The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (136 page)

By twilight on Tuesday
:
Le Victorieux
, n.d., translation, Robert T. Frederick papers, HIA, box 4; Seventh Army war diary, Aug. 16, 1944, MHI (“
weak at most points
”); Sevareid,
Not So Wild a Dream
, 432 (“
faintly sourish smell
”); “The Night Landing in Provence, Aug. 1944,” n.d., SEM, NHHC, box 87, file 97, 1 (“
What happiness
”); OH, Theodore J. Conway, 1978, Robert F. Ensslin, SOOHP, MHI, III-21 (
VI Corps crystal
); Conway, “Operation Anvil,” lecture, n.d., Norfolk, Theodore J. Conway papers, MHI, box 2, 16 (“
best invasion I ever attended
”).

“
frog blackmoors
”: Orange,
Tedder: Quietly in Command
, 273.

the
Kimberly
ventured no closer
: Churchill,
Triumph and Tragedy
, 94–95; Moran,
Churchill: Taken from the Diaries of Lord Moran
, 180 (“
a querulous mood
”); Pawle,
The War and Colonel Warden
, 315–16 (“
a lot more exciting
”).

The Avenue of Stenches

The immediate objective of
DRAGOON:
memo, Joint Security Council, July 4, 1944, NARA RG 165, E 422, WD OPD, history unit, box 39;
RR
, 137;
IFG
, 282;
The Seventh United States Army in France and Germany
, vol. 1, 151 (
three more divisions
).

Known for now as Army B
: Yeide and Stout,
First to the Rhine
, 23; De Lattre de Tassigny,
The History of the French First Army
, 67 (
New Caledonians, Tahitians
); Porch,
The Path to Victory
, 596 (
boots tied around their necks
); Vigneras,
Rearming the French
, 229, 245, 248, 258, 264–66; memo, Charles L. Kades, “Allied Civil Affairs Administration in Southeastern France,” Oct. 30, 1944, CARL, N-3972, 14–17 (
cherished wine transports
).

The gimlet-eyed commander of this force
: Salisbury-Jones,
So Full a Glory
, 16; Aron,
France Reborn
, 317–18 (“
animal of action
”); Clayton,
Three Marshals of France
, 26–27 (“jupiterien”), 22–23 (“
greatest soldier to serve France
”); OH, “The Reminiscences of Admiral H. Kent Hewitt,” Col U OHRO, 1962 copy at NHHC, 24:28 (“
very volatile
”); Truscott,
Command Missions
, 403 (“
thin hair graying
”); Yeide and Stout,
First to the Rhine
, 25 (“
What have you done
”).

De Lattre sprang from minor gentry
: Clayton,
Three Marshals of France
, 22–33.

Loyal to Vichy for more than two years
: Codman,
Drive
, 220–21 (
outside his office door
), 222 (“
a nocturnal
”); Porch,
The Path to Victory
, 594–95 (“
lived on stage
”); Clayton,
Three Marshalls of France
, 117–18 (
might sit for days
).

The
DRAGOON
landing plan for Army B
: Aron,
France Reborn
, 314 (“
the price we must pay
”); OH, JLD, 1968, Thomas E. Griess, YCHT, box 110
(torrent of French
); Porch,
The Path to Victory
, 594–96 (“
ardent to the point of effervescence
”).

The Germans waited, too
:
RR
, 138–40; Charles V. von Lüttichau, “Army Group G Prepares to Meet the Invasion,” 1957, NARA RG 319, OCMH, R-series #103, 24 (
fortifications at Toulon
); Wilt,
The French Riviera Campaign of August 1944
, 121 (
both garrisons reinforced
); Jackson,
The Mediterranean and the Middle East
, vol. 6, part 2, 191

Toulon was the greatest naval base
:
The Seventh United States Army in France and Germany
, vol. 1, 155–59; de Belot,
The Struggle for the Mediterranean, 1939–1945
, 260 (
range of twenty-two miles
); Hewitt, “Planning Operation Anvil-Dragoon,”
U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings
(July–Aug. 1954): 731
+
;
IFG
, 290–91; AR, U.S.S.
Quincy
, Sept. 6, 1944, NARA RG 38, CNO, 57 (
chasing the interlopers back into their smoke
); OH, John F. Latimer, n.d., NARA RG 38, E 11, U.S. Navy WWII Oral Histories, 23; OH, Glynn Markham, n.d., WWII Oral History Collection, Samuel F. Proctor Archive, Department of History, University of Florida (“
spitting against the wall
”).

