 1997).
80 Gullet,
Not As a Duty Only, op. cit., pp. 136–7.
81 The National Archives (TNA): WO 171/1302, ‘6th Green Howards War Diary, June 1944’.
82 Hastings,
Overlord, op. cit., p. 110.
83 ‘Recollections of Sergeant Major Hollis, VC’, Camberley Staff College Battlefield Tour Notes, 1960–70, JSCSC Library, Watchfield, UK.
84 Holborn,
The D-Day Landing on Gold Beach, op. cit., p. 3633.
85 LCIs
499, 500, 501, 502, 506, 508 and
511.
86 The National Archives (TNA): WO 171/670, ‘HQ 151 Infantry Brigade War Diary, June 1944’.
87 Lofthouse would receive an MC for his leadership of ‘D’ Company; The National Archives (TNA): WO 373/48 0308.
88 Howarth,
Dawn of D-Day, op. cit., pp. 189–91.
89 TNA: WO 171/670, ‘HQ 151 Infantry Brigade War Diary, June 1944’, op. cit.
90 TNA: WO 171/1398, ‘5th East Yorks War Diary, June 1944’, op. cit.
91 Major L. F. Ellis,
Victory in the West, Vol. 1: The Battle of Normandy (HMSO, 1962), pp. 210–11.
92 Gullet,
Not As a Duty Only, op. cit., pp. 138–9.
93 Stan Cox, Sherwood Rangers, interview June 1995.
94 TNA: WO 171/1298, ‘2nd Glosters War Diary, June 1944’, op. cit.
95 William Harry Pinnegar, interview, 1999, Imperial War Museum Sound Archive, ref. 18827.
96 Stan Cox, interview, op. cit.
97 Harrison,
Cross-Channel Attack, op. cit., p. 332.
98 Russell A. Miller,
Nothing Less Than Victory: An Oral History of D-Day (Michael Joseph, 1993), p. 335.
99 Ambrose,
D-Day, op. cit., p. 566.
100 Olivier Wieviorka,
Normandy (Harvard University Press, 2008), p. 197.
101 Jay Wertz,
World War II Firsthand: D-Day (Weider History, 2011), p. 144.
102 Ellis,
Victory in the West, Vol. 1, op. cit., p. 178.
103 Alan Harris, ‘The Mulberry Harbours’,
Royal Engineers Journal, Vol. 108 (April 1994).
104 My thanks to Andrew Holborn, author of
The D-Day Landing on Gold Beach, for drawing this to my attention.
105 Sir Alexander Stanier, interview, op. cit.; see his
Sammy’s Wars, op. cit.
32. Juno: Maple Leaf at War
1 ‘D-Day and the Gooseberry, 6th June 1944’, 25 May 2004, courtesy of BBC, WW2 People’s War.
2 The National Archives (TNA): DEFE 2/433, ‘Report of Special Observer Party Investigating the Effect of Fire Support, 22 June 1944’.
3 Keller (1900–54) was known to have a drinking problem and viewed as shell-shy, jumpy and highly strung. His British superiors (Crocker of I Corps and Dempsey at the Second Army) thought him unfit to command, but issues of national pride were also at stake, and even his own offer to go was rejected. He was wounded on 8 August and left the theatre, dying exactly a decade later on a tenth-anniversary D-Day pilgrimage to Normandy.
4 I am most grateful to Major Tim Saunders for the use of this and other extracts from his excellent
Battleground Europe: Juno Beach (Pen & Sword, 2003). This is Kindle p. 887. Mutch’s body was later washed ashore and was buried in the nearby Canadian war cemetery at Beny-sur-Mer.
5 Keith May Briggs, interview, Imperial War Museum Sound Archive, ref. 16696.
6 Reeman,
D-Day 6th June 1944, op. cit., p. 8.
7 ‘Royal Winnipeg Rifles War Diary June 1944’, RG24-C-3, Vol. 15233, courtesy of Laurier Military History Archive.
8 Saunders
, Juno Beach, op cit., Kindle p.1419.
9 Major Lockhart Ross Fulton, interview, Imperial War Museum Sound Archive, ref. 34424.
10 ‘Royal Winnipeg Rifles War Diary June 1944’, op. cit.
11 Reeman,
D-Day 6th June 1944, op. cit., pp. 8–9.
12 Neillands and De Normann,
D-Day, op. cit., p. 184.
13 Bill Newell, memoir, courtesy of the Memory Project, Historica Canada.
14 Hammerton,
Achtung! Minen!, op. cit., p. 64.
15 Memoir courtesy of the Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset.
16 ‘Regina Rifles Regiment War Diary June 1944’, RG-24-C-3, Vols. 15198–9, courtesy of Laurier Military History Archive.
17 Saunders,
Juno Beach, op cit., Kindle. p. 1253.
18 Ibid., Kindle. p. 1298.
19 Memoir courtesy of the 1st Hussars Museum, London, Ontario.
20 ‘Regina Rifles Regiment War Diary 6 June 1944’, op. cit.
21 Memoir and personal interview, Léo Gariépy, Mont Ormel Museum, 1994.
23 ‘6th Canadian Armoured Regiment (1st Hussars) War Diary June 1944’, RG-24-C-3, Vol. 14213, courtesy of Laurier Military History Archive.
