Ardennes 1944: Hitler's Last Gamble (58 page)

‘the women sang in clear strong …’
, etc., 25.12.44, CBHD

‘visibility was almost nil’
, Brigadier A. W. Brown, IWM Documents 13781 73/18/1

‘swept up the bridge’
, 25.12.44, CBHD

150th Panzer-Brigade, ‘Ardennes Offensive’, Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny, ETHINT 12

‘hindering the operation of the corps …’
, SS-Oberstgruppenführer Sepp Dietrich, ETHINT 15

‘amateurish, almost frivolous …’
, Heydte, FMS B-823

Kampfgruppe Heydte, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/5541 SIR 1444; also TNA WO 208/3628, TNA WO 208/3612

wire across road, NARA RG 498 290/56/2, Box 1456

‘ambushed, captured and …’
, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455

‘taken off believing …’
, 18.12.44, GBP; and V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455

Failure to report parachutes found, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1459

Heydte Kampfgruppe casualties, ibid.

Peiper Kampfgruppe at Stoumont, Peiper, FMS C-004

Saint-Edouard sanatorium, Peter Schrijvers,
The
Unknown Dead: Civilians in the Battle of the Bulge
, Lexington, KY, 2005, 54–6

‘From his place of concealment …’
, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455

‘Our battalion advanced …’
, TNA WO 311/54

‘Some of them came along …’
, conversation with Obergefreiter Pompe of the 18th Volksgrenadier-Division, CSDIC, TNA WO 311/54

105th Engineer Battalion, NARA RG 407 290/56/5/1–3, Box 7

3rd Fallschirmjäger, Faymonville, Operations of the Sixth Panzer Army, FMS A-924

‘poor physical specimens’
, etc., Kurt Vonnegut, C-Span, New Orleans, 30.5.95

‘showers, warm beds …’
, NARA RG 407 E 427-A (270/65/4/7)

‘Do not flee …’
, CBMP, Box 4

‘the largest surrender …’
, Kurt Vonnegut, C-Span, New Orleans, 30.5.95

‘inferred that the two …’
, Colonel Walter Stanton, deputy chief of staff VIII Corps, NARA RG 407 270/65/8/2 ML 299

‘Endless columns of prisoners …’
, Diary of Oberleutnant Behman, Maurice Delaval Collection, Box 7, USAMHI

‘licking its wounds’
, RWHP, Box 1

‘the only Jerries we found …’
, etc., ibid.

‘hysterical and a nervous wreck …’
, Hauptmann Gaum, 3rd Battalion
Führer Begleit
Brigade, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/3611

‘lifted the man’s head up …’
, Hans Post,
One Man in his Time
, Sydney, 2002, 170

‘an ugly professional …’
, Ralph Ingersoll,
Top Secret
, London, 1946, 162

‘fabulous Jeep …’
, 20.12.44, CBHD

‘The present situation …’
, etc., Charles B. MacDonald,
A Time for Trumpets: The Untold Story of the
Battle of the Bulge
, New York, 1984, 420; Dwight D. Eisenhower,
Crusade in Europe
, London, 1948, 371

‘On the morning of December 21st …’
, D. K. R. Crosswell,
Beetle: The Life of General Walter Bedell Smith
, Lexington, KY, 2010, 812

Patton and date of counter-attack,
PP
, 599

‘Every time I get a new star …’
,
PP
, 600

‘fighting mad’
,
‘I don’t want to commit …’
, 19.12.44, CBHD

‘Where are you going?’
, VIII Corps, NARA RG 407 270/65/8/2 ML 299

The fighting in Wiltz,
‘The Breakthrough to Bastogne’
, typescript, n.d., CMH 8-3.1 AR

Scenes in Bastogne, Lieutenant
Ed Shames, in Tim G. W. Holbert, ‘Brothers at Bastogne – Easy Company’s Toughest Task’,
World War II Chronicles
, Winter 2004/5, 22–5

‘a hod-carrying …’
, Louis Simpson,
Selected Prose
, New York, 1989, 121

‘We have been wiped out’
, NARA RG 407 270/65/8/2 ML 130

‘The surprise was complete’
, Generalmajor Heinz Kokott, 26th Volksgrenadier-Division, FMS B-040

‘painful losses’
, ibid.

