June 18th, 1944
Liberation and Liberators
The Brittany Festungen
Lorient - Lanester has been cleaned up - at least from the German occupation, because as far as the rubble is concerned, the work has only just begun.
Only a few stubborn men remain in the arsenal - including a group equipped with automatic weapons, now entrenched in a gallery. Going in there would be suicide. To settle the matter, an M-10 Tank Destroyer positions itself opposite the entrance and fires a 76.2 mm shell... which immediately triggers a frightful explosion that shakes the ground, makes the earth rumble and drowns the crew in a thick cloud of dust.
In fact, the arsenal was (also) used as an ammunition depot. The projectile probably hit a stockpile of explosives... Which, by the way, solves the Americans' problem*. For those who doubted it, the battle east of Lorient is over.
On the west bank, the situation for the 353. ID is becoming more problematic by the hour. The outer perimeter now seems irretrievably compromised, the reserves are all destroyed or committed, while the air force and artillery no longer give the German army the slightest respite, even when it is only pretending to withdraw. It is reported that the improvised KampfGruppen mounted under fire fell victim to mass surrender. The loss of the drinking water supply was the final blow.
The Kriegsmarine agrees. It is therefore working hard to get its last remaining vessel, the U-466, a Type VIIC undergoing repairs, ready to put to sea for an immersion trip this evening, bound for Saint-Nazaire or wherever... well, whoever will have her!
Due to lack of time, three of the nine cylinders in the port diesel engine have not been replaced, the leading periscope is still stuck in the down position and the aft diving bars have to be operated by hand, as their burnt-out electric motors have not been replaced.
A quick meeting of the U.Bootewaffe officers still present at Kéroman concludes that while a night sortie is preferable in order to escape the permanent surveillance of the allied air force, to do so by diving is, given the nautical conditions of the roadstead and its approaches, a true suicide.
The order is therefore given to Oberleutnant zur See Gerhard Thäter, commander of U-466, to sail first to Saint Nazaire and then, once fully repaired, to Bergen, rounding the British Isles to the north. The Loire port is preferred because it is not under attack from the Americans, whereas Brest threatens to be taken at short notice.
The exit is not easy, as the various turrets that marked out the channel between Saint Michel Island and Port Louis Passage have disappeared, victims of bombing by the Allied air force or blasting by German bombers. To be sure of entering the channel under the right conditions, the two lights at Pointe de Kéroman and Kéroman Supérieur have to be aligned aft, in order to make way for the 169. But with the intensity of the bombardment by the American air force and artillery, these lights near the submarine base are now just rubble among other rubble. Studying the map, Thäter and his first officer, who is responsible for navigation, decide that the Flak tower in the southern corner of U.bunker K 3 can replace the usual landmarks by keeping this heading: 169°.
However, Thäter cannot rely on the Moon to take his bearings, as it is only a thin crescent providing anaemic illumination**. He therefore decides to use a makeshift method to estimate his position: special binoculars for night surface attacks. He aims at the Flak tower to determine his position on the basis of the bearing and distance given by the aircraft. The commander would take regular bearings and the first officer would read them off the repeater at the central station and plot them on the map.
Numerous sights should make it possible to obtain an accurate position, well as accurate as possible because at the point where the channel coming from Kéroman is joined by the main channel coming from the arsenal, nine wrecks have been scuttled in two lines. And you'll have to weave your way between them, hoping their positions on the map are correct!
Once through the barrage, we'll continue on the same route until the fort of Kernavel is located on the starboard aft side at 275. The U-466 will then turn right, heading 200, to leave the citadel of Port Louis on the port side and the islets of Cochon, Pot and Mare on the starboard side to enter the southern channel.
And at dusk, as the TDs approach the large concrete block where the submarine base is located, Paul Mahlmann, now entrenched in this dungeon, begins to contemplate his surrender.