24 Marc Milner,
Stopping the Panzers (University Press of Kansas, 2014), Kindle, p. 3520.
25 Hickey,
The Scarlet Dawn, op. cit.
26 Saunders,
Juno Beach, op. cit., Kindle. p. 896.
27 Charles C. Martin,
Battle Diary (Dundurn Press, 1994); also documentary
Battle Diary: A Day in the Life of Charlie Martin, dir. Martyn Burke, CBC, and courtesy of Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada Regimental Museum and Archives, Toronto.
28 Memoir courtesy of Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada Regimental Museum and Archives, Toronto.
30 Memoir courtesy of Juno Beach Museum.
31 Doug Hester, memoir, courtesy of Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada Regimental Museum and Archives, Toronto.
32 Neillands and De Normann,
D-Day, op. cit., pp. 194–5.
34 Memoir, 2004, courtesy of BBC, WW2 People’s War.
35 ‘Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada War Diary June 1944’, RG-24-C-3, Vols. 15168–9, courtesy of Laurier Military History Archive.
36 John Powell, 4th and 5th Royal Berkshires, interview, Normandy 2004.
37 Hammerton,
Achtung! Minen!, op. cit., pp. 72–3.
38 ‘Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada War Diary June 1944’, op. cit.
39 Carpiquet was liberated, appropriately enough, by the 8th Canadian Brigade on 9 July.
40 Lieutenant J. G. Pelly, RNVR, memoir, private papers, Imperial War Museum, Documents ref. 833; as part of Force ‘S’, the
Eglington was supposed to be bombarding the tiny settlement of Luc-sur-Mer, but seems to have been hitting next-door Langrune.
41 Hickey,
The Scarlet Dawn, op. cit.
42 Saunders,
Juno Beach, op. cit., Kindle. p. 1122.
43 Memoir courtesy of New Brunswick Military History Museum, Oromocto.
44 Hickey,
The Scarlet Dawn, op. cit.
46 ‘North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment War Diary June 1944’, RG-24-C-3, Vols. 15127–8, courtesy of Laurier Military History Archive.
47 Saunders,
Juno Beach, op. cit., Kindle. p. 1195.
48 Dennis Smith, memoir courtesy of 48 Royal Marine Commando Association.
49 The National Archive (TNA): ADM 202/111, ‘War Diary, 48 RM Commando, June 1944’.
50 Later Maj. Gen. James Louis Moulton, CB, DSO, OBE, and author of
Haste to the Battle: A Marine Commando at War (Cassell, 1963).
51 Major Daniel Flunder, MC, memoir courtesy of Commando Veterans Archive.
52 John Clive ‘Joe’ Stringer, MM, interview, Imperial War Museum Sound Archive, ref. 20485.
54 Hickey,
The Scarlet Dawn, op. cit.
55 Smith memoir, op. cit.
56 Hickey,
The Scarlet Dawn, op. cit.
57 Jeannine Mahia, interviewed during Help for Heroes Bicycle Battlefield Tour of Normandy, 2008.
58 Saunders,
Juno Beach, op cit., Kindle, p. 1971.
59 The National Archives (TNA): ADM 199/1647, ‘Account of 6 June 1944’. Major Daughney would win a DSO for his leadership at Tailleville on 6 June but was killed on 10 August.
60 Hickey,
The Scarlet Dawn, op. cit.
62 ‘North Shore (New Brunswick) Regiment War Diary June 1944’, op. cit.
63 Kurt Egle later received the Knight’s Cross for his leadership at the radar station.
64 Jim Baker, memoir courtesy of d-dayrevisited.co.uk.
65 Reg Clarke, interview 2003, courtesy of BBC The People’s War.
66 Ian McCulloch, ‘The RCAMC and the beaches of Normandy’,
Canadian Medical Association Journal 1994, Vol. 150/11, pp. 1866–1971.
67 Hervé Hoffer, interview, Bernières-sur-Mer, 6 June 2012.
68 Hubert Meyer,
History of the 12th SS Hitler Youth Division, Vol. One (Fedorowicz, 1994), pp. 99–108.
33. Iron Division at Sword
1 Ken Oakley, memoir courtesy of Rick Smallman, Port Macquarie, NSW, Australia. Oakley died in 2007.
2 Carlo D’Este
, Decision in Normandy (Collins, 1983), p. 74.
3 Colleville-sur-Orne (now Colleville-Montgomery) should not be confused with Colleville-sur-Mer, behind Omaha Beach.
4 D’Este,
Decision in Normandy, op. cit., p. 1856.
5 Wilmot,
Struggle for Europe, op. cit., p. 271.
6 Kenneth Pearce Smith,
Adventures of an Ancient Warrior (self-published, 1984), p. 103.
7 This Cabourg should not be confused with the tiny hamlet that gave its name to the Cabourg draw at the eastern end of Omaha.
8 Patrick Delaforce,
Monty’s Ironsides: From the Normandy Beaches to Bremen with the 3rd Division (Sutton, 1995), p. 40.
9 Cited in D’Este,
Decision in Normandy, op. cit., p. 78.