De Lattre had assumed as much
: Yeide and Stout,
First to the Rhine
, 111; “Invasion of Southern France,” Office of the Theater Historian, n.d., NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #607, 145–50;
The Seventh United States Army in France and Germany
, vol. 1, 154.

By last light on Monday, August 21
: Salisbury-Jones,
So Full a Glory
, 144 (
Monks from a local monastery
); De Lattre de Tassigny,
The History of the French First Army
, 77–78 (
borrowed policeman’s uniform
), 92–94 (“
Three hours later
”);
The Seventh United States Army in France and Germany
, vol. 1, 158–59; “Invasion of Southern France,” Office of the Theater Historian, n.d., NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #607, 160–62 (
blew up their remaining ammunition
); Hewitt, “Planning Operation Anvil-Dragoon,”
U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings
(July–Aug. 1954): 731
+
(
more than a thousand shells
).

Marseille fell at almost the same moment
:
LSA
, vol. 1, 163–64; De Lattre de Tassigny,
The History of the French First Army
, 99–102; Robichon,
The Second D-Day
, 292–93 (“
figures from another world
”), 289–90 (
civilians in nightclothes
); Salisbury-Jones,
So Full a Glory
, 147 (
city soon grew indefensible
); Aron,
France Reborn
, 335 (
spread his maps
).

“
It would be purposeless
”: Aron,
France Reborn
, 342;
RR
, 80.

Thirty-seven thousand prisoners
: Wilt,
The French Riviera Campaign of August 1944
, 130–31; “Supply and Maintenance on the European Continent,” n.d., USFET General Board, NARA RG 407, E 427, 97-USF5-0.3.0, no. 130, 50. Toulon received its first Liberty ship on Sept. 20.
LSA
, vol. 2, 122.

Marseille was devastated even beyond Allied fears
: H. H. Dunham, “U.S. Army Transportation in the ETO,” 1946, CMH, 4-13.1 AA 29, 283–84 (“
German masterpiece
” and
five thousand mines
); Aron,
France Reborn
, 343 (“
chaos of steel
”); OH, HKH, June 26, 1945, NARA RG 38, E 11, U.S. Navy WWII Oral Histories, 21 (
blimps
).

Yet the Allies had their port
:
LSA
, vol. 2, 122;
The Seventh United States Army in France and Germany
, vol. 2, 331 (
12,500 tons of cargo
); De Lattre de Tassigny,
The History of the French First Army
, 115 (“
no German not dead or captive
”).

Following his abdication and removal to Elba
: Young,
Napoleon in Exile: Elba
, 136, 229, 283, 292–93, 304–18; Norwich,
The Middle Sea
, 456.

The Route Napoléon led, indirectly, to Waterloo
: Conway, “Operation Anvil,” lecture, n.d., Norfolk, Theodore J. Conway papers, MHI, box 2, 18–24; memo, LKT Jr. to A. Patch, July 21, 1944, NARA RG 319, OCMH 2-3.7 CC2, Hamilton mss.

To command this scratch assemblage
: OH, Frederic B. Bates, Oct. 6, 1967, Raymond Henle, HIA,
http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/oralhistories/detail/2000,1
*
; Layne Van Arsdale, ed., “Allied Biographies,” USAREUR staff ride, Alsace, May 2009.

An order radioed from the German high command
: Hinsley, 509 (
deciphered by British cryptologists
); Jackson,
The Mediterranean and the Middle East
, vol. 6, part 2, 193–93. Historian Joachim Ludewig writes that Blaskowitz did not receive the withdrawal order until the morning of August 18, and that Nineteenth Army got it that afternoon (
Rückzug
, 82). David T. Zabecki points out that “Army Group B and Army Group G were not quite the same,” in that the former was designated an
Armeegruppe
, tantamount to an oversized army in Allied terms, and the latter a
Heeresgruppe
, the equivalent of an Allied army group (Corr. to author, May 9, 2012).

Now the U.S. Seventh Army could speed north
: Donald S. Bussey, “Ultra and the U.S. Seventh Army,” May 12, 1945, NARA RG 457, E 9002, NSA, SRH-022; Arthur L. Funk, “General Patch, Ultra, and the Alpine Passes, 1944,” n.d., University of Florida, a.p., 3–8 (
NOVOCAINE
); Beavan,
Operation Jedburgh
, 258–59.

