*Please note some of the links referenced throughout this work may no longer be active.
Abbreviations
| DDMA | D-Day Museum Archive Collection (Portsmouth) |
| IWM | Imperial War Museum archives |
| LHCMA | Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives |
| MdeC | Memorial de Caen archives |
| NA | National Archives (UK) |
| NARA | National Archives and Records Administration (USA) |
| NWWIIM | National World War Two Museum (archives department) |
| OUCR | Cornelius Ryan Collection of World War Two Papers, Ohio University |
| SWWEC | Second World War Experience Centre |
Preface
1. Cited in John Costello and Terry Hughes, The Battle of the Atlantic, HarperCollins, 1977, p. 281.
2. Cited in General Sir Frederick Morgan, Peace and War, p. 156.
Prologue
1. This account of Eva Bojack, née Eifler, is drawn from two principal sources: ‘L’Allemande Eva Bojack découvre que les messages en morse annoncent l’invasion’, interview by Annick Cojean, Le Monde Société, 5 June 2014; and also ‘Eva face à l’invasion’, interview by Georges Bernage, 39–45 Magazine, n.d.
Chapter 1: Behind Enemy Lines
1. George Lane, Obituary, The Times, 7 April 2010.
2. Ian Dear, Ten Commando, p. 49.
3. Russell Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 73.
4. Ibid. See also George Lane’s interview in Janusz Piekalkiewicz, Secret Agents, Spies and Saboteurs: Famous Undercover Missions of World War II, pp. 392–7, and Peter Masters, Striking Back, pp. 122–6.
5. NA: WO 106/4343, Tarbrush: Reconnaissance of underwater obstacles on French coast.
6. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 74. See also Luke Salkeld, ‘Rommel saved me from being shot as a spy – and even served me cigarettes and beer’, Daily Mail, 20 November 2014.
7. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 74.
8. Ibid., and author interview quoted in Dear, Ten Commando, p. 89, and IWM: 13307, George Lane oral interview.
9. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 75.
10. Hilary St George Saunders, The Green Beret, p. 264.
11. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 75.
12. Dear, Ten Commando, p. 89.
13. Ibid.
14. IWM: 13307, George Lane, oral interview.
15. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 76.
16. IWM: 13307, George Lane, oral interview.
17. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 76.
18. Dear, Ten Commando, p. 90.
19. IWM: 13307, George Lane, oral interview.
20. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 77.
21. IWM: 13307, George Lane, oral interview.
22. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 78.
23. IWM: 13307, George Lane, oral interview.
24. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 78.
25. OUCR: Rommel papers.
26. Hans Speidel and Ian Duncan Colvin, We Defended Normandy, p. 55.
27. OUCR: Rommel papers.
28. OUCR: Lutz Koch, Erwin Rommel: Die Wandlung Eines Grossen Soldaten, typescript translation.
29. OUCR: Werner Pluskat, interview.
Chapter 2: Atlantic Wall
1. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, pp. 238–40. See also Hubert Meyer, The 12th SS, vol. 1.
2. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, pp. 238–40.
3. Max Hastings, Overlord, p. 66.
4. Speidel and Colvin, We Defended Normandy, p. 76.
5. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 238.
6. SWWEC: DBR0159-44C, Franz Gockel, letter to parents, 1 May 1944.
7. Franz Gockel, La Porte de l’enfer, p. 69.
8. SWWEC: DBR0159-44C, Gockel, letter to parents, 7 December 1943.
9. Gockel, La Porte de l’enfer, p. 66.
10. Ibid.
11. SWWEC: DBR0159-44C, Gockel, letter to parents, 23 April 1944.
12. Gockel, La Porte de l’enfer, p. 58.
13. Un Officier Allemand à Omaha Beach: extraits et adaptation d’interview donnée à John Marks et de correspondance avec Stewart Bryant: cited at http://omaha-vierville.com/WebOmahaVierville1944/indexcolleville.htm.
14. Guillaume Mercader, author interview, May 1994.
15. NWWIIM: Guillaume Mercader, lecture typescript of speech, 7 July 1987; also Mercader file in OUCR.
16. NWWIIM: Guillaume Mercader, lecture typescript of speech, 7 July 1987.
17. Guillaume Mercader, author interview, May 1994.
18. NWWIIM: Guillaume Mercader, lecture typescript of speech, 7 July 1987.
Chapter 3: The Weather Report
1. Doris Buttle, interview: www.portsdown-tunnels.org.uk/palmerston_forts/fort_southwick/2_ughq_wwii_p4.html
2. Elsie Horton (née Campbell), interview: BBC People’s War, www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/38/a2366138.shtml
3. Doris Buttle, interview: www.portsdown-tunnels.org.uk/palmerston_forts/fort_southwick/2_ughq_wwii_p4.html
4. Alison Edye, interview: www.portsdown-tunnels.org.uk/palmerston_forts/fort_southwick/2_ughq_wwii_p4.html
5. June Tollfree, interview: www.portsdown-tunnels.org.uk/palmerston_forts/fort_southwick/2_ughq_wwii_p4.html
6. Sarah Wilson, interview: www.portsdown-tunnels.org.uk/palmerston_forts/fort_southwick/2_ughq_wwii_p4.html
7. Elsie Horton (née Campbell), interview: BBC People’s War, www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/38/a2366138.shtml
8. NWWIIM: Howard Vander Beek, Aboard the LCC 60, unpublished typescript.
9. Ibid.
10. OUCR: Bennie Glisson, typescript interview.
11. Emil Vestuti, interview: http://www.uss-corry-dd463.com/d-day_u–boat_photos/d-day_accounts.htm
12. Lloyd ‘Red’ Brantley written account, http://www.uss-corry-dd463.com/d-day_u-boat_photos/d-day_Brantley.htm
13. NWWIIM: Robert Beeman, unpublished typescript.
14. Ibid.
15. Lloyd Brantley, interview: http://www.uss-corry-dd463.com/d-day_u–boat_photos/d-day_accounts.htm
16. Mort Rubin, interview: http://www.uss-corry-dd463.com/d-day_u–boat_photos/d-day_accounts.htm
17. NWWIIM: Howard Vander Beek, Aboard the LCC 60, unpublished typescript.
18. OUCR: Stübe, interview typescript.
19. Ibid.
20. Robert J. Kershaw, D-Day, p. 88. The author cites the German weather report from Verbindungsmeteorloge OB West 4/5.6.1944.
21. http://www.lrb.co.uk/v16/n10/lawrence-hogben/diary
22. OUCR: Helmuth Lang, interview typescript.
23. Goronwy Rees interview in Bailey, Forgotten Voices of D-Day, p. 19.
24. https://www.rmets.org/sites/default/files/presentations/06092013-foden.pdf
25. http://www.lrb.co.uk/v16/n10/lawrence-hogben/diary
26. Brian Audric, The Meteorological Office Dunstable and the IDA Unit in World War II, Royal Meteorological Society, 2000. https://www.rmets.org/sites/default/files/pdf/hist02a.pdf
27. https://www.rmets.org/sites/default/files/presentations/06092013-foden.pdf
28. James Martin Stagg, Forecast for Overlord, p. 100.
29. http://www.lrb.co.uk/v16/n10/lawrence-hogben/diary
30. Stagg, Forecast for Overlord, p. 102.
31. Ibid., p. 108.
32. Ibid., p. 115.
33. Ibid.
Chapter 4: Codebreaking
1. John Keegan, Six Armies in Normandy, pp. 11–12.
2. Edward Wallace, interview in Roderick Bailey, Forgotten Voices, p. 62.
3. Denis Edwards, The Devil’s Own Luck, p. 27.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid., p. 33.
6. Ibid., p. 19.
7. IWM: 11073, Walter ‘Wally’ Parr, oral interview.
8. Edwards, The Devil’s Own Luck, p. 19.
9. Ibid., p. 21.
10. Ibid., p. 22.
11. Ibid., p. 33.
12. Ibid.
13. NWWIIM: Guillaume Mercader, lecture typescript of speech, 7 July 1987; also Mercader file in OUCR.
14. Annick Cojean, ‘André Héricy, du maquis de Saint-Clair sabote la ligne Caen–Laval’, Le Monde Société, 4 June 2014. http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2014/06/04/les-veterans-du-jour-j-3-18_4432192_3224.html
15. Ibid.
16. André Héricy et Philippe Durel, Centre d’études René-Nodot pour la Mémoire de la Résistance et de la Déportation: https://sites.google.com/site/maquisdesaintclair/andre-hericy-et-philippe-durel. See also Robert le Nevez, interview, https://sites.google.com/site/maquisdesaintclair/06-robert-le-nevez
17. https://sites.google.com/site/maquisdesaintclair/andre-hericy-et-philippe-durel
18. Ibid.
19. OUCR: Helmuth Meyer, typescript interview.
20. Heinz Herbst worked with the Long-Range Reconnaissance Unit in Lambersart. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 94.