10 After disembarking at 1 p.m., the 9th Brigade Group was redirected from its original task by Gen. Rennie to instead support the 6th Airborne Division.
11 Brigadier J. C. Cunningham, MC, memoir, Imperial War Museum, Dept of Documents, ref. 10909.
12 Bill Adams, interview, op. cit.
13 Robert Gardiner, interview, Aylesbury, 1994.
15 ‘Captain, B.L.A.’, ‘What the Soldier Thinks’,
Spectator (24 November 1944).
16 Bob Littlar, 2nd KSLI, interview, Shrewsbury, 1994.
17 The National Archives (TNA): CAB 44/244, ‘Overlord: D-Day 6 June 1944, Book Two’, pp. 205–6.
18 Warner,
The D-Day Landings, op. cit., p. 92.
19 Sidney Rosenbaum, memoir, Imperial War Museum, Dept of Documents, ref. 4242.
20 Sydney Jary,
18 Platoon (self-published, 1987), p. 19.
21 By 11 July, the 716th Infantry Division listed 6,261 casualties of its 6 June strength of 7,771, exactly 80 per cent.
22 Ost-Bataillone 439, 441 and 642.
23 Weapons issued to the 716th Division included 6,215 rifles, 318 mortars, 485 machine pistols, 1,212 pistols, 16 MG08, 352 MG34, 11 French MG, 22 anti-tank guns, 40 light and heavy artillery pieces, and 5 heavy mortars.
24 ETHINT B-621, Generalleutnant Wilhelm Richter, ‘716th Inf. Division Normandy, 1943–28 Jun 1944’ (1947).
25 Helmut Römer, interview, Dusseldorf, 1995, and numerous interviews with Arlette Gondrée, Pegasus Bridge Café. Römer was
not sixteen, as some historians claim, but eighteen (neither was he the first German to be killed, as others have suggested). He was one of the first captured and sent to England. As a POW he was taught English at Cambridge University before being sent to Canada; he returned to Germany in 1947, better fed and educated than most of his contemporaries.
26 Holub family and members of Morris Battery (WN16), interview during staff ride, Ouistreham, June 1994. Holub survived to become a well-known German photographer.
28 Strong,
Steiner’s War, op. cit., pp. 12–13, 17.
29 ETHINT B-621, Richter, ‘716th Inf. Division’, op. cit.; see also Hastings,
Overlord, op. cit., pp. 65–6.
30 Böll,
Briefe aus dem Krieg, op. cit., letter, May 1942.
31 See: The National Archives (TNA): DEFE 2/490, 21 Army Group RE 1944 on Queen sector; aerial photos of the defences can be found at WO 205/1108, 21st Army Group.
32 The tower – today’s Le Grand Bunker museum, did not fall on D-Day, but was captured by Royal Engineers on 9 June, whereupon its garrison of fifty surrendered.
33 The Krug family have become good friends of mine, and both Ludwig’s son and grandson became soldiers, likewise reaching the rank of colonel. Krug died in 1972.
34 The National Archives (TNA): WO171/1381, ‘War Diary, 1st Suffolks, June 1944’.
35 Blumentritt,
Von Rundstedt, op. cit., p. 208.
36 Cited in D’Este,
Decision in Normandy, op. cit., p. 81.
37 Bob Jones,
Bill’s Brilliant Military Career (self-published, 2004), courtesy of combinedops.com.
38 Delaforce,
Monty’s Ironsides, op. cit., p. 22.
39 Lt. Col. M. A. Philp, memoir, Dept. of Documents ref. 7188, Imperial War Museum, London.
40 Rt Hon. Sir Stephen Brown, interview, op. cit.
41 Robin McNish,
Iron Division: History of 3rd Division 1809–1989 (3rd Armoured Division, 1990), pp. 98–9.
42 Patrick Hennessey,
Young Man in a Tank (self-published, 1984).
43 Major Derrick B. Wormald,
Recollections, op. cit.
44 Hennessey,
Young Man, op. cit.
45 ‘Arthur Denis Bradford Cocks 1904–1944’, courtesy of the Frimley and Camberley 1939–1945 War Memorial.
46 Alan Higgins, interview, op. cit.; and see James Al-Mudallal, ‘The Arctic Convoy Veteran who Survived Sinking, Air Strikes and Seasickness’, 20 June 2013, courtesy of
www.walesonline.co.uk.
47 William Carruthers, MC, memoir courtesy of Royal Engineers Museum, Gillingham, Kent.
48 Obituary, Maj. Redmond Cunningham,
Daily Telegraph, 11 August 2000.
49 Major C. H. Giddings, ‘629 Field Sqn in the Assault on Queen Sector Red and White Beaches’, pp. 7–8, with the Brigadier E. E. E. Cass collection of papers, Imperial War Museum, Dept of Documents, ref. 1471.
50 Delaforce,
Monty’s Ironsides, op. cit., p. 25.
51 Maj. Arthur Rouse, interview, 1994, Imperial War Museum Oral History Collection, ref. 14255.
52 Andrew Stewart,
Caen Controversy: The Battle for Sword Beach 1944 (Helion, 2014), Kindle, p. 2427.
