The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (139 page)

At eight
P.M.
on Sunday, September 3
:
VW
, vol. 2,
5
; “Advance of 30 Corps Across R. Seine to Brussels and Antwerp,” War Office, n.d., NARA RG 407, ML #226; Moorehead,
Eclipse
, 191 (“
a pallid thing
”); Collier,
Fighting Words
, 177 (“
a flambeau
”); Fitzgerald,
History of the Irish Guards in the Second World War
, 450–53 (“
Goodbye, Tommy
”).

Local worthies appeared in sashes
: Daniell,
The Royal Hampshire Regiment
, vol. 3, 231; Fitzgerald,
History of the Irish Guards in the Second World War
, 450–53 (
Bistros sent waiters
); Hastings,
Armageddon
, 7 (“
eating their way
”); Moorehead,
Eclipse
, 191 (“
a remarkable claret
”).

On Monday at noon British tanks
: J. B. Churcher, “A Soldier’s Story,” 159th Inf Bde, LHC, 52–54 (
houses for belonging to alleged collaborators
and
search for a cinema
); Collier,
Fighting Words
, 177–79 (
still sipping beer
);
VW
, vol. 2, 5, 10–11, 414–15 (
two million barrels
); Freeman W. Burford, “The Inside Story of Oil in the European War,” Nov. 25, 1946, NARA RG 319, 2-37 CB 6; “Advance of 30 Corps Across R. Seine to Brussels and Antwerp,” War Office, n.d., NARA RG 407, ML #226 (
petered out by 9:30
P.M.
); Moorehead,
Eclipse
, 192–93 (
cages in the lion house
); Moorehead,
Gellhorn
, 227 (“
sat on the straw
”).

With Brittany’s ports soon to be forsaken
: Baedeker,
Belgium and Holland
, 150–52 (“
at least a year to reduce it
”); Lucian Heichler, “German Defense of the Gateway to Antwerp,” Dec. 1953, OCMH, NARA RG 319, R-series #22, 2;
LSA
, vol. 2, 104 (
thousand ships each month
).

The capture of Antwerp and exploitation
: Weinberg,
A World at Arms
, 700; Chandler, 2090, 2100, 2116; msg, Montgomery, Aug. 26, 1944, M-520, National Archives of Canada, RG 24, vol. 1054 2, file 215A21.016 (9) (“
destroy all enemy forces
”).

Having sailed these waters
:
WaS
, 142–43; Fergusson,
The Watery Maze
, 352 (
campaign in 1809
); Jenkins,
Churchill: A Biography
, 248–50 (
rushed to Antwerp
);
VW
, vol. 2, 10–11; Love and Major, eds.,
The Year of D-Day
, 131; Roskill,
Churchill and the Admirals
, 245 (“
Timbuctoo
”).

“
decisive importance
”
of holding the Scheldt
: Bennett,
Ultra in the West
, 147–48; Ralph Bennett, “Ultra and Some Command Decisions,” in Laqueur, ed.,
The Second World War
, 231 (
strategic mistake
); Crosswell,
Beetle
, 706 (“
bottle is now corked
”).

A Royal Marine Commando unit
: Roskill,
White Ensign
, 397;
Taurus Pursuant
, 56–58 (
seize the docks
); Horrocks,
Corps Commander
, 79–81 (“
My eyes were fixed
”).

The British drive soon was stymied
: Moulton,
Battle for Antwerp
, 30; Ludewig,
Rückzug
, 214 (
Fifteen of seventeen
); J. B. Churcher, “A Soldier’s Story,” 159th Inf Bde, LHC, 52–54 (“
swift and most unpleasant
”); Copp,
Cinderella Army
, 38–39 (
reinforce the canals
); Moulton,
Battle for Antwerp
, 52; Lamb,
Montgomery in Europe, 1943–1945
, 201–4; Horrocks,
Corps Commander
, 84.

An evacuation of German troops by ferry
: Weigley,
Eisenhower’s Lieutenants
, 293; Lucian Heichler, “German Defense of the Gateway to Antwerp,” Dec. 1953, OCMH, NARA RG 319, R-series #22, 13–14 (
5,000 vehicles
); Ludewig,
Rückzug
, 272 (
eleven thousand troops
).

Montgomery told London on September 7
: Orange,
Coningham
, 215;
SLC
, 207 (“
a jewel that could not be worn
”); Hills,
Phantom Was There
, 247 (“
most bewildering
”).

