Ardennes 1944: Hitler's Last Gamble

  Twenty-three Sherman tanks, Bayerlein, FMS A-941

  ‘Noville is two towns up …’, NARA RG 407 270/65/8/2 ML 130

  ‘We could hear gunfire …’, etc., William R. Desobry Papers, USAMHI

  ‘There was a muffled explosion …’, RWHP, Box 1

  ‘Führer Begleit Brigade was involved …’, ‘pushing forward …’, Hauptmann Gaum, 3rd Bn, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/3610

  ‘declined to move in that …’, Generalmajor Otto Remer, ETHINT 80 and FMS B-592

  ‘There’s not the slightest …’, 18.12.44, GBP

  ‘I feel that you won’t like …’, PP, 596

  ‘What the hell …’, Omar N. Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, New York, 1964, 469

  ‘A very dangerous operation …’, PP, 597

  ‘the situation up there is …’, ibid.

  11 SKORZENY AND HEYDTE

  Leutnant Günther Schultz, Mobile Field Interrogation Unit No. 1, NARA RG 407 ML 2279

  ‘may have a captured German officer …’, 21.12.44, CBHD

  Bradley security precautions, 22.12.44, CBHD

  ‘Question the driver because …’, 344/1/A TNA WO 171/4184

  ‘What is Sinatra’s first name?’, 21.12.44, PWS

  ‘Only a kraut would …’, quoted Danny S. Parker (ed.), Hitler’s Ardennes Offensive: The German View of the Battle of the Bulge, London, 1997, 172

  ‘I haven’t the faintest idea …’, David Niven, The Moon’s a Balloon, London, 1994, 258

  ‘General, if I were you …’, Lord Tryon, conversation with author, 6.2.2013

  Gerhardt Unger and Gunther Wertheim, Ernest Unger, conversation with author, 13.12.2012

  ‘We were sentenced to death …’, TNA WO 171/4184

  Aywaille, NARA RG 407 E 427 (270/65/8-9/6-1) ML 7, Box 24201

  Vichy Milice and the SS Charlemagne Division, TNA WO 171/4184

  ‘the women sang in clear strong …’, etc., 25.12.44, CBHD

  ‘visibility was almost nil’, Brigadier A. W. Brown, IWM Documents 13781 73/18/1

  ‘swept up the bridge’, 25.12.44, CBHD

  150th Panzer-Brigade, ‘Ardennes Offensive’, Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny, ETHINT 12

  ‘hindering the operation of the corps …’, SS-Oberstgruppenführer Sepp Dietrich, ETHINT 15

  ‘amateurish, almost frivolous …’, Heydte, FMS B-823

  Kampfgruppe Heydte, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/5541 SIR 1444; also TNA WO 208/3628, TNA WO 208/3612

  wire across road, NARA RG 498 290/56/2, Box 1456

  ‘ambushed, captured and …’, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455

  ‘taken off believing …’, 18.12.44, GBP; and V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455

  Failure to report parachutes found, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1459

  Heydte Kampfgruppe casualties, ibid.

  12 TUESDAY 19 DECEMBER

  Peiper Kampfgruppe at Stoumont, Peiper, FMS C-004

  Saint-Edouard sanatorium, Peter Schrijvers, The Unknown Dead: Civilians in the Battle of the Bulge, Lexington, KY, 2005, 54–6

  ‘From his place of concealment …’, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455

  ‘Our battalion advanced …’, TNA WO 311/54

  ‘Some of them came along …’, conversation with Obergefreiter Pompe of the 18th Volksgrenadier-Division, CSDIC, TNA WO 311/54

  105th Engineer Battalion, NARA RG 407 290/56/5/1–3, Box 7

  3rd Fallschirmjäger, Faymonville, Operations of the Sixth Panzer Army, FMS A-924

  ‘poor physical specimens’, etc., Kurt Vonnegut, C-Span, New Orleans, 30.5.95

  ‘showers, warm beds …’, NARA RG 407 E 427-A (270/65/4/7)

  ‘Do not flee …’, CBMP, Box 4

  ‘the largest surrender …’, Kurt Vonnegut, C-Span, New Orleans, 30.5.95

  ‘inferred that the two …’, Colonel Walter Stanton, deputy chief of staff VIII Corps, NARA RG 407 270/65/8/2 ML 299

  ‘Endless columns of prisoners …’, Diary of Oberleutnant Behman, Maurice Delaval Collection, Box 7, USAMHI

  ‘licking its wounds’, RWHP, Box 1

  ‘the only Jerries we found …’, etc., ibid.