53 Stephen J. Thorne, ‘Douglas Gordon (Part 1): Bail out or glide for England’,
Canadian Legion Magazine, op cit.
54 Ken Oakley, memoir, op. cit.
55 Sykes,
Deceivers Ever, op. cit., p. 136.
56 Warwick Nield-Siddal, interview, 1999, Imperial War Museum Oral History Collection, ref. 19672.
57 Raymond Mitchell, memoir courtesy of Frank and Joan Shaw Collection, D-Day Story Museum, Portsmouth.
58 Rear Admiral Teddy Gueritz, interview, op. cit.
59 Malcolm Petfield, memoir courtesy of the Wartime Memories Project and his son, Dave Petfield, who also remembered, ‘When I took him to Sword Beach at 7.25 on 6 June 1989, forty-five years after he had landed, he walked away from me, and for the first time in my life I saw my father actually shed tears. This was a shock for me because he was not normally the emotional type.’
60 Maj. Arthur Rouse, interview, op. cit.
61 Michael Ashcroft, ‘If the Sniper’s Bullet Had Been Just Two Feet to One Side, My Father’s Life Would Have Been Over’,
Daily Telegraph, 31 May 2014.
62 The 2nd Middlesex were the divisional machine-gun battalion, equipped with twelve Vickers .303-inch machine-guns and eight 4.2-inch mortars.
63 McNish,
Iron Division, op. cit., p. 100.
64 Major-General R. P. Pakenham-Walsh
, History of the Corps of Royal Engineers, Vol. VIII (Institution of Royal Engineers, 1958), p. 347.
65 Sykes,
Deceivers Ever, op. cit., pp. 136–155.
34. Yeomen of England
1 H. T. Bone, memoir, Imperial War Museum, Dept of Documents, ref. 1464.
2 Arthur Thompson, interview, 1993, Imperial War Museum Sound Archive, ref.13370.
3 Craggs, ‘An “Unspectacular” War?’, op. cit., Appendix ‘C’, pp. 261–2.
4 Lionel Arthur Roebuck, interview, 1993, Imperial War Museum Sound Archive, ref. 13584.
5 Stan Hough, diary courtesy of BBC, WW2 People’s War, 2003.
6 Warner,
The D-Day Landings, op. cit., p. 157.
7 Craggs, ‘An “Unspectacular” War?’, op. cit., p. 17.
8 This Saint-Aubin should not be confused with the much larger town behind Juno Beach.
9 Frank Varley and Stanley Gardner memoirs courtesy of Friends of the Suffolk Regiment via Museum of the Suffolk Regiment, Bury St Edmunds.
10 Stanley Gardner, memoir, op. cit.
11 Lt Col. Eric T. Lummis,
1st Suffolks in Normandy (Suffolk Regimental Museum, 2009).
12 Steve Snelling, ‘Royal Norfolks’ Battle in the Cornfields of Hell’,
Eastern Daily Press, 1 June 2014.
13 Private W. Evans memoir courtesy of Stacia Briggs and the Norwich War Memorial Trust.
14 Ernie Seaman memoir courtesy of ibid.
15 Snelling, ‘Royal Norfolks’ Battle in the Cornfields of Hell’, op. cit.
16 McNish,
Iron Division, op. cit., p. 101.
17 Dick Goodwin and Alan Sperling memoirs courtesy of Friends of the Suffolk Regiment via Museum of the Suffolk Regiment, Bury St Edmunds.
18 Lund and Ludlam,
War of the Landing Craft, op. cit., p. 168.
19 Lewis Goodwin, interview, Portsmouth, 1994.
20 Sykes
, Deceivers Ever, op. cit., p. 147.
21 Dunn,
Sword and Wig, op. cit., p. 61.
22 Major Sir Delaval Cotter, 6th Bt, memoir courtesy of Friends of the Suffolk Regiment via Museum of the Suffolk Regiment, Bury St Edmunds.
23 The National Archives (TNA): WO 171/845, ‘13th/18th Hussars War Diary for June 1944’.
24 For example, Wilmot,
Struggle for Europe, op. cit., p. 310, and David Belchem,
Victory in Normandy (Chatto & Windus, 1981), pp. 109–10.
25 Dick Goodwin memoir, op. cit.
26 ETHINT B-621, Generalleutnant Wilhelm Richter, ‘716th Inf. Division Normandy, 1943–28 Jun 1944’ (1947).
27 Eric Lummis, ‘D-Day, 6 June 1944: The Truth About 3 British Division’,
Army Quarterly and Defence Journal, Vol. 199/4 (1989), pp. 393–407, and ‘Caen and D-Day’,
Journal of Army Historical Research, Vol. 74/297 (1996), pp. 39–49; and see Robin Dunn, ‘A Disastrous Change of Plan: Why Caen Was Not Captured on D-Day’,
Royal Artillery Journal (1995), pp. 33–5.
28 D’Este,
Decision in Normandy, op. cit., p. 127.
29 As it was, Brigadier K. P. Smith was removed on 2 July 1944, in the face of stinging criticism of his drive and energy on D-Day. See Sir Robin Horace Walford Dunn, MC, PC, memoir, Imperial War Museum, Dept of Documents, ref. 2848, and his autobiography,
Sword and Wig, op. cit.
