Armageddon (105 page)

“
Ils ne payent pas
”: Ibid., p. 610.

“Russians had a stereotype”: Yelena Senyavshaya,
Journal Voenno-Istorichesky Archiv,
no. 2 (26), 2000, p. 116.

“I can’t say we liked”: Ibid.

“Come on, we said”: Ibid., p. 119.

“Lieutenant Valentin Krulik”: AI Valentin Krulik.

“As Major Dmitry Kalafati”: AI Dmitry Kalafati.

“Lieutenant Vladimir Gormin”: AI Vladimir Gormin.

“I was indignant that”: AI Yulia Pozdnyakova.

“Three of our agents”: 1.14.45, RSA Stalin files.

“I do not believe that”: Quoted Walter Isaacson and Evan Thomas,
The Wise Men
(Faber: 1986), p. 244.

“The British would take”: FDR to Stettinius, 3.17.45.

“We spoke very little”: AI Yury Ryakhovsky.

“It was a pity”: AI Pavel Nikiforov.

“Complex feelings of insecurity”: Orlando Figes,
Natasha’s Dance
(Weidenfeld & Nicolson: 2002), p. 63.

“They are aware”: Sebastian, op. cit., p. 618.

“I was filled with”: Milovan Djilas,
Wartime
(Secker & Warburg: 1980), p. 391.

“John Erickson, British”: John Erickson,
The Road to Berlin
(Weidenfeld & Nicolson: 1983), p. 314.

“In those days”: AI W. F. Deedes.

“Normandy had been”: AI Captain “Dim” Robbins.

“We thought: that’s it”: Jackson letter to the author, 8.10.2001.

“we were told that”: AI Captain “Dim” Robbins.

“Everything is going”: George Turner-Cain Diary, LHA.

“A Jerry gives himself”: John M. Thorpe, unpublished MS “A Soldier’s Tale,” G. P. B. Roberts Papers, LHA.

“Dear Mum”: Gow Papers, IWM, Cons. shelf.

“We could not believe our eyes”: Rudolf Lehmann and Ralf Tiemann,
The Leibstandarte, Parts iv/1 and iv/2:
(J. J. Fedorowicz Publishing: 1993), p. 237.

“Well, that’s it then”: AI Fritz van den Broek.

“It was a glorious feeling”: AI Theodore Wempe.

“This period was made up”: Brigadier J. S. W. Stone, MS, LHA.

“As we went across France”: Hansen Papers, box 39a, USAMHI.

“Early victory in”: H. G. Nicholas ed.,
Washington Despatches 1941–45
(Weidenfeld & Nicolson: 1981), p. 418.

“The Allied Control Commission”: F. S. V. Donnison,
Civil Affairs and Military Government: North-West Europe 1944–46
(HMSO: 1961), p. 72.

“Until mid-September”: Pogue, op. cit., p. 189.

“It is at least as likely”: Quoted F. H. Hinsley and others,
British Intelligence in the Second World War,
vol. iii, part 2 (HMSO: 1988), p. 179.

“[It] is tolerably certain”: Ibid.

“Brad believes the Germans”: Hansen Diary, USAMHI.

“The Allies should be”: Second Army, MD.

“Our only hope”: Ibid.

“We were amazed that”: AI Helmut Günther.

“For the thousands locked up”: Von Stemann, unpublished MS, IWM, p. 182.

“and then the war will be over”: Ibid., p. 185.

“It is dreadful to read”: Second Army MD.

“My nerves are bad”: Ibid.

“Today is Sunday”: Ibid.

“Asked whether they still believed”: Ibid.

“a belief that I had”: AI Hans-Otto Polluhmer.

“Eugen Ernst”: AI Stolten.

“An American survey of”: Quoted Omer Bartov,
Hitler’s Army
(Oxford University Press: 1991), p. 144.

“We reached a point where”: Quoted Michael Reynolds,
Men of Steel
(Spellmount: 1999), p. 39.

“We recognized that”: AI Bruno Bochum.

“Throughout August”: Charles Richardson,
Send for Freddie
(Kimber: 1987), p. 164.