  ‘hysterical and a nervous wreck …’, Hauptmann Gaum, 3rd Battalion Führer Begleit Brigade, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/3611

  ‘lifted the man’s head up …’, Hans Post, One Man in his Time, Sydney, 2002, 170

  ‘an ugly professional …’, Ralph Ingersoll, Top Secret, London, 1946, 162

  ‘fabulous Jeep …’, 20.12.44, CBHD

  ‘The present situation …’, etc., Charles B. MacDonald, A Time for Trumpets: The Untold Story of the Battle of the Bulge, New York, 1984, 420; Dwight D. Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe, London, 1948, 371

  ‘On the morning of December 21st …’, D. K. R. Crosswell, Beetle: The Life of General Walter Bedell Smith, Lexington, KY, 2010, 812

  Patton and date of counter-attack, PP, 599

  ‘Every time I get a new star …’, PP, 600

  ‘fighting mad’, ‘I don’t want to commit …’, 19.12.44, CBHD

  ‘Where are you going?’, VIII Corps, NARA RG 407 270/65/8/2 ML 299

  The fighting in Wiltz, ‘The Breakthrough to Bastogne’, typescript, n.d., CMH 8-3.1 AR

  Scenes in Bastogne, Lieutenant Ed Shames, in Tim G. W. Holbert, ‘Brothers at Bastogne – Easy Company’s Toughest Task’, World War II Chronicles, Winter 2004/5, 22–5

  ‘a hod-carrying …’, Louis Simpson, Selected Prose, New York, 1989, 121

  ‘We have been wiped out’, NARA RG 407 270/65/8/2 ML 130

  ‘The surprise was complete’, Generalmajor Heinz Kokott, 26th Volksgrenadier-Division, FMS B-040

  ‘painful losses’, ibid.

  ‘The enemy had made …’, ibid.

  Panzer Lehr draining fuel tanks, Generalleutnant Fritz Bayerlein, FMS A-941

  ‘day of surprises’, ibid.

  ‘not sufficiently coherent …’, ibid.

  ‘Ammunition and rations …’, Kokott, FMS B-040

  20th Armored Infantry at Noville, William R. Desobry Papers, USAMHI, and NARA RG 407 270/65/8/2 ML 130

  ‘to go through the whole daggone …’, NARA RG 407 270/65/8/2 ML 130

  ‘They spread out …’, William R. Desobry Papers, USAMHI

  ‘You know those sound …’, Holbert, ‘Brothers at Bastogne – Easy Company’s Toughest Task’, 22–5

  ‘Go on back …’, quoted George E. Koskimaki, The Battered Bastards of Bastogne: The 101st Airborne in the Battle of the Bulge, New York, 2007, 113

  Capture of 326th Field Hospital, CMH Medical, 409–14

  Desobry’s fortunes, William R. Desobry Papers, USAMHI

  ‘laid in rows …’, CMH Medical, 414

  ‘We arrive at First Army HQ …’, Carol Mather, When the Grass Stops Growing, Barnsley, 1997, 284–7

  ‘got any bloody tanks …’, ibid., 286

  ‘oddly deserted countryside’, ‘He is considerably …’, ibid., 287

  ‘clearly alarmed’, etc., ibid.

  ‘Limey bastards’, Crosswell, 814

  ‘Certainly if Monty’s were …’, CMH SC, 378

  ‘By God, Ike …’, Kenneth Strong, Intelligence at the Top, London, 1970, 226

  ‘absolutely livid … walked up and down …’, Coningham, FCP SC

  ‘Montgomery for a long time …’, Bedell Smith, FCP SC

  ‘as the personal inspiration …’, Ingersoll, 205

  ‘as a slam to me’, Chester B. Hansen Collection, Box 42, S-25, USAMHI

  13 WEDNESDAY 20 DECEMBER

  ‘extremely delicate’, Carol Mather, When the Grass Stops Growing, Barnsley, 1997, 287

  ‘completely out of touch’, Sir Carol Mather docs., IWM, 11/28/1 5

  ‘On the important question …’, ibid.

