Ardennes 1944: Hitler's Last Gamble
‘In order to attack’, PP, 538
‘with [the] compliments …’, Forrest C. Pogue, Pogue’s War: Diaries of a WWII Combat Historian, Lexington, KY, 2001, 215–16
50,000 cases of champagne, Patton letter, PP, 549
‘Even if all our allies …’, Uffz. Alfred Lehmann, 11.9.44, BA-MA RH13/49, 5
Cancelled airborne operations, Headquarters Allied Airborne Army, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1466
‘The damn airborne …’, PP, 540
Versailles and Paris, Com Z, see Rick Atkinson, The Guns at Last Light, New York, 2013, 236
Letter of 21 September, CMH SC, 293
‘The whole point …’, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4177
‘narrow front’, ‘single knife-like drive …’, CMH SC, 292
‘dagger-thrust …’, Patton diary, PP, 550
‘The problem was …’, Buckley, 203
‘overwhelming egotism’, Forrest C. Pogue, George C. Marshall: Organizer of Victory, New York, 1973, 475, quoted Atkinson, 304
‘If you, as the …’, ‘You will hear … ’, PDDE, iii, 2224
‘We took enough prisoners’, XX Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1465
‘kept breaking down …’, Obersturmbannführer Loenholdt, 17 SS PzGr-Div, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4140 SRM 1254
‘Relations between officers and men …’, First Army report to the OKW, 1.10.44, BA-MA RH13/49, 9
‘The war has reached …’, O.Gefr. Ankenbeil, 22.9.44, BA-MA RH13/49, 10
‘He doesn’t attack …’, O.Gefr. M. Kriebel, 18.9.44, BA-MA RH13/49, 11
‘The American infantryman …’, O.Gefr. Hans Büscher, 20.9.44, BA-MA RH13/49, 11
‘Whoever has air …’, O.Gefr. G. Riegler, 21.9.44, BA-MA RH13/49, 11
‘Why sacrifice more and more …’, O.Gefr. Hans Hoes, 15.9.44, BA-MA RH13/49, 12
‘Führer interrupts Jodl …’, diary of General der Flieger Kreipe, FMS P-069
‘OKH [Army High Command] has serious doubts …’, 18.9.44, ibid.
Rundstedt’s drinking, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4364 GRGG 208
‘The [Nazi Party] Kreisleiter of Reutlingen …’, Hauptmann Delica, II Battalion, 19th Fallschirmjäger-Regiment, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4140 SRM 1227
‘We have been lied to …’, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4139 SRM 968
3 THE BATTLE FOR AACHEN
‘As we pass a pillbox …’, PFC Richard Lowe Ballou, 117th Infantry, 30th Infantry Division, MFF-7, C1-97 (3)
‘The wounded come out …’, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455
‘When the doors …’, MFF-7, C1-97(2)
‘After a second charge of TNT …’, ibid.
‘The Führer wanted to defend …’, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, ETHINT 30
‘The sight of the Luftwaffe …’, Generalmajor Rudolf Freiherr von Gersdorff, ETHINT 53
‘We were reduced …’, Gardner Botsford, A Life of Privilege, Mostly, New York, 2003, 47
Rumours of bacteriological weapons, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4140 SRM 1245
‘You should have seen …’, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4139 SRM 983
‘And when the houses …’, ibid.
Fear of foreign workers, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4139 SRM 1103
‘The Allied Forces serving …’, CMH SC, 357
‘American officers [are] using …’, TNA WO 208/3654 PWIS H/LDC/631
‘the troops were indignant …’, ibid.
‘former proud regiment …’, letter of 26.9.44 to Hauptmann Knapp, NARA RG 498 290/56/5/3, Box 1463
‘I had the most excellent …’, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4139 SRM 982
‘a job that should have …’, ‘To make sure …’, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1459
‘resulted in a quick …’, NARA RG 407 270/65/7/2 ML 248
‘When attacked in this way …’, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455
‘The few assault guns …’, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4139 SRM 982
‘no close-in bombing …’, ‘the flattened condition of the buildings …’, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1459
‘The operation was not unduly …’, ibid.
‘Numerous times we have had …’, NARA RG 498 290/56/2, Box 1456
‘the direct fire of the 155mm …’, VII Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1459
‘Civilians must be …’, Lt Col. Shaffer F. Jarrell, VII Corps, ibid.