At 23:00, U-583 emerges from the alveolus that had protected her from the storm of steel generously dispensed by the American forces. Having cleared the wreck of the old cruiser Strasbourg, the former Regensburg of the Imperial Navy***, the submarine makes slow headway in the channel. Reliefs follow one another and at 23:30, the vessel arrives close to the first line of the barrage of wrecks. The U-boot enters the gap between the two easternmost wrecks**** without touching them. After a brief sigh of relief, everyone on board is apprehensive about the next stage of the navigation: would they get through the second line in the same way?
Alas, the sound of a sinister scraping on the port side is heard in all the compartments. U-466 has just hit the easternmost wreck of the second line****. The ballast tanks, from forward to aft of the kiosk, are ripped open. Water penetrates and the submarine lists to port. To save his crew, Thäter orders "hard to port" and beaches the U-boot on the Turkish Bank. The next day, after recovering the secret documents, maps, Enigma machine, codes and sighting device for a night surface attack, he blows up the wreck.
The attempt to exfiltrate the last submarine from Lorient failed.
North - Operation Undergo
Côte d'Opale - After the surprisingly rapid fall of the Cape Gris-Nez batteries, the 1st Canadian Army Corps logically turns its full attention to Calais. The morning's good news: during the night, the Noires Mottes position has surrendered. The new glorious defenders of National Socialist Germany did not want to fight to the bitter end in the face of shells and flamethrowers. Three hundred of them are sent to prison camps. Then it is Sangatte's turn to raise the white flag.
The 4th Canadian Armoured (George Kitching), massively supported by the 3rd Canadian Infantry (Rod Keller), is therefore free to assault the positions at Coquelles and Fort Nieulay. This allows the 5th Canadian Armoured (Guy Simonds) to go into action for a frontal assault towards Coulogne, in order to break through the 47. ID (Max Bork), while isolating Calais from Dunkirk via the Belle Vue ridge.
Unfortunately, this last action gets off to a bad start on the east side. Following the rolling artillery barrage, the men of the 11th Infantry Brigade crawl past the shattered front lines, but soon find that the strike has been too quick on the following positions, which are still largely intact. Casualties are mounting - the least effective units, including several companies of reservists, had been positioned here. Simonds is therefore forced to ask for help from Hobart's engines and Charles Foulkes' 2nd Canadian Infantry. The Funnies take over and attack in the early afternoon, accompanied by Foulkes' men - although they do not finish the job before nightfall. And everywhere else, the Kraut puts up fierce resistance.
Belgium - The pursuit, at last
Flat country - Arrival in the Charleroi sector of the vanguard of the VIII Corps (Sidney Kirkman) - namely the 49th Reco Rgt of the Royal Armoured Corps, which announces Evelyn Barker's 49th Infantry West Riding. This long-awaited reinforcement - which certainly heralds an advance towards the Ardennes - encourages the 1st Armoured Division (Jean-Baptiste Piron) and the 4th Infantry Division (Roger Libbrecht) to prepare the next leap towards Maastricht, by targeting Hasselt and Tongeren. One more push, manneke!
Wacht am Rhein - The crows come from all sides.
First US Army, Meuse - The 4th Armored completes its crossing of the Marne. The maneuver has been greatly slowed by the crowd of fugitives from the logistics chain who were crowding Châlons, hampering the maneuver. But John S. Wood had managed the day before to rally everyone together and reorganise the survivors from the day before into a handful of marching units, with an improvised chain of command.
In front of him, the plain is empty all the way to the hills of the Argonne. Informed by radio by the groups of Rangers left behind, he is able to make a great leap forward to Valmy, from where he wants to prepare the blow in the back that would send the Germans home. But the Americans aren't the only ones with scouts, and the SS have no trouble spotting the mass moving towards them (the 4th Armored alone has as many tanks as two SS armoured divisions)! This is enough to worry Wilhelm Bittrich, who decides to ambush the 103. SS-schw. Pz Abt to provide cover for the 10. SS-Panzer Frundsberg.
.........
At the same time, the 2nd Infantry Indianhead (Walter Robertson) is still facing the Das Reich. Despite the numerical superiority of the Americans, the day's fighting soon turns into a disaster: the 4. SS-PzGr Rgt Der Führer storms the gap between Avocourt and Esnes-en-Argonne, where the divisional HQ had been the previous day. The 9th Inf. Rgt, supported by the artillery of the CCA and CCB, manages to hold on, but losses have been mounting since the fall of Montfaucon and it is saved in extremis by the intervention of the 38th Inf. Rgt.
