Schwerpunkt: From D-Day to the Fall of the Third Reich (34 page)

The race is on to get to Germany but Paris and two French generals stand in the way. Back in late 1943, the French 2
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Armored Division under General LeClerc was formed just so there would be a French unit involved in the eventual liberation of Paris. This division entered France through Utah Beach a couple of weeks ago in August and is now attached to General Patton’s Third Army. After the Falaise Gap was closed and we could move our troops eastwards again, Monsieur General LeClerc kept pestering headquarters to let his 2
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Armored Division lead the drive towards Paris. I guess there is some unwritten law somewhere that says that a French unit has to be the first to enter the French capitol, never mind the fact that up until a few weeks ago, they haven’t set foot in France to defend it for four years.

What’s been happening in Paris for the last couple of weeks is that the tide of Parisian rebellion has continued to grow and Resistance leaders are reporting to de Gaulle that Paris is ripe for liberating. It seems the French Resistance fighters have become more and more emboldened carrying out more and more acts against the Germans and now they think the time is just about right to oust the Boche from their city. According to de Gaulle, and Bradley agreed, with the French Resistance doing what they do best, it would probably take just a few well placed shots to force the Germans out of Paris. All they needed to know was whether help would be on the way if they needed it.

Battling the Krauts for Paris would accomplish nothing according to both Ike and Patton except to delay our advance towards Germany. From our intelligence reports we knew that the German military commander of Paris, General von Choltitz, had strong defenses outside the city. We calculated that he had about 20,000 Jerry troops we’d have to encounter on our way into Paris, mostly because we didn’t eliminate 100% of the bastards around Falaise, and about another 5,000 we’d have to defeat inside the city. We also knew what the Resistance fighters reported to de Gaulle but Ike thinks that it’s too early to take Paris. On top of that, we knew that the maniac Hitler had issued orders to destroy Paris if and when the Allieds attacked. If Ike couldn’t attack without the City of Lights turning into the City of Rubble, the only other alternative was a long, drawn out siege, but that would take about 4,000 tons of food per day to feed the population of Paris. If we got ourselves involved in that, we would have to supply Paris not only with more food than we had available, we’d end up rebuilding the whole damn city and Ike needed this like he needed another rectum. What he needed was to concentrate on winning the goddamn war. So SHAEF initially intended to simply bypass Paris and with that, we could evade the logistical problem of how to feed and shelter several million hungry, homeless Parisians.

With that as the decision of the Supreme Commander, we drew up our plans to continue the push towards the border of the Third Reich, bypassing the capitol of France. But because there wasn’t some huge plan calling for either him or General de Gaulle to lead a grand march into Paris, General LeClerc beefed directly to General Patton who promptly told him that he pretty much doesn’t give a rat’s ass who gets to Paris first because all he cares about is getting to Germany and kicking Hitler’s ass. Well as imagined, this caused quite a stir and it seems that to quell it, General LeClerc was transferred to General Gerow’s 5
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Corps. I don’t know if Frenchie realized he was still under Patton or not, but I guess it didn’t matter anyway since he didn’t consider General Gerow to be his superior commanding officer either. Unknown to us and the rest of the free world, General de Gaulle was apparently superior to everyone in any army so LeClerc says he is only taking orders from de Gaulle who wanted an immediate advance on Paris, and not from General Gerow who did not. Both Bradley and Patton assured le General that he would have the honor of marching into Paris when the time was right but they stressed that now was not the right time. I guess LeClerc wasn’t buying that since everywhere he looked he saw that American troops were closer to Paris than he was. One Corps was 25 miles below the city, another was at Chartres and another was at Orléans where they almost could have crawled to Paris, they were so close.

Well doesn’t that son of a bitch General de Gaulle send Ike an ultimatum and threaten to order his own attack on the city if his request to divert Allied (read: French) forces to enter the city is denied. And because he is de Gaulle after all, he then wanted Ike to assign to him a portion of the American forces to support the French after their march into Paris that Ike wanted no part of in the first place. I saw the letter and noted that Ike, Grand Master of massaging egos, had written in margin that he would now probably “be compelled to go into Paris.”

