Ardennes 1944: Hitler's Last Gamble (60 page)

‘We feel like we …’
, Denyse de Coune, ‘Souvenirs de guerre: Assenois 1944–5’, p. 125, quoted Peter Schrijvers,
The Unknown Dead: Civilians in the Battle of the Bulge
, Lexington, KY, 2005, p. xiii

‘showed understanding’
, General der
Panzertruppe Heinrich von Lüttwitz, XLVII Panzer Corps, FMS A-939

Haid, Jean-Michel Delvaux,
La Bataille des Ardennes autour de Rochefort
, 2 vols., Hubaille, 2004–5, i, 341

Advance from Sorinnes, Brigadier A. W. Brown, IWM Documents 13781 73/18/1

Armoured vehicles at Celles, TNA WO 231/30

‘The Americans were mad …’
, Jean-Michel Delvaux,
La Bataille des Ardennes autour de Celles
, Hubaille, 2003, 103

‘divisional units which …’
, Generalmajor Siegfried von Waldenburg, 116th Panzer-Division, FMS A-873

‘a lot to learn’
, VIII Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1463

‘Their tanks left …’
, VIII Corps, NARA RG 407 270/65/8/2 ML 299

‘A clear cold Christmas …’
,
PP
, 606

‘It cut deep …’
, Schrijvers,
Unknown Dead
, 31

‘The bombers have fine …’
, Richard Henry Byers, ‘Battle of the Bulge’, typescript, 1983

‘like a swarm of wasps’
, etc., Leutnant Martin Opitz, 295th Volksgrenadier-Division, NARA RG 407 290/56/ 5/1–3, Box 7

‘Monty was always expecting …’
, etc., Chester B. Hansen Collection, Box 42, S-7, USAMHI

‘the First Army cannot attack …’
,
PP
, 606

‘I am sure …’
, Chester B. Hansen Collection, Box 42, S-7, USAMHI

‘You know, we exploited …’
, Bedell Smith, FCP
SC

‘Months Added to War?’
,
Daily Express
, Stanley Weintraub,
Eleven Days in December
, New York, 2006, 79

‘The Kraut has stuck …’
, 26.12.44, CBHD

‘This has been a very bad …’
,
PP
, 605

‘Today has been rather …’
,
PP
, 607

The fires in Bastogne, Peter Schrijvers,
Those Who Hold Bastogne
, New Haven, CN, 2014, 130

‘cut loose at 300 feet’
, Royce L. Thompson, ‘Air Resupply to Isolated Units, Ardennes Campaign’, OCMH, Feb. 1951, typescript, CMH 2-3.7 AE P

‘The medical personnel …’
, 26.12.44, CBHD

‘many amputations’
, CMH
Medical
, 422

37th Tank Battalion,
American Valor Quarterly
, Summer 2008, 19

Assenois, NARA RG 407 270/65/8/2 ML 130

‘it was all over’
, Generalmajor Rudolf Freiherr von Gersdorff and Generalmajor Heinz Kokott, ETHINT 44

‘But what spirit!’
, Major Frank, commander III/13th Fallschirmjäger, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4140 SRM 1148

‘the
Führer Begleit
Brigade …’
, General der Panzertruppe Heinrich von Lüttwitz, XLVII Panzer Corps, ETHINT 42

Martha Gellhorn and Leland Stowe, 26.12.44, CBHD

‘Fortunately, the RAF were not …’
, Brigadier A. W. Brown, IWM Documents 13781 73/18/1

Order to Kampfgruppe Holtmeyer to withdraw, General der Panzertruppe Heinrich von Lüttwitz, XLVII Panzer Corps, FMS A-939

‘Luckily the enemy was …’
, Oberstleutnant Rüdiger Weiz, 2nd Panzer-Division, FMS B-456

‘Moi, pas Allemand! …’
, Jean-Michel Delvaux,
La Bataille des Ardennes autour de Rochefort
, 2 vols., Hubaille, 2004–5, i, 218

Buissonville, ibid., 304 and 308

‘It was estimated that …’
, Colonel Shaffer F. Jarrell, VII Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1459

‘a vast cemetery …’
, Jean-Michel Delvaux,
La Bataille des Ardennes autour de Celles
, Hubaille, 2003, 94

‘We want to do in Belgium …’
, diary of Sister Alexia Bruyère, 26.12.44, quoted Delvaux,
Rochefort
, i, 143

