The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (171 page)

BOOK: The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945

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Night fell, a sodden, moonless night
: “Engineer Memoirs: General William M. Hoge,” 1993, CEOH, 151 (“
dark as a pocket
”); Ben Cothran, “Remagen, 7 March 1945,” n.d., JT, LOC MS Div,
LHD
, box 10 (
drivers napped
); OH, Donald J. Russel [
sic
], 27th Armored Inf Bn, June 12, 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI 300, box 19081 (
three depleted rifle companies
); Reichelt,
Phantom Nine
, 210 (
half a ton of explosives
).

At last nine Shermans
: “Engineers at Remagen,” n.d., JT, LOC MS Div,
LHD
, box 9, 4 (“
most harrowing
”); OH, George P. Soumas, 14th Tank Bn, n.d., NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI 300, box 19081 (“
Ominous and nerve-wracking
”); Rudolf Schulz, “The Bridge of Decision,” Dec. 1951, JT, LOC MS Div, box 10,
LHD
, 5 (“
inner door
”).

Ancient, stately Reims
: “Code Names and Code Words,” NARA RG 331, E 1, SGS, 290/7/2-4/1, box 24; Baedeker,
Northern France
, 85, 103; Abram et al.,
The Rough Guide to France
, 272–75; memoir, William Henry Baumer, n.d., HIA, box 1, 183 (
blind tastings
).

Eisenhower messed in the borrowed house
: Danchev, 669.

“
Brad, that’s wonderful
”:
Three Years
, 764, 767–78.

Returning to the dining room
: OH, DDE, June 3, 1946, SLAM, A. S. Nevins papers, “Message Log Oral History Interview,” MHI; Taylor,
Swords and Plowshares
, 105–6 (“
badly located
”).

They drank to the bridge
: Courtney H. Hodges, “Remagen: The Bridge That Changed the War,” 1949, Hodges papers, MHI, box 21, 24–25; OH, John Millikin, March 19, 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folder 339 (“
Nobody ever
”); diary, March 7, 1945, CBH collection, MHI, box 4; Weigley,
Eisenhower’s Lieutenants
, 629; David Pergrin, 291st Engineer Bn, “The Remagen Bridgehead,” 1983, CEOH, box X-26, folder 2, 17 (
the Ludy
).

For the moment, Eisenhower would commit
: memo, “Telephone Conversation—General Bradley–General Bull,” March 9, 1945, Harold R. Bull papers, DDE Lib, box 2; Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story
, 510–14 (
gain the autobahn
); author visit, Friedensmuseum Brücke von Remagen, June 18, 1996 (
eight thousand GIs
); OH, Ben J. Cothran, 9th AD, March 14, 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI 300, box 19081; “Report of Rhine River Crossings,” May 1945, FUSA, Office of the Engineer, NARA RG 407, Miscl AG records, ML #887, box 19135 (
protective booms
); B. C. Andrus, III Corps, March 24, 1945, NARA RG 498, ETO G-3 OR (
Searchlights swept the water
); Beck, 510–11 (
depth charges
); OH, F. Russell Lyons et al., III Corps engineers, March 21, 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, folders 339–340 (
seven tons
).

As engineers toiled
: “Report of Rhine River Crossings,” May 1945, FUSA, Office of the Engineer, NARA RG 407, Miscl AG records, ML #887, box 19135; “Combat Engineering,” historical report no. 10, Aug. 1945, CEOH, box X-30, 151–60 (
nineteen floats in ten minutes
); David Pergrin, 291st Engineer Bn, “The Remagen Bridgehead,” 1983, CEOH, box X-26, folder 2, 32–38 (“
Boys, I’ve had it
”), 70 (
first jeep crossed
);
SC
, 424; Courtney H. Hodges, “Remagen: The Bridge That Changed the War,” 1949, Hodges papers, MHI, box 21, 31 (
four miles deep
).

Loss of the Ludendorff
: “History of U.S. Strategic Air Force Europe vs. German Air Force,” Sept. 1945, SRH-013, NARA RG 457, E 9002, NSA, 338 (“
immediately destroyed
”); Rudolf Schulz, “The Bridge of Decision,” Dec. 1951, JT, LOC MS Div, box 10,
LHD
, 3, 7 (
11th Panzer Division
); OH, F. Russell Lyons et al., III Corps engineers, March 21, 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, box 19086, folders 339–340;
LO
, 228; Zaloga,
Remagen 1945
, 59; OH, Rich Porter, with author, Jan. 27, 2009 (
Reichsmark notes
).

Hermann Göring sought volunteers
: Zaloga,
Remagen 1945
, 56, 59 (
Army’s densest concentration
); Hinsley, 592 (
Allied eavesdroppers
); B. C. Andrus, III Corps, March 24, 1945, NARA RG 498, ETO G-3 OR (
barrage balloons
); Paul Semmens, “The Hammer of Hell,” n.d., CMH, 156–67 (
nearly seven hundred
); Wishnevsky,
Courtney Hicks Hodges
, 183 (“
a million dollars
”);
LO
, 228 (
aircraft shot down
); Royce L. Thompson, “Military Impact of the German V-Weapons, 1943–1945,” July 31, 1953, CMH, 2-3.7 AE-P-4, 39; M. C. Helfers, “The Employment of V-Weapons by the Germans During World War II,” 1954, OCMH, NARA RG 319, 2-3.7 AW, 81; Hechler,
The Bridge at Remagen
, 162; Beck, 510–11.

The debacle at Remagen clearly called
: Blumentritt,
Von Rundstedt
, 279; Carver, ed.,
The War Lords
, 199 (
repaired to Bad Tölz
); Westphal,
The German Army in the West
, 192–93 (“
his own shadow
”);
LO
, 222;
AAAD
, 166–67;
DOB
, 93.

Harsher fates befell
: Günther Kraft, “The Shooting of My Father in Consequence of the Remagen Incidents,” Apr. 10, 1946, trans. Duscha Ziegel, OCMH, JT, LOC MS Div,
LHD
, box 10; Zumbro,
Battle for the Ruhr
, 102–5; Hechler,
The Bridge at Remagen
, 178–79 (
letters
). A fifth officer, Captain Willi Bratge, was tried in absentia, having been captured.

Such rough justice
: Spayd,
Bayerlein
, 198 (“
bridge psychosis
”); Colley,
Blood for Dignity
, 93.

“
Hitler was the one
”: Sherry,
In the Shadow of War
, 101.

“
You ain’t in the quartermaster
”: Charles Roland, “G.I. Joe: The Citizen Soldier in World War II,” 1979, MHI, ASEQ, 3rd Bn, 394th Inf, 99th ID, 24.

They of course had already been in the Army
: memo, “Report of Board of Officers on Utilization of Negro Manpower,” to GCM, Nov. 17, 1945, and “Negro Platoons in Composite Rifle Companies—World War II Style,” “Army Talk,” no. 170, Apr. 12, 1947, Alvan C. Gillem, Jr., papers, DDE Lib, box 14; MacGregor,
Integration of the Armed Forces
, 51–53. A proposal by John C. H. Lee to fully integrate them was rejected by Eisenhower after Smith noted that such radical integration contradicted War Department policy (Colley,
Blood for Dignity
, 49; Lee,
The Employment of Negro Troops
, 688–97).

Despite the creditable fighting records
:
DOB
, 381–83; Lee,
The Employment of Negro Troops
, 648–52, 661–64, 679; Patton,
War as I Knew It
, 160 (“
cannot think fast enough
”); Colley,
Blood for Dignity
, 53–55 (“
make liars out of the whites
”); Reynolds,
Rich Relations
, 315 (“
I am an American negro
”); e-mail, Harry Dewey to author, Dec. 15, 2008 (“
We were short-handed
”).

Repairs on the Ludendorff continued
: corr, Justin Dwight Hillyer to Ken Hechler, Oct. 25, 1959, CEOH, box X-26, folder 1.

Just before three
P.M.
on Saturday, March 17
: Beck, 510–11; David Pergrin, 291st Engineer Bn, “The Remagen Bridgehead,” 1983, CEOH, box X-26, folder 2, 100–105 (“
slow-motion movie
”).

Of those who rode the Ludy down
: Hechler,
The Bridge at Remagen
, 163–64; OH, F. Russell Lyons et al., III Corps engineers, March 21, 1945, NARA RG 407, E 427-A, CI, box 19086, folders 339–340 (
engineers with axes
); “Report of Rhine River Crossings,” May 1945, FUSA, Office of the Engineer, NARA RG 407, Miscl AG records, ML #887, box 19135 (
8-inch howitzer battery
); “Combat Engineering,” historical report no. 10, Aug. 1945, CEOH, box X-30, 151–60; David Pergrin, 291st Engineer Bn, “The Remagen Bridgehead,” 1983, CEOH, box X-26, folder 2, 107 (“
glad the damned thing
”). Hodges sacked General Millikin the day the bridge fell for failure to properly organize the bridgehead (Sylvan, 335–37).

Late Saturday night, seven German frogmen
: B. C. Andrus, III Corps, Mar. 24, 1945, NARA RG 498, ETO G-3 OR;
LO
, 228–30;
VW
, vol. 2, 283.

Eisenhower approved shoving
:
LO
, 234; Sylvan, 338 (“
The war is over
”).

Two If by Sea

Field Marshal Kesselring’s buoyant optimism
: Macksey,
Kesselring: The Making of the Luftwaffe
, 6–8; Kesselring,
The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Kesselring
, 9, 13–14, 243 (“
Hang on
”); Warlimont,
Inside Hitler’s Headquarters
, 451 (“
I don’t believe
”), 506.

Now Kesselring’s luck
: Kesselring,
The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Kesselring
, 218–19, 241; MacDonald,
The Mighty Endeavor
, 457 (
quarter-million Germans had vanished
), 239 (“
one hundred combatants
”); Warlimont,
Inside Hitler’s Headquarters
, 506 (
Channel Islands garrison
); Steinhoff et al.,
Voices from the Third Reich
, 413 (
shoot all German corporals
).

Field commanders in mid-March urged Kesselring
:
LO
, 244, 257–58; Kesselring,
The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Kesselring
, 249–50 (“
bricks without straw
”).

George Patton had taken brief leave
:
PP
, 643; Codman,
Drive
, 254–57.

In Trier, for instance
: Friedrich,
The Fire
, 248–49.

“
The desolation is frozen
”: Edsel,
The Monuments Men
, 260–62.

“
smell the sweat of the legions
”:
PP
, 655.

Rarely, perhaps never, had his generalship
: Weigley,
Eisenhower’s Lieutenants
, 639;
LO
, 262 (“
Scarcely a man-made thing
”); Wandrey,
Bedpan Commando
, 179 (“
hanging onto my hand
”); Allen,
Lucky Forward
, 254 (“
Roads don’t matter
”); Ayer,
Before the Colors Fade
, 193 (“
blow up the goddamn gun
”).

By Wednesday, March 21
:
LO
, 250–51, 259; Allen,
Lucky Forward
, 260 (“
We’re going to cross the Rhine
”).

He made good his boast
: memo, William Sackville, XII Corps, March 26, 1945, NARA RG 498, ETO G-3 OR, box 9; Allen,
Lucky Forward
, 263;
LO
, 267–71 (“
walking death
”); diary, GSP, March 24, 1945, LOC MS Div, box 3, folder 11 (“
drove to the river
”).

“
Brad, we’re across
”: Codman,
Drive
, 269;
LO
, 273 (“
feeling of rivalry
”).

“
I love war
”: Semmes,
Portrait of Patton
, 264.

Churchill had proposed riding
: Roberts,
Masters and Commanders
, 561; Hastings,
Winston’s War
, 456 (“
I’m an old man
”); Colville,
Footprints in Time
, 184–87; AAR, “Operation Varsity,” First Allied Airborne Army, May 19, 1945 (
smoke screen
); Saunders,
The Red Beret
, 287 (“
thick black haze
”).

They found Montgomery’s command post
: Colville,
The Fringes of Power
, 575; Churchill,
Triumph and Tragedy
, 411;
LO
, 303 (“
Two if by sea
”).

Under Montgomery’s command
:
SC
, 421;
LO
, 301 (“
pretend to resist
”); Callahan,
Churchill & His Generals
, 222 (
thirty-five infantry battalions
).

The plan for
PLUNDER
:
VW
, vol. 2, 286–87; AAR, “Activities, Final Phase, European War,” IX Troop Carrier Command, June 1945, MBR papers, MHI, box 62, 56–76; Harris, “The Bigger They Are the Harder They Fall,”
FAJ
(May–June 1938): 229
+
(
single 105mm howitzer
); Thompson,
I Was Churchill’s Shadow
, 151 (“
Hitler Personally
”). Ninth Army had accumulated 138,000 tons of supplies (
LO
, 297).