The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (161 page)

Little profit had been found in frontal assaults
:
Ardennes
, 321; Jacobsen and Rohwer, eds.,
Decisive Battles of World War II: The German View
, 405–6.

Among the few heartening reports
: AAR, Albert J. Crandall, First Airborne Surgical Team, June 8, 1945, “Medical Department Activities in ETO,” NARA; Rapport and Northwood,
Rendezvous with Destiny
, 468 (“
bullets were so close
”); “Bastogne,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584 (
division surgeon
).

“Above all,” Middleton had instructed
: “Bastogne,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584; “Report on Allied Air Forces Operations,” SHAEF, May 21, 1945, CARL, N-9371 (
twenty-nine sorties in Europe
); Jacobsen and Rohwer, eds.,
Decisive Battles of World War II: The German View
, 407–9 (
Resurgent optimism
).

At 11:30 on Friday morning
: Rapport and Northwood,
Rendezvous with Destiny
, 510–11.

“
The fortune of war is changing
”: Devlin,
Paratrooper!
, 529–30.

At 12:25
P.M.
the ultimatum reached McAuliffe
: “The Battle of Bastogne, 19–28 Dec. 44,” n.d., Battle Studies, CMH, Geog Belgium 370.2, 3; “Bastogne,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584; corr, Eugene A. Watts to CBM, Feb. 28, 1985, CBM, MHI, box 1;
Ardennes
, 459 (
only five battalions among the four regiments
); OH, William L. Roberts, CCB, 10th AD, Jan. 12, 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, folder #305 (
mimeographed useful tips
and
two meals a day
); Marshall,
Bastogne
, 133–34 (“
whites of their eyes
”);
Ardennes
, 460–61 (
flapjacks
).

Perhaps inspired by the legendary epithet
: John Glendower Westover, “Selected Memories,” vol. 3, MHI, 56, 89–90; OH, Harry W. O. Kinnard, May 2004, author, Arlington, Va.

“
We will kill many Americans
”: “Bastogne,” n.d., NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584.

“
This is crazy
”: OH, Hasso von Manteuffel, Oct. 12, 1966, John S. D. Eisenhower, CBM, MHI, box 6, 21.

The town had been named for Saint Vitus
:
http://saintvitus.com/SaintVitus/Catholic_Encyclopedia.html
;
http://www.catholic-saints.info/patron-saints/saint-vitus.htm
; author visit, St.-Vith, June 2, 2009, signage (
Various unpleasantries
);
http://st.vith.be/touristinfo/?Geschichtliches
; Manteuffel assessment, 1964, in terrain study, Northern Army Group, June 1976, MHI, 11 (
German plan to occupy St.-Vith
).

Gunfights had erupted around the town
: AAR, 106th ID, Jan. 6, 1945, Alan W. Jones papers, MHI, box 1; Morelock,
Generals of the Ardennes
, 306–7 (
easternmost U.S. redoubt
);
Ardennes
, 292–93 (“
German tide
”).

With supply lines cut
:
Ardennes
, 399 (
seven rounds
); AAR, 442nd FA Group, March 18, 1946, Robert W. Hasbrouck papers, MHI, box 1 (“
old propaganda shells
”); Donald P. Boyer, Jr., “Narrative Account of Action of 38th Armored Infantry Battalion,” n.d., Robert W. Hasbrouck papers, MHI, box 1 (“
for every round fired
”); Schrijvers,
The Unknown Dead
, 169–70 (
burning slaughterhouse
); “Engineer Memoirs: General William M. Hoge,” 1993, CEOH, 134 (
gobbled amphetamines
); Lauer,
Battle Babies
, 83 (
greasy smoke
); Ellis,
On the Front Lines
, 97 (“
cold, plodding, unwilling
”); memoir, Archie Ross, n.d., 424th Inf, NWWIIM (“
grow into an old man
”).

Manteuffel on December 20
: “The Defense of St. Vith, Belgium,” n.d., AS, Ft. K, NARA RG 407, E 427, Miscl AG Records, #2280, 25;
Ardennes
, 404–6 (
flat-trajectory flares
); Donald P. Boyer, Jr., “Narrative Account of Action of 38th Armored Infantry Battalion,” n.d., Robert W. Hasbrouck papers, MHI, box 1 (“
They’re blasting my men
”); “The Defense of St. Vith, Belgium,” n.d., Ft. K, AS, NARA RG 407, E 427, Miscl AG Records, #2280, 29 (
ordered his troops to fall back
); Blair,
Ridgway’s Paratroopers
, 385;
TT
, 481 (
twenty thousand others
).