Surrounded Kampfgruppe of 116th Panzer-Division, Generalmajor Siegfried von Waldenburg, FMS A-873

‘motor fuel was so scarce …’
, Generalmajor Otto Remer, ETHINT 80

‘four or five tanks with …’
, CC A from 3rd Armored Division, TNA WO 231/30

3rd SS Panzergrenadier-Regiment and Grandménil, FMS P-109

‘the enemy opened fire …’
, Alfred Zerbel, 3rd SS Panzergrenadier-Regiment
Deutschland
, FMS P-109

‘If the soldier does not need …’
, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1463

‘people were struggling …’
, Peter Schrijvers,
The Unknown Dead: Civilians in the Battle of the Bulge
, Lexington, KY, 2005, 183

‘Most of them were burned …’
, ibid., 184

‘Saint-Vith is still burning …’
, Leutnant Martin Opitz, 295th Volksgrenadier-Division, NARA RG 407 290/56/5/1–3, Box 7

‘a giant heap …’
, ibid.

Bombing campaign, La Roche, TNA WO 231/30

‘Things continued to look …’
, 26.12.44, PWS

‘stagnating conservatism …’
, 26.12.44, CBHD

‘Monty is a tired …’
, 27.12.44,
PP
, 608

‘
Mein Führer
…’
, etc., Samuel W. Mitcham Jr,
Panzers in Winter
, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2008, 153–4

‘traitors’
,
‘I know the war is lost …’
, Nicolaus von Below,
Als Hitlers Adjutant, 1937–1945
, Mainz, 1980, 398

Airdrop on Bastogne, 27 December, Royce L. Thompson, ‘Air Resupply to Isolated Units, Ardennes Campaign’, OCMH, Feb. 1951, typescript, CMH 2-3.7 AE P

Belly landing, George E. Koskimaki,
The Battered Bastards of Bastogne:
The 101st Airborne in the Battle of the Bulge
, New York, 2007, 365–6

‘With the enemy attack losing …’
,
‘further delay will …’
, 12th Army Group, NARA RG 407 270/65/7/2 ML 209

‘counter-attack started too early …’
,
‘from total …’
, Generalmajor Siegfried von Waldenburg, 116th Panzer-Division, FMS B-038

‘high intelligence channels …’
, 28.12.44, PWS

‘much smitten with …’
, 28.12.44, CBHD

‘the Americans have taken …’
, Montgomery letter to Mountbatten, 25.12.44, Nigel Hamilton,
Monty: The Field Marshal 1944–1976
, London, 1986, 238

‘in as grave a light …’
, CMH
Ardennes
, 610

‘General Hodges has had enough …’
, 27.12.44, PWS

‘the most conservative …’
, ibid.

‘You’re going to push …’
, J. Lawton Collins, SOOHP, USAMHI

‘Praise God from …’
, CMH
Ardennes
, 612

‘The roads are a sheet of ice …’
, William H. Simpson Papers, Box 11, USAMHI

Montgomery’s plan outlined at Zonhoven, Crerar diary, TNA CAB 106/1064

‘from four to five panzer divisions’
, 31.12.44, CBHD

‘Americans are very poor …’
, 2.1.45, CBHD

‘It looks to me as if …’
, Alanbrooke Diary, 30.12.44, LHCMA

‘full operational direction …’
, quoted Russell F. Weigley,
Eisenhower’s Lieutenants
, Bloomington, IN, 1990, 542–3

‘Under no circumstances …’
, quoted Hamilton,
Monty: The Field Marshal
, 275

‘In your latest letter …’
, DDE Lib, Box 83

‘the British public …’
, Eisenhower at SHAEF meeting on 30.12.44, Air Chief Marshal Sir James Robb’s notes, NARA RG 319 270/19/5-6/7-1, Boxes 215–16 2-3.7 CB 8

‘What shall I do …’
, F. de Guingand, quoted Hamilton,
Monty: The Field Marshal
, 279

‘Dear Ike …’
, DDE Lib, Box 83

‘It was so cold …’
, diary of Robert Calvert Jr, Company C, 51st Armored Infantry Battalion, 4th Armored
Division,
American Valor Quarterly
, Summer 2008, 22

‘a fighter-bomber attack …’
, Generalmajor Otto Remer, ETHINT 80

‘ten cargo-carrying …’
, ibid.