“Both Antwerp and Rotterdam”: L. F. Ellis,
Victory in the West,
vol. ii (HMSO: 1968), p. 5.

“Had any indication been given”: G. P. B. Roberts,
From the Desert to the Baltic
(Kimber: 1987), p. 212.

“quite unfit to command troops”: BLM to Commodore William Hayes, quoted Jeffrey Williams,
The Long Left Flank
(Leo Cooper: 1985), p. 22.

“The C-in-C intimated”: Crerar Papers, quoted ibid., p. 35.

“Crerar refused to raise the issue”: Ibid., p. 38.

“a bad mistake—I underestimated”: Field-Marshal the Viscount Montgomery,
Memoirs
(Collins: 1958), p. 297.

“blamed himself specifically”: Richardson, op. cit., p. 161.

“grew steadily more”: Ibid., p. 166.

“Transport, signals and heavy”: Second Army MD.

“My men can eat their belts”: Murray and Millett, op. cit., p. 433.

“In September, 1,400”: David Fletcher,
British Military Transport
(HMSO: 1956), p. 109.

“utter disregard of property”: 1.23.45, NA, RG492–332, box 12.

“In the ten days ending”: PRO, WO106/4348.

“I am being attacked”: Quoted Carlo d’Este,
Patton: A Genius for War
(Harper-Collins: 1995), p. 662.

“The movement naturally produced”: Ronald Ruppenthal,
The Logistical Support of the Armies,
vol. ii (Department of the Army: 1959), p. 31.

“lethargy and smugness”: Ibid., p. 349.

“Lee . . . never ceased”: Ibid., p. 362.

“an efficient little shit”: C. P. Stacey,
A Date with History
(Deneau: 1984), p. 135.

“The difference between him”: Goronwy Rees,
A Bundle of Sensations
(London: 1960), p. 174.

“We had total faith”: AI Roy Dixon.

“I’ve just been sacked”: O’Connor MSS 11/14, LHA.

“A member of Montgomery’s staff”: T. E. B. Howarth private communication to the author. Howarth, one of Montgomery’s liaison officers, edited a collection of personal reminiscences about the field-marshal,
Monty at Close Quarters
(Leo Cooper: 1985). He told me the above story, expressing regret that he had felt obliged to exclude it from the anthology, “because I don’t think the world’s quite ready for it yet.” I am happy to remedy the omission.

“was sowing the seeds”: Lord Tedder,
With Prejudice
(Cassell: 1966), p. 586.

“There was a confusion of”: Richardson, op. cit., p. 163.

“to hustle all”: Harry Butcher,
My Three Years with Eisenhower
(Simon & Schuster: 1946), p. 551.

“Have you not got”: Field-Marshal Lord Alanbrooke,
War Diaries 1939–1945
(Weidenfeld & Nicolson: 2001), p. 226.

“Whatever balls-ups”: AI Field-Marshal Lord Bramall.

“almost with a physical pain”: Ladislas Farago,
Patton: Ordeal and Triumph
(Dell Books: 1979), p. 647.

“I am no Montgomery-lover”: WBS to DDE, 4.1.48, Smith Papers quoted Carlo d’Este,
Eisenhower
(HarperCollins: 2003), p. 581.

“Brad and Patton agree”: Hansen Diary, op. cit.

“The national press is”: Turner-Cain Diary, op. cit.

“My own choice of”: DDE to BLM, 9.20.44, Papers of Field-Marshal Viscount Montgomery.

CHAPTER TWO: THE BRIDGES TO ARNHEM

“No wife or mother”: Winston S. Churchill,
The Second World War,
vol. v,
Closing The Ring
(Cassell: 1952), p. 583.

“Brereton”: Hansen Diary, op. cit.

“I am for the latter”: General James Gavin Diary, box 8, USAMHI.

“This is the end”: AI W. F. Deedes.

“Yet when Bedell-Smith”: Charles B. MacDonald,
The Siegfried Line Campaign
(Office of the Chief of Military History: 1963), p. 122.

“[Browning] unquestionably lacks”: Gavin Diary, op. cit.

“We called it Operation KCB”: AI John Killick.

“It looks very rough”: Gavin Diary, op. cit., 9.12.44.