C
HAPTER
5: A
GAINST
THE
W
EST
W
ALL

“Five Barley Loaves and Three Small Fishes”

Versailles had long proved irresistible
: Abram et al.,
The Rough Guide to France
, 213 (“
unhygienic squalor
”); McCullough,
The Greater Journey
, 296, 303 (
starving winter of 1870
); Tillier et al.,
Paris
, 252;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_Versailles
; Macmillan,
Paris 1919
, 474–78 (
Republican Guardsmen
).

And it was here that Eisenhower
: Baedeker,
Paris and Its Environs
, 376 (
175 francs
); memo, war room procedures, Mar. 19, 1945, Sidney H. Negrotto papers, MHI (
SHAEF master pass
); memoir, 1974, Raymond H. Croll papers, MHI, 277–89 (
K-ration lunches
);
http://www.normandybattlefields.com/normandy_today.htm
; Pogue,
Pogue’s War
, 202–3 (
Thickets of antennae
); Abram et al.,
The Rough Guide to France
, 213 (
Marie Antoinette
);
TSC
, 276–78; Hammon, “When the Second Lieutenant Bearded General Eisenhower,”
Military Affairs
(Oct. 1983): 129
+
(“
state capitols
”).

“
he has been a bad boy
”: diary, CBH, Sept. 22, 1944, MHI, box 4; Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story
, 422.

Eleven paintings, including a Van Dyck
: Coles and Weinberg,
Civil Affairs
, 868–69; Hammon, “When the Second Lieutenant Bearded General Eisenhower,”
Military Affairs
(Oct. 1983): 129ff.; Nicholas,
The Rape of Europa
, 302.

SHAEF by midsummer had already tripled
:
TSC
, 276–77 (
750,000 square
feet
) and appendix B, 529–34. SHAEF’s authorized strength on Feb. 1, 1945, was 16,312.

Eventually 1,800 properties
:
LSA
, vol. 2, 497; Larrabee,
Commander in Chief
, 473 (
French magazine
); OH, Adolph Rosengarten, Jr., Dec. 22, 1947, FCP, MHI (
Should Have Army Experience First
); OH, Ford Trimble, Dec. 17, 1946, FCP, MHI (
sea serpent
).

Another sea serpent had wrapped
: “Activities and Organization of COMZ,” U.S. Senate hearing, May 28, 1945, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #89, 1–5; Robert W. Coakley, “The Administrative and Logistical History of the ETO,” vol. 2, 1946, CMH, 8-3.1 AA 2, 119–28; “U.S. Army Operations in the ETO from January 1942 to V-E Day,” May 1945, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #353 (
one in every four GIs
); “Engineer Memoirs: General William M. Hoge,” 1993, CEOH, 128; Beck, 350 (
tentage
); Ingersoll,
Top Secret
, 207 (“
tons of files
”); memo, Seine Section, COMZ to SHAEF, Sept. 20, 1944, NARA RG 331, SHAEF SGS, Geog Corr, box 108 (
315 hotels
); memoir, n.d., Pleas B. Rogers papers, MHI (
three thousand additional Parisian properties
); corr, “GHH” to Ralph Ingersoll, May 14, 1946, Thaddeus Holt papers, MHI, box 1 (“
elegance and swank
”); Crosswell,
Beetle
, 739 (
permitted to keep their schools
);
TSC
, 322–23 (
Americans’ demands exceeded
).

All this and more was the handiwork
: “Miracle of Supply,”
Time
(Sept. 25, 1944): 8
+
(“
exceptionally friendly
”); “The Tendons of an Army,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #531, 5–6; John Kennedy Ohl, “General Brehon B. Somervell and Logistics in the European Theater of Operations in World War II,” 1993, Alexandria, Va., Historical Office, U.S. Army Materiel Command, 20–22 (“
personal gift
”); Irving,
The War Between the Generals
, 78 (
standing in a London theater
); John C. H. Lee, “Service Reminiscences,” n.d., Lee papers, MHI, box 1 (“
my ability to get along
”);
LSA
, vol. 2, 267 (“
Heavy on ceremony
”); Cowdrey,
Fighting for Life
, 224 (“
fishing with for a week
”);
PP
, 555–57 (“
glib liar
”); diary, GSP, Aug. 7, 1944, LOC MS Div, box 3, folder 7 (“
pompous little son-of-a-bitch
”); D’Este,
Patton: A Genius for War
, 649 (
Patton welcomed him
).

