Chapter XXVII
Closing the PocketFootnotes
1. Canadian Mil Hq Hist Sec Rpt No. 146, Opns of the First Canadian Army in North-West Europe, 31 Jul-1 Oct 44 (hereafter cited as Canadian Opns), ML-2250.
2. Interv by Col S.L.A. Marshall with Lt Gen Leonard T. Gerow, 12 Sep 45, quoted in [Alpert], Notes; V Corps Operations in the ETO, pp. 181-86; 12th AGp Ltr and Ltr of Instrs, both 17 Aug; Msg, Col James H. Hagan to Gen Haislip, 0750, 17 Aug, and Memo, Hagan for Menoher, 0025, 17 Aug, XV Corps CofS Jnl and File; Sylvan Diary, 16 Aug. For their inspiring and heroic leadership at le Bourg-St.-Leonard, Brig. Gen. William G. Weaver and Maj. Leroy R. Pond were awarded the Oak Leaf Cluster to the DSC, and Maj. Robert H. Schulz and Lt. Col. George B. Randolph were awarded the DSC, the latter posthumously.
3. Kluge to Dietrich, Hausser, and Eberbach, 1430, 17 Aug, AGp B Op. Befehle.
4. OB WEST KTB, 17 Aug; OB WEST, a Study in Command, pp. 152-53; Ltr, Blumentritt to Jodl, 19 Aug, extracted in OKW/222; AGp B KTB, entry 1815, 17 Aug; Telecon, Speidel and Blumentritt, 2135, 17 Aug, AGp B KTB.
5. See Telecons, 0020 and 1050, 18 Aug, AGp B KTB.
6. MS # B-727 (Gersdorff) and MS # A-922 (Eberbach).
7. Min of Conf, 18 Aug, Fifth Pz Army KTB, Anlage 34; Tempelhoff Telecon, 1050, 18 Aug, AGp B KTB.
8. Model's Rpt to Jodl, 18 Aug, OB WEST KTB, Anlagen, p. 1513.
9. AGp B Tagesmeldung, dated 19 Aug, AGp B KTB.
10. Two main sources have been used for the action on the northern flank: Canadian Opns; 1. Dywizja Pancerna w Walce (The First Armored Division in Battle) (Brussels: La Colonne, Ltd., 1947) (hereafter cited as 1st Polish Armored Division), pp. 67-70, 91-103. Mr. Wsevolod Aglaimoff kindly made available the information published in the Polish language.
11. Only one other regiment of the 80th Division, the 317th, was available to Gerow, and he kept it as his corps reserve. The third regiment, the 319th, was on a separate mission near the Loire River.
12. V Corps FO 20, 1800, 17 Aug; V Corps Ltr of Instr (Gerow to Leclerc) 18 Aug; Thompson, Arty Study.
13. 80th Div AAR, Aug; Interv with McHugh, Stockton's Hosp Intervs, Vol. III, GL-93 (235).
14. Lt. Col. Christian H. Clarke, Jr., though suffering a painful and partially disabling wound, manifested heroic leadership and was awarded the DSC.
15. MS # A-919 (Gersdorff); see Telecon, Gersdorff and Speidel, 2020, 20 Aug, AGp B KTB; Commandant Richard Mouton, "Le Piege se Referme a Chambois," in Herval, Bataille de Normandie, I, 416; Leigh-Mallory, "Despatch," Fourth Supplement to the London Gazette of December 31, 1946, p. 67.
16. Hitler Order, OKW/WFSt/Op, 16 Aug, received by OB WEST at 0320, 17 Aug, OB WEST KTB, Anlagen, p. 252; Hitler Order, 18 Aug, OB WEST KTB, Anlagen, p. 1499.
17. Fifth Pz A KTB, Anlage 40.
19. Telecon, 1710, 20 Aug, AGp B KTB. Speidel reported that Kluge had complained on several occasions of dizziness and also that Kluge had seemed deeply affected by the critical situation of the encircled troops and by the fact that his son was among them.