‘they held up all …’, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4156
‘Eisenhower is attacking …’, Victor Klemperer, To the Bitter End: The Diaries of Victor Klemperer, 1942–45, London, 2000, 462
‘Every German homestead …’, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4140 SRM 1211
‘Even the Führer’s adjutant …’, Wilck, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4364 GRGG 216
‘The civilian population …’, Unterfeldwebel Kunz, 104th Infanterie-Regt, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4164 SRX 2050
‘the time gained at Aachen …’, NARA RG 407 270/65/7/2, Box 19105 ML 258
‘he would have been given …’, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/5542 SIR 1548
‘he has to watch …’, FMS P-069
‘Before the Generals or anyone …’, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4134 SRA 5610
‘Fears in East Prussia …’, FMS P-069
‘Gumbinnen is on fire …’, ibid.
4 INTO THE WINTER OF WAR
‘The soldiers’ behaviour today …’, Stabartz Köllensperger, 8th Regiment, 3rd Fallschirmjäger-Division, TNA WO 311/54
‘German propaganda urging …’, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/3165
‘You’ve no idea …’, Luftwaffe Obergefreiter Hlavac, KG 51, TNA WO 208/4164 SRX 2117
‘They called us prolongers …’, Obergefreiter Marke, 16th Fallschirmjäger-Regiment, ibid.
‘The mood there is shit …’, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4164 SRX 2084
‘Versager-1’, Nicholas Stargardt, Witnesses of War: Children’s Lives under the Nazis, London, 2005, 262
‘into a country …’, quoted Martin Gilbert, The Second World War, London, 1989, 592
‘every American soldier …’, NARA RG 407 270/65/7/2, Box 19105 ML 258
‘Well, it probably won’t be …’, 2.12.44, CBHD
‘The German people must realize …’, CMH SC, 342
‘The power of Germany …’, NARA RG 407 270/65/7/2, Box 19105 ML 258
‘generally expected’, ibid.
‘Tommy and his Yankee pal …’, ‘while Americans …’, TNA WO 171/4184
‘German civilians don’t know …’, 24.11.44, NARA RG 407 270/65/7/2, Box 19105 ML 285
Nazi Party corruption, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4139 SRM 902
‘armed with a few …’, ‘suspicious civilians’, ‘intelligence missions of their own’, NARA RG 407 270/65/7/2, Box 19105 ML 285
‘Don’t kick them around …’, ibid.
Cologne and ‘Edelweiss Pirates’, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4164 SRX 2074
‘A Leutnant of ours …’, Luftwaffe Unteroffizier Bock 3/JG 27, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4164 SRX 2126
‘What is cowardice?’, 4.5.44, Victor Klemperer, To the Bitter End: The Diaries of Victor Klemperer, 1942–45, London, 2000, 383
‘I am so accustomed now …’, Marie ‘Missie’ Vassiltchikov, The Berlin Diaries, 1940–1945, London, 1987, 240
‘Skin diseases …’, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/3165 SIR 1573
Deserters in Berlin, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4135 SRA 5727 13/1/45
‘War is just like …’, TNA WO 171/4184
10,000 executions, DRZW, 9/1 (Echternkamp), 48–50
‘During the night of …’, VI Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/5/3, Box 1463
Black market in Berlin, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4164 SRX 2074
Black-market coffee from Holland, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4140 SRM 1189
‘Greiser boasted …’, TNA WO 311/54, 32
‘Main meal without meat’ (‘Hauptgerichte einmal ohne Fleisch’), Branden-burgische Landeshauptarchiv, Pr. Br. Rep. 61A/11
‘The prices rise …’, NARA RG 407 270/65/7/2 ML 2279
‘the over-heated soul …’, Louis Simpson, Selected Prose, New York,
1989, 98
‘according to his VD …’, CMH Medical, 541
‘Avenue de Salute’, Forrest C. Pogue, Pogue’s War: Diaries of a WWII Combat Historian, Lexington, KY, 2001, 230
‘ardent and often …’, NARA 711.51/3-945
Reaction of young woman, Antony Beevor and Artemis Cooper, Paris after the Liberation, 1944–1949, London, 1994, 129
‘The French, cynical before …’, Simpson, 143
US Army soldiers in black market, Allan B. Ecker, ‘GI Racketeers in the Paris Black Market’, Yank, 4.5.45
‘extremely frigid …’, 24.10.44, DCD
‘there is absolutely no one …’, NARA 851.00/9-745
‘ardent admirers’, Carlos Baker, Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story, New York, 1969, 564
For the political situation in Belgium, see CMH SC, 329–31
‘We’re still a …’, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455
‘Each morning …’, Arthur S. Couch, ‘An American Infantry Soldier in World War II Europe’, unpublished memoir, private collection
‘We couldn’t get the new untrained …’, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1465
‘Sergeant Postalozzi …’, Martha Gellhorn, Point of No Return, New York, 1989, 30
Hemingway, Across the River and into the Trees, New York, 1950, 255
‘His chances seem at their …’, Ralph Ingersoll, Top Secret, London, 1946, 185–6
‘I was lucky …’, Couch, ‘An American Infantry Soldier in World War II Europe’
‘The quality of replacements …’, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1459
‘Replacements have 13 weeks …’, Tech. Sgt. Edward L. Brule, NARA RG 498 290/56/5/2, Box 3
‘enemy weapons could …’, 358th Infantry, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1465
‘The worst fault I have …’, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455
‘Jerry puts mortar fire …’, V Corps, ibid.