21. OUCR: Helmuth Meyer, typescript interview.
22. Eisenhower’s exact words are a source of much controversy. For a full analysis, see Tim Rives, ‘Just What Did Ike Say When He Launched the D-Day Invasion 70 Years Ago?’, Prologue, Spring 2014. (Rives was Deputy Director of the Eisenhower Presidential Library.) https://www.archives.gov/files/publications/prologue/2014/spring/d-day.pdf
23. Kay Summersby, Eisenhower Was My Boss, p. 133.
24. ‘General Eisenhower’s Trailer Headquarters’, Commercial Motor, 3 November 1944. http://archive.commercialmotor.com/article/3rd-november-1944/30/general-eisenhowers-trailer-headquarters
25. Cited in Carlo d’Este, Eisenhower, p. 213.
26. Summersby, Eisenhower Was My Boss, p. 22.
27. Article in National Post, 28 April 2016: http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/scott-van-wynsberghe-the-man-who-kept-eisenhowers-diary-but-couldnt-keep-his-secrets
28. D’Este, Eisenhower, p. 310.
29. Cited in Rick Atkinson, The Guns at Last Light, p. 15.
30. D’Este, Eisenhower, p. 198.
31. Article in Seattle Times, 28 May 1995: http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19950528&slug=2123420
32. Kay Summersby, Past Forgetting, p. 169.
33. Summersby, Eisenhower Was My Boss, p. 135.
34. Harry Cecil Butcher, Three Years with Eisenhower, p. 486.
35. Summersby, Past Forgetting, p. 170.
36. André Héricy et Philippe Durel, Centre d’études René-Nodot: Mémoire de la Résistance et de la Déportation: https://sites.google.com/site/maquisdesaintclair/andre-hericy-et-philippe-durel, and Annick Cojean, ‘André Héricy, du maquis de Saint-Clair sabote la ligne Caen–Laval’, Le Monde Société, 4 June 2014. http://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2014/06/04/les-veterans-du-jour-j-3-18_4432192_3224.html
Chapter 5: The Midnight Hour
1. SWWEC: 2002-1754, Harry Clark, typescript interview.
2. OUCR: Walter ‘Wally’ Parr, interview.
3. SWWEC: DBR0052– 39D, Douglas V. Allen, typescript interview by Peter Liddle. See also NWWIIM: John Howard, interview, and John Howard, ‘Dropping in on Pegasus’, Illustrated London News, June 1984.
4. SWWEC: DBR0052–39D, Douglas V. Allen, The Memoirs of a Gliderborne Soldier, unpublished typescript.
5. John Howard and Penny Bates, The Pegasus Diaries, p. 115.
6. SWWEC: 2002-1754, Harry Clark, typescript interview.
7. Edwards, The Devil’s Own Luck, p. 32.
8. Ibid.
9. Howard and Bates, The Pegasus Diaries, p. 115.
10. Edwards, The Devil’s Own Luck, p. 35.
11. Ibid., p.35.
12. Albert Gregory, manuscript account, on Pegasus archive: http://www.pegasusarchive.org/normandy/albert_gregory.htm
13. Edwards, The Devil’s Own Luck, p. 40.
14. SWWEC: 2002-1754, Harry Clark, typescript interview.
15. Edwards, The Devil’s Own Luck, p. 40.
16. IWM: 11073, Walter ‘Wally’ Parr, oral interview.
17. Edwards, The Devil’s Own Luck, p. 41.
18. IWM: 11073, Walter ‘Wally’ Parr, oral interview.
19. Stephen E. Ambrose, Pegasus Bridge, p. 70.
20. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 87ff.
21. Stephen Ambrose, Introduction to Hans von Luck, Panzer Commander.
22. Von Luck, Panzer Commander, p. 136.
23. Ibid.
24. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 236.
25. Von Luck, Panzer Commander, p. 137.
26. Ibid., p. 136.
27. Edwards, The Devil’s Own Luck, p. 41.
28. Ibid.
29. IWM: 11061, John Howard, oral interview.
30. IWM: 11077, Richard Smith, oral interview.
31. Howard and Bates, The Pegasus Diaries, p. 129.
32. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 220.
33. Ibid., p. 221.
34. Kate Connolly, ‘I Saw the British and Hid in a Bush’, Daily Telegraph, 5 June 2004: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1463647/I-saw-the-British-and-hid-in-a-bush.html
35. Edwards, The Devil’s Own Luck, p. 42.
36. Ambrose, Pegasus Bridge, p. 92.
37. IWM: 11073, Walter ‘Wally’ Parr, oral interview.
38. IWM: 11478, William Gray, oral interview.
39. IWM: 11073, Walter ‘Wally’ Parr, oral interview.
40. Ibid.
41. Edwards, The Devil’s Own Luck, p. 42.
42. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 221.
43. Kate Connolly, ‘I Saw the British and Hid in a Bush’, Daily Telegraph, 5 June 2004: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1463647/I-saw-the-British-and-hid-in-a-bush.html
44. IWM: 11478, William Gray, oral interview.
45. IWM: 11073, Walter ‘Wally’ Parr, oral interview.
46. IWM: 11077, Richard Smith, oral interview.
47. IWM: 11061, John Howard, oral interview.
48. Howard and Bates, The Pegasus Diaries, p. 122.
49. IWM: 11073, Walter ‘Wally’ Parr, oral interview.
50. Ibid.
51. Cited in Ambrose, Pegasus Bridge, p. 81.
52. Ibid., p. 75.
53. Ibid., p. 76.
54. Edwards, The Devil’s Own Luck, p. 43.
55. Howard and Bates, The Pegasus Diaries, p. 125.
56. IWM: 11073, Walter ‘Wally’ Parr, oral interview.
57. Edwards, The Devil’s Own Luck, p. 44.
58. Howard and Bates, The Pegasus Diaries, p. 127.
59. Ibid.
60. Von Luck, Panzer Commander, p. 137.
61. Edwards, The Devil’s Own Luck, p. 44.
62. IWM: 11073, Walter ‘Wally’ Parr, oral interview.
63. Howard and Bates, The Pegasus Diaries, pp. 127–8.
64. IWM: 11357, Harry Clarke, oral interview.
65. Howard and Bates, The Pegasus Diaries, p. 126.
Chapter 6: At German Headquarters
1. OUCR: Friedrich Hayn, Die Invasion, typescript translation.
2. Alan Jefferson, Assault on the Guns of Merville, p. 86.
3. OUCR: Hayn, Die Invasion, typescript translation.
4. Ibid.
5. OUCR: Max Pemsel, interview typescript.
6. OUCR: Hayn, Die Invasion, typescript translation.
7. Ibid.
8. Paul Carell, Invasion, p. 30.
9. OUCR: Friedrich Hayn, interview typescript.
10. Carell, Invasion, p. 30.
11. OUCR: Hayn, Die Invasion, typescript translation.
12. OUCR: Leodegard Freyberg, interview typescript.
13. OUCR: Hans Speidel, The Battle in Normandy, manuscript.
14. OUCR: Max Pemsel and Hans von Salmuth, interview typescripts.
15. OUCR: Hayn, Die Invasion, typescript translation.
16. OUCR: the unfolding events are based on transcripts of the 7th and 15th Army telephone logs.
17. Carell, Invasion, p. 40.
18. Ibid.
19. OUCR: Walter Ohmsen, interview typescript.
20. Ibid.
21. Carell, Invasion, p. 41. There is confusion as to whether his name is Krieg (Ryan interview) or Grieg (Carell). I have chosen Krieg as the most likely.