30 Cdr Max Miller, memoir courtesy of his son, Robin Miller, via Peter Miles, RNVR, Landing Craft Association.
31 Major H. M. Wilson,
History of the 1st Battalion Royal Norfolk Regiment during the World War 1939–45 (Jarrold, 1947).
32 Interview,
Eastern Daily Press, 8 October 2012.
33 ‘Meet the British Tommy’, BBC interview with RSM Brooks, 1st Norfolks, 2 October 1944.
34 The National Archives (TNA): WO 171/1387, ‘2nd Royal Warwicks War Diary for June 1944’.
35 Lt Col Kingston Adams, interview, Malvern, 1991; interview,
Warwick Courier, June 2004.
36 Private Geoff Peters, memoir courtesy of Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (Royal Warwicks) Museum, Warwick.
37 The National Archives (TNA): WO 171/863, ‘Staffordshire Yeomanry War Diary for June 1944’.
38 Brigadier J. C. Cunningham, MC, memoir, op. cit.
39 David Holbrook, memoir cited in Warner,
The D-Day Landings William Kimber, 1980); and see Holbrook’s autobiographical novel of D-Day,
Flesh Wounds, op. cit. David Holbrook was a Cambridge-educated, left-leaning student whose comfortable university life was interrupted by the war in 1942. He was called up for military service and commissioned as an officer with the East Riding Yeomanry. His 1966 novel
Flesh Wounds, also his first work, recounted the military life of Holbrook’s very thinly disguised self, Paul Grimmer, through his officer training, service as a tank commander in France, wounding on D+14 and return to Blighty.
40 Kurt Mehner (ed.),
Die geheimen Tagesberichte der deutschen Wehrmachtführung im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939–1945, Band 10: Berichtzeit 1.3.1944–31.8.1944 (Biblio Verlag Osnabruck, 1986); and see E. R. Hooton,
Eagle in Flames: The Fall of the Luftwaffe (Brockhampton Press, 1997), pp. 283–5, 290.
41 Warner,
The D-Day Landings, op. cit., p. 185.
43 Eric Saywell, memoir courtesy of Frank and Joan Shaw Collection, D-Day Story Museum, Portsmouth.
45 The 891 (497 operational) comprised: day fighters 315 (220), night fighters 90 (46), bombers 402 (200), transport 64 (31); by contrast there were 4,120 Luftwaffe aircraft on the Eastern Front at this time.
46 Fortier,
An Ace of the Eighth, op. cit., pp. 195–6.
47 Another eleven Ju 87s would suffer a similar fate on 8 June. Weiszenbrunner family, interview, 1994.
48 ETHINT B-259, Genlt Friedrich Dihm, ‘Rommel, 1944’ (1945).
49 Neville Patterson, typescript interview, via Newbury Normandy Veterans Association (NVA).
50 The National Archives (TNA): WO 171/1325, ‘2nd KSLI War Diary for June 1944’; WO 171/258, ‘I Corps Operational Order No. 1, 5 May 1944’.
52 Bob Littlar, interview, op. cit.
53 Peter Duckers,
The King’s Shropshire Light Infantry: 1881–1968 (Tempus, 2004), p. 230.
54 Delaforce,
Monty’s Ironsides, op. cit., p. 44.
55 Dunn,
Sword and Wig, op. cit., pp. 62 and 64.
56 Alistair Horne, ‘In Defence of Montgomery’,
Military History Quarterly, Vol. 8/1 (1995), p. 61.
57 D’Este
, Decision in Normandy, op. cit., p. 128.
58 Milner,
Stopping the Panzers, op. cit., Kindle, p. 2328.
59 ETHINT FMS A-871, Feuchtinger, ‘21st Pz Division in Combat’; B-441, ‘21st Pz Division, 1942–3 Jul 1944’ (1947). The 726th was commanded by Oberst Ludwig Krug at ‘Hillman’; the battalion he received belonged to the 192nd
Panzergrenadier Regt.
60 Luck,
Panzer Commander, op. cit., Kindle, p. 3249.
62 ‘21st Army Group Intelligence Assessment, 28 May 1944’, WO 205/532, The National Archives (TNA).
63 The Wehrmacht’s 503rd, and the 101st and 102nd of the Waffen-SS.
64 Interviews with Röhling and Schiller families, Normandy, 1994. Röhling was wounded and awarded an Iron Cross on D-Day, ending up surrendering to the US Army in Prague in 1945.
65 Ruge,
Rommel in Normandy, op. cit., p. 158.
66 Herr reckoned he owed his survival to his father-in-law, the Seventh Army’s commander, Friedrich Dollmann. When Cherbourg fell on 29 June, the general died of heart failure and Herr was withdrawn from the front to attend his funeral. ‘For thirty years I was mistaken that my father-in-law had died because of his heart, but I have since learned Hitler threatened him with a military court over the fall of Cherbourg, and he took the course of suicide instead.’ Herr would return to his unit afterwards. Michaela Wiegel, ‘Gezeichnete Erde hinter den Landungsstränden’,
Frankfurter Allgemeine, 4 June 2004.
67 Interview with Werner Kortenhaus,
CBC TV News Special, 6 June 1994; see also Werner Kortenhaus,
Combat History of the 21st Panzer Division 1943–45 (Helion, 2014).
