The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (176 page)

At the Wöbbelin camp
: Nordyke,
All American All the Way
, 756; “Wöbbelin,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, USHMM,
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10006160
; McNally,
As Ever, John
, 65–67 (“
Each body was pulled
”); Booth and Spencer,
Paratrooper
, 294 (
never failed to weep
); Stafford,
Endgame 1945
, 311 (“
defining moment
”).

“
We came into a smell
”: Stafford,
Endgame 1945
, 83; Hitchcock,
The Bitter Road to Freedom
, 300–302 (“
simian throng
”), 341 (
watery soup
); “Early Measures at Belsen,” lecture, June 4, 1945, Royal Society of Medicine, UK NA, WO 219/3944A (
designed for eight thousand
); Thompson,
The Imperial War Museum Book of Victory in Europe
, 252–55 (
hearts, livers, and kidneys
), 264 (“
woman squatting
”); “What the Army Did at Belsen Concentration Camp,” n.d., UK NA, WO 219/3944A, 3 (“
continuous carpet
”), 16–17; “Bergen-Belsen,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, USHMM,
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005224
; Collier,
Fighting Words
, 188 (“
peeping through fingers
”).

The living resembled
“
polished skeletons
”: Stafford,
Endgame 1945
, 83; “What the Army Did at Belsen Concentration Camp,” n.d., UK NA, WO 219/3944A, 20–23 (
medics tallied
); Davis,
Soldier of Democracy
, 535–36 (“
he fell dead
”); Robert H. Abzug, “The Liberation of the Concentration Camps,” in
Liberation 1945
, 33–34, 43; Arthur,
Forgotten Voices of World War II
, 419–21 (
clubbed with rifle butts
).

An estimated quarter-million
: Blatman,
The Death Marches
, 11–12, 278, 310–21, 332–47; Margry, “The Gardelegen Massacre,”
AB
, no. 111 (2001): 2
+
; “Gardelegen Massacre 13 April 1945,”
www.scrapbookpages.com/GerhardThiele
*
.

For the U.S. Army, the camp at Buchenwald
: investigative papers, “Buchenwald KZ,” Donald McClure papers, HIA, box 1; Hackett, ed.,
The Buchenwald Report
, 330–33.

An hour later, outriders
: Brig. Gen. Eric F. Wood et al., “Inspection of German Concentration Camp for Political Prisoners Located at Buckenwal [
sic
],” Apr. 16, 1945, Frank J. McSherry papers, MHI, box 53; Ziemke,
The U.S. Army in the Occupation of Germany, 1944–1946
, 236–38; “Civil Affairs and Military Government Organizations and Operations,” n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, USFET General Board study no. 32, 97-USF5-0.3.0 (
six hundred calories
).

“
They were so thin
”: Robert H. Abzug, “The Liberation of the Concentration Camps,” in
Liberation 1945
, 40.

An intricate, awful world
: Brig. Gen. Eric F. Wood et al., “Inspection of German Concentration Camp for Political Prisoners Located at Buckenwal [
sic
],” Apr. 16, 1945, Frank J. McSherry papers, MHI, box 53; investigative papers, “Buchenwald KZ,” Donald McClure papers, HIA, box 1.

The SS had murdered
: “Buchenwald,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, USHMM,
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005198
; Ziemke,
The U.S. Army in the Occupation of Germany, 1944–1946
, 236–38 (
brick ovens
).

A verse in gold and black
: White,
Conquerors’ Road
, 82.

Patton marched the burghers
:
PP
, 687, 692; Edward R. Murrow, CBS radio broadcast, Apr. 15, 1945, in
Reporting World War II
, vol. 2, 681–85 (“
The stink was beyond
”).

Shocking evidence of German torture
: Kimball,
Forged in War
, 278 (
Breedonck
); Ziemke,
The U.S. Army in the Occupation of Germany, 1944–1946
, 220 (“
legacy of skepticism
”); Robert H. Abzug, “The Liberation of the Concentration Camps,” in
Liberation 1945
, 56 (
barely one-third
), 66; Gilbert,
The Day the War Ended
, 17.

“
What kind of people
”: Tapert, ed.,
Lines of Battle
, 269.

“
Hardly any boy infantryman
”: Fussell,
The Boys’ Crusade
, 157.