"I saw the tank, probably a Tiger, firing on our mates behind us in the half-track, which ended up as a smoking carcass. Real, Western-style warfare was different from the war myths of the Reserves. Here, it was dirty, inhuman, a war of metal and fire, in the middle of old guts uncovered by artillery and the remains of young men who had died like us earlier, their skulls with empty eye sockets reminding us of our own mortality.
I was getting fed up. It was probably stupid, but when I saw the lieutenant being cut in half by a burst of "jigsaw", as the MG-42 was called in those days, I took my Thompson, two magazines, and left the position that was being framed by the Krauts, but running towards them, with three guys who were still just about standing. I don't know what spirit, god or whatever, was watching over us as we ran at them, but we made it across the whole field amid bursts of fire, mines and rusty barbed wire unearthed after twenty years, before finding ourselves thirty yards from a machine gun nest, probably the jigsaw that had killed our platoon leader.
I jumped into a manhole, where I found myself face to face with a Kraut wrapped in a large, discarded, dirt-stained coat - I lined him up by instinct, fired, no reaction, no cry. Then his helmet fell to the ground - inside, a brown skull smiled at me, as if to tell me that I was going to die like him twenty years earlier, far from home, without glory and without reason.
I shook my head and then dared to glance out of the hole to observe as my three lads hid in other holes. The machine gun, in its own hole, was flanking me. I unhooked a pineapple, climbed up the hole and pressed myself to the ground before cocking the pineapple. I waited three seconds before throwing it into the machine gun hole. I heard screams, boom. Then I straightened up, straight as an I, and emptied my clip into the trench while I heard groans everywhere. I ripped the machine gun out of the hands of a guy whose belly had been ripped open by the grenade and who was clutching onto it as if it would make any difference to him.
The MG didn't seem to be in too bad a shape, so I gave it to one of my men and then we ran back to our positions, where two guys shot me in a manhole just as bullets were starting to rattle around me, maybe a sniper was lining me up. One of the three soldiers didn't come back and the one with the MG was hit in the leg. It wasn't until the adrenaline had worn off that I realised that my right flank hurt like hell - one of the snipers had got me.
In the evening, while I was in sickbay wondering why I had been so stupid, the 'ptain' came down to see me and told me that he had applied to the General for me to be decorated with the Purple Heart and the Silver Star".
Testimony in 1954 by Sergeant Pascal Poolaw, 9th Infantry Regiment. Poolaw was a Kiowa Indian, but did not join the 45th Infantry Thunderbird like most Amerindians. He is still the most decorated American Indian of the Second World War, with a Purple Heart and Silver Star, a DSC, a Croix de Guerre and a Bronze Star.
.........
Further south, operating on a reversed front, the 29th Infantry, after the losses suffered a few days earlier, is dominated by the 9 SS-Panzer Hohenstaufen. It has to abandon Bouquemont and Trois-Domaines and withdraw to Souilly and Les Monthairons.
.........
In Verdun, the 83rd Infantry Thunderbolt extends its bridgehead over the Meuse, but suffered heavily during the Sturmtiger night bombardment of the town. Part of its artillery shell supply was hit, blowing up a block of houses. There were around thirty civilian casualties and the same number of GIs - but above all (from a military point of view...), V US Corps is under siege and does not have an infinite supply of ammunition...
The 30th Infantry Old Hickory did try to form a salient between the I. and II. SS-PzK, but it was a massacre: due to terrain constraints and artillery rationing, the CCB could not properly support the CCA in its assault, while the 3rd Armored Group was still reeling from its defeat on the 16th.
Patton and Gerow are excellent commanders, but V Corps cannot sustain such a pace for long, cut off from its logistics. The Dakotas did try to parachute in supplies (particularly medicines, which were less dangerous to drop than ammunition, especially on such a battlefield), but the bad weather and the small size of the American perimeter (barely 250 km2, poorly demarcated and less than 25 km deep) meant that this parachute drop was partly unsuccessful.
