In locating veterans, gathering research and in the final interviewing I was ably assisted by Reader’s Digest researchers, bureau representatives and editors in the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, France and Germany. In New York, Miss Frances Ward and Miss Sally Roberts, under the guidance of department editor Gertrude Arundel, waded through piles of documents, questionnaires and correspondence and somehow kept abreast of it all. In London, Miss Joan Isaacs did a similar job, including many interviews. With the help of the Canadian War Office, the Digest’s Shane McKay and Miss Nancy Vail Bashant found and interviewed dozens of Canadian veterans. The European end of the operation was the most difficult, and I must thank Max C. Schreiber, editor of the Digest’s German edition, for his advice; and especially associate editor George Révay, John D. Panitza and Yvonne Fourcade of the Digest’s European editorial office in Paris for their magnificent work in organizing and researching the project and for their tireless interviewing. My earnest thanks also to the Digest’s assistant managing editor, Hobart Lewis, for believing in the project in the first place and for holding my hand through the long months of work.
There are many, many others to whom I owe debts of gratitude. To mention just a few: Jerry Korn for his thoughtful criticisms and editorial assistance; Don Lassen for his many letters regarding the 82nd Airborne; Don Brice of the Dictaphone Corp., and David Kerr for help in interviewing; Colonel John Virden of the Army Times, Kenneth Crouch of the Bedford Democrat, Dave Parsons of Pan American Airways, Ted Rowe of IBM, and Pat Sullivan of General Dynamics—all of whom through their organizations helped me trace survivors; Suzanne Cleaves, Theodore H. White, Peter Schwed and Phyllis Jackson for their careful readings of each version of the work; Lillian Lang for her secretarial work; Anne Wright, who filed, cross-indexed, handled correspondence and did all the typing; and above all my dear wife, Kathryn, who collated, organized the research, helped in final revision of the manuscript and contributed more than anyone else—for she had to live through the writing.
C.R.
Bibliography
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GERMAN MANUSCRIPTS AND CAPTURED DOCUMENTS
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Von Criegern, Friedrich. 84th Corps (1917 January-June 1944), MS. B-784.
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Von Schweppenburg, Gen. Baron Leo Geyr. Panzer Group West (Mid 1943-5 July 1944), MS. B-258.
War Diaries: Army Group B (Rommel’s headquarters); OB West (Rundstedt’s headquarters); Seventh Army (and Telephone Log); Fifteenth Army. All translated by Charles von Luttichau.
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Index
Abwehr, 50
Admiral Channel Coast (Krancke’s headquarters), 152
Ajax (British light cruiser), 93, 186
Aldworth, Lt. Michael, 217-18
Alien, Pvt. Robert Marion, 98
Alien, Gunner Ronald, 226, 227
Allied High Command. See SHAEF
Allied naval headquarters. See Southwick House
Allied pilots, hidden in France 91
amphibious vehicles, 210
Ancon (U.S. Command ship), 152
Anderson, 2nd Lt. Donald, 98, 265-66
Anne, Albert, 253
Arethusa (British cruiser), 167
Arkansas (U.S. battleship), 93, 186
Army-Navy demolition engineers, 200
Army-Navy Special Engineer Task Force, 201
Asay, Sgt. Charles, 107
Ashworth, AB/Seaman Edward, 220
Astley, Sir Jacob, 99
Atlantic Wall, 22, 23, 24-26, 191
Audige, Pierre, 253
Augé, Albert, 89
Augusta (U.S. cruiser), 93, 184-185, 264
Austria, 23, 258
“Axis Sally,” 41
bagpipes, 97, 215, 227, 268-69
Barton, Maj. Gen. Raymond O., 204-5, 261-62
Batte, Lt. Col. James, 193
Batten, Pvt. Raymond, 123-24
Bavent Forest, 148
Baxter, Pvt. Hubert Victor, 215
Bayeux (France), 79, 90, 227, 250
Bayfield (U.S. Command ship), 147
Bay of the Seine, 39, 59, 118
BBC (British Broadcasting Corp.), 189-90
Bedford (Va.), 256-57
Beer, Comdr. Robert O., 185
Bell, Sgt. “Dinger,” 215
Ben Machree (British transport), 97
Berchtesgaden, 84, 172, 228, 259
“Berlin Bitch,” 41
Bernières (France), 222-23
Beynon, Sub-Lt. John, 221
Biévil
le (France), 275
Bismarck (German battleship), 93
Black Prince (British cruiser), 93, 186
Blanchard, P.F.C. Ernest, 133-34
Blankenship, Pvt., 136
Block, Maj., 117, 174
“Bloody Omaha,” 196, 263. See also Omaha Beach
Blumentritt, Maj. Gen. Günther, 16, 28, 81, 229-31, 232, 271
Bodet, Cpl. Alan, 96
Boitard, Janine, 91, 252
Bombardier, P.F.C. Carl, 211
Boon, Gunner Arthur Henry, 96
Boulard, Robert, 253
Boutrois, Achille, 253
Bradley, Lt. Gen. Omar N., 184-185, 264
Brannen, Lt. Malcolm, 245
Braun, Eva, 84, 172
Brevands (France), 108
British Air Force. See R.A.F.
British Army
1st Dorset Regiment, 219
1st Hampshire Regiment, 218-219
1st South Lancashire Regiment, 224, 225
1st Special Service Brigade, 213
2nd Army, 213
2nd East York Regiment, 225
3rd Infantry, 68, 179, 215
4th commandos, 224, 225
5th Parachute Brigade, 122, 123
6th Airborne, 59, 110-11, 113, 121, 122, 140, 227, 269, 279
8th Air Force, 55-56, 187
8th Army, 68
8th Battalion, 124
9th Air Force, 55-56, 187
9th Battalion, 126, 127-28
12th Battalion, 125
13th Battalion, 123