“
I’ve been in the Army
”: “History, 157th Inf Regt, Apr 1945,” NARA RG 405, E 427, WWII Ops Reports, 345-INF (157)-0.3.

Berliners received an extra allocation
: Ryan,
The Last Battle
, 409–10, 417–18 (
Karstadt
); Klemperer,
To the Bitter End
, 209 (“
We are defending Europe
”); Read and Fisher,
The Fall of Berlin
, 335 (
birthday salute
).

“
All transportation is at a standstill
”: Moorhouse,
Berlin at War
, 359–60, 371–72 (“
pastor shot himself
”).

“
Lift our banners
”: ibid., 359–60.

The man himself took the passing
: Kershaw,
Hitler, 1936–45: Nemesis
, 798; “Hitler’s Höllenfahrt,”
Der Spiegel
(Apr. 10, 1995): 172
+
(
thirty-seven steps
).

Back behind three steel doors
: Fest,
Hitler
, 764–65; Read and Fisher,
The Fall of Berlin
, 340 (“
I shall fight
”); Moorhouse,
Berlin at War
, 358–59 (“
birthday atmosphere
”); Kershaw,
Hitler, 1936–45: Nemesis
, 801 (Blutrote Rosen).

The U.S. Seventh Army marked the day
: Stafford,
Endgame 1945
, 27; AAR, XV Corps, June 1, 1945, Wade H. Haislip papers, HIA, box 1;
LO
, 425; Yeide and Stout,
First to the Rhine
, 359 (
two thousand last-ditch soldiers
).

“
alluvial fans of rubble
”: Wyant,
Sandy Patch
, 191; Taggart, ed.,
History of the Third Infantry Division
, 354–62 (“
Dog-Faced Soldier
”); White,
From Fedala to Berchtesgaden
, 265–66 (“
Casablanca. Palermo
”).

A quieter commemoration
: White,
From Fedala to Berchtesgaden
, 265–66; Even,
The Tenth Engineers
, 49 (
wreath
); Palmer and Zaid, eds.,
The GI’s Rabbi
, 173–74; Stafford,
Endgame 1945
, 28 (“
Stars and Stripes Forever
”).

“God, Where Are You?”

War correspondents had begun offering odds
: Heinz,
When We Were One
, 188–89 (“
GIvans
”);
LO
, 446–48 (
welcome signs
and
recognition signals
); Forrest C. Pogue, “The Meeting with the Russians,” n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, ML #2249, box 19185, 1 (
brigands in Cossack attire
); OH, 69th ID, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI 136-A, box 19050, folder #137 (
grassy hummock
).

East of Leipzig
:
LO
, 446–48; Ryan,
The Last Battle
, 472; OH, 69th ID, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder #137 (
confused Strehla with Groba
).

Twenty miles north and two hours later
: OH, 69th ID, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder #137;
LO
, 455–56; Margry, “The U.S.-Soviet Link-Up,”
AB
, no. 88 (1995): 1
+
.

After a brief, unnerving riposte
: OH, William D. Robertson, 69th ID, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI 136-A, box 19050, folder #137;
LO
, 455–56 (
carrying four soldiers
). After the war Robertson became a neurosurgeon in California.

Thursday morning brought the full, overwrought merger
: Forrest C. Pogue, “The Meeting with the Russians,” n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427, ML #2249, box 19185, 2–3; narrative, Thor Smith, n.d., Thor Smith papers, HIA, box 1 (“
Iowa picnic
”); Heinz,
When We Were One
, 189–92 (
varnished shells
); Pogue,
Pogue’s War
, 368–70 (
black bread and apples
).

“
The Russians all looked
”: Martha Gellhorn, “The Russians,”
Collier’s
, June 30, 1945, in
Reporting World War II
, vol. 2, 701–6; Heinz,
When We Were One
, 189–92 (
GIs traded
).

“
Get that woman off
”: Heinz,
When We Were One
, 189–92; Pogue,
Pogue’s War
, 372–73 (
Soviet general
).

An unbroken Allied line
: Biddle,
Rhetoric and Reality in Air Warfare
, 260 (
last bombing raid
); Bessel,
Germany 1945
, 112 (
met at Ketzin
).

