Ardennes 1944: Hitler's Last Gamble (57 page)

Volksgrenadier divisions and artillery, General der Artillerie Kruse, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4178 GRGG 330 (c)

‘just a local diversion’
, NARA RG 407 270/65/7/2 ML 2280

‘05.15: Asleep in …’
, etc., Matt F. C. Konop, diary, 2nd Infantry Division, CBMP, Box 2

‘local enemy action’
, ibid.

‘They turned searchlights …’
, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455

28th Infantry Division and artillery, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1463

‘Ten Germans will be reported …’
, 28th Infantry Division, ibid.

‘on the morning of the …’
, 112th Infantry Regiment, NARA RG 498 290/56/5/2, Box 3

‘nearly destroyed’
, Generalmajor Siegfried von Waldenburg, 116th Panzer-Division, FMS A-873

‘was the fact that …’
, Generalmajor Heinz Kokott, ‘26th Volksgrenadier Division in the Ardennes Offensive’, FMS B-040

‘willing but inept’
, etc., Major Frank, battalion commander, III/13th Fallschirmjäger, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/4140 SRM 1148, and WO 208/5540 SIR 1375

‘a very ambitious, reckless soldier …’
, Heydte, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/5541 SIR 1425

‘der Schlächter von Cassino’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/3611

Crossing the Our,
‘Ardennes Offensive of Seventh Army’
, FMS A-876

‘We are here!’
, ‘The Ardennes’, CSI Battlebook 10-A, May 1984

Lauterborn, ibid.

‘It was the towns and road junctions …’
, ibid.

‘God, I just want to see …’
, 16.12.44, CBHD

‘The room, with two …’
, ibid.

‘Tell him that Ike …’
, Eisenhower,
Bitter Woods
, 266

‘That broke our hearts …’
, William R. Desobry Papers, USAMHI

‘looks like the real thing’
,
PP
, 595

‘It reminds me very much …’
,
PP
, 596

‘Hodges [is] having a bit …’
, William H. Simpson Papers, Box 11, USAMHI

‘very conscientious …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/5541 SIR 1444

‘new and nervous’
, ibid.

‘an utter failure’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/3628

‘pitifully small …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/5541 SIR 1444

‘German People, be confident!’
, TNA WO 171/4184

‘We will win …’
, ibid.

‘We heard a siren-like …’
, Arthur S. Couch, ‘An American Infantry Soldier in World War II Europe’, unpublished memoir, private collection

Order to 2nd Division, Major William F. Hancock, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division, CBMP, Box 2

‘the decisive role …’
, Peiper, ETHINT 10

‘Say, Konop, I want you …’
, Matt F. C. Konop, diary, 2nd Infantry Division, CBMP, Box 2

‘had had the hell knocked out …’
, Charles B. MacDonald,
Company Commander
, New York, 2002, 82–3

‘The snow around …’
, ibid.

‘Owing to the wretched condition …’
, General der Waffen-SS H. Priess, I SS Panzer Corps, FMS A-877

Peiper’s Kampfgruppe in Honsfeld, Peter Schrijvers,
The Unknown Dead: Civilians in the Battle of the Bulge
, Lexington, KY, 2005, 35–6

Nazi civilian in Büllingen, ibid., 35

Fifty American prisoners shot at Büllingen, CMH
Ardennes
, 261

254th Engineer Battalion, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455

26th Infantry, CBMP, Box 2

‘I think the war …’
, Gefreiter W.P., 17.12.44, BfZ-SS

‘I will never move backwards …’
, etc., 17.12.44, CBHD

‘the last air-raid …’
, Ralph Ingersoll,
Top Secret
, London, 1946, 194

‘whether 12th Army Group …’
, First Army diary, quoted D. K. R. Crosswell,
Beetle: The Life of General Walter Bedell Smith
, Lexington, KY, 2010, 810

‘The Army Group commander called …’
, Gaffey Papers, USAMHI

‘a diversion for a larger …’
,
‘everything depends …’
, 17.12.44, GBP

Kampfgruppe Heydte, Oberstleutnant von der Heydte, ETHINT 75

106th on 16–17 December, CMH
Ardennes
, 156–7

‘great bear of a man’
, John S. D. Eisenhower,
The
Bitter Woods
, New York, 1970, 280

‘Air Resupply to Isolated Units, Ardennes Campaign’, OCMH, Feb. 1951, typescript, CMH 2-3.7 AE P

Devine’s combat fatigue, ‘Report of Investigation, Action of 14th Cavalry Group on Occasion of German Attack Commencing on 16 Dec. 1944’, 29.1.45, First Army IG NARA RG 338 290/62/05/1–2

‘When I told him …’
, General der Panzertruppe Horst Stumpff, ETHINT 61

‘I expected the right-hand …’
, NARA RG 407 270/65/7/2 ML 2280

‘It was a case of …’
, Major Donald P. Boyer, 38th Armored Infantry Battalion, RWHP, Box 1

‘panic stricken soldiers …’
, AAR, 7th AD Artillery, RWHP, Box 1

‘the continuous stream of …’
, RWHP, Box 1

‘The build-up of a defensive …’
, ibid.