68 Dauscher family, interview, Normandy, 1944. He would see action on D-Day against paratroopers, but was wounded by machine-gun fire and captured on 8 July during Operation Charnwood. He was taken POW and sent to the USA.
69 The National Archives (TNA): CAB 146/377, ‘Commander-in-Chief West’s War Diary, 6 June 1944’ (copies at the IWM and TNA).
70 Marcks did not survive the war, but Oppeln did, later coaching the Canadian Equestrian Team and dying in 1966.
71 Kortenhaus,
Combat History, op. cit.
72 Milner,
Stopping the Panzers, op. cit., Kindle, p. 2244.
73 The author served with Bernard Cuttiford’s son and grandson, and two of James Eadie’s grandsons.
74 Maj. D. F. Underhill,
Staffordshire Yeomanry: An Account of the Operations of the Regiment during World War II (Staffordshire Libraries, 1994), p. 26.
75 Neville Patterson, memoir courtesy of Frank and Joan Shaw Collection, D-Day Story Museum, Portsmouth.
76 Kortenhaus,
Combat History, op. cit.
35. Green Berets and le Général
1 Ken Oakley, interview for BBC News, 3 June 2004.
2 Léon Gautier, interview, Normandy, June 2014.
3 At this stage it comprised No. 3 (Army) Commando, 40 (Royal Marine) Commando and the Special Raiding Squadron, and successfully seized Termoli on 3 October 1943, after sailing from Bari.
4 Colin Hughes, 7th R. Warwicks and No. 4 Commando, interview, Aylesbury, 1994.
5 Interview with Pat Gillen, Dublin, 1985.
6 Doon Campbell,
Magic Mistress: A 30-year Affair to Reuters (Tagman Press, 2000), pp. 59–60.
7 Col. Pat Porteous, interview, Dieppe, August 1992; obituary,
Daily Telegraph, 11 October 2000.
8 Lovat,
March Past, op. cit.
9 Ryan,
The Longest Day, op. cit., p. 69.
10 ETHINT B-403, Genmaj. Joseph Reichert, ‘711th Inf. Division on the Invasion front, 6 Jun–24 Jul 44’ (1946).
12 This was portrayed in the film
The Longest Day.
13 Lichtenberg, Fillmann and Brieden families, interviews, 1998. Sadly, Anton Fillmann did not live long after his birthday and died in action on 19 June 1944; Albert Brieden did survive, due to a medical condition which put him in hospital for the last months of the war.
14 Hubert Faure, interview, Normandy, June 2014.
15 An offshoot of the Commando Basic Training Centre at Achnacarry, Scotland.
16 René Rossey, interview (in French), Normandy, 2004. After seventy-eight days in Normandy, No. 4 Commando was brought back to England to recover. On 1 November they embarked for Operation Infatuate, to attack Walcheren and open up the Scheldt estuary for ships to unload at Antwerp. Rossey, the youngest of Philippe Kieffer’s 177 Free French commandos, died on 19 May 2016, aged eighty-nine.
17 Hubert Faure, interview, op. cit.
18 Lovat,
March Past, op. cit.
19 Léon Gautier, interview, op. cit.
20 François Andriot, interview, Kent, 2014.
21 Philippe Kieffer,
Béret Vert (Éditions France-Empire, 1948).
22 Maurice Chauvet obituary,
Daily Telegraph, 7 June 2010.
23 Gilchrist,
Don’t Cry For Me, op. cit., p. 51.
24 Papers of W. H. Bidmead, Dept. of Documents, Ref. 25971, Imperial War Museum, London.
25 The National Archives (TNA): WO 218/66, ‘No. 4 Commando War Diary for June 1944’.
26 Craggs, ‘An “Unspectacular” War?’, op. cit., p. 125.
27 Léon Gautier, interview, op. cit.
28 Gilchrist,
Don’t Cry For Me, op. cit., pp. 51–4.
30 Kieffer,
Béret Vert, op. cit.
32 TNA: WO 218/66, ‘No. 4 Commando War Diary’, op. cit.
33 The National Archives (TNA): WO 218/59, ‘Headquarters 1st Special Service Force War Diary for June 1944’.
34 Bill Millin, interviews, op. cit. Also see obituaries,
Scotsman, 11 March 2016;
Daily Telegraph, 19 March 2016.
35 George Laws, interview made with Angus Beaton, SE London, December 2001.
36 Campbell,
Magic Mistress, op. cit., p. 64.
37 TNA: WO 218/66, ‘No. 4 Commando War Diary’, op. cit.
38 George Laws, interview, op. cit.
39 TNA: WO 218/59, ‘Headquarters 1st Special Service Force War Diary’, op. cit.
40 Campbell,
Magic Mistress, op. cit., p. 68.
41 Bill Millin, interviews, op. cit.
42 Sgt Henry Frank Cosgrove, interview, 1988, Imperial War Museum Sound Archive, ref. 10177.
43 Tony Turnbull, memoir, 2005, courtesy of BBC, WW2 People’s War.
44 John Durnford-Slater,
Commando, op. cit., p. 155.