.........
For XIX US Corps, it is a failure: the Super Sixth could not carry out the planned turning movement... because the LVIII. AK has withdrawn! Faced with the impossibility of destroying XIX Corps, Hans-Karl von Esebeck decided to withdraw by carrying out delaying ambushes, an effective tactic that cost the Americans dearly, whose relatively inexperienced tactical commanders are confused by the lack of aerial reconnaissance. Progress is therefore slow. At the end of the day, there is only one positive point: the German infantry, isolated, exhausted and lacking the fanaticism and equipment of the LVIII. PzK, has turned their backs. The LXXXVI. AK withdraws in good order towards Bar-le-Duc. Middleton is unable to continue: the 6th Armoured, his best armoured division, has been stopped at Possesse by the Hitlerjugend, the 5th Armoured is too exposed in its salient at Revigny and the 5th and 8th Infantry already have to cover the centre and right flank of the corps respectively.
7th US Army, Champagne - John Lucas pushes his men forward. While behind him IV US Corps begins to move north (towards Reims), his VI Corps races towards Châlons. His scouts arrive that evening, but the bulk of the corps would not be there until tomorrow.
It is already clear that although John S. Wood had managed to create a bit of a mess as his 4th Armored passed through, the major setback suffered by the 1st Army around Verdun has demoralised his men... and the absence of the Boss, who is locked up in the besieged fortress, does nothing to help matters, of course.
In short, VI Corps would need two days to reorganise the rear, put the army train back in place and cross the Marne.
1st French Army - Operation Marguerite: the Rhine!
Lorraine, Polish II Corps - After meticulous and highly professional preparation, the Poles advance almost as if on parade.
For a while, their general staff had feared that Wacht am Rhein would be a huge offensive, with several armies supporting each other and the Luftwaffe coming back to harass them in force - the wounds of the first French Campaign and the fighting in Greece (not to mention the invasion of Poland in 1939!) are still fresh in people's minds. In their worst fears, the Poles thought of a vast turning movement aimed at decapitating the 1st US Army before mutilating the 1st French Army by falling back on the Vosges. A new Sickle Cut, in other words. But in the dark skies, the few planes are allied, and the Americans have reserves...
The 5th Infantry Division crosses the hills without resistance, the few men in German uniform in the sector belonging to scattered groups of fugitives. It gives way to the 3rd Infantry Division in front of Toul.
Further south, a ragtag group on the Sion-Vaudémont hill had been rounded up by a young Oberleutnant who was overwhelmed by events. Having contacted the parish priest and a Poor Clare from the nearby shrine, he ordered them to tell the Poles that he would destroy the Marian basilica if they did not allow them to withdraw to the Moselle without intervening. Some 250 men thus manage to reach the river, and the Poor Clares do not fail to show their gratitude to the Poles by inviting them to a future service. This would no doubt have to wait until the Germans had been pushed back to their homeland...
With the help of local Resistance fighters, the scouts of the 5th Infantry Division soon discover that most of the bridges over the Madon (the Moselle has not yet been reached here) have been blown up. There is still the bridge at Xirocourt, but the Vaudémont stragglers had blown it up that morning. Only those at Haroué and Ceintrey remain.
At Ceintrey, the 1st BB catches up with a retreating convoy of around 250 exhausted Landsers - they had been fleeing the Allied advance for almost forty days, most of them on foot! After seizing the bridge and taking around forty prisoners (the others having fled once again), the Polish soldiers make a strange discovery at the Tourtel brewery: a veritable mountain of goods of all kinds, labelled in German but undoubtedly of French origin. Since 1940, the brewery had been used by the Germans as a depot for a number of goods that had been stolen or bought at a low price before being sent to the Reich.
In Haroué, on the other hand, there is an unpleasant surprise: the bridge had been sabotaged and the road linking the town to Ceintrey was a long straight line that could easily be aligned from the opposite bank of the river. In other words, a cut-throat.
In and around Pulligny, the 5th ID methodically cleanses the south bank of the Moselle. June 44 is no more charitable than June 40: there is a great deal of destruction and snipers and other traps had been systematically left behind by the last small groups of soldiers.