Nothing now could thwart
: Bessel,
Germany 1945
, 104–5, 405 (
two and a half million troops
); Erickson,
The Road to Berlin
, 539–41, 622 (
three hundred thousand casualties
); “Hitler’s Höllenfahrt,”
Der Spiegel
(Apr. 4, 1995): 170
+
; Beevor,
Berlin: The Downfall, 1945
, 123, 410–13 (
typhus
); Steinhoff et al.,
Voices from the Third Reich
, 454–57; interview, Rosemarie Meitzner, Apr. 1995, author, Berlin; Ryan,
The Last Battle
, 494 (
lightbulbs
), 371 (“Bleib übrig”); Sebald,
On the Natural History of Destruction
, 43 (“
hilly landscape
”).

In the south, the Reich
:
LO
, 454, 425–26 (
bridge over the Danube
); Ziemke,
The U.S. Army in the Occupation of Germany, 1944–1946
, 249 (
twenty-eight towns
).

“
We are constantly suffering
”: memo, F. E. Morgan to G-1, Feb. 10, 1945, NARA RG 331, E 1, SHAEF SGS, file 211, box 20;
LO
, 427–30; De Lattre de Tassigny,
The History of the French First Army
, 458–59; OH, JLD, Aug. 1971, Thomas E. Griess, YCHT, box 110, 26–27.

General de Gaulle had other ideas
: De Gaulle,
The Complete Memoirs of Charles de Gaulle
, 860; Clayton,
Three Marshals of France
, 114–15 (
Holding a large tract
).

With Deux Mètres urging him on
:
LO
, 427–30; De Lattre de Tassigny,
The History of the French First Army
, 458–64, 491 (“
merry-go-round
”);
SC
, 460–61 (“
national interest of France
”); Wyant,
Sandy Patch
, 193 (“
Penny politics
”).

“
The good and upright Devers
”: Salisbury-Jones,
So Full a Glory
, 197; Yeide and Stout,
First to the Rhine
, 365–68 (
seventeen thousand men
); Reuben E. Jenkins, “The Battle of the National Redoubt,” n.d., Jenkins papers, MHI, box 1, 15; Willis,
The French in Germany
, 20–21; memo, JLD, Apr. 27, 1945, JLD papers, MHI (“
an absurdity
”);
LO
, 430–31; OH, JLD, Aug. 1971, Thomas E. Griess, YCHT, box 110, 26–27 (“
trying to be Napoleon
”).

This opéra bouffe
:
LO
, 430–31; Seventh Army war diary, Apr. 26, 1945, MHI, 678 (
predatory French colonial troops
); Botting,
From the Ruins of the Reich
, 22–23 (“
Hens and women
”); Wyant,
Sandy Patch
, 193 (“
Situation in Stuttgart
”); memo, JLD, Apr. 27, 1945, JLD papers, MHI (“
What can you do
”).

“
Stuttgart is chaotic
”: De Lattre de Tassigny,
The History of the French First Army
, 491.

Devers drove into the city
: diary, JLD, 6th AG, Apr. 27, 1945, MHI;
LO
, 432–33. Clinics in nearby Tübingen reported treating hundreds of rape victims, and a substantial number of women in Konstanz sought abortions for pregnancies resulting from French assaults (Bessel,
Germany 1945
, 117).

“
French procedure in occupying
”: Wyant,
Sandy Patch
, 193.

Eisenhower now intervened
:
LO
, 432–33; Chandler, 2657–59; Yeide and Stout,
First to the Rhine
, 366.

But with a war to finish
: OH, Philippe de Camas, French First Army, Oct.–Dec. 1948, Marcel Vigneras, NARA RG 319, E P-100,
RR
background files, FRC 5; Yeide and Stout,
First to the Rhine
, 365 (
execution of a few rapists
); diary, JLD, 6th AG, Apr. 27, 1945, MHI (“
much better
”).

Patch’s legions meanwhile pressed south
:
LO
, 427–30; Walker,
German National Socialism and the Quest for Nuclear Power, 1939–49
, 158; Rhodes,
The Making of the Atomic Bomb
, 609–10.

Bickering over the French occupation zone
: Willis,
The French in Germany
, 20–21; Porch,
The Path to Victory
, 601 (“
often on the same side
”). De Gaulle would write after these disagreements, “The roses of glory cannot be without thorns”; Truman said of the French leader, “I don’t like the son of a bitch” (Fenby,
The General
, 746).