‘The enemy had made …’
, ibid.

Panzer Lehr draining fuel tanks, Generalleutnant Fritz Bayerlein, FMS A-941

‘day of surprises’
, ibid.

‘not sufficiently coherent …’
, ibid.

‘Ammunition and rations …’
, Kokott, FMS B-040

20th Armored Infantry at Noville, William R. Desobry Papers, USAMHI, and NARA RG 407 270/65/8/2 ML 130

‘to go through the whole daggone …’
, NARA RG 407 270/65/8/2 ML 130

‘They spread out …’
, William R. Desobry Papers, USAMHI

‘You know those sound …’
, Holbert, ‘Brothers at Bastogne – Easy Company’s Toughest Task’, 22–5

‘Go on back …’
, quoted George E. Koskimaki,
The Battered Bastards of Bastogne: The 101st Airborne in the Battle of the Bulge
, New York, 2007, 113

Capture of 326th Field Hospital, CMH
Medical
, 409–14

Desobry’s fortunes, William R. Desobry Papers, USAMHI

‘laid in rows …’
, CMH
Medical
, 414

‘We arrive at First Army HQ …’
, Carol Mather,
When the Grass Stops Growing
, Barnsley, 1997, 284–7

‘got any bloody tanks …’
, ibid., 286

‘oddly deserted countryside’
,
‘He is considerably …’
, ibid., 287

‘clearly alarmed’
, etc., ibid.

‘Limey bastards’
, Crosswell, 814

‘Certainly if Monty’s were …’
, CMH
SC
, 378

‘By God, Ike …’
, Kenneth Strong,
Intelligence at the Top
, London, 1970, 226

‘absolutely livid … walked up and down …’
, Coningham, FCP
SC

‘Montgomery for a long time …’
, Bedell Smith, FCP
SC

‘as the personal inspiration …’
, Ingersoll, 205

‘as a slam to me’
, Chester B. Hansen Collection, Box 42, S-25, USAMHI

‘extremely delicate’
, Carol Mather,
When the Grass Stops Growing
, Barnsley, 1997, 287

‘completely out of touch’
, Sir Carol Mather docs., IWM, 11/28/1 5

‘On the important question …’
, ibid.

‘Monty, we are in a bit …’
, Dempsey, FCP
SC

‘like Christ …’
, quoted Nigel Hamilton,
Monty: Master of the Battlefield 1942–1944
, London, 1984, 213

‘What’s the form?’
,
‘It was a slight …’
, Mather, 288

‘The General is now well located …’
, 23.12.44, PWS

‘the weakest commander …’
, Bedell Smith, FCP
SC

‘whether we can hold …’
, 21.12.44, PWS

‘We sandwiched the thermite grenades …’
, Ralph Ingersoll,
Top Secret
, London, 1946, 200

‘The best way to handle …’
, ‘The Ardennes’, CSI Battlebook 10-A, May 1984

‘four inside and eleven …’
, ibid.

‘Schloss Hemingstein 1944’
, Carlos Baker,
Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story
, New York, 1969, 558

‘caused a considerable waste …’
, Generalmajor Siegfried von Waldenburg, 116th Panzer-Division, FMS A-873

Easy Company, Lieutenant Ed Shames, in Tim G. W. Holbert,‘Brothers at Bastogne – Easy Company’s Toughest Task’,
World War II Chronicles
, Winter 2004/5, 22–5

Retreat from Noville, Charles B. MacDonald,
A Time for Trumpets: The Untold Story of the
Battle of the Bulge
, New York, 1984, 499–500

‘the fog up front …’
,
‘Dead were lying …’
, quoted Peter Schrijvers,
Those Who Hold
Bastogne
, New Haven, CN, 2014, 63

‘The 2nd Panzer …’
, etc., Generalmajor Heinz Kokott, 26th Volksgrenadier-Division, FMS B-040

‘considered Bastogne …’
, Generalleutnant Fritz Bayerlein, Panzer Lehr Division, FMS A-941

‘Is Bastogne to be …’
, Kokott, FMS B-040.

‘The Division dutifully …’
, ibid.

‘the deep rumble …’
, ibid.

‘with devastating …’
, ibid.