45 Tom Duncan, 3 Commando, interview, Aberdeen, 1980, op. cit.
46 Campbell,
Magic Mistress, op. cit., p. 67.
47 The National Archives (TNA): WO 218/65, ‘No. 3 Commando War Diary for June 1944’.
48 The National Archives (TNA): WO 218/68, ‘No. 6 Commando War Diary for June 1944’.
49 The National Archives (TNA): ADM 202/103, ‘No. 41 Royal Marine Commando War Diary for June 1944’.
50 TNA: WO 218/59, ‘Headquarters 1st Special Service Force War Diary’, op. cit.
51 Kite,
Stout Hearts, op. cit., p. 78; Hart,
Montgomery and ‘Colossal Cracks’, op. cit., pp. 50–61.
52 Rostron,
Military Life and Times, op. cit., p. 88.
53 Cited in Allport,
Browned Off and Bloody-Minded, op. cit., p. 184.
54 John Vernon Bain, interview, Shrewsbury, 1978. Bain later pursued a successful literary career as the poet Vernon Scannell; see
Argument of Kings (Robson Books, 1987), pp. 105–6.
55 Hartcup,
Code Name Mulberry, op. cit.
56 Richard Oulahan, Jr, ‘How Filming
The Longest Day Produced the Longest Headache’,
Life, 12 October 1962, pp. 113–20.
57 Dolski, Edwards and Buckley (eds.),
D-Day in History and Memory, op. cit., pp. 159–80.
58 Terry Reardon, ‘Lion of Britain, Cross of Lorraine: Churchill and de Gaulle’,
Finest Hour, No. 138 (Spring 2008).
59 Winston S. Churchill,
The Dawn of Liberation (Cassell, 1945), p. 206.
60 Harold Nicolson,
Diaries and Letters 1939–1945 (Collins, 1967), p. 412.
62 François Kersaudy,
Churchill and de Gaulle (HarperCollins, 1981), p. 424.
64 Jean Jammes, interview, Olney, Buckinghamshire, 2016.
65 John Henley, ‘Honours for Elite Snubbed by de Gaulle’,
Guardian, 7 June 2004; and personal interviews.
66 Pierre Wilson, interview, May 2004, courtesy of BBC, WW2 People’s War, op. cit.
67 Isaac Levendel and Bernard Weisz,
Hunting Down the Jews: Vichy, the Nazis and Mafia Collaborators in Provence 1942–1944 (Enigma Books, 2012). Palmieri later admitted arresting fifteen Jews in Le Pontet on 6 June 1944, and was executed in Marseilles in August 1946.
68 Quote courtesy of The Anne Frank Trust UK.
69 Philip Eade,
Evelyn Waugh: A Life Revisited (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2016).
70 Douglas Brinkley, ‘Remembering the Battle that Won the War: 70 Years Later’,
Time, 20 May 2014.
71 Andy Rooney, ‘The 60th Anniversary of D-Day’, 3 June 2004, courtesy of CBS
60 Minutes commentary.
Postscript: Fortitude and the Spies
1 Mark Simmons,
Agent Cicero: Hitler’s Most Successful Spy (History Press, 2014).
2 Elyesa Bazna,
I Was Cicero (André Deutsch, 1962).
3 By early 1944, British intelligence was aware there was a spy in their Ankara embassy, but did not know who it was; Cicero left his employment shortly afterwards, unmasked. Theories abound that Cicero was an Allied ‘plant’, or that he was working for Turkish intelligence (as he did post-war); see Christopher Baxter, ‘Forgeries and Spies: The Foreign Office and the “Cicero” Case’,
Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 23/6 (December 2008), pp. 807–26; Richard Wires,
The Cicero Spy Affair: German Access to British Secrets in World War II (Praeger, 1999); Robin Denniston,
Churchill’s Secret War: Diplomatic Decrypts, the Foreign Office and Turkey 1942–44 (Sutton, 1997).
4 Bengt Beckman and C. G. McKay,
Swedish Signal Intelligence 1900–1945 (Routledge, 2014), p. 208.
5 Originals at NARA, Maryland, ref. RG 457 SRDJ, Nos. 59973–5; see also Ben Fischer, ‘The Japanese Ambassador Who Knew Too Much’,
Center for the Study of Intelligence Bulletin, No. 9 (Spring 1999), pp. 6–9; Carl Boyd, ‘Significance of MAGIC and the Japanese Ambassador to Berlin (V): News of Hitler’s Defense Preparations for Allied Invasion of Western Europe’,
Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 4/3 (July 1989), pp. 461–81, and
Hitler’s Japanese Confidant: General Hiroshi Öshima and Magic Intelligence, 1941–1945 (University Press of Kansas, 1993).
6 Masterman,
The Double-Cross System, op. cit., pp. 155–8.
7 The National Archives (TNA): KV 2/197 – see particularly Folder One of three; see also John P. Campbell, ‘Some Pieces of the
Ostro Puzzle’,
Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 11/2 (April 1996), pp. 245–63.
8 TNA: KV 2/197, op. cit.
9 Cubbage, ‘The Success of Operation Fortitude’, op. cit.
10 Russell Miller,
Codename Tricycle: The True Story of the Second World War’s Most Extraordinary Double Agent (Secker & Warburg, 2004); Larry Loftis,
Into the Lion’s Mouth: The True Story of Dusko Popov, World War II Spy, Patriot, and the Real-Life Inspiration for James Bond (Berkley, 2016).