General Hodges had given XVIII Airborne Corps
: war diary, XVIII Airborne Corps, Dec. 19, 1944, MBR papers, MHI, box 59;
Ardennes
, 401 (
twenty-five miles to eighty-five
), 410–13 (
battalion staff at Neubrück
); Morelock,
Generals of the Ardennes
, 308–10, 326 (
lost half its strength
).

“
This terrain is not worth a nickel
”: Bruce C. Clarke, “The Battle of St. Vith: A Concept in Defensive Tactics,” n.d., CARL, N-8467.297; msg, R. Hasbrouck to MBR, Dec. 22, 1944, Robert W. Hasbrouck papers, MHI, box 1; corr, MBR to JMG, Oct. 6, 1978, Maurice Delaval papers, MHI, box 9; Ridgway,
Soldier
, 120 (“
We’re not going to leave you
”).

Reluctantly, Ridgway in midafternoon
:
Ardennes
, 412–13; corr, MBR to JMG, Oct. 6, 1978, Maurice Delaval papers, MHI, box 9; Morelock,
Generals of the Ardennes
, 308–10 (“
They can come back
”).

Fourteen hours of December darkness
: Goolrick and Tanner,
The Battle of the Bulge
, 124 (“
Go west
”); memoir, Roger W. Cresswell, 7th AD, Sept. 23, 1979, Maurice Delaval collection, MHI, box 7 (
each man gripping the belt
and “
only their eyes showing
” and “
Stay right where you are
”); “The Defense of St. Vith, Belgium,” n.d., AS, Ft. K, NARA RG 407, E 427, Miscl AG Records, #2280, 36 (
prodigal counterfire
);
TT
, 481, 487 (
Hasbrouck stood on a road
).

Ridgway estimated that fifteen thousand troops
: Blair,
Ridgway’s Paratroopers
, 389;
Ardennes
, 422 (
casualties east of the Salm
);
TT
, 487 (
would long resent Ridgway
); Soffer,
General Matthew B. Ridgway
, 71 (“
Nobody is worried
”).

German troops ransacked St.-Vith
:
Ardennes
, 412–13.

“
Model himself directs traffic”
: Baldwin,
Battles Lost and Won
, 338.

Looting was best done quickly
: “Allied Air Power and the Ardennes Offensive,” n.d., director of intelligence, USSAFE, NARA RG 498, ETOUSA HD, UD 584, box 1 (
seventeen hundred tons
); author visit, June 2, 2009, signage, tourist brochure; Schrijvers,
The Unknown Dead
, 183–84; Hastings,
Armageddon
, 211 (“
big-mouthed apes
”).

A GI shivering in an Ardennes foxhole
: Blunt,
Foot Soldier
, 119 (“
How come
we
don’t
”); Baxter,
Scientists Against Time
, 222 (“
most remarkable scientific achievement
”).

The new weapon’s origin dated to 1940
: “Employment of VT Fuzes in the Ardennes Campaign,” n.d., CMH, 3–6 (
2,500 antiaircraft artillery shells
); Baxter,
Scientists Against Time
, 223–24 (
ice cream cone
).

The resulting device, eventually known
: Baxter,
Scientists Against Time
, 223–24, 235; Green et al.,
The Ordnance Department
, 363–66 (
used only over open water
); Appleman et al.,
Okinawa: The Last Battle
, 257; “Employment of VT Fuzes in the Ardennes Campaign,” n.d., CMH, 3–6, 17; Morton, “The VT Fuze,”
Army Ordnance
(Jan.–Feb. 1946): 43
+
(
five times more effective
); Baldwin,
The Deadly Fuze
, 275–76 (
Lancaster bombers had flown
).

Pozit variants had been developed
: Cooper,
Death Traps
, 206; corr, Ben Lear to GCM, n.d. (fall 1944), Henry B. Sayler papers, DDE Lib, box 9 (“
most important new development
”); Morton, “The VT Fuze,”
Army Ordnance
(Jan.–Feb. 1946): 43
+
.

With approval from the Charlie-Charlies
: “Employment of VT Fuzes in the Ardennes Campaign,” n.d., CMH, 9–11, 21–24 (“
slaughter of enemy concentrations
” and “
terror weapon
”); Richard Henry Byers, “Battle of the Bulge,” 1983, a.p., 39 (“
piles of shells
”); “Operational Use of VT Artillery Fuzes,” OPD Information Bulletin, Feb. 23, 1945, vol. 4, #2, NARA RG 334, E 315, ANSCOL, box 1164; Green et al.,
The Ordnance Department
, 363–66 (“
severely upset
”).

Three hundred American companies
: Baxter,
Scientists Against Time
, 233, 236 (“
The other night we caught
”);
Ardennes
, 655–56; “VT Fuzes,” March 29, 1945, NARA RG 337, AGF OR #282 (
exaggerations
); “Employment of VT Fuzes in the Ardennes Campaign,” n.d., CMH, 3 (
the Army’s heaviest shells
); Green et al.,
The Ordnance Department
, 366; Chester C. Hough, “Effectiveness of VT Fuze,” Apr. 18, 1945, NARA RG 337, AGF OR #305.

Yet the pozit would prove as demoralizing
: Baldwin,
The Deadly Fuze
, 284; Carpenter,
No Woman’s World
, 232 (“
It hangs in the air
”); memo, “Results of Use of Pozit Fuses,” Jan. 10, 1945, V Corps to First Army, NARA RG 498, G-3 OR, box 1 (
single 155mm airburst
); “Effect of Pozit Fuze,” Jan. 6, 1945, XV Corps, NARA RG 498, G-3 OR, box 10 (“
The devil himself
”).

But what of the devil’s henchmen?
: Guns of the 30th ID first used pozit shells on December 19, and gunners estimated that one-quarter of all rounds fired around La Gleize were so fuzed (“VT Fuzes,” March 29, 1945, NARA RG 337, AGF OR #282).

Peiper’s drive toward the Meuse
: corr, J. Peiper to John S. D. Eisenhower, Apr. 4, 1967, CBM, MHI, box 6;
TT
, 239–40 (
blew all three bridges
); “An Interview with Obst Joachim Peiper,” ETHINT 10, Sept. 7, 1945, MHI, 21 (
Peiper swung north
); Reynolds,
Men of Steel
, 95;
Ardennes
, 337–39 (
cans of water
).

More spans were demolished
: Royce L. Thompson, “The ETO Ardennes Campaign: Operations of the Combat Group Peiper,” July 24, 1952, CMH; Toland,
Battle
, 176 (
fuel cans into the Amblève
); Weingartner,
Crossroads of Death
, 58–60;
Ardennes
, 349–50, 364–65; Schrijvers,
The Unknown Dead
, 54–56 (
priest gave general absolution
);
TT
, 445.

Peiper had traveled some sixty miles
: Royce L. Thompson, “The ETO Ardennes Campaign: Operations of the Combat Group Peiper,” July 24, 1952, CMH; Reynolds,
Men of Steel
, 125 (
fifteen hundred survivors
); “Kampfgruppe Peiper,” n.d., FMS, #C-004, MHI, 12–13 (
a hundred American prisoners
); Hal D. McCown, CO, 2nd Bn, 119th Inf, “Observations of an American Field Officer,” n.d., MHI;
TT
, 459 (“
communist menace
”); Schrijvers,
The Unknown Dead
, 42–48; Moriss, “The Defense of Stavelot,”
Yank
, Feb. 9, 1945, 8
+
; Hitchcock,
The Bitter Road to Freedom
, 84–85; “Malmédy Massacre Investigation,” Senate Armed Services Committee, Oct. 1949, 2.

By late Friday, American machine guns
:
TT
, 459; Royce L. Thompson, “The ETO Ardennes Campaign: Operations of the Combat Group Peiper,” July 24, 1952, CMH (
burned secrets in the cellar
); Reynolds,
Men of Steel
, 126;
Ardennes
, 374–77;
TT
, 457–59 (
Luger pistols
), 465 (
hit Malmédy instead
).

“
Position considerably worsened
”: H. Priess, “Commitment of the I SS Panzer Corps During the Ardennes Offensive,” March 1946, FMS, #A-877, MHI, 40–43; Reynolds,
Men of Steel
, 133 (
coded message
); Reynolds,
The Devil’s Adjutant
, 225–35 (
shot for desertion
);
Ardennes
, 376–77 (
last twenty-eight panzers
).

At two
A.M.
on Sunday, December 24
:
Ardennes
, 376–77. Other accounts cite fewer German wounded and more American prisoners left behind (Reynolds,
Men of Steel
, 133).

During a brief firefight with an American patrol
: Hal D. McCown, CO, 2nd Bn, 119th Inf, “Observations of an American Field Officer,” n.d., MHI;
TT
, 462–63 (“
Yankee Doodle
”).

At a ford in the frigid Salm
: Reynolds,
Men of Steel
, 134–35 (
human chain
); Royce L. Thompson, “The ETO Ardennes Campaign: Operations of the Combat Group Peiper,” July 24, 1952, CMH (
German line at Wanne
);
TT
, 462–63; Reynolds,
Men of Steel
, 134–35 (
770 remained
); “Malmédy Massacre Investigation,” Senate Armed Services Committee, Oct. 1949, 2;
Ardennes
, 262; Royce L. Thompson, “Bibliography of the Malmédy Massacre Case,” Dec. 9, 1954, CMH, Geog Belgium, 370.2.