‘seated negligently …’
, Louis Simpson,
Selected Prose
, New York, 1989, 137–8

Action at Cheneux, Charles B. MacDonald,
The Battle of the Bulge
, London, 1984, 448–9

‘still very bad’
, etc., RWHP, Box 1

‘We stressed to every …’
, Maj. Donald P. Boyer Jr, S-3, ‘Narrative Account of Action of 38th Armored Infantry Battalion’, n.d., RWHP, Box 1

Führer Begleit
Brigade, Generalmajor Otto Remer, ETHINT 80

‘neck-deep’
, etc., Mack Morriss, ‘The Defense of Stavelot’,
Yank
, 9.2.45

SS atrocities in Stavelot, NARA RG 407 290/56/5/1–3, Box 7

Fighting in Stavelot on 20 December, ibid.

‘for the most part impassable …’
, Operations of the Sixth Panzer Army, FMS A-924

‘under almost continuous …’
, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455

Items taken from Camp Elsenborn,
Richard H. Byers,
‘The Battle of the Bulge’
, Richard H. Byers Papers, Box 1, USAMHI

‘Sherman Ecke’
, ‘The concentrated …’, 3rd Panzergrenadier-Division, FMS A-978

‘Farmers learned to take …’
, Peter Schrijvers,
The
Unknown Dead: Civilians in the Battle of the Bulge
, Lexington, KY, 2005, 30

‘a ring of steel’
, MacDonald,
A Time for Trumpets
, 406

‘Soon I noticed that …’
, Arthur S. Couch, ‘An American Infantry Soldier in World War II Europe’, unpublished memoir, private collection

German casualties, MacDonald,
A Time for Trumpets
, 407

‘That is precisely …’
, Martin Lindsay,
So Few Got Through
, Barnsley, 2000, 161

Movement order to XXX Corps, TNA WO 231/30

‘bombed-up, tanked up …’
, J. W. Cunningham, IWM Documents 15439 06/126/1

‘a small but steady …’
, Brigadier A. W. Brown, IWM Documents 13781 73/18/1

‘I felt that we were all right …’
, Bedell Smith, FCP
SC

‘clamped down …’
,
Time
, 1.1.45

‘Personally I would like to shoot …’
, 21.12.44, Hobart Gay Papers, USAMHI

‘disastrous results …’
, Memo, R. H. C. Drummond-Wolff, chief, Liberated Territories Desk, PWD, 21.12.44, C. D. Jackson Papers, Box 3, DDE Lib

‘The wholly unexpected …’
, Fritz Hockenjos, Kriegstagebuch, BA-MA, MsG2 4038

‘You cannot imagine …’
, LHC-DP, No. 217, II, 5, quoted Ian Kershaw,
The End: Hitler’s Germany 1944–45
, London, 2011, 156

‘Be practical …’
, Antony Beevor,
Berlin: The Downfall
1945
, London, 2002, 1

‘Just rumble forward …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4364 GRGG 235/6

‘The old principle of tank warfare: “forward, forward, forward!” …’
, ibid.

‘This offensive is terrific!’
, ibid.

‘That man will never …’
, ibid.

‘It’s Wednesday …’
, ibid.

‘pocketed without adequate supplies’
, Peiper, FMS C-004

Detilleux, Wanne and Refat, Peter Schrijvers,
The Unknown Dead: Civilians in the Battle of the Bulge
, Lexington, KY, 2005, 57–8

‘duck shooting’
, NARA RG 407 290/56/5/1–3, Box 7

‘After we saw …’
, Mack Morriss, ‘The Defense of Stavelot’,
Yank
, 9.2.45

‘The prisoner bag is thus far small …’
, 21.12.44, PWS

‘Prisoners from the 12th SS?’
, 24.12.44, CBHD

‘caked in mud’
,
‘The GIs looked …’
, 21.12.44, CBHD

‘General Collins is full …’
, 21.12.44, PWS

‘Monty would come …’
, J. Lawton Collins, SOOHP, Box 1, USAMHI

Hasbrouck and Clarke on Ridgway, Jonathan M. Soffer,
General Matthew B. Ridgway
, Westport, CN, 1998, 71

‘dread Panzerfaust’
, etc., Major Donald P. Boyer Jr, RWHP, Box 1

‘would prove to be …’
, ibid.