22. Ibid., p. 42.
23. OUCR: Walter Ohmsen, interview typescript.
24. Ibid.
25. Royal Engineer Journal, vol. CVIII–CIX, April–December 1994–5.
26. Ibid.
27. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 209.
28. Ronald J. Drez, Voices of D-Day, p. 123.
29. Royal Engineer Journal, vol. CVIII–CIX, April–December 1994–5.
30. Drez, Voices of D-Day, p. 120.
31. Ibid., p. 123.
32. Ibid., p. 121.
33. Ibid.
34. Ibid., p. 122.
35. Ibid., p. 124.
36. Major John Couch Adams ‘Tim’ Roseveare, see http://www.pegasusarchive.org/normandy/tim_roseveare.htm
37. Royal Engineer Journal, vol. CVIII–CIX, April–December 1994–5.
38. Drez, Voices of D-Day, p. 122.
39. Alexander McKee, Caen, p. 39.
40. Royal Engineer Journal, vol. CVIII–CIX, April–December 1994–5.
41. Drez, Voices of D-Day, p. 124.
42. Ibid.
43. Ibid., p. 123.
44. Ibid., p. 125.
45. Royal Engineer Journal, vol. CVIII–CIX, April–December 1994–5.
Chapter 7: Landing by Moonlight
1. Speech by Raymond Paris, Témoignage les 5–6 juin 1944 à Sainte-Mère-Église, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfWpR0ty1js&t=395s
2. Raymond Paris, interview in Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 225.
3. Alexandre Renaud, Sainte-Mère-Église, p. 36.
4. Rudi Escher, interview in Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 228.
5. Raymond Paris, interview in Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 225.
6. Renaud, Sainte-Mère-Église, p. 36.
7. Raymond Paris, interview in Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 226.
8. Renaud, Sainte-Mère-Église, p. 37.
9. Raymond Paris, interview in Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 226.
10. Julian ‘Bud’ Rice, written account: http://www.6juin1944.com/veterans/rice.php. See also http://www.usafe.af.mil/News/Features/Display/Article/749508/wwii-veterans-tell-70-year-old-story/ and http://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/category/history/what-it-was-like-to-parachute-into-enemy-fir/
11. Julian ‘Bud’ Rice, written account: http://www.6juin1944.com/veterans/rice.php.
12. The paratroopers belonged to the 3rd Battalion of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment.
13. Joseph Balkoski, Utah Beach, p. 147.
14. MdeC: 02810, Bill Tucker, typescript account.
15. Ibid.
16. Julian ‘Bud’ Rice, written account: http://www.6juin1944.com/veterans/rice.php
17. MdeC: 02810, Bill Tucker, typescript account.
18. Julian ‘Bud’ Rice, written account: http://www.6juin1944.com/veterans/rice.php
19. MdeC: 02810, Bill Tucker, typescript account.
20. Julian Rice, ‘D-Day Pilot Shares Memories of the Invasion’, interview, 5 June 2014, http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/d–day-70th-anniversary/d-day-pilot-shares-memories-invasion-tom-brokaw-n122951
21. Julian ‘Bud’ Rice, written account: http://www.6juin1944.com/veterans/rice.php
22. MdeC: 02810, Bill Tucker, typescript account.
23. Julian ‘Bud’ Rice, written account: http://www.6juin1944.com/veterans/rice.php
24. Leslie Palmer Cruise, Normandy, June 1944, typescript account: http://www.6juin1944.com/veterans/cruise.php
25. MdeC: 02810, Bill Tucker, typescript account.
26. Leslie Palmer Cruise, Normandy, June 1944, typescript account: http://www.6juin1944.com/veterans/cruise.php
27. MdeC: 02810, Bill Tucker, typescript account.
28. NWWIIM: Ken Russell, typescript account.
29. Lieutenant Colonel Edward C. Krause, account from NARA but available online: http://www.americandday.org/Veterans/Krause_Edward_C.html
30. Bill Glauber, ‘Reminders of D-Day are Part of Everyday Life in Normandy’, Baltimore Sun, 26 May 2002.
31. John Hanc, ‘French Town is a Living D-Day Memorial’, New York Times, 23 October 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/arts/artsspecial/french-town-is-a-living-d-day-memorial.html
32. Sainte-Mère-Église, les civils se souviennent du débarquement: Midi en France (TV) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3u45murEGY&t=1s
33. Raymond Paris, interview in Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 226.
34. As cited in Helmut von Keusgen, Sainte-Mère-Église und Merderet.
35. Rudi Escher, interview in Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 228.
36. Raymond Paris, interview in ibid., p. 226.
37. Renaud, Sainte-Mère-Église, p. 37.
38. Raymond Paris, interview in Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 226.
39. Rudi Escher, interview in ibid., p. 229.
Chapter 8: Sainte-Mère-Église
1. MdeC: TE277, Marcelle Hamel, typescript account.
2. Denise Lecourtois, http://www.6juin1944.com/veterans/lecourtois.php
3. MdeC: TE277, Marcelle Hamel, typescript account.
4. OUCR: François Lemonnier-Gruhier, Parachutés le 6 juin.
5. NWWIIM: Ronald Snyder, typescript interview.
6. NWWIIM: James Eads, typescript interview.
7. Frank A. Bilich, cited in Michel de Trez, The Way We Were: Colonel Vandervoort, D-Day Publishing, 2004, p. 35.
8. OUCR: Benjamin Vandervoort, typescript interview.
9. OUCR: Lyle Putnam, typescript interview and notes.
10. NWWIIM: Benjamin Vandervoort Debriefing Papers, 13 August 1944.
11. Leslie Palmer Cruise, Normandy, June 1944, typescript account: http://www.6juin1944.com/veterans/cruise.php
12. NWWIIM: Tom Porcella, typescript interview.
13. NARA: Edward Krause, debriefing paper, 13 August 1944.
14. Cited in Phil Nordyke, Four Stars of Valor, p. 150.
15. MdeC: 02810, Bill Tucker, typescript account.
16. Cited in Balkoski, Utah Beach, p. 147.
Chapter 9: Night Assault
1. LHCMA: Cliff Morris, United We Conqered (sic) or The Diary of a Commando Soldier, unpublished handwritten manuscript.
2. DDMA: DD/2008/54/2, Rupert Curtis, typescript.
3. LHCMA: Cliff Morris, United We Conqered (sic) or The Diary of a Commando Soldier, unpublished handwritten manuscript.
4. Dr J.H. Patterson in Simon Lovat, March Past, Appendix II, p. 367f.
5. LHCMA: Cliff Morris, United We Conqered (sic) or The Diary of a Commando Soldier, unpublished handwritten manuscript.
6. Ibid.
7. Iain Moncreiffe, introduction to Lovat, March Past, p. 9.
8. Lovat, March Past, p. 296.
9. Ibid., p. 135.
10. LHCMA: Cliff Morris, United We Conqered (sic) or The Diary of a Commando Soldier, unpublished handwritten manuscript.
11. Ibid.
12. Iain Moncreiffe, introduction to Lovat, March Past, p. 9.
13. DDMA: DD/2008/54/2, Rupert Curtis, typescript.
14. LHCMA: Derek Mills-Roberts, Clash by Night: A Commando Chronicle (author’s hand-corrected proof).
15. LHCMA: Cliff Morris, United We Conqered (sic) or The Diary of a Commando Soldier, unpublished handwritten manuscript.
16. Bailey, Forgotten Voices, p. 87.
17. Lovat, March Past, p. 368.
18. LHCMA: Mills-Roberts, Clash by Night (author’s hand-corrected proof).
19. Lovat, March Past, p. 305.
20. DDMA: DD/2008/54/2, Rupert Curtis, typescript.
21. MdeC: 02893, Lionel Roebuck, The Five Yorkshire Tykes, unpublished typescript.
22. Ibid.
23. Michael Strong, Steiner’s War, p. 27. See also the detailed article in Stern magazine, ‘Ich schämte mich, sie zu erschießen’, 3 June 2004. For a full appraisal of the battle and the controversies surrounding the capture of the Merville Battery, see Neil Barber, The Day the Devils Dropped In, Appendix 5, p. 210ff.
24. Jefferson, Assault on the Guns of Merville, p. 93.
25. Ibid., p. 83.
26. Ibid., p. 84.
27. Strong, Steiner’s War, p. 25.
28. Ibid., p. 38.
29. Ibid.
30. Das Reich article, July 1944, cited in Strong, Steiner’s War, p. 65.
31. Strong, Steiner’s War, p. 65.
32. OUCR: Alan Mower, interview.
33. OUCR: Sidney Capon, interview.
34. OUCR: Sidney Capon, handwritten account.
35. IWM: 13723, Alan Jefferson, interview.
36. Terence Otway, interview in Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 211.
37. IWM: 13723, Alan Jefferson, interview.
38. Stuart Tootal, The Manner of Men, p. 139.
39. SWWEC (tape 383): Terence Otway, interview.
40. IWM: 13723, Alan Jefferson, interview.
41. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 211.
42. IWM: 12133, Terence Otway, interview.
43. Ibid.
44. IWM: 13723, Alan Jefferson, interview.
45. OUCR: Alan Mower, interview.
46. Ibid.
47. IWM: 13723, Alan Jefferson, interview.
48. Jefferson, Assault on the Guns of Merville, p. 110.
49. Sidney Capon, interview in Bailey, Forgotten Voices, p. 173.
50. Ibid., p. 174.
51. IWM: 13723, Alan Jefferson, interview.
52. www.pegasusarchive.org and Barber, The Day the Devils Dropped In, p. 92.
53. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 216.
54. Ibid., p. 218.
55. OUCR: Alan Mower, interview.
56. Barney Ross and Sidney Capon, interviews in Bailey, Forgotten Voices, p. 175.
57. Strong, Steiner’s War, p. 47.
58. Sidney Capon, interview in Bailey, Forgotten Voices, p. 175.
59. OUCR: Alan Mower, interview.
60. Ibid.
61. Ibid.
62. Barney Ross, interview in Bailey, Forgotten Voices, p. 174.
63. Das Reich article, July 1944, cited in Strong, Steiner’s War, p. 67.
64. Raimund Steiner, interview in Stern magazine, ‘Ich schämte mich, sie zu erschießen’, 3 June 2004.
65. Raimund Steiner, interview in Jefferson, Assault on the Guns of Merville, pp. 110–11.
66. Raimund Steiner, interview in Stern magazine, ‘Ich schämte mich, sie zu erschießen’, 3 June 2004.
67. Ibid.
68. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 216.
69. Hugo Pond, interview in Bailey, Forgotten Voices, p. 176.
70. www.pegasusarchive.org and Barber, The Day the Devils Dropped In, p. 90.
71. SWWEC (tape 383): Terence Otway, interview.
72. Barney Ross, interview in Bailey, Forgotten Voices, p. 174.
73. Barber, The Day the Devils Dropped In, p. 95.
Chapter 10: First Light
1. OUCR: Karl von Puttkamer, typescript interview.
2. Ibid.
3. OUCR: General Walter Warlimont, typescript interview.
4. Carell, Invasion, p. 50.
5. Malcolm Brannen’s D-Day recollections can be found at http://www.6juin1944.com/veterans/brannen.php
6. See E.R. Hooton, Eagle in Flames, pp. 283–5 and p. 290. The exact number of sorties is disputed: Hooton’s figures are founded on extensive archival research.
7. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/9578931/Lost-Lancaster-crew-identified-after-68-years-by-wireless-operators-wedding-ring.html See also ‘Last Defence of the Reich, FW190 to the End of the War’, Aviation Classic, 26 November 2014.
8. The story of the plane’s discovery–and Eberspächer’s role in shooting it down – was covered in detail in two newspaper articles: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/9578931/Lost-Lancaster-crew-identified-after-68-years-by-wireless-operators-wedding-ring.html and http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2211250/Wreckage-Lancaster-bomber-crashed-D-Day-killing-crew-identified.html
9. Irmgard Meyer, account in Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 239.
10. Hubert Meyer, account in ibid., p. 238.
11. Ibid.
12. Irmgard Meyer, account in ibid., p. 239.
13. OUCR: Werner Pluskat, interview. See also the video interview with Pluskat on Belgian television, 5 June 1962, http://www.ina.fr/video/CAF93012581. Pluskat’s movements that night have been subject to controversy ever since Hein Severloh claimed that the major was not at his post at the time of the landings. Since Pluskat’s post was inland (in Eterham), Severloh’s statement in no way contradicts Pluskat’s written and oral testimony.
14. OUCR: Lieutenant Commander Heinrich Hoffmann, typescript interview.
Chapter 11: On Utah Beach
1. NWWIIM: Al Corry, typescript account.
2. Bowman, Air War D-Day, p. 56.
3. SWWEC: T2236, Captain Scott-Bowden, interview.
4. Samuel Morison, The Invasion of France and Germany, 1944–1945 (History of United States Naval Operations in World War II), p. 93.