Meanwhile, in Mirecourt, where Anders had taken up temporary residence, a curious convoy of French lorries stamped "Service Historique de l'Armée" (Army Historical Service) stops not far from the Polish HQ and an officer comes to the headquarters to ask for a barn or some other place protected from the rain to shelter his load. Inside the lorries is nothing less than a complete collection of maps, relief plans and models of the Séré de Rivières forts in eastern France, from Verdun to Belfort. The collection, kept in wooden boxes in the cellars of the Château de Vincennes, had spent the whole of the war there without anyone touching it, no doubt due to a lack of interest. In any case, this makes it easier to prepare for the capture of Toul!
An initial assault already launched from the west produces mixed results due to the tunnels under Foug, dutifully used by the Teutons.
Alsace, IV CA - The 9th DIC finally manages to chase the 39. ID from Giromagny! The 4th RTS storms Fort Dorsner, an assault during which Staff Sergeant N'Tchoréré****** distinguished himself by galvanising his section after the death of his section leader, then by commanding his unit in such a fine manner that he was cited in the army order for his heroism and awarded the Croix de Guerre.
As a sign of the times, the decoration comes with brand new second lieutenant's stripes! N'Tchoréré is one of the many examples of former subjects of the Empire who are now being awarded the epaulette for their valour. Whereas this was a rare occurrence in 1940 (his father being one of the rare exceptions), the French Army now has several hundred junior officers from the West Indies, Arabs, black Africans, sometimes even Vietnamese, and even a handful of senior officers of colour. Some of them could eventually reach the stars, something that has not been seen since the case of General Dumas during the Revolution.
.........
Further south, the 83rd DIA remains blocked by the rest of the belt of forts defending Belfort, while the 108th RALCA has not yet given its all and the 12th BACA is in the middle of calculating its firing tables from Faymont.
At the same time, the 3rd DB begins to deploy the Chomel brigade towards Belfort and as far as Trévenans (Héricourt is closed off by the Mont-Vaudois batteries). At Trévenans, anti-tank teams from the 363. ID stop it dead in its tracks.
Nevertheless, this advance enables the 2nd Algerian Spahis Regiment to make its way across the plain, sweeping aside the few formations of border guards or feldgendarmes that tried to deny it passage. The coherence of the LXXXV. AK's right flank is definitively broken: in the evening, pushing their machines to the limit, a detachment of the 2nd Squadron of the 2nd RSA, lit up by commandos from the 113th Infantry, reaches the Rhine! The Mouflon tracks dip into the river at Huningue, and the squadron commander, Captain Alain de Boissieu, plunges his sabre into the river, a historic moment photographed by one of the spahis. During the Uzkub manoeuvre, twenty-five years earlier, the African cavalry regiments had also been the first Allied soldiers to dip their sabres in a major river - the Danube, at the time.
In Metz, when the news breaks (the tanks had been seen from the opposite bank), there is initial consternation: an armoured division is already in the Alsace plain! But in the evening, Erich Straube's detailed reports calm the situation: the 363. ID, supported by the 2. and 5. FJD, is still holding Belfort. Opposite, they are only scouts; the situation is seriously worrying but not catastrophic. The remnants of Wilke's 5. Fallschirmjäger are therefore diverted from the Giromagny forest to confront the 2nd RSA, which could cut the front's logistical line by approaching Mulhouse.
French forces
Staff manoeuvres
Ministère de la Guerre (Paris) - It is a rare thing to summon a general for reasons of command. It is even more so when the said general is in fact Marshal of France and theoretically has only the Minister to report to. Noguès therefore enters the Hôtel de Brienne not quite knowing what is going to happen. But far from being punished for his cavalier request for Castelnau to be Marshal, Paul-Boncour is waiting for him not in his office but in a discreet salon, where the two men meet in private.
- My respects, Minister.
- Good morning, Marshal. I imagine you know the reason for our discussion today?
- My earlier remarks about General de Castelnau?
- Quite right, Marshal, quite right. You see, your arguments are not without foundation... but they come too late. I'm going to be blunt, Marshal, because I know you can understand. The current political scene does not lend itself to celebrating a hero of the Other War, and General de Castelnau, for all his recent or past merits, is not a hero of today capable of strengthening the position of the Republic. I raised the issue with the President of the Council, who concluded that while he was personally very much in favour of such an award***, it would be, and I quote, "an anachronistic act worthy of the Count of Barcelona's claims to the Roman imperial title". After all, we're talking about a man who has already been decorated for his service in the 1870 war! The fact is that if the old General Castelnau can be publicly rewarded for his work, it will be for acts of the Resistance, not for his victories during the war of Fourteen.
Fortunately, there are other honours that can be bestowed without appearing to be a public insult. The Ordre de la Libération, which was created four years ago and of which you are a recipient, has as its provisional Grand Master the President of the Council, first Mr Reynaud and then the General. However, the General, although very proud of this position, is also a great admirer of General de Castelnau, and the scope of his current duties, which have been further increased by the Liberation, prevent him from being able to fully fulfil his ceremonial tasks, whereas it has always been planned that a grand master should be appointed on a permanent basis...
- Well taken, Minister. Shall I inform the General?
- There's no need, Marshal. His son is soon to take charge of resurrecting the national armaments industry, and he has been granted two weeks' leave before starting his work. At the moment, Major General Joseph de Castelnau has to land in Toulouse before going to visit his father.
Allied strategy
Where do we go from here?
SHAFE, Grand Trianon (Versailles) - The atmosphere is hushed, but the knives are already being drawn for this latest inter-allied coordination meeting - which may well be the last in Europe, or so the participants hope.
The agenda is simple: to define, under the authority of SACEUR - who is obviously the chair - the strategy for entering Germany. Around the table - which a clever mind had set up in the Emperor's topographical cabinet******** - are some fine people: Omar Bradley, Walter Bedell Smith (Chief of Staff of SACEUR - some say his henchman...), Eisenhower himself of course, the French Generals Aubert Frère and René Altmayer - who came with his Chief of Staff, General Gabriel Bougrain, who had been following him from the 2nd DLM - and of course Sir Alan Brooke and Claude Auchinleck.
The Americans might therefore seem outnumbered - the fault to Wacht am Rhein, which keeps Patton and his court busy, as well as Omar Bradley's Chief of Staff, Major-General Leven C. Allen. Incidentally, the news from Verdun is not exactly good. And although the Americans insist that the situation is once again under control (hadn't it been for a while?), it seems that their 1st Army is heavily engaged, and not necessarily out of the woods yet.
The conference, obviously victorious though it is - after all, France had been liberated in two months! - opens in this... strange atmosphere. With the British phlegmatic, the French happy (exhausted! But happy) and the Americans in the thick of the battle, albeit as authoritarian as ever, there is bound to be some tug-of-war.
Basically, however, everyone agrees: the enemy has been defeated beyond recovery. In the east, the powerful offensive that the Soviets seem to have launched in Poland - not to mention the operations in Hungary, and we're talking about all the Allies here - is really sucking the life out of and dislocating the German battle corps, which can no longer even pretend to rotate its forces from east to west, if it still had the fuel to do so. In the skies, the Luftwaffe has all but disappeared. Admittedly, it can still be seen at night and the NachtJagd can still interfere with RAF bombing raids on Germany, but it poses no threat to the course of operations. As for the Kriegsmarine, we won't say anything - it's not nice to make fun of the disabled.
To sum up: this is the end. The thousand-year-old Reich is on the brink of collapse. Now how do we deliver the coup de grâce? The Americans are still in favour of a knock-out: crossing the Rhine between Strasbourg and Mainz, entering the Ruhr via Frankfurt, then heading east towards Kassel, while the French play the flank guard in Bavaria, and the Anglo-Belgians the... utilities in the Benelux. At best, they can close the clamp of a gigantic pocket, if they are able to advance as far as Dortmund.
To be sure, business in the Meuse is tough. But," Walter Bedell Smith says immediately, as unpleasant as ever, "it's under control". "If this is all the Krauts can do, then they're done for. Our forces weren't surprised, they bled them dry." That's certainly embellishing reality somewhat, but it's hard to admit how worried we are about Patton... Well, we should be fine anyway! Then he adds: "This is not the umpteenth ill-anticipated flanking action...", obviously referring to the many "tactical failures" of the British in the Ile-de-France region - which is fair enough, given the predictable tenor of the British arguments that are to follow.
The ambitious American plan therefore meets both the military imperatives of destroying enemy troops and Washington's political injunctions (to spare the Soviets and not get involved in the Churchillian Great Game!) .
In this respect, it suits the French - who rightly see it as an opportunity to end the war cheaply but beautifully by conquering a province that was once France's ally, while at the same time rebuilding their forces, raising their country and, above all, completing the liberation of their national territory. It's true that the American plan meets their own strategic imperatives (to liberate Alsace... or even move a few border posts), but above all, it leaves the bulk of the human and material costs to an ally: a good deal!
However, this proposal does not suit the Commonwealth at all, which has a different opinion on the matter. For them, the breakthrough across the Rhine is a costly fad: the Germans have proved that they were prepared to do anything to defend this area, supplies are arriving from a long way off, the roads are ravaged, and there are many obstacles... No. Faced with this brutal and obvious desire to strike as fast as possible - too fast and unnecessarily hard - Brooke defends another point of view, based on the principles of simplicity and concentration of forces. The idea is to cut as short as possible through Aachen, Cologne, Hanover and Hamburg. A long salient, it is true, "but the German defences in the Maastricht and Cologne sector are irrelevant. A determined push in this direction would directly threaten the enemy's vital centers and would inevitably force the Wehrmacht to withdraw to a Karlsruhe-Hanover line. Your forces would then enter the Ruhr like butter. Then all you'd have to do is push on to Lübeck or even Leipzig.
A mention of this immediately makes Eisenhower sit up and take notice - he understands that, over and above the traditional questions of primacy and prestige, the most Churchillian political considerations in the Baltic are also guiding Britain's plans. Denmark no doubt, Norway perhaps... Here, like elsewhere, London is playing its cards close to its chest for the post-war period.
- It's a very ambitious operation, Sir Alan. And one that overlooks the many logistical difficulties, such as crossing the wetlands to get out of the Benelux countries.
- Nothing that can't be anticipated with a bit of rigour. We're used to working in more difficult conditions. Others can testify to that.
- Really?" intervenes the SACEUR, suddenly very irritated. Everyone knows that, since the little tiff last month between him and Monty, there are some names to which Ike is allergic. Too bad!
- That's true! But be that as it may, Marshal Montgomery has proved that the control and rigour that... we all know how to demonstrate here also lead to victory.
British constancy and moderation therefore produce better results than Yankee impetuosity, here lik elsewhere. That is what an aggressive mind could understand.
Bedell-Smith, again: "Sir Alan, with respect, your forces are at this time too... scattered [did he almost say 'disordered'?] to pretend to regain their advance for several weeks. Your bases are far away."
- No more than yours!
- No doubt. At least ours are working. The fact remains that by this date, the 2nd Army is no longer advancing. It is hunkering down, consolidating and no doubt planning things. But in the meantime, the Germans are getting stronger. We can see it. Let's hope we don't see it again tomorrow. And if it's a question of saving men, it's not time to stop pushing the enemy.
Auchinleck then intervenes, with some acidity: "Certainly, the 21st AAG will have to be given priority in the allocation of the necessary resources. But don't you think your own forces need to be supplemented?
- Yes, and as a priority.
This brings us to the heart of the problem: the distribution of supplies. The Allied forces in Western Europe are now considerable: three million men, who have to be equipped, fed and cared for every day... not to mention the 18th AAG, who literally eats up the smallest surplus.
Admittedly, the situation is less critical than had been feared. The rapid capture of Cherbourg, the ongoing clearing of Le Havre, the imminent capture of Lorient and Antwerp - not to mention, of course, the many installations that had long since been repaired in the Mediterranean - means that we can already anticipate a resumption of offensive action from mid-July. And perhaps even a mixture of these, depending on each individual's plans. Nonetheless, while Bedell-Smith and Brooke continue to fight over the table with more or less spearheads in front of a curiously impassive Eisenhower, Frère and Altmayer are saying to themselves - no doubt along with others - that they are going to have to show both authority and diplomacy to come up with a coherent and effective battle plan. We may have to wait for the champagne - although Bradley has brought a few cases for his boss.
.........
The debates drag on and the British find themselves facing a crossfire: the Americans hold their positions while the French flank them! While Her Majesty's generals argue that the liberation of Antwerp would simplify the logistical problems, the French counter that the Rhone line can supply an entire AG, while Antwerp already has to be rehabilitated, its approaches cleared and the SNCB put back on track - literally.
It is at a time when we were exhausting ourselves arguing about operational considerations while hiding - or pretending to hide - crystal-clear political objectives that a radiogram is discreetly handed to Frère. Smiling beneath his mustache, he stands up and dares to interrupt Brooke, who had been talking about the possibility of taking Eindhoven in one fell swoop. He speaks without appearing triumphant - which was not necessary: "I believe, my dear Alan, that we shall soon know whether we can seize passages on the Rhine: this evening, the 2nd Spahis Regiment and the 113th Infantry Regiment have reached the banks of the river. They are already moving to seize the Kembs hydro-electric plant and the Huningue railway bridge. It seems to me that this news deserves that we finally open these bottles of champagne that our friend Omar had the good idea of bringing...". And, in petto, Frère is sure that this champagne will not be too much to put a little... oil in the allied wheels.
Birthday
Matignon (Paris) - The private secretary to the President of the French Prime Minister is at a loss. It is, however, he who had written "Anniversary statement on the radio" on the day's large agenda. He barely dares to admit to the General that he had done so after receiving a phone call from Radio-Paris on the subject, but... Radio-Paris denied having called him and said that nothing was planned!
- Anniversary of what, anyway?" grumbles De Gaulle. "Waterloo? "
The General is silent for a moment... This story reminds him of something he'd heard before... Well, it doesn't matter. The secretary sighs with relief - luckily, a few minutes earlier, there had been a phone call that had put De Gaulle in a very good mood.
- As soon as possible, call me Frère or Altmayer. I need to know what's going on at the Trianon.
Yes, the place of the French Army in the hallali against Nazi Germany, the place of France in the post-war period... That's important. And that little De Boissieu dipping his sword in the Rhine, as a phone call has just told him - that's important too, in another way. A photo of this historic moment will have to be released to the press, and the hero will have to be decorated for it - he'd even like to decorate this young man himself.
* Due to the collapse of the gallery, we still don't know how many German soldiers were killed there, what equipment was stored there... or the state of the munitions that could still be active underground! But that hasn't stopped the Army from rebuilding on it since.
** This is the end of the last quarter, the new moon is on the 20th.
*** The Germans had sunk the old cruiser parallel to the U.bunker K 3 as protection to prevent the U-boots from being torpedoed in the afloat cells.
**** Identified after the liberation of the town as those of two P & C vessels, the tug Désiré Delmotte and the clapper barge Boulogne V.
***** Also identified after the liberation as the former U.jäger U-718.
****** Son of Captain Charles N'Tchoréré and older brother of Master Corporal Jean-Baptiste N'Tchoréré, both of whom died for France in June 1940.
******* De Gaulle, a former member of the 33rd RI, was not, however, a member of the "Petainist" faction of the Army, and was more a member of the hardliners (especially since the affair of Pétain's entry into the Académie Française, the date of the definitive break between the two men). This faction, heir to Castelnau, had no real leader in 1940, but included a good number of visionary generals. It is not irrelevant that Delestraint, Noguès and Olry were also members. Giraud and Frère were relatively neutral in these internal disputes, having had little contact with the great leaders of the other three factions of 1940: Weygand, Gamelin and Pétain. Weygand had spent the First World War with Franchet d'Esperey, while Pétain had held few staff positions during the conflict.
**** It's nice under the peristyle, but still!