‘herded together …’
,
‘Immediate publicity …’
, 17.12.44, PWS

‘took the breath away from …’
, 18.12.44, CBHD

‘What utter madness …’
, CSDIC, TNA WO 208/5516

Werbomont reprisals in September, Schrijvers,
Unknown Dead
, 40

Kampfgruppe Peiper at Stavelot, Obersturmbannführer Joachim Peiper, 1st SS Panzer-Regiment, ETHINT 10

Dogfight over Wahlerscheid, 3rd Battalion, 38th Infantry, CBMP, Box 2

‘Against this demoralizing picture …’
, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division, CBMP, Box 2

‘screaming among the enemy’
, ibid.

‘In heavy and close combat …’
, ‘The Ardennes’, CSI Battlebook 10-A, May 1984

‘One enemy soldier …’
, 3rd Battalion, 38th Infantry, CBMP, Box 2

‘plunged through the thickly …’
,
‘I felt like …’
, MacDonald,
Company Commander
, 97, 100

‘The Germans had sent him …’
, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division, CBMP, Box 2

‘the crews were picked off …’
, ibid.

‘a mediocre division with no …’
, General der Infanterie Baptist Kniess, LXXXV Corps, ETHINT 40

‘A group of men nearby …’
, 28th Infantry Division, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1463

German infiltration of Clervaux, interview Joseph Maertz, Clervaux, 22.8.81, CBMP, Box 6

‘sitting in his …’
, and defence of Clervaux, ‘The Breakthrough to Bastogne’, vol. ii, Clervaux, typescript, n.d., CMH, 8-3.1 AR

‘If you’re a Jewish …’
, Roger Cohen, ‘The Lost Soldiers of Stalag IX-B’,
New York Times Magazine
, 27.2.2005

Jean Servé, Clervaux, CBMP, Box 6

‘rolled headlong …’
, ‘The Ardennes’, CSI Battlebook 10-A

‘The G-2 estimate tonight’
, 17.12.44, PWS

XLVII Panzer Corps, Lüttwitz, XLVII Panzer Corps, ETHINT 41

‘to advance as rapidly …’
, Kniess, ETHINT 40

‘All I know of the situation …’
, NARA RG 407 270/65/8/2 ML 130

‘most of them, to hear them tell it …’
, Louis Simpson,
Selected Prose
, New York, 1989, 134

‘As we walked through …’
, Walter Bedell Smith,
Eisenhower’s Six Great Decisions
, London, 1956, 103

‘There’s been a complete …’
, Stanley Weintraub,
Eleven Days in December
, New York, 2006, 54–5

‘yells, catcalls and many …’
, NARA RG 498, 290/56/5/2, Box 3

‘cumbersome’
, etc., NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455

‘tanks knocked out of action …’
, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455

‘When the Battalion assembled …’
, CBMP, Box 2

‘it was artillery …’
, 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division, CBMP, Box 2

Battalion commander relieved,
CO, 2nd Bn, 394th Inf., NARA RG 407, E 427-A (270/65/4/7)

‘Trojan Horse trick’
, CBMP, Box 2

‘A tank was observed …’
, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455

‘The bayonet was …’
,
‘gunners, drivers, assistant drivers …’
, ibid.

‘saw a soldier silhouetted …’
, Charles B. MacDonald,
Company Commander
, New York, 2002, 103

‘observed a Mark VI …’
, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455

‘man from another outfit’
, ibid.

‘None of them got away’
, 3rd Battalion, 38th Infantry, 2nd Division, CBMP, Box 2

‘But I’ve a rendezvous …’
, FO, C Battery, 371st FA Bn, 99th Infantry Division, Richard Henry Byers, ‘Battle of the Bulge’, typescript, 1983

‘It is dangerous at any time …’
, V Corps, NARA RG 498 290/56/2/3, Box 1455

Attack on Stavelot, Peiper, 1st SS Panzer-Regiment, ETHINT 10

Evacuation of fuel, CMH
Ardennes
, 667

‘General, if you don’t get out …’
, J. Lawton Collins, SOOHP, USAMHI

‘The situation is rapidly deteriorating’
, 18.12.44, PWS

‘He says that the situation …’
, William H. Simpson Papers, Box 11, USAMHI

‘American flags, pictures of the President …’
, 21.12.44, PWS

‘Hell, when this fight’s over …’
, John S. D. Eisenhower,
The
Bitter Woods
, New York, 1970, 303

‘it would have been a simple …’
, Peiper, ETHINT 10

‘in their winter clothing …’
, Louis Simpson,
Selected Prose
, New York, 1989, 134

‘How many teams …’
, NARA RG 407 270/65/8/2 ML 130

Tensions in XLVII Panzer Corps, Kokott, FMS B-040

‘The long resistance of Hosingen …’
, Generalmajor Heinz Kokott, 26th Volksgrenadier-Division, FMS B-040

‘arrived too late …’
, Generalleutnant Fritz Bayerlein, Panzer Lehr Division, FMS A-942

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

‘Panzer Lehr, with their barrels …’
, Bayerlein, FMS A-942

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.

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