‘We actually had …’, NARA RG 498 290/56/5/2, Box 3
‘My first contact …’, 358th Infantry, 90th Division, XX Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1465
‘one group of officer …’, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1459
‘Before entering combat …’, Lt Col. J. E. Kelly, 3rd Battalion, 378th Infantry, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1465
5 THE HÜRTGEN FOREST
‘In general it was believed …’, Generalleutnant Hans Schmidt, 275th Infanterie-Division, FMS B-810
‘This consisted …’, Major Gen. Kenneth Strong, 02/14/2 3/25 – Intelligence Notes No. 33, IWM Documents 11656
‘absolutely unfit …’, Generalleutnant Hans Schmidt, 275th Infanterie-Division, FMS B-810
‘almost the entire company …’, ibid.
‘the greatest demands …’, ibid.
‘cold rations at irregular intervals’, ibid.
‘It was like a drop of water …’, ibid.
‘without counting the great number …’, ibid.
‘The commitment of the old paterfamilias …’, ibid.
‘the German soldier shows …’, 14.10.44, GBP
‘I am returning …’, VII Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1459
‘In dense woods …’, ibid.
‘One man kicked …’, Charles B. MacDonald, The Mighty Endeavour: The American War in Europe, New York, 1992, 385
‘Schu, Riegel, Teller …’, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1459
‘When mines are …’, 5.11.44, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455
297th Engineer Combat Battalion, VII Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1459
‘The Germans are burying …’, 22nd Infantry, 4th Inf. Div., ibid.
‘The effective range …’, VII Corps, ibid.
‘Men over thirty …’, ibid.
‘It took guts …’, Colonel Edwin M. Burnett, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455
‘excellent’, Rick Atkinson, The Guns at Last Light, New York, 2013, 317
‘Certainly there will be …’, Diary of General der Flieger Kreipe, FMS P-069, 43
‘one big, old country …’, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455
‘When the driver …’, Edward G. Miller, A Dark and Bloody Ground: The Hürtgen Forest and the Roer River Dams, 1944–1945, College Station, TX, 2008, 64
‘after the effectiveness …’, Generalmajor Rudolf Freiherr von Gersdorff, FMS A-892
‘to prevent American troops from …’, Gersdorff, FMS A-891
Lack of bazooka ammunition in Schmidt, Col. Nelson 112th Infantry, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1463
‘General Eisenhower, General Bradley …’, 8.11.44, PWS
‘When the strength of an outfit …’, Ralph Ingersoll, Top Secret, London, 1946, 185
‘The surrounded American task force …’, NARA RG 407 270/65/7/2, Box 19105 ML 258
‘There was a stream …’, Arthur S. Couch, ‘An American Infantry Soldier in World War II Europe’, unpublished memoir, private collection
‘then blast hell …’, VII Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1459
4.2-inch mortars, NARA RG 407 270/65/7/2 ML 248
‘The German artillery …’, Couch, ‘An American Infantry Soldier in World War II Europe’
‘easier to defend …’, Generalmajor Rudolf Freiherr von Gersdorff, ETHINT 53
‘Just before dawn …’, Couch, ‘An American Infantry Soldier in World War II Europe’
275th Infanterie-Division, Generalleutnant Hans Schmidt, FMS B-373
Colonel Luckett, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455
‘twelve to twenty men …’, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1465
‘In the daytime …’, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1464
‘One time we didn’t …’, quoted John Ellis, The Sharp End: The Fighting Man in World War II, London, 1990, 152
‘booby-trapped stretch …’, Robert Sterling Rush, Hell in Hürtgen Forest: The Ordeal and Triumph of an American Infantry Regiment, Lawrence, KS, 2001, 139
1st Division avoiding trails, 18th Infantry, 1st Division, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1459
‘A heavy snow …’, Couch, ‘An American Infantry Soldier in World War II Europe’
‘Armistice Day and Georgie …’, 11.11.44, CBHD
‘The whole damn company …’, Omar N. Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, New York, 1964, 430–1
‘fight to the last round’, Generalmajor Ullersperger, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4364 GRGG 237
‘I am surprised that Himmler …’, Generalmajor Vaterrodt, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4177
‘I’ve lost my unit’, etc., ibid.