20. Ltr, Kluge to Hitler, 18 Aug, translated by MIRS London, 28 May 45, CRS Files, EAP 21-X/15; Kluge's Farewell to Hitler, 18 Aug, M.I.-14/7, OCMH Files; see Hodgson's translation in R-58; see also Bormann File on Kluge in OCMH Files. Eberbach believed later that Kluge might have averted the defeat in August by disobeying Hitler and withdrawing to the Seine at the beginning of the month, but Eberbach conceded that Kluge was being watched so closely after the July 20th Putsch that a false step would have resulted in his immediate relief and the substitution of a more manageable commander. MS # A-922 (Eberbach).
21. The LVIII Panzer Corps headquarters was near Vimoutiers. (Radio Msg, LVIII Pz Corps to Seventh Army, 0330, 19 Aug, Seventh Army KTB, Anlagen.) Eberbach himself was at the II SS Panzer Corps command post in the Vimoutiers area. The I SS Panzer Corps, split in two by the attacks of the Canadian and Polish armored divisions, was trying to hold the line north of the Allied penetration with what remained of its units east of the Dives River.
22. Sources for the German action include MS # B-824 (Straube), MS # B-610 (Viebig), MS # B-526 (Badinski), MS # P-179 (Neumann), MS # P-169 (Fiebig), MS # B-163 (Dettling), MS # A-968 (Elfeldt), MS # B-784 (Criegern), MS # A-985 (Mahlmann), MS # P-164 (Meyer).
23. Msg, 1130, 19 Aug, Seventh Army KTB, Anlagen.
24. AGp B Tagesmeldung, 19 Aug, dated 0215, 20 Aug, and Telecon, II Fighter Corps CofS and AGp B Ia/F, 1500, 19 Aug, AGp B KTB.
25. Hausser to Model, 0930, 19 Aug, Seventh Army KTB, Anlagen; MS # A-923 (Meindl); see also MS # A-904 (Luettwitz) and MS # B-162 (Mueller).
26. Msg, Gerow to Hodges, 2005, 19 Aug; [Alpert], Notes. For his part in the capture of Chambois, Capt. Edward R. Lienhart was awarded the DSC. Pfc. George J. Caldwell and Pfc. Walter C. Giebelstein, working together as a bazooka team, destroyed four tanks with five rounds of ammunition, and were also awarded the DSC.
27. See Rousseau, Bataille de Normandie, p. 131.
28. The scarcity of official German records has made it necessary to depend almost entirely on the recollections, as noted below, of some of the German commanders who were participants and who later tried to reconstruct the sequence of events of the breakout.
29. On 14 August Schimpf had issued a message to his paratroopers as follows: "False rumors are the same as bad odors—both come from the rear. . . . contrary to all rumors . . . there is no need to worry that the division might be encircled and cut off from its supply lines. . . . Even if the enemy should ever succeed temporarily in interrupting our supply routes, this would be no reason for a paratrooper, who is specially trained to jump into the midst of the enemy, to feel depressed. . . . He who thinks or talks otherwise will be slapped across the mouth." VII Corps G-2 Per Rpt 79, 23 Aug.
31. The account of Polish action is based on the 1st Polish Armored Division, pp. 110-16.
32. MS # P-162 (Harzer); MS # P-159 (Stueckler and Wisliceny); MS # A-922 (Eberbach); see also AGp B Tagesmeldung, 20 Aug, dated 0155, 21 Aug, AGp B KTB.
33. Meindl states that the attack on the "hill east of Coudehard had succeeded" by 1630 and that by 1700 German vehicles had begun to roll along the "curving road from Coudehard to the east." These times correspond quite well with the time of the full-scale German attack described in the Polish narrative.
35. There is a scarcity of information regarding the activities of this corps.
37. No information is available from corps and division sources. The above has been deduced from statements by Blauensteiner, II Parachute Corps chief of staff, and from incidents described by Mahlmann, Meindl, and Lt. Col. Hubert Meