Read Overlord (Pan Military Classics) Online
Authors: Max Hastings
Overlord (Pan Military Classics) (69 page)
T
HE LIMITS OF AIR POWER
1
For instance, see Tedder,
With Prejudice
; Harris,
Bomber Offensive
; and the memoirs of other more junior air force officers who wrote in a fashion that suggested it was an indulgence on the part of their service to accept any responsibility for direct support of the armies.2
Vandenberg, diary, MS Division Library of Congress3
Tedder (op. cit.), pp. 559–604
Ibid
., p. 5515
Ibid
., pp. 557–86
Ibid
., p. 5627
Ibid
., p. 5658
PRO W0232/519
Quesada, interview with the author (loc. cit.)10
Vandenberg, diary (loc. cit.)11
PRO W0232/5112
Vandenberg, diary (loc. cit.)13
Richardson, interview with the author (loc. cit.)14
Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story
, p. 24915
Richardson, interview with the author (loc. cit.)16
Bradley (op. cit.), p. 24917
Account based upon Reisler interview (loc. cit.)18
Scott,
Typhoon Pilot
, p. 120
10. The Open Flank
1
Liddell Hart papers, translations of Army Group B and C-in-C West reports, quoted in Cooper,
The German Army
, p. 5072
Warlimont,
Inside Hitler’s Headquarters
, p. 4423
Ibid
., p. 4454
Ibid
.5
Ibid
.6
Ibid
., p. 4537
PRO WO219/19088
Among the strategic theorists, most authoritatively from Basil Liddell Hart, but also from some serving US commanders, such as John ‘P’ Wood (see text below)9
Hansen, diary, US Army Military History Institute10
Patton,
War as I Knew It
, p. 9211
Ibid
., p. 38212
A remark repeatedly made to me in interviews with veterans of the US First Army of all ranks.13
Bradley,
A General’s Life
, p. 28514
Frank Price,
Middleton
(Louisiana State University, 1974), p. 18815
Ibid
.16
Blumenson,
Breakout and Pursuit
, p. 46317
Bradley,
A Soldier’s Story
, p. 36718
Irving,
Hitler’s War
, pp. 683–419
Carell,
Invasion – They’re Coming
, p. 27820
The above account is compiled from the
History of the 120th Infantry
(op. cit.), interview with Sidney Eichen (loc. cit.), First Army diary (op. cit.).21
Quoted in Wilmot,
The Struggle for Europe
, p. 40422
Ibid
., p. 41623
Liddell Hart papers, translations of Army Group B reports (loc. cit.), quoted in Cooper, p. 51024
Guderian,
Panzer Leader
(op. cit.), p. 44525
Irving (op. cit.), p. 68626
Warlimont (op. cit.), p. 45127
Bradley (op. cit.), p. 37628
Blumenson,
Patton Papers
(op. cit.), vol ii, p. 52129
Baker MS (op. cit.)
11. The Road to Falaise
1
Warner, interview with the author (loc. cit.)2
Richardson, interview with the author (loc. cit.)3
Signal M69, Montgomery papers, quoted in Hamilton,
Montgomery: Master of the Battlefield
, p. 7684
See How,
Normandy: The British Breakout5
Letter to Brooke, 26.vii.83, quoted in Hamilton (op. cit.), p. 7806
Stacey,
The Canadian Army in World War II
, vol. iii, p. 2757
Hamilton (op. cit.), p. 7798
Ibid
.9
Stacey (op. cit.), p. 25210
Ibid
., p. 26311
Ibid
.12
Ibid
., p. 27613
Ibid
.14
Ibid
., p. 266
12. The Gap
1
PRO WO205/1021 (Interrogation of Meyer)2
Ibid
. (Interrogation of Meindl)3
Scott (op. cit.), p. 1294
Woollcombe (op. cit.), p. 1075
Komarek, unpublished MS loaned to the author6
For an extreme and extraordinary example of fanciful thinking about the failure wholly to destroy the German army at Falaise, see Richard Rohmer,
Patton’s Gap
(London, 1981).7
Bradley (op. cit.), p. 3378
It is odd that while Chester Wilmot wrote with great frankness in 1952 about the difficulties and shortcomings of the Allied armies in north-west Europe, in more recent years most narratives have focused overwhelmingly upon the alleged virtues and vices of the commanders on both sides, and lapsed into comfortable platitudes when discussing the relative fighting performance of the armies engaged.9
Stacey,
The Canadian Army in World War II
, vol. iii, p. 27510
Liddell Hart,
History of the Second World War
, p. 54311
Williams, interview with the author (loc. cit.)12
Gavin,
On to Berlin
, p. 121
ADGB
Air Defence of Great Britain
ANVIL
Codename for the Allied invasion of southern France, later designated DRAGOON
AOC
Air Officer Commanding
AVRE
Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers – Churchill tank mounted with Petard short-range heavy mortar, and various devices for bridging and ditching
BAR
Browning Automatic Rifle – American squad light machine-gun
Battalion
Basic infantry unit of 600–1,000 men in all armies in Normandy, sub-divided into four rifle companies and a support company of 100-plus men each, with organic anti-tank guns, heavy machine-guns and mortars. Companies were divided into platoons of three or four rifle squads, each commanded by a corporal – or an NCO in the German army.
Bazooka
American infantry anti-tank rocket-projector
BEF
British Expeditionary Force
BGS
Brigadier General Staff
Bren
.303 British squad light machine-gun
Brigade
British nomenclature for a formation normally composed of three infantry or tank battalions – roughly equivalent in strength to a German or American regiment
CC
Combat Command
CIGS
Chief of the Imperial General Staff
COBRA
American breakout operation, 25–29 July
Corps
A group of divisions assembled under the command of a lieutenant-general, their number and identity varying constantly according to the task for which the corps is being employed.
COSSAC
Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander
CP
Command post
CSM
Company Sergeant-Major
DCLI
Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry
DD
Duplex-Drive amphibious Sherman tank
DF
Defensive fire
Division
The basic formation through which all armies are controlled, commanded by a major-general and comprising 12–18,000 men. A British armoured division in Normandy normally comprised two tank brigades, one infantry. The Americans preferred to divide the armoured division into two ‘Combat Commands’ (CC), A and B, each in the hands of a brigadier-general.
DUKW
Duplex-Drive amphibious truck
EPSOM
2nd Army’s attacks to the Orne and beyond, 26 June to 1 July
Flail
Tank mounted with chains on a revolving drum for minesweeping
FORTITUDE
Allied deception plan for OVERLORD
FUSAG
First US Army Group – the fictitious army commanded by Patton, whose supposed threat to the Pas de Calais was central to FORTITUDE
GOODWOOD
British attack on the Bourge´bus ridge, 18–21 July
GSO
General Staff Officer (grades I, II or III)
HE
High Explosive
Kangaroo
Canadian infantry armoured personnel carrier improvised from self-propelled gun mountings
KOSB
King’s Own Scottish Borderers
KRRC
King’s Royal Rifle Corps
KSLI
King’s Own Shropshire Light Infantry
LCA
Landing Craft Assault
LCI
Landing Craft Infantry
LCT
Landing Craft Tank
LCVP
Landing Craft Vehicle and Personnel
LST
Landing Ship Tank
ML
Motor launch
NCO
Non-commissioned officer
NEPTUNE
Naval assault phase of OVERLORD
ODs
American army combat clothing
OKW
Oberkommando der Wehrmacht
– high command of the German armed forces
OP
Observation post
OSS
Office of Strategic Services, the American wartime foreign intelligence service
Panzerfaust
German hand-held infantry anti-tank weapon
Petard
Short-range tank-mounted heavy mortar
PIAT
Projector Infantry Anti-Tank – British hand-held platoon anti-tank weapon
POINTBLANK
Pre-OVERLORD strategic bombing of Germany
Priest
British self-propelled mounting for 25-pounder
PT
Patrol Torpedo boat
RAC
Royal Armoured Corps
RAOC
Royal Army Ordnance Corps
Regiment
American or German equivalent of a British brigade, normally composed of three battalions, commanded by an American brigadier-general or German colonel
REME
Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
ROUNDUP
Plan for an Allied invasion of Europe in 1943, superseded by OVERLORD
RTR
Royal Tank Regiment
SAS
Special Air Service
SHAEF
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force
SOE
Special Operations Executive
Spandau
Allied shorthand for German MG 34 or MG 42 machine-guns
TOT
Time On Target concentrated artillery, a speciality of American gunners, although practised by all armies
TOTALIZE
Canadian army attack towards Falaise, 8–11 August
TRACTABLE
Canadian attack towards Falaise, 14–16 August
Vickers
British .303 water-cooled heavy machine-gun – the infantry battalion support weapon
The men who fought in Normandy are today 40 years older than they were in 1944, but it is astonishing how vividly retentive are their memories. All those listed below – American, British, German, French – contributed to the narrative above, either through personal interviews, diaries, contemporary letters, or correspondence. I have omitted their ranks and decorations, which would otherwise overwhelm these pages. To each of them I offer my gratitude, and my admiration for what they endured.