5. NWWIIM: Ross Olsen, typescript interview.
6. Morison, Invasion of France and Germany, p. 93.
7. Leonard Schroeder, interview in Franz-Olivier Giesbert, Les Héros du 6 juin.
8. NWWIIM: Malvin R. Pike, typescript interview.
9. Cited in Balkoski, Utah Beach, p. 180.
10. Ibid., p. 187.
11. NWWIIM: Malvin R. Pike, typescript interview.
12. NWWIIM: Howard Vander Beek, Aboard the LCC 60, unpublished typescript.
13. NWWIIM: Sims Gauthier, typescript interview.
14. NWWIIM: Samuel N. Grundfast, interview.
15. NWWIIM: Howard Vander Beek, Aboard the LCC 60, unpublished typescript.
16. NWWIIM: Cyrus Aydlett, typescript interview.
17. NWWIIM: Howard Vander Beek, Aboard the LCC 60, unpublished typescript.
18. NWWIIM: Sims Gauthier, typescript interview.
19. NWWIIM: Howard Vander Beek, Aboard the LCC 60, unpublished typescript.
20. Francis McKernon, interview: http://www.uss-corry-dd463.com/d–day_u-boat_photos/d-day_McKernon.htm
21. NWWIIM: Robert Beeman, typescript account, along with correspondence with Stephen Ambrose.
22. OUCR: George Hoffman, interview.
23. Francis McKernon, interview: http://www.uss-corry-dd463.com/d–day_u-boat_photos/d-day_McKernon.htm
24. OUCR: Benny Glisson, interview.
25. Ibid.
26. NWWIIM: Grant Gullickson, typescript account.
27. Ernie McKay, interview: http://www.uss-corry-dd463.com/d-day_u–boat_photos/d-day_McKay.htm
28. Testimony of Emil Vestuti, http://www.uss-corry-dd463.com/d-day_u–boat_photos/d-day_Vestuti.htm
29. Francis McKernon, interview: http://www.uss-corry-dd463.com/d–day_u-boat_photos/d-day_McKernon.htm
30. Mort Rubin, interview: http://www.uss-corry-dd463.com/d-day_u–boat_photos/d-day_Rubin.htm
31. Ibid.
32. Francis McKernon, interview: http://www.uss-corry-dd463.com/d–day_u-boat_photos/d-day_McKernon.htm
33. OUCR: Benny Glisson, interview.
34. NWWIIM: Grant Gullickson, typescript account.
35. NWWIIM: Malvin R. Pike, typescript account.
36. Bailey, Forgotten Voices, p. 287.
37. Roland Ruppenthal, Utah Beach to Cherbourg, 6 June–27 June 1944
38. NWWIIM: Bruce Bradley, typescript account.
39. Ibid.
40. Balkoski, Utah Beach, p. 190.
41. Ibid., p. 191.
42. Ibid., p. 192.
43. Ibid.
44. NWWIIM: Howard Vander Beek, Aboard the LCC 60, unpublished typescript.
45. Ibid.
46. NWWIIM: Malvin R. Pike, typescript account.
47. Leonard Schroeder, interview in Giesbert, Les Héros du 6 juin.
48. OUCR: Leonard Schroeder, interview.
49. Leonard Schroeder, interview in Giesbert, Les Héros du 6 juin.
50. Balkoski, Utah Beach, p. 197.
51. Ibid.
52. NWWIIM: Malvin R. Pike, typescript account.
53. Balkoski, Utah Beach, p. 197.
54. NWWIIM: Malvin R. Pike, typescript account.
55. Balkoski, Utah Beach, p. 243.
56. NWWIIM: Malvin R. Pike and Eugene Brierre, typescript accounts.
57. Balkoski, Utah Beach, p. 243.
58. Maxwell Taylor, Swords and Plowshares, p. 81.
Chapter 12: In Coastal Waters
1. Butcher, My Three Years with Eisenhower, p. 486.
2. Cited in Alan Axelrod, Eisenhower on Leadership, p. 209.
3. Butcher, My Three Years with Eisenhower, p. 486.
4. Ibid., p. 487.
5. OUCR: Heinrich Hoffmann, typescript interview.
6. NWWIIM: Nalecz-Tyminski, typescript account.
7. DDMA: PORMG 2014/58/103, Able Seaman Sheppard, account.
8. OUCR: Heinrich Hoffmann, typescript interview.
9. IWM: LBY93/2156, Patrick Hennessey, Young Man in a Tank.
10. Miller, Nothing Less Than Victory, p. 308.
11. IWM: 13390, John Barnes, audio interview.
12. Ibid.
13. IWM: LBY93/2156, Patrick Hennessey, Young Man in a Tank.
14. http://www.pegasusarchive.org/normandy/rep1318hussars.htm
15. IWM: 17678, Patrick Hennessey, audio interview, and IWM: LBY93/2156, Hennessey, Young Man in a Tank.
16. SWWEC: Patrick Hennessey, typescript interview.
17. Douglas Reeman, D-Day: A Personal Reminiscence, p. 12.
18. Craig L. Symonds, Neptune, p. 265.
19. Admiral Morton Deyo, cited in ibid., p. 264.
20. Paul Winter, D-Day Documents; see also TNA ADM 53/120730 for the Warspite’s ship’s log.
21. Reeman, D-Day: A Personal Reminiscence, p. 13.
22. David Holbrook and Geoffrey Halson, Flesh Wounds, p. 119: the novel was drawn directly from Holbrook’s own battle experiences, as indicated in the foreword.
23. Winter, D-Day Documents, p. 87.
24. Ibid.
25. Piprel account cited in Marie-France Coquart and Philippe Huet, Le Jour le plus fou; see also http://omaha-vierville.com/WebOmahaVierville1944/2323-MemoiresPiprel.html
26. Fernand Olard’s account: http://omaha-vierville.com/WebOmahaVierville1944/index2omaha.htm
27. The de Loÿs account is cited in Coquart and Huet, Le Jour le plus fou. See also http://omaha-vierville.com/WebOmahaVierville1944/index2omaha.htm
28. Cited in Mary Louise Roberts, D-Day through French Eyes, p. 73.
Chapter 13: Omaha
1. OUCR: Barton Davis, typescript interview.
2. NWWIIM: Harry Bare, typescript account.
3. IWM: 26677, Jimmy Green, oral interview.
4. Ibid.
5. Jimmy Green account: Green wrote his account in response to Stephen Ambrose’s ‘flight of fancy’, which claims Green’s craft was ‘vaporized’, along with all the men on board. ‘A bare minimum of research was all that was required to find out how Taylor Fellers died and where he was buried,’ he said. Green was not the first veteran to be irritated by Ambrose’s sometimes cavalier approach to the facts. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/68/a1929468.shtml
6. http://www.newsadvance.com/news/local/bedford-boys-taylor-fellers/article_ea93e4e0-e2a3-11e3-ac52-0017a43b2370.html
7. Jimmy Green, interview: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/68/a1929468.shtml See also: http://www.newsadvance.com/news/local/bedford-boys-taylor-fellers/article_ea93e4e0-e2a3-11e3-ac52-0017a43b2370.html
8. IWM: 26677, Jimmy Green, oral interview.
9. Ibid.
10. IWM: 26677, Jimmy Green, oral interview.
11. NWWIIM: Gilbert Murdock, typescript interview.
12. IWM: 26677, Jimmy Green, oral interview.
13. NWWIIM: Gilbert Murdock, typescript interview.
14. IWM: 26677, Jimmy Green, oral interview.
15. Alex Kershaw, The Bedford Boys, p. 127.
16. Jimmy Green’s BBC account cited above.
17. Vince Milano and Bruce Conner, Normandiefront, p. 78.
18. Ibid.
19. All from ibid., pp. 78–83.
20. Harold Baumgarten, D-Day Survivor, p. 59.
21. Ibid., p. 65.
22. S.L.A. Marshall, ‘First Wave at Omaha Beach’, Atlantic Magazine, November 1960.
23. Ibid.
24. Robin Neillands, The Battle of Normandy, p. 184.
25. NWWIIM: Al Little, typescript account.
26. NWWIIM: Harold Baumgarten, typescript account.
27. Neillands, The Battle of Normandy, p. 184.
28. S.L.A. Marshall, ‘First Wave at Omaha Beach’, Atlantic Magazine, November 1960.
29. NWWIIM: Harold Baumgarten, typescript account.
30. Baumgarten, D-Day Survivor, p. 66.
31. NWWIIM: Harold Baumgarten, typescript account.
32. S.L.A. Marshall, ‘First Wave at Omaha Beach’, Atlantic Magazine, November 1960.
33. Ibid.
34. NWWIIM: Gilbert Murdock, typescript interview.
35. IWM: 26677, Jimmy Green, oral interview.
36. NWWIIM: Company A Battlefield Report, typescript.
Chapter 14: Easy Red
1. NWWIIM: Franz Gockel, typescript.
2. SWWEC: Gockel, letter to parents, 10 June 1944.
3. SWWEC: DBR0159-44C, Gockel, typescript account.
4. Ibid.
5. NWWIIM: Jack Ellery, typescript.
6. NWWIIM: Warner Hamlett, typescript.
7. Ibid.
8. MWWIIM: Joe Pilck, typescript.
9. Paul Huard, The M42 Machine Gun was Hitler’s Buzz-Saw: https://medium.com/war-is-boring/the-mg42-machine-gun-was-hitlers-buzz-saw-aaebfde958e4
10. http://witnify.com/germans-americans-recall-hell-omaha/
11. NWWIIM: Franz Gockel, typescript.
12. http://witnify.com/germans-americans-recall-hell-omaha/
13. SWWEC: DBR0159-44C, Gockel, typescript account.
14. See ibid. and NWWIIM: Franz Gockel, typescript.
15. ‘Beast of Omaha’, Scotsman, 6 June 2004: http://www.scotsman.com/news/world/beast-of-omaha-weeps-as-he-recalls-slaughter-of-thousands-on-beach-1-1394712
16. SWWEC: DBR0159-44C, Gockel, typescript account.
17. NWWIIM: Warner Hamlett, typescript.
18. Ibid., Jack Ellery, typescript.
19. Roger Brugger, cited in Michael D. Hull, The Battle for Omaha Beach, Warfare History Network, http://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/the-d-day-invasion-the-road-to-operation-overlord/
20. NWWIIM: Warner Hamlett, typescript.
21. NWWIIM: William Otlowski, typescript account.
22. NWWIIM: Warner Hamlett, typescript.
23. NWWIIM: Harry Bare, typescript account.
24. OUCR: Barton Davis, interview.
25. NWWIIM: Jack Ellery, typescript.
Chapter 15: Gold
1. OUCR: Helmut Lang, typescript interview.
2. David Irving, The Trail of the Fox, p. 336.
3. OUCR: Koch, Erwin Rommel, typescript translation.
4. Irving, The Trail of the Fox, p. 336.
5. OUCR: Helmut Lang, typescript interview.
6. Carell, Invasion, p. 95.
7. Helmut Meyer, interview in Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 238.
8. Irmgard Meyer, interview in ibid., pp. 238–40.
9. IWM: 19906, Walter ‘Wally’ Blanchard, interview.
10. OUCR: Peter Martin, interview.
11. IWM: 19906, Walter ‘Wally’ Blanchard, interview.
12. OUCR: Peter Martin, interview.
13. Ibid.
14. IWM: 13420, Ronald Mole, interview.
15. IWM: 20602, Robert Palmer, interview.
16. OUCR: Stanley Hollis, interview typescript.
17. Mike Morgan, D-Day Hero, p. xvi.
18. Ibid., p. 19.
19. OUCR: Stanley Hollis, interview typescript.
20. Ibid.: see also IWM: 1648, Stanley Hollis, interview in D-Day: Beachhead Fighting, oral interview
21. Ibid.
Chapter 16: Juno
1. Michael J. McKeogh, Sgt Mickey and General Ike, Nabu Press, 2011.
2. Butcher, My Three Years with Eisenhower, p. 489.
3. BBC message cited in Cornelius Ryan, The Longest Day.
4. SWWEC: DBR0252-41C, Georges Regnauld, Résumé de ce que fut l’occupation allemande à Bernières-sur-mer de juin 1940 à juin 1944.