‘If this attack failed …’
, General der Panzertruppe Heinrich von Lüttwitz, XLVII Panzer Corps, FMS A-939

Fighting for Chenogne and Sibret, Remer, ETHINT 80

‘His instructions before …’
, Stephen E. Ambrose,
Band of Brothers
, New York, 2001, 194

‘Oscar’
, Koskimaki, 393

‘Now by God …’
, ibid., 391

35th Division, MFF-7, C1-107

‘cut to pieces’
, CMH
Ardennes
, 626

Battle round Lutrebois, III Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/5/2, Box 3

‘The SS spread the rumor …’
, etc., Generalmajor Ludwig Heilmann, 5th Fallschirmjäger-Division, FMS B-023

‘These road conditions …’
, Generalmajor Heinz Kokott, 26th Volksgrenadier-Division, FMS B-040

‘broke into houses …’
, TNA WO 311/54

‘bombers from the Eighth Air Force …’
, Third Army daily log, 31.12.44, Gaffey Papers, USAMHI

‘It is obvious that …’
, 30.12.44, CBHD

‘You could hear …’
, Letter, Eugene A. Watts, S-3, 52nd Armored Infantry Bn, 9th AD, 28.2.85, CBMP, Box 1

Horrocks on medical leave, Hamilton,
Monty: The Field Marshal
, 255–6

6th Airborne, Edward Horrell, IWM Documents 17408 10/4/1

Belgians and abandoned German equipment, Jean-Michel Delvaux,
La Bataille des Ardennes autour de Celles
, Hubaille, 2003, 40

Dead German officer, ibid., 36

‘The Ardennes has a pronounced …’
, A. J. Cowdery, Civil Affairs, IWM Documents 17395 10/18/1

‘with his beret and …’
, Liliane Delhomme, Jean-Michel Delvaux,
La Bataille des Ardennes autour de Rochefort
, 2 vols., Hubaille, 2004–5, ii, 241

Lance-Sergeant Walker, Letter to author from his son, Air Marshal Sir David Walker, 27.4.14

highballs and turkey, William H. Simpson Papers, Box 11, USAMHI

‘In his mess every night …’
, G. Patrick Murray, 1973, SOOHP

‘indiscriminately firing …’
, 31.12.44, PWS

‘talked passionately …’
, etc., 31.12.44, CBHD

‘At midnight all was still …’
, Ursula von Kardorff,
Diary of a Nightmare: Berlin 1942–1945
, London, 1965, 161

‘My prayer …’
, Leutnant Martin Opitz, 295th Volksgrenadier-Division, NARA RG 407 290/56/ 5/1–3, Box 7

‘The Reichsmarschall has …’
,
HLB
, 514, 517

‘They are all young …’
, Fähnrich Schmid, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4134 SRA 5615

‘What sort of training …’
, Oberleutnant Hartigs, 4/JG 26, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4135 SRA 5767

‘engine trouble’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4134 SRA 5515

‘used to fly …’
, Hartigs, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4135 SRA 5764 20/1/45

‘In our Staffel …’
, Feldwebel Halbritter, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4134 SRA 5569

‘seems to have run …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4135 SRA 5760 23/1/45

‘Well, what’s our Reichsmarschall …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4177

‘He had no understanding …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4292 USAFE/M.72

‘practically cried’
,
‘unless we …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4164 SRX 21091

‘take-off’
rations, ibid.

‘poured out his troubles …’
, Oberstleutnant Johann Kogler, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4177

‘the worst-informed …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4178

‘Herr General …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4177

‘We had been stationed …’
, Oberleutnant Hartigs, FW 190 4/JG 26, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4164 SRX 2086

‘Whoever [returns after failing] to attack …’
, ibid.

‘What a smashing …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4164 SRX 2086

‘One frustrated Typhoon pilot …’
, Sebastian Cox of the Air Historical Branch of the Ministry of Defence, e-mail to author, 18.8.14. I am most grateful for his corrections and precise figures for aircraft losses on both sides

‘closely parked in formation’
, 1.1.45, PWS

‘They caught the British …’
, 2.1.45, PWS

‘Mid-morning saw …’
, William H. Simpson Papers, Box 11, USAMHI

‘which tore a large hole …’
, Sebastian Cox, e-mail to author, 18.8.14