“De Guingand telephoned”: Richardson, op. cit., p. 164.

“Montgomery’s jealousy of”: AI General Sir David Fraser.

“We feared we’d never”: AI Bob Peatling.

“the biggest and thickest men”: AI Jack Reynolds.

“There is no doubt”: Julius Neave Diary, IWM, 98/23/1.

“we were young”: AI John Killick.

“More than life itself”: Jack Curtis Goldman,
Tales of a Combat Glider Pilot
(privately published: 2000), p. 94.

“We were really happy”: Ibid., p. 97.

“those whom the MO thought”: Trinder MS, IWM, 85/8/1.

“These soldiers were thinking”: I should acknowledge a debt to Robert Kershaw’s excellent study of the German experience at Arnhem,
It Never Snows in September
(Crowood: 1990), for much eyewitness testimony and significant insights into the German tactical conduct of the battle.

“ ‘Idiots!’ we thought”: AI Wolfgang Dombrowski.

“Head for the sound of gunfire!”: AI Erwin Heck.

“They were so beaten”: Quoted Kershaw, op. cit., p. 105.

“Take that fucking”: AI John Killick.

“Peatling returned after an hour”: AI Bob Peatling.

“On Monday morning”: AI Jack Reynolds.

“In some ways”: AI John Killick.

“A tall, lithe figure”: Chester Wilmot,
The Struggle for Europe
(Collins: 1952), p. 470.

“At the time”: AI General Sir David Fraser.

“Captain Karl Godau”: AI Karl Godau.

“Jack Reynolds and his unit”: AI Jack Reynolds.

“There was a lot of toing”: AI Ron Graydon.

“In his lonely attic”: AI Bob Peatling.

“I was amazed by their stupidity”: James Gavin MS, “Beyond the Stars,” p. 91, Gavin Papers, USAMHI.

“Ridgway himself, that very”: Clay Blair,
Ridgway’s Paratroopers
(Dial Press: 1985), p. 341.

“A British tank commander”: Andy Cropper,
Dad’s War
(Anmas Publications: 1995).

“One of the worst sights”: Thorpe MS, op. cit., LHA.

“Very bitter fighting”: Turner-Cain Diary, op. cit., LHA.

“
Intention:
12 KRRC”: Operation order in possession of Major W. F. Deedes.

“Keep up lads”: N. L. Francis MS, IWM, 88/58/1.

“Brigadier arrived in the p.m.”: Neave Diary, op. cit., 9.25.44, IWM.

“In the years to come”: Quoted
The Brereton Diaries
(William Morrow: 1946), p. 371.

“The soldiers who beat back”: Second Army MD, 12.8.44.

“Private Bob Peatling”: AI Bob Peatling.

“There was considerable”: Wilmot, op. cit., p. 519.

“it is arguable that Eisenhower”: Geoffrey Powell,
The Devil’s Birthday
(Buchan & Enright: 1984), p. 252.

“Sergeant Erwin Heck”: AI Erwin Heck.

“It was pretty dismaying”: AI John Killick.

“Lieutenant Jack Reynolds”: AI Jack Reynolds.

“When Corporal Denis Thomas”: AI Denis Thomas.

“Gavin of the U.S. 82nd”: James Gavin,
On to Berlin
(Viking: 1978), p. 232.

“Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris”: To the author, 8.4.77.

“The enemy has gained”: British Second Army Intelligence Report.

“the Germans would have”: Freddie de Guingand MS, “Arnhem—A Note for Posterity,” quoted Richardson, op. cit., p. 166.

CHAPTER THREE: THE FRONTIERS OF GERMANY

“The Allied drive lost”: Report of General Board of U.S. Forces in ETO, “Strategy of Campaign in North-West Europe 1944–45,” USAMHI.

“In one of the Moselle bridgeheads at Comy”: NA, RG492–332, box 11.

“We lost time because”: Ibid.

“Every day seems like the day”: Reimers Papers, USAMHI.

“Von Rundstedt’s deployments”: Wilmot, op. cit., p. 482.

“I took a dim view”: NA, RG492–332, box 11.

“Bradley argued that”: Hansen Papers, box 39a, USAMHI.