5. Ibid.
6. MdeC: MEMO_ARCH_03625, Marie-Amélie Notteau-Wiarre, diary.
7. SWWEC: DBR0252-41C, Georges Regnauld, Mes souvenirs de ce que fut le jour le plus long c’était à Bernières-sur-mer.
8. Mark Gollom, ‘Charles Dalton, KStJ, ED OC B Company, D-Day 1910–1998’, National Post, 24 February 1999. The quote is from Corporal Joe Oggy.
9. Ibid. The quote is from Barney Danson, chairman of the Canadian War Museum’s advisory committee and colleague of Colonel Dalton.
10. Mark Zuehlke, ‘Assault on Juno’: http://zuehlke.ca/excerpt-from-assault-on-juno/
11. Jean Portugal (ed.), We Were There, vol. 2, The Army, Introduction to the Dalton Brothers, p. 636.
12. Charles Dalton: https://qormuseum.org/soldiers-of-the-queens-own/dalton-charles-osborne/
13. John Fotheringham, ‘See You on the Beach’: https://www.junobeach.org/see-you-on-the-beach/
14. Charles Martin and Roy Whitsed, Battle Diary, p. 4.
15. https://qormuseum.org/2016/06/06/1998-interviews-with-three-qor-d-day-veterans/
16. Doug Hester, War Memoir, unpublished. See also https://qormuseum.org/soldiers-of-the-queens-own/hester-doug/
17. Jim Wilkins, ‘D-Day Recollections’: Jim Wilkins: http://users.erols.com/wolfy/qor/html/body_wilkins.html
18. https://qormuseum.org/2016/06/06/1998-interviews-with-three-qor-d-day-veterans/
19. John Missions, interview in Portugal (ed.), We Were There, vol. 2, The Army, p. 681f.
20. Elliot Dalton, interview in ibid., p. 637f.
21. Bob Rae, interview in ibid., p. 661f.
22. Elliot Dalton, interview in ibid., p. 637f.
23. John Fotheringham, ‘See You on the Beach’: https://www.junobeach.org/see-you-on-the-beach/
24. Elliot Dalton, interview in Portugal (ed.), We Were There, vol. 2, The Army, p. 637f.
25. Bob Rae, interview in ibid., p. 661f.
26. Joe Wagar, interview in ibid., p. 648f.
27. John McClean, interview in ibid., p. 606f.
28. Elliot Dalton, interview in ibid., p. 637f.
29. Mark Gollom, ‘Charles Dalton, KStJ, ED OC B Company, D-Day 1910–1998’, National Post, 24 February 1999.
30. Charles Tubb, interview in Portugal (ed.), We Were There, vol. 2, The Army, p. 904f.
31. Cited in Tim Saunders, Juno Beach: Canadian 3rd Infantry Division – July 1944, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2004, p.80.
32. Bailey, Forgotten Voices, p. 224.
33. Charles Belton, interview in Portugal (ed.), We Were There, vol. 6, The Army, p. 3038.
Chapter 17: Cliff-top Guns
1. Omar Bradley and Clay Blair, A General’s Life, p. 249.
2. W.C. Heinz, ‘I took my son to Omaha Beach’, Collier’s Magazine, 11 June 1954.
3. Ronald Lane, Rudder’s Rangers, p. 68.
4. Christopher B. Bean, James Earl Rudder: A Lesson in Leadership, doctoral thesis.
5. Thomas Hatfield, Rudder, p. 88.
6. John Raaen, cited in ibid.
7. Omar Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, p. 269.
8. OUCR: Herman Stein, typescript interview.
9. W.C. Heinz, ‘I took my son to Omaha Beach’, Collier’s Magazine, 11 June 1954.
10. Hatfield, Rudder, p. 88.
11. OUCR: Herman Stein, typescript interview.
12. NWWIIM: James Eikner, typescript account.
13. OUCR: Herman Stein, typescript interview.
14. Cited in Symonds, Neptune, p. 293.
15. OUCR: William Petty, typescript interview.
16. NWWIIM: George Kerchner, typescript account.
17. NWWIIM: Leonard Lomell, typescript account.
18. OUCR: William Petty, typescript interview.
19. W.C. Heinz, ‘I took my son to Omaha Beach’, Collier’s Magazine, 11 June 1954.
20. NWWIIM: Elmer Vermeer, typescript account.
21. Ibid.
22. OUCR: William Petty, typescript interview.
23. NWWIIM: James Eikner, typescript account.
24. Ibid.
25. OUCR: William Petty, typescript interview.
26. OUCR: Herman Stein, typescript interview.
27. NWWIIM: George Kerchner, typescript account.
28. W.C. Heinz, ‘I took my son to Omaha Beach’, Collier’s Magazine, 11 June 1954.
29. NWWIIM: Leonard Lomell, typescript account.
30. Ibid.: Elmer Vermeer, typescript account.
31. http://www.historynet.com/d-day-interview-with-two-us-2nd-ranger-battalion-members-who-describe-the-attack-at-pointe-du-hoc.htm
32. NWWIIM: Leonard Lomell, typescript account.
33. OUCR: William Petty, typescript interview.
34. NWWIIM: Leonard Lomell, typescript account.
35. http://www.historynet.com/d-day-interview-with-two-us-2nd-ranger-battalion-members-who-describe-the-attack-at-pointe-du-hoc.htm
36. NWWIIM: Leonard Lomell, typescript account.
37. http://www.historynet.com/d-day-interview-with-two-us-2nd-ranger-battalion-members-who-describe-the-attack-at-pointe-du-hoc.htm
38. NWWIIM: Leonard Lomell, typescript account.
39. NWWIIM: Salva Maimone, typescript account.
40. Cited in Stephen Ambrose, D-Day, p. 416.
Chapter 18: The Mad Bastard
1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/38/a2366138.shtml
2. DDMA: 2001.687/DD 2000.5.2, Pat Blandford, interview, recorded April 1991, oral history transcript.
3. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/38/a2366138.shtml
4. Jean Watson, interview as cited in Peter Liddle, D-Day, p. 240f.
5. Bill Millin obituary, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/piper-bill-millin-the-mad-piper-who-piped-the-allied-troops-ashore-on-d-day-2059271.html
6. DDMA: DD/2008/54/2, Rupert Curtis papers.
7. Lovat, March Past, p. 306.
8. Ibid., p. 309.
9. Ibid., p. 308.
10. DDMA: DD/2008/54/2, Rupert Curtis papers.
11. Lovat, March Past, p. 301.
12. Ibid., p. 310.
13. LHCMA: Cliff Morris, United We Conqered (sic) or The Diary of a Commando Soldier, unpublished handwritten manuscript.
14. Lovat, March Past, p. 310.
15. LHCMA: Cliff Morris, United We Conqered (sic) or The Diary of a Commando Soldier, unpublished handwritten manuscript.