  ‘Monty, we are in a bit …’, Dempsey, FCP SC

  ‘like Christ …’, quoted Nigel Hamilton, Monty: Master of the Battlefield 1942–1944, London, 1984, 213

  ‘What’s the form?’, ‘It was a slight ?
??’, Mather, 288

  ‘The General is now well located …’, 23.12.44, PWS

  ‘the weakest commander …’, Bedell Smith, FCP SC

  ‘whether we can hold …’, 21.12.44, PWS

  ‘We sandwiched the thermite grenades …’, Ralph Ingersoll, Top Secret, London, 1946, 200

  ‘The best way to handle …’, ‘The Ardennes’, CSI Battlebook 10-A, May 1984

  ‘four inside and eleven …’, ibid.

  ‘Schloss Hemingstein 1944’, Carlos Baker, Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story, New York, 1969, 558

  ‘caused a considerable waste …’, Generalmajor Siegfried von Waldenburg, 116th Panzer-Division, FMS A-873

  Easy Company, Lieutenant Ed Shames, in Tim G. W. Holbert,‘Brothers at Bastogne – Easy Company’s Toughest Task’, World War II Chronicles, Winter 2004/5, 22–5

  Retreat from Noville, Charles B. MacDonald, A Time for Trumpets: The Untold Story of the Battle of the Bulge, New York, 1984, 499–500

  ‘the fog up front …’, ‘Dead were lying …’, quoted Peter Schrijvers, Those Who Hold Bastogne, New Haven, CN, 2014, 63

  ‘The 2nd Panzer …’, etc., Generalmajor Heinz Kokott, 26th Volksgrenadier-Division, FMS B-040

  ‘considered Bastogne …’, Generalleutnant Fritz Bayerlein, Panzer Lehr Division, FMS A-941

  ‘Is Bastogne to be …’, Kokott, FMS B-040.

  ‘The Division dutifully …’, ibid.

  ‘the deep rumble …’, ibid.

  ‘with devastating …’, ibid.

  ‘seated negligently …’, Louis Simpson, Selected Prose, New York, 1989, 137–8

  Action at Cheneux, Charles B. MacDonald, The Battle of the Bulge, London, 1984, 448–9

  ‘still very bad’, etc., RWHP, Box 1

  ‘We stressed to every …’, Maj. Donald P. Boyer Jr, S-3, ‘Narrative Account of Action of 38th Armored Infantry Battalion’, n.d., RWHP, Box 1

  Führer Begleit Brigade, Generalmajor Otto Remer, ETHINT 80

  ‘neck-deep’, etc., Mack Morriss, ‘The Defense of Stavelot’, Yank, 9.2.45

  SS atrocities in Stavelot, NARA RG 407 290/56/5/1–3, Box 7

  Fighting in Stavelot on 20 December, ibid.

  ‘for the most part impassable …’, Operations of the Sixth Panzer Army, FMS A-924

  ‘under almost continuous …’, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455

  Items taken from Camp Elsenborn, Richard H. Byers, ‘The Battle of the Bulge’, Richard H. Byers Papers, Box 1, USAMHI

  ‘Sherman Ecke’, ‘The concentrated …’, 3rd Panzergrenadier-Division, FMS A-978

  ‘Farmers learned to take …’, Peter Schrijvers, The Unknown Dead: Civilians in the Battle of the Bulge, Lexington, KY, 2005, 30

  ‘a ring of steel’, MacDonald, A Time for Trumpets, 406

  ‘Soon I noticed that …’, Arthur S. Couch, ‘An American Infantry Soldier in World War II Europe’, unpublished memoir, private collection