Truscott put the spurs to Butler
: Butler, “Task Force Butler,”
Armored Cavalry Journal
, part 1 (Jan.–Feb.): 12
+
(“
dignified weep
”), and part 2 (March–Apr. 1948): 30
+
; memo, F. B. Butler, March 3, 1947, NARA RG 319, OCMH background files, Hamilton mss, box 7.

Task Force Butler covered forty-five miles
: John A. Hixson, “Analysis of Deep Attack Operations: U.S. VI Corps, Task Force Butler, Aug. 1944,” March 1987, CSI, 27–33; Yeide and Stout,
First to the Rhine
, 69; Butler, “Task Force Butler,”
Armored Cavalry Journal
, part 1 (Jan.–Feb. 1948): ff. (
formed a fire brigade
); OH, 2nd Bn, 143rd Inf and 117th Cavalry Recon Squadron, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder 117; Jackson,
The Mediterranean and the Middle East
, vol. 6, part 2, 197.

Across folded limestone hills
: “Invasion of Southern France,” n.d., WD HD, CMH, 8-3 SF, 109; Sevareid,
Not So Wild a Dream
, 440–42 (“
through civilized, settled Provence
”).

In Gap, nearly a hundred miles from the sea
: Arthur L. Funk, “Allies and
Maquis
,” n.d., NARA RG 319,
RR
background files, FRC 5; Butler, “Task Force Butler,”
Armored Cavalry Journal
, part 2 (Mar.–Apr. 1948): 30
.
(
sixty B-17s
); OH, 117th Cavalry Recon Squadron, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder 117 (
wearing full packs
).

“
You will move at first light
”: “Invasion of Southern France,” n.d., WD HD, CMH, 8-3 SF, 199–200; John A. Hixson, “Analysis of Deep Attack Operations: U.S. VI Corps, Task Force Butler, Aug. 1944,” March 1987, CSI, 27–33; Truscott,
Command Missions
, 437; Jackson,
The Mediterranean and the Middle East
, vol. 6, part 2, 197;
RR
, 147 (
dash toward the river
).

By now supply shortages threatened to undermine
: “Supply and Maintenance on the European Continent,” n.d., USFET General Board, NARA RG 407, E 427, 97-USF5-0.3.0, no. 130, 50;
The Seventh United States Army in France and Germany
, vol. 1, 218–20 (
three hundred-mile round-trip
); Leo J. Meyer, “Moving Men and Supplies in Southern France,” n.d., NARA RG 319, E 99, OCMH background files, 314.7, box 1, 14-17a (
only eleven thousand gallons
); “History of Ordnance Service in the MTO,” n.d., vol. 2, CMH, 8-4 JA, 188–89 (
tire patches
).

Even so, by late Monday afternoon the vanguard
: Yeide and Stout,
First to the Rhine
, 74–75;
RR
, 149 (
Fifty Wehrmacht vehicles
).

VI Corps had severed the enemy escape route
: Yeide and Stout,
First to the Rhine
, 75–78;
RR
, 149 (
full-throated attack
).

“
Everything has gone better
”: LKT Jr. to Sarah, Aug. 17, 21, 29, Sept. 1, 3, 13, 1944, GCM Lib, box 1.

His opponent felt dreadful
: Yeide and Stout,
First to the Rhine
, 80 (“
pre-technical days
”); Charles V. von Lüttichau, “Breakout and Withdrawal to the Dijon Salient,” Sept. 1958, OCMH, NARA RG 319, R-series #106, 5 (
save itself by fleeing
); Ganz, “The 11th Panzers in the Defense, 1944,”
Armor
(Mar.–Apr. 1944): 26
+
; Giziowski,
The Enigma of General Blaskowitz
, 323–24 (
dangled ropes
).

Truscott took the German feint
: De Lattre de Tassigny,
The History of the French First Army
, 356–57 (“
carved out with an axe
”); OH, “The Invasion of Southern France,” Seventh Army, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder #368, 160–62 (“
Tell General O’Daniel
”);
RR
, 164.

At Montélimar, Task Force Butler struggled
:
RR
, 144–50; “Operation Dragoon,” Dec. 1944, COHQ, bulletin Y/42, CARL, N-6530.20 (
Army’s swift advance had outrun P-47s
).

This pleased Truscott not at all
: Truscott,
Command Missions
, 426–27; msg, LKT Jr. to J. Dahlquist, Aug. 22, 1944, LKT Jr. papers, GCM Lib, box 12, folder 6 (“
Don’t you understand
”).