16. MdeC: MEMO_ARCH_02893, Lionel Roebuck, The Five Yorkshire Tykes, unpublished typescript.
17. Lovat, March Past, p. 311.
18. http://www.pegasusarchive.org/normandy/bill_millin.htm
19. DDMA: DD/2008/54/2, Rupert Curtis papers.
20. IWM: 11614, William ‘Bill’ Millin, audio interview.
21. Lovat, March Past, p. 311.
22. Ibid., p. 313.
23. Ibid., p. 314.
24. NWWIIM: Peter Masters, typescript account.
25. LHCMA: Cliff Morris, United We Conqered (sic) or The Diary of a Commando Soldier, unpublished handwritten manuscript.
26. LHCMA: Mills-Roberts, Clash by Night (author’s hand-corrected proof).
27. Ibid.
28. OUCR: Frederick Mears, typescript interview.
29. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 312.
30. DDMA: PORMG 2004/3585, D-Day Before and After: The Memoirs of George Jowett.
31. LHCMA: Cliff Morris, United We Conqered (sic) or The Diary of a Commando Soldier, unpublished handwritten manuscript.
32. LHCMA: Mills-Roberts, Clash by Night (author’s hand-corrected proof), p. 96.
33. Lovat, March Past, p. 319.
34. http://www.pegasusarchive.org/normandy/bill_millin.htm
35. OUCR: Josef Priller, typescript interview; but see also Trevor Constable and Raymond Toliver, Horrido!, p. 252ff.
36. OUCR: Josef Priller, typescript interview.
37. Lovat, March Past, pp. 303–4.
38. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2016/06/21/ren-rossey-french-commando-obituary/
39. Cited in Maurice Chauvet, It’s a Long Way to Normandy, p. 323.
40. Decroix memoir in Jean-Pierre Guéno, Paroles du Jour J, p. 59.
Chapter 19: Deadlock on Omaha
1. Günsche’s report cited in Meyer, The 12th SS, vol. 1, p. 97.
2. OUCR: Karl von Puttkamer, typescript interview.
3. OUCR: General Walter Warlimont, typescript interview.
4. Ian Kershaw, Hitler, 1936–1945, p. 640.
5. OUCR: Karl von Puttkamer, typescript interview.
6. David Irving, Göring, p. 427.
7. NWWIIM: James Van Fleet, typescript account.
8. Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, p. 270.
9. Bradley and Blair, A General’s Life, p. 251.
10. IWM: 19906, Walter ‘Wally’ Blanchard, audio interview.
11. NWWIIM: William Marshall, typescript account.
12. Bradley and Blair, A General’s Life, p. 251.
13. NWWIIM: Felix Branham, typescript account.
14. http://articles.latimes.com/1994-05-31/news/wr-64225_1_d-day-invasion/11
15. NWWIIM: Carl Weast, typescript account.
16. Joseph Balkoski, Omaha Beach, p. 195.
17. Ibid.
18. Combat Studies Institute, Studies in Battle Command, especially chapter XVI: Major Stephen C. McGeorge, ‘Seeing the Battlefield: Brigadier-General Norman D. Cota’s “Bastard Brigade” at Omaha Beach’, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, n.d.
19. Ibid.
20. Balkoski, Omaha Beach, p. 193.
21. http://articles.latimes.com/1994-05-31/news/wr-64225_1_d-day-invasion/11
22. Cited in Balkoski, Omaha Beach, p. 194.
23. Ibid., p. 196.
24. NWWIIM: Jack Shea, typescript account.
25. NWWIIM: John Raaen, typescript account.
26. NWWIIM: Victor Fast, typescript account.
27. OUCR: Captain McGraw, typescript battlefield account.
28. NWWIIM: Jack Shea, typescript account.
29. NWWIIM: Harry Parley, typescript account.
30. NWWIIM: John Raaen, typescript account.
31. NWWIIM: Victor Fast, typescript account.
32. NWWIIM: Jack Shea, typescript account.
33. NWWIIM: Carl Weast, typescript account.
Chapter 20: Cracks in the Wall
1. NWWIIM: Edward Duffy, typescript account.
2. Morison, Invasion of France and Germany, p. 143.
3. Symonds, Neptune, p. 295.
4. Kenneth Janda, Jeffrey Berry, Jerry Goldmand and Deborah Schildkraut, The Challenge of Democracy: Government in America, Cengage, 2015, p. 249.
5. Drez, Voices of D-Day, p. 283f.
6. Ibid.
7. Morison, Invasion of France and Germany, p. 144.
8. NWWIIM: Edward Duffy, typescript account.
9. NWWIIM: Felix Podolak, typescript account.
10. Milano and Conner, Normandiefront, p. 98.
11. NWWIIM: William Gentry, typescript account.
12. Drez, Voices of D-Day, p. 285.
13. NWWIIM: Carl Weast, typescript account.
14. NWWIIM: John Shea, typescript account.
15. Hein Severloh, WN62, p. 65.
16. Ibid., p. 63.
17. SWWEC: DBR0159-44C, Franz Gockel, typescript account.
18. Severloh, WN62, p. 70ff.
19. Ruppenthal, Omaha Beachhead, pp. 82–3.
Chapter 21: Race to the Bridge
1. Howard and Bates, The Pegasus Diaries, p. 131.
2. NWWIIM: Harry Clark, typescript account.
3. Howard and Bates, The Pegasus Diaries, p. 131.
4. NWWIIM: Harry Clark, typescript account.
5. NWWIIM: Wally Parr, typescript account.
6. Howard and Bates, The Pegasus Diaries, p. 135.
7. NWWIIM: Wally Parr, typescript account.
8. Edwards, The Devil’s Own Luck, pp. 47–8.
9. NWWIIM: Wally Parr, typescript account.
10. Howard and Bates, The Pegasus Diaries, p. 133.
11. NWWIIM: Wally Parr, typescript account.
12. Ambrose, D-Day, p. 569.
13. Howard and Bates, The Pegasus Diaries, p. 136.
14. Masters, Striking Back, p. 157. The German phrase is: Ihr seid vollkommen umzingelt – Ihr habt keine Chance. Werft Eure Waffen fort und kommt mit den Handen hoch ’raus wenn Ihr leben wollt. Der Krieg ist aus fur Euch!
15. Stan Scott and Neil Barber, Fighting with the Commandos, p. xxii.
16. Cited in ibid., p. xxiii.
17. Scott and Barber, Fighting with the Commandos.
18. IWM: 20940, Stanley Scott, audio interview.
19. Edwards, The Devil’s Own Luck, p. 54.
20. http://www.pegasusarchive.org/normandy/bill_millin.htm
21. Edwards, The Devil’s Own Luck, p. 55.
22. NWWIIM: Wally Parr, typescript account.
23. http://www.pegasusarchive.org/normandy/bill_millin.htm
24. Howard and Bates, The Pegasus Diaries, p. 137.
25. MdeC: MEMO_ARCH_03492, John Butler, Diary of the Taking of Pegasus Bridge, handwritten account.
Chapter 22: The Bombing of Caen
1. Hansard, available online at: http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1944/jun/06/ration-books-thefts
2. Harold Nicolson, Diaries and Letters, 1939–1945, p. 159.
3. http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1944/jun/06/liberation-of-rome-landings-in-france
4. Nicolson, Diaries and Letters, p. 159.
5. http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1944/jun/06/liberation-of-rome-landings-in-france
6. Nicolson, Diaries and Letters, p. 159.
7. Hansard, available online at: http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1944/jun/06/liberation-of-rome-landings-in-france
8. SWWEC: LEEWW2001.987, James Kyle papers.
9. Madame Hélène Hurel, testimony in Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 382.
10. Bernard Goupil, testimony in Michel Boivin et al., Villes normandes sous les bombes, p. 87ff.
11. Madame Pernelle, testimony in Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 384.
12. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 384.