  German casualties, MacDonald, A Time for Trumpets, 407

  ‘That is precisely …’, Martin Lindsay, So Few Got Through, Barnsley, 2000, 161

  Movement order to XXX Corps, TNA WO 231/30

  ‘bombed-up, tanked up …’, J. W. Cunningham, IWM Documents 15439 06/126/1

  ‘a small but steady …’, Brigadier A. W. Brown, IWM Documents 13781 73/18/1

  ‘I felt that we were all right …’, Bedell Smith, FCP SC

  ‘clamped down …’, Time, 1.1.45

  ‘Personally I would like to shoot …’, 21.12.44, Hobart Gay Papers, USAMHI

  ‘disastrous results …’, Memo, R. H. C. Drummond-Wolff, chief, Liberated Territories Desk, PWD, 21.12.44, C. D. Jackson Papers, Box 3, DDE Lib

  ‘The wholly unexpected …’, Fritz Hockenjos, Kriegstagebuch, BA-MA, MsG2 4038

  ‘You cannot imagine …’, LHC-DP, No. 217, II, 5, quoted Ian Kershaw, The End: Hitler’s Germany 1944–45, London, 2011, 156

  ‘Be practical …’, Antony Beevor, Berlin: The Downfall 1945, London, 2002, 1

  ‘Just rumble forward …’, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4364 GRGG 235/6

  ‘The old principle of tank warfare: “forward, forward, forward!” …’, ibid.

  ‘This offensive is terrific!’, ibid.

  ‘That man will never …’, ibid.

  ‘It’s Wednesday …’, ibid.

  14 THURSDAY 21 DECEMBER

  ‘pocketed without adequate supplies’, Peiper, FMS C-004

  Detilleux, Wanne and Refat, Peter Schrijvers, The Unknown Dead: Civilians in the Battle of the Bulge, Lexington, KY, 2005, 57–8

  ‘duck shooting’, NARA RG 407 290/56/5/1–3, Box 7

  ‘After we saw …’, Mack Morriss, ‘The Defense of Stavelot’, Yank, 9.2.45

  ‘The prisoner bag is thus far small …’, 21.12.44, PWS

  ‘Prisoners from the 12th SS?’, 24.12.44, CBHD

  ‘caked in mud’, ‘The GIs looked …’, 21.12.44, CBHD

  ‘General Collins is full …’, 21.12.44, PWS

  ‘Monty would come …’, J. Lawton Collins, SOOHP, Box 1, USAMHI

  Hasbrouck and Clarke on Ridgway, Jonathan M. Soffer, General Matthew B. Ridgway, Westport, CN, 1998, 71

  ‘dread Panzerfaust’, etc., Major Donald P. Boyer Jr, RWHP, Box 1

  ‘would prove to be …’, ibid.

  ‘Huge gashes …’, etc., ibid.

  ‘Reform. Save what vehicles …’, RWHP, Box 1

  St Vith and the St Josef Kloster; ‘He took a chalice …’, Schrijvers, Unknown Dead, 169

  I&R Platoon, 423rd Infantry, 106th Division, Richard D. Sparks, ‘A Walk through the Woods’, 2003, http://www.ryansdom.com/theryans/sparks/adobe/walk2.pdf

  ‘a God-sent gift’, etc., Generalmajor Siegfried von Waldenburg, 116th Panzer-Division, FMS A-873

  ‘It was known …’, 4th SS Panzergrenadier-Regiment Der Führer, FMS P-109b

  ‘The troops began slowly …’, Waldenburg, FMS A-873

  Tenneville, NARA RG 407 270/65/8/2 ML 130

  ‘Ike and [Major General] Bull …’, PP, 603

  Kokott and stragglers, NARA RG 407 270/65/8/2 ML 130

  ‘It was like a tremendous …’, Robert Harwick, ‘Christmas for Real!’, The Magazine of the Gulf Companies, November–December 1945, 70–1

  ‘Two prisoners came back’, ibid.

  ‘One, terrified …’, ibid.

  The decision to send a negotiator to Bastogne, General der Panzertruppe Heinrich von Lüttwitz, XLVII Panzer Corps, FMS A-939

  ‘After he was finished …’, George E. Koskimaki, The Battered Bastards of Bastogne: The 101st Airborne in the Battle of the Bulge, New York, 2007, 148

  15 FRIDAY 22 DECEMBER

  ‘Your orders are …’, Maurice Delaval Collection, Box 7, USAMHI

  ‘We crawled wearily …’, etc., I&R Platoon, 423rd Infantry, 106th Division, Richard D. Sparks, ‘A Walk through the Woods’, 2003, http://www.ryansdom.com/theryans/sparks/adobe/walk2.pdf

  ‘As we crossed …’, Sam Bordelon, ibid.