Booted and bedizened
: Pogue,
George C. Marshall: Organizer of Victory
, 391 (
riding crop
); “Miracle of Supply,”
Time
(Sept. 25, 1944): 8
+
(
Bibles in his desk
and
red-cushioned limousine
); John C. H. Lee, “Service Reminiscences,” n.d., Lee papers, MHI, box 1 (“
at His altar
”); “Engineer Memoirs: Major General William E. Potter,” 1983, CEOH, 35 (
personal retinue of forty
); Irving,
The War Between the Generals
, 92 (
eight correspondence secretaries
); “The U.S. Army Special Train ‘
Alive
,’” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #16; John Connell, “Over Age in Grade,” n.d., MHI, 49 (
special railcar
);
LSA
, vol. 2, 267 (“
instrument of torture
”); OH, Henry S. Aurand, 1974, William O. Morrison, SOOHP, MHI (
read scripture aloud
); Irving,
The War Between the Generals
, 316 (“
Dress up
”); OH, Leonard D. Heaton, 1978, Robert B. McLean, SOOHP, MHI (“
had to lie at attention
”); “Engineer Memoirs: General William M. Hoge,” 1993, CEOH, 125–26 (“
I can eat it
”); Pyle,
Brave Men
, 233.

In Paris, Lee kept a huge war room
: OH, Henry S. Aurand, 1974, William O. Morrison, SOOHP, MHI; Crosswell,
Beetle
, 739 (
three suites upstairs
); Murray and Millett,
A War to Be Won
, 437 (
a piano
); Pogue,
Pogue’s War
(“
Avenue de Salute
”); Allen,
Lucky Forward
, 69 (“
General Lee’s personal residence
”).

“
Why didn’t somebody tell me
”: OH, Leonard D. Heaton, 1978, Robert B. McLean, SOOHP, MHI; OH, W. B. Smith, May 13, 1947, FCP, MHI; MMB, 311 (“
modern Cromwell
”).

“
Due to the heavy shipments
”: DDE to J. C. H. Lee, Sept. 16, 1944, attached to memo, W. B. Smith to G-1, “Discipline in the Paris Area,” Sept. 17, 1944, NARA RG 331, SHAEF SGS, Geog Corr, box 108.

“
I have no regrets
”: John C. H. Lee, “Service Reminiscences,” n.d., Lee papers, MHI, box 1.

Lee’s
“
first priority duties
”: Crosswell,
Beetle
, 739 (
Sears, Roebuck
); Greenfield, ed.,
Command Decisions
, 323 (
assumed that by D+90
); “Strategy of the Campaign in Western Europe, 1944–1945,” n.d., USFET, General Board study no. 1, 35;
LSA
, vol. 2, 6–7 (
No logistician expected to reach
).

Battlefield exigencies disrupted
: Frank O. Osmanski, “Critical Analysis of the Planning and Execution of the Logistic Support of the Normandy Invasion,” Dec. 1949, Armed Forces Staff College, Osmanski papers, MHI, 43; “Logistics of Overlord,” n.d., CARL, N-13587;
LSA
, vol. 1, 479; Crosswell,
Beetle
, 688–89 (
Marshall and Eisenhower further accelerated
);
TSC
, 258–59; Greenfield, ed.,
Command Decisions
, 327 (
2.5
combat divisions
).

Truck convoys that in July
: H. H. Dunham, “U.S. Army Transportation in the ETO,” 1946, CMH, 4-13.1 AA 29, 216; Hogan,
A Command Post at War
, 145–46 (
quartermaster depot moved six times
); Weinberg,
A World at Arms
, 761 (
two thousand tanks
);
PP
, 555–57 (“
five barley loaves
”).

Much more than bread and seafood
: “Quartermaster Procurement,” chapter 41, PIR, MHI, 7; “Food Service in the ETO,” chapter 47, PIR, MHI, 71; “Quartermaster Procurement on the Continent,” n.d., SHAEF QM, NARA RG 498, ETO HD, admin file #154, 1–2 (“
one-sixteenth of an inch
”), 11 (
woodcutting camps
), 14 (
toilet paper
).

Average daily supply needs
: Coakley, 825; “Supply and Maintenance on the European Continent,” USFET General Board study no. 130, NARA RG 407, E 427, 97-USF5-0.3.0, 37 (
eating 30 percent more
);
TSC
, 256–57 (
a million gallons of gasoline
); Charles K. MacDermut and Adolph P. Gratiot, “History of G-4 Com Z ETO,” 1946, CMH, 8-3.4 AA, 83 (
ammunition expenditures
); Henry F. Pringle, “Weapons Win Wars,” n.d., CMH, 2-3.7 AB.B, 187 (
eight million artillery and mortar shells
).