13. Madame Quaire, testimony in ibid., p. 385.
14. MdeC: MEMO_ARCH_03207, Denise Harel, Mon journal, handwritten diary.
15. MdeC: MEMO_ARCH_03276, Geneviève Vion, typescript testimony.
16. Bernard Goupil, testimony in Boivin et al., Villes normandes sous les bombes, p. 91.
17. Madame Quaire, testimony in Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 385.
18. Guéno, Paroles du Jour J, pp. 61–2.
19. Bernard Goupil, testimony in Boivin et al., Villes normandes sous les bombes, p. 87ff.
20. Heinz, interview in Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, pp. 383–4. See also Heinz interview in Ville de Caen: Récits de la vie caennaise 6 juin–19 juillet 1944, Brochure réalisée par l’Atelier offset de la Mairie de Caen Dépôt légal: 2e trimestre 1984. See also ‘Paroles de témoins’: Propos recueillis par Nadège Orange, Michel Follorou et Willy Oriou, Caen Magazine, special sixtieth anniversary. And see http://paril.crdp.ac-caen.fr/_PRODUCTIONS/70e/co/heintz_hopital.html
21. Cited in Robin Neillands and Roderick de Normann, D-Day 1944, p. 298.
22. Cited on http://sgmcaen.free.fr/vieacaen.xhtml#LEBONSAUVEUR
23. Antoine Magonette, testimony in Guéno, Paroles du Jour J, pp. 60–1, originally in Antoine Magonette and Christian Colle, Le Ciel est troublé, France Europe Editions, 2002.
24. Bernard Goupil, testimony in Boivin et al., Villes normandes sous les bombes, p. 87ff.
25. Antoine Magonette, testimony in Guéno, Paroles du Jour J, pp. 60–1, originally in Magonette and Colle, Le Ciel est troublé.
Chapter 23: Counter-Attack
1. OUCR: Hayn, Die Invasion, typescript translation.
2. MdeC: MEMO_ARCH_03563, Alfred Sturm, Normandie 6 juin 1944, typescript.
3. Allan Michie, Honour for All, p. 118.
4. Cited in Atkinson, Guns at Last Light, p. 90.
5. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/LL62CYPxJb5n0XChgJ8sMT/d-day-1pm-correspondents-reports-continued
6. NWWIIM: Vandervoort report, typescript.
7. NWWIIM: Otis Sampson, typescript account.
8. NWWIIM: John Fitzgerald, typescript account.
9. NWWIIM: Vandervoort report, typescript.
10. NWWIIM: Otis Sampson, typescript account.
11. NWWIIM: John Fitzgerald, typescript account.
12. NWWIIM: Charles Sammon, typescript account.
13. NWWIIM: Vandervoort report, typescript.
14. OUCR: Anton Wuensch, typescript interview.
Chapter 24: Victory at Omaha
1. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, pp. 443–5.
2. Paris News, Texas, 27 May 1984, p. 11.
3. Clifford Graves, Front Line Surgeons, Frye and Smith, 1950, p. vi.
4. Dennis L. Breo, ‘June 6, 1944: Two Doctors Relive D-Day Dangers’, Journal of the American Medical Association, 8 June 1994.
5. Graves, Front Line Surgeons, p. 203.
6. Treadwell Ireland, ‘The Youngest Surgeon’, Action Medical Journal, 2 June 1994 (typescript in NWWIIM).
7. OUCR: Alfred Eigenberg, interview typescript, and Eigenberg’s letter to Reader’s Digest (also in OUCR).
8. Cited in Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 411f.
9. Balkoski, Omaha Beach, p. 269.
10. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 458.
11. NWWIIM: John Raaen, typescript account.
12. Balkoski, Omaha Beach, p. 274.
13. NWWIIM: Carl Weast, typescript account.
14. Balkoski, Omaha Beach, pp. 292–3.
15. NWWIIM: William Gentry, typescript account.
16. https://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/d-day-horace-flack-margaret-flack-and-the-uss-harding/3/
17. NWWIIM: Harding Action Report, typescript account.
18. Balkoski, Omaha Beach, p. 288 (from an interview with Captain Joseph Dawson).
Chapter 25: Frontier Fighting
1. Bailey, Forgotten Voices, pp. 319–20.
2. OUCR: Donald Gardner, typescript interview.
3. Liddle, D-Day, p. 148.
4. IWM: 12778, Peter Martin, audio interview.
5. IWM: 21290, Richard Gosling, audio interview.
6. IWM: 9297, Harold Siggins, audio interview.
7. Cited in Martin Bowman, Air War D-Day: Gold, Juno, Sword, p. 153.
8. Robert Kershaw, D-Day, p. 305.
9. Bob Rae, interview in Portugal (ed.), We Were There, vol. 2, The Army, p. 661f.
10. Bob Rae, interview in ibid., p. 1458f.
11. Mark Zuehlke, Juno Beach, p. 324ff.
Chapter 26: Panzer Attack
1. OUCR: Colonel von Oppeln-Bronikowski, typescript interview.
2. Ibid.
3. OUCR: Werner Kortenhaus, typescript interview.
4. OUCR: General Edgar Feuchtinger, typescript interview.
5. OUCR: Colonel von Oppeln-Bronikowski, typescript interview.
6. Captain Herr, interview in Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, pp. 395–9.
7. OUCR: Colonel von Oppeln-Bronikowski, typescript interview.
8. OUCR: Hayn, Die Invasion, typescript translation.
9. OUCR: Wilhelm von Gottberg, typescript interview.
10. Captain Herr, interview in Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, pp. 395–9.
11. OUCR: Wilhelm von Gottberg, typescript interview.
12. OUCR: Colonel von Oppeln-Bronikowski, typescript interview.
13. Captain Herr, interview in Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, pp. 395–9.
14. OUCR: Walter Hermes, typescript interview.
15. OUCR: Colonel von Oppeln-Bronikowski, typescript interview.
16. IWM: 18004, George Rayson, audio interview.
17. Ibid.
18. IWM: 20009, Leslie Perry, audio interview.
19. Ibid., quoting Jim Hunter.
20. IWM: 18004, George Rayson, audio interview.
21. http://nvx.franceinfo.fr/leur6juin1944/hans/
22. IWM: 13390, John Barnes, audio interview.
23. Cited in Ken Ford and Howard Gerrard, D-Day 1944: Sword Beach and the British Airborne Landings, p. 69.
24. IWM: 17979, Arthur Blizzard, audio interview.
Chapter 27: Twilight
1. Lovat, March Past, p. 327.
2. IWM: 20940, Stanley ‘Scotty’ Scott, audio interview.
3. Donald Gilchrist, Don’t Cry for Me, p. 64.
4. LHCMA: Mills-Roberts, Clash by Night (author’s hand-corrected proof).
5. LHCMA: Cliff Morris, United We Conqered (sic) or The Diary of a Commando Soldier, unpublished handwritten manuscript.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
8. Cited in Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 467.
9. LHCMA: Cliff Morris, United We Conqered (sic) or The Diary of a Commando Soldier, unpublished handwritten manuscript
10. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 467.
11. LHCMA: Cliff Morris, United We Conqered (sic) or The Diary of a Commando Soldier, unpublished handwritten manuscript
Chapter 28: Night
1. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 454.
2. IWM: 14987, Irene Gray, audio interview.
3. IWM: 12590, Patrick Bayly, audio interview.
4. IWM: 29996, Mike Brown, audio interview.
5. IWM: 21877, James Cramer, audio interview.
6. NWWIIM: Sam Gibbons, typescript account.
7. NWWIIM: Otis Sampson, typescript account.
8. OUCR: Helmut Lang, typescript interview.
9. Lionel Ellis, Victory in the West: The Battle of Normandy, vol. 1, p. 216.
10. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 448.
11. OUCR: Koch, Erwin Rommel, typescript translation.
12. OUCR: Helmut Lang, typescript interview.
13. LHCMA: Cliff Morris, United We Conqered (sic) or The Diary of a Commando Soldier, unpublished handwritten manuscript.
14. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 468.
15. Ibid., p. 472.
16. Ibid., p. 462.
17. IWM: 18827, Harry Pinnegar, audio interview.
18. Miller, Nothing Less than Victory, p. 471.
19. NWWIIM: Harold Baumgarten, typescript account.
20. NWWIIM: Robert Miller, typescript account.
21. Ernie Pyle and David Nichols, Ernie’s War: The Best of Ernie Pyle’s World War II Dispatches, pp. 277–80. See also http://teachers.sduhsd.net/mgaughen/docs/OnWWII.pdf
Afterword
1. See Lieutenant Colonel F.A. Osmanski, Logistical Planning of Operation Overlord, Archives Section, Library Services, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Doc No.: 2128.67.