11 Christopher Andrew,
The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5 (Allen Lane, 2009).
12 Ben Macintyre,
Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies (Bloomsbury, 2012); Masterman,
The Double-Cross System, op. cit.
13 The National Archives (TNA): Enigma signal KV 2/2098.
14 Walter Koehler had come clean to US consular officials about the true nature of his role when applying for a visa in Madrid; J. Edgar Hoover approved his recruitment by the FBI and managed the flow of information back to Berlin, which Koehler never saw. In the 1970s the espionage writer Ladislas Farago uncovered the truth that Koehler was a
triple agent, all along working for the
Abwehr. Fortunately, Fortitude was not damaged because Koehler never saw what had been sent by the FBI on his behalf. See David Alan Johnson, ‘Walter Koehler and J. Edgar Hoover’, Warfare History Network, August 2016.
15 Howard,
Strategic Deception, op. cit., pp. 16–18.
16 Juan Pujol García and Nigel West,
Operation Garbo: The Personal Story of the Most Successful Double Agent of World War II (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1985); Tomás Harris,
Garbo: The Spy Who Saved D-Day (National Archives, 2000).
17 ‘Agent Garbo’, MI5 (Security Service) website,
https://www.mi5.gov.uk/agent-garbo, accessed July 2018; Stephan Talty,
Agent Garbo: The Brilliant, Eccentric Secret Agent Who Tricked Hitler and Saved D-Day (Houghton Mifflin, 2012).
18 Hesketh,
Fortitude, op. cit., p. 200.
19 Cited in Maj. T. L. Cubbage, ‘“Fortitude: A History of Strategic Deception in North Western Europe, April, 1943 to May, 1945 by Roger Fleetwood Hesketh, printed but unpublished (On His Majesty’s Secret Service) February 1949”: A Review Essay’ (
http://www.tomcubbage.com/history/Hesketh-Fortitude-Report.pdf), pp. 11–13; see also Klaus-Jürgen Müller, ‘A German Perspective on Allied Deception Operations in the Second World War’,
Intelligence and National Security, Vol. 2/3 (1987), pp. 301–26.
20 Maj. T. L. Cubbage, ‘“Fortitude”’, op. cit., p. 15.
21 Craig Bickell, ‘Operation Fortitude South: An Analysis of Its Influence upon German Dispositions and Conduct of Operations in 1944’,
War and Society, Vol. 18/1 (2000), pp. 91–121.
22 Ellis,
Victory in the West, Vol. 1, op. cit., p. 322.
23 Michael Reynolds,
Steel Inferno: 1st SS Panzer Corps in Normandy (Spellmount, 1997), p. 83. As argued earlier, the location of the 116th Panzer had nothing to
do with the alleged anti-Nazi sentiments of its commander; Bennett,
Ultra in the West, op. cit., pp. 82–3.
24 Masterman,
The Double-Cross System, op. cit., p. 163.
25 Otto Schmidt, interview, Aachen, April 1985.
26 Ruge,
Rommel in Normandy, op. cit., p. 104.
27 The National Archives (TNA): Enigma signals KVs 1171, 3185, 4371 and 6160; ibid., p. 59.
28 Heinz Gunther Guderian,
From Normandy to the Ruhr: With the 116th Panzer Division in World War II (Aberjona Press, 2001).
29 The National Archives (TNA): Enigma signal KV 5314; ibid., p. 64.
30 The National Archives (TNA): Enigma signal KV 3766, dated 8 May, ref. HW (Intercepted German Cipher Messages) 1/2784.
31 My thanks to Richard C. Anderson, Jr (author of
Cracking Hitler’s Atlantic Wall: The 1st Assault Brigade Royal Engineers on D-Day (Stackpole, 2009)) for these observations.
32 Sir Ronald Wingate,
Historical Record of Deception in War against Germany and Italy, Vol. II (The National Archives: Communications and Intelligence Records/Directorate of Forward Plans, DEFE 28/49), pp. 407–8.
33 Mary Kathryn Barbier,
D-Day Deception: Operation Fortitude and the Normandy Invasion (Praeger, 2007), pp. 188–9.
34 Wingate,
Historical Record, op. cit., p. 408.
36 Pujol García and West,
Operation Garbo, op. cit., p. 118.
37 Masterman,
The Double-Cross System, op. cit., p. 114.
38 Brinkley,
The Boys of Pointe du Hoc, op. cit., p. 148.
Acknowledgements
1 John Murray (ed.),
The Autobiography of Edward Gibbon, (John Murray, 1896), p. 302.
3 Otto Carius, interview, RMCS Shrivenham, 2004. In later life a pharmacist, Carius died in January 2015.
4 Günter Halm, interviews, Chalke Valley History Festival, July 2016 and 2017. The charming Günter died shortly after our last meeting, in September 2017.
5 Gibbon
, Decline and Fall, Preface to Decline and Fall, Volume 2.
6 Murray (ed.),
Autobiography, op. cit., pp. 333–4.