Honest to God, after all we’ve done for France, goddamn de Gaulle has the gonads to say he wanted the march into Paris to be undertaken by him and LeClerc’s French army
only
. What a piece of work. But Ike is so diplomatic, bless his soul, and he tells him that the war has been fought by all the Allieds to free France so it would have to be an Allied operation if there is to be any march into Paris. Well this dismayed both of those French generals but too goddamn bad, in my opinion. Goddamn Frogs.

It was just about a month ago when Patton had been ordered east to the Seine River to eliminate as many of the Germans evacuating Falaise as he could and he launched attack after attack to do it. Now he was just outside of Paris but he’d been ordered to halt, presumably to prevent him from overrunning his supply lines but more probably for political reasons. We heard that when he got there, he stopped as ordered but I can’t think that anyone figured that waiting at the Seine would be suitable to him. He was chomping at the bit to cross that river so he’d be that much closer to making his way over to Germany. Apparently, he kept sending patrols out, further and further each time. On August 19
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, one patrol found an intact bridge over the River Seine, 30 miles or so southeast of Paris. Brad told us that he got a call from General Patton saying that his men found a bridge over the Seine and that Patton had asked Brad’s permission to cross it. When Brad told Patton he was not supposed to be anywhere near there, Patton told Brad he had pissed in the Seine that morning but did Brad want him to retreat? Of course he wasn’t ordered to retreat and in fact, was told to cross the Seine and establish a bridgehead. We heard it took Patton exactly less than a day to get his whole army across this one little bridge. Christ, you gotta love that guy! Balls of steel.

Knowing Paris was now on the parade route, it was decided that General Gerow’s troops would accompany General Le Clerc for the momentous March into Paris and on August 24
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, Le Clerc and General Gerow from Patton’s Third Army made their way into Paris to the joyous and tumultuous cheering of the beleaguered Parisians. The next day, August 25
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, the head Kraut in Paris, Dietrich von Choltitz, surrendered the occupying German garrison. The day after that, General Pomposity de Gaulle arrived, thinking he had taken command of the French army that was serving under Patton, and marched to liberate Paris. As much as we tried to avoid the headache, it was a beautiful thing to see Paris finally free of the Krauts. I’m just waiting for some of that “humilite’,” which the French can never seem to find, to surface since they have to know there wouldn’t have been a liberation without the British and the Americans. I’m guessing they’ll find it eventually and the French people will be thankful and beholden to our two countries in perpetuity.

So with Paris liberated at the end of August and the Jerries in and around Paris outflanked, we made great progress towards our ultimate goal and virtually all the rest of France was liberated by early September. Moving east, we were in the Low Countries by the German border until, by early September, what lay ahead of us was the Meuse (the Hollanders call it the Maas) and the Moselle Rivers. But by then, we had reached the limits of our supply train. As much as everyone wanted to finish off the Hun once and for all, we simply couldn’t do it. Patton was told he could go as far as his fuel would allow and goddamn if he didn’t drain fuel from some of his broken down tanks to keep his other tanks moving. There was a rumor going around that he even diverted fuel from one army to feed the fuel needs of his Third Army but I can’t say if that is true or not. (Personally, though, I wouldn’t doubt it for a minute). I remember that Monty was livid about how much of his fuel had apparently evaporated. I also heard that Patton took the fuel from captured or abandoned enemy vehicles but I can’t vouch for this story either. I simply don’t know for sure where he got the gas he needed to keep moving but move he did, although even Patton Almighty eventually stalled. Getting a port at Antwerp was becoming more and more critical by the day.

Our supplies were coming in but not in sufficient quantities and those that did come in, hadn’t reached our troops at the east end of our front. The ports we held in France were too far west now and of little or no use to us this far east. Monty has been ordered by General Eisenhower to seize control of the ports of Antwerp. We have to open up a port to bring us the fuel we so desperately need and Ike has told Montgomery, and has told him again, that port cities in the north have to be taken to alleviate our supply line problems. I guess we’ve covered more ground than was planned for. The Red Ball Express trucking operation is supposed to relieve some of the fuel problems, but has anyone considered how much fuel those trucks are using up in order to bring needed fuel to the front lines? But one thing I’ll never begrudge is the gas it takes to get us mail. I just got a letter from Harold today. I am always so happy to hear from him.

August 28, 1944

Dear Frank,

We were sent into reserves which means I finally have a minute now to write. I dug a foxhole where I’m now going to sleep before we head out but first, I wanted to bring you up to date on your baby brother.