  ‘I am throwing in …’, 22.12.44, RWHP, Box 1

  ‘You have accomplished …’, Misc’l AG Records, NARA RG 407 E 427 2280, Box 2425

  ‘The line troops vowed …’, Sparks, ‘A Walk through the Woods’

  ‘broke the base plates …’, Misc’l AG Records, NARA RG 407 E 427 2280, Box 2425

  Withdrawal across the Salm, ibid.

  ‘What the hell are you …’, Maurice Delaval Collection, Box 7, USAMHI

  Civilians in Bütgenbach, Peter Schrijvers, The Unknown Dead: Civilians in the Battle of the Bulge, Lexington, KY, 2005, 26–7

  Stoumont and SS wounded, NARA RG 407 290/56/5/1–3, Box 7

  ‘very grave’, ‘conspicuously marked’, Peiper, ETHINT 10

  ‘a single infantry division’, Generalmajor Heinz Kokott, 26th Volksgrenadier-Division, FMS B-040

  ‘In the course of …’, ibid.

  Two German soldiers in Mande-Saint-Etienne, André Meurisse, quoted George E. Koskimaki, The Battered Bastards of Bast
ogne: The 101st Airborne in the Battle of the Bulge, New York, 2007, 221–2

  ‘I was never worried …’, Bedell Smith interview, FCP SC

  ‘The fog was sitting …’, J. Lawton Collins, SOOHP, Box 1, USAMHI

  ‘engaged in a fight …’, John S. D. Eisenhower, The Bitter Woods, New York, 1970, 453

  Advance on Marche, General der Panzertruppe Heinrich von Lüttwitz, XLVII Panzer Corps, FMS A-939

  23rd Hussars report, William H. Simpson Papers, Box 11, USAMHI

  High ground south-west of Marche, Oberstleutnant Rüdiger Weiz, 2nd Panzer-Division, FMS B-456

  Change of route for 116th Panzer-Division, Generalmajor Siegfried von Waldenburg, FMS A-873

  ‘a veritable postcard scene …’, 22.12.44, CBHD

  ‘acutely worried over …’, ibid.

  ‘The enemy is making …’, Eisenhower, Bitter Woods, 422

  ‘kept his head magnificently …’, CMH SC, 381

  ‘We learned that the …’, Ralph Ingersoll, Top Secret, London, 1946, 201–4

  16 SATURDAY 23 DECEMBER

  ‘visibility unlimited’, CMH Ardennes, 468

  ‘God damn! …’, John S. D. Eisenhower, The Bitter Woods, New York, 1970, 424

  ‘As soon as the enemy …’, Generalleutnant Karl Thoholte, ‘Army Group B Artillery in the Ardennes’, FMS B-311

  Jemelle repeater station, ETO Historical Division, NARA RG 498 290/57/17/6

  Airdrops to Task Force Hogan, Royce L. Thompson, ‘Air Resupply to Isolated Units, Ardennes Campaign’, OCMH, Feb. 1951, typescript, CMH 2-3.7 AE P

  ‘Position considerably worsened …’, General der Waffen-SS H. Priess, I SS Panzer Corps, FMS A-877

  ‘American troops are now refusing …’, William H. Simpson Papers, Box 11, USAMHI

  Civilians in Faymonville, Peter Schrijvers, The Unknown Dead: Civilians in the Battle of the Bulge, Lexington, KY, 2005, 27–8

  ‘Manteuffel’s report that he could not …’, Major Herbert Büchs, ETHINT 34

  ‘up to ten men …’, Generalmajor Heinz Kokott, 26th Volksgrenadier-Division, FMS B-040

  ‘The first enemy …’, ‘Towards noon …’, ibid.

  ‘Houses caught fire …’, ibid.

  ‘Achtung! Strong enemy …’, ibid.