‘Especially distressing …’, Generalleutnant Straube, FMS A-891
‘an open wound’, FMS A-891
‘death-mill’, Gersdorff, FMS A-892
‘Passchendaele with tree bursts’, Ernest Hemingway, Across the River and into the Trees, New York, 1950, 249
‘Old Ernie Hemorrhoid …’, Carlos Baker, Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story, New York, 1969, 552
‘an unoccupied foxhole’, J. D. Salinger, ‘Contributors’, Story, No. 25 (November–December 1944), 1
‘After five days …’, Charles Whiting, The Battle of Hürtgen Forest, Stroud, 2007, 71
‘The young battalion commanders …’, Ingersoll, 184–5
‘The men accept poor …’, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455
‘You drive by the surgical tents …’, Ingersoll, 185
22nd Infantry casualties, Sterling Rush, 163
‘keep control of …’, FMS A-891
‘Our men appear to have …’, Sgt David Rothbart, 22nd Inf. Rgt, quoted Sterling Rush, 178
‘would get up …’, quoted Paul Fussell, The Boys’ Crusade, New York, 2003, 91
‘tree bursts that sent …’, etc., Captain H. O. Sweet, US 908th Field Artillery, Attached to 331st Infantry, 83rd Division, IWM Documents 3415 95/33/1
8,000 psychological casualties, Peter Schrijvers, The Crash of Ruin: American Combat Soldiers in Europe during World War II, New York, 1998, 8
 
; ‘There were few cases …’, Generalarzt Schepukat, ETHINT 60
‘In some cases …’, Gersdorff, FMS A-892
‘more than 5,000 battle …’, ‘The Ardennes’, CSI Battlebook 10-A, May 1984
6 THE GERMANS PREPARE
‘with the rather melancholy …’, Traudl Junge, Until the Final Hour: Hitler’s Last Secretary, London, 2002, 147
‘He knew very well …’, ibid.
‘the column of cars …’, ibid., 148
‘Hitler had all day …’, Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, ETHINT 50
‘By remaining on the defensive …’, ibid.
‘another Dunkirk’, CMH Ardennes, 18
‘whisked away’, General der Kavallerie Siegfried Westphal, ETHINT 79
‘German divisions were gradually …’, Generalmajor Rudolf Freiherr von Gersdorff, FMS A-892
‘small solution’ and conferences beginning November, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4178 GRGG 330 (c)
‘a snowplow effect’, CMH Ardennes, 26
Hitler and American forces in front of Aachen, Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, ETHINT 50
Oberstleutnant Guderian, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/3653
‘In our current …’, DRZW, 6, 125
Manteuffel’s fuel requests, Manteuffel, Fifth Panzer Army, ETHINT 45
‘on principle, otherwise …’, Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, ETHINT 50
Preference for SS, General der Artillerie Walter Warlimont, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/3151
‘There was a certain …’, Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, ETHINT 51
‘expressed his astonishment …’, Jodl, TNA WO 231/30
‘Not to be altered’, ‘to their subordinate …’, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4178 GRGG 330 (c)
‘last gamble’, TNA WO 231/30, 4
‘final objective …’, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4178 GRGG 330 (c)
‘Surprise, when it succeeds …’, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4178 GRGG 322
Security measures, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4178 GRGG 330 (c)
‘full to bursting point’, Hauptmann Gaum, 3rd Bn, Führer Begleit Brigade, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/3611
Storch aircraft, TNA WO 231/30
Volksgrenadier divisions taking documents, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4140 SRM 1140
‘started a rumour …’, Manteuffel, Fifth Panzer Army, ETHINT 46