We are heading east towards Krautland as far as I know. We’ve been on the move for almost two months now and each day brings us closer and closer to ending the war. As we moved, I’ve sure stepped carefully because I never know if a sniper or mine or enemy soldier is standing by just waiting to pick me off. I probably mentioned this already but I’m more convinced than ever that either I am destined to die or I’m not destined to die. There really isn’t anything I can do to avoid death (I mean I’m not stupid or anything, but I’ve seen guys who are trying to hang back get hit and I’ve seen guys out front not get hit) and that brought me a calming sort of peace. I still get nervous and sometimes downright petrified during battles and attacks but mostly I figured there was not a lot I could do about dying one way or the other. I was more saddened by buddies of mine who bought it instead of me. There really is no rhyme or reason and fighting with high anxiety all the time is crippling. So I adopted a Devil May Care attitude which most of the time I actually felt. Funny, huh?

So as we’ve marched all over France, I’ve come to see that the Jerries still use horses a lot. There were carcasses all over. If it wasn’t a Kraut horse, it might be a Frog cow. But whatever they are, they’re all over and believe me, it’s a terrible thing when you run over them with a truck or tank and the goshdarn bloated things explode. Honestly, it’s enough to gag a maggot, Frank.

We’re getting closer every day to Berlin and that rat Hitler. I hope I’m the one that gets to put a bullet right between the eyes of that jerk. I wonder if there ever would have been this war if he hadn’t been such a greedy pig. Oh well, we’re in it now and the only way out is to beat the crap out of the Hun which is what we’re trying to do on a daily basis. What the heck are you doing, Frankie?? I hope you’re coming up with brilliant plans to get us over the rivers and through the woods. I’d like to get home pretty darn soon and I’d like it to be in one piece while I’m at it. Do what you can to make that happen, will you, Brother?

PS. I heard from Mom and Pops the other day. They’re doing good and the only discouraging words I’ve heard now are about meat and gas. Not that meat causes gas. I mean there’s apparently not enough of either to really go around. They should try our shit on a shingle or a K ration. I bet that would make them whistle a grateful tune for the fact that they have meat at all, huh? I hate to see them deprived of anything though. I guess the war touches everyone, no matter how far away. Write soon.

Love you, Frank.

Harold

He’s right about having to get over to Germany, but what he doesn’t know is that we have been making plans to get this war over with. Today, though, there is no joy in Mudville because damn if we weren’t alerted to the fact that Hitler brought back that Kraut Field Marshal von Rundstedt yet again. He’s reorganized his troops and the fighting has been reported to be heating up again as we move ever closer to Germany’s borders. The objective, of course, is to get across the border, breach their supposedly unbreachable Siegfried Line and then cross the Rhine River. We all know it will happen and we’ve been batting plans around for at least the last month to figure out the best way to launch this journey. So as Patton is trying to figure out how to get gas from dirt and is stalled on his way to Metz because of it, Ike allowed Monty to order his troops towards Germany. Patton was furious, of course, that the little fuel we did have wasn’t given to him but since patience isn’t one of General Patton’s virtues, we expected nothing less. I heard he told his men they were going to seize and secure bridgeheads at the Meuse River with or without fuel because he was going to cross the Rhine come hell or high water. Monty’s British and Canadian troops moved across the northern salient of BeNeLux, which I never heard of before, but I found out is short for the three lowland countries of BElgium, the NEtherlands and LUXembourg.

We had, from day one, agreed on a broad front approach towards the Fatherland. So with Montgomery in the north driving towards the Ruhr Valley where the heart of German industry and their goddamn war making facilities lay, we also planned to have a second but contemporaneous drive to the south towards the Saar Basin, another big, fat German industrial zone. General Patton was leading the southern salient and fighting like crazy once he arrived at Metz with its medieval fortifications. The work of those medieval masons was destroyed as the Krauts holed up under the stone walls for protection. Ironically, I found out that the poet, Paul Verlaine, whose words were used by the BBC to broadcast to the French Resistance the start of DDay three months ago, was from Metz. While that might be interesting, it’s not important. What is important is that Metz was ordered to be taken so the Krauts couldn’t use it as a base to further fortify their Siegfried Line which was one of the barriers we’d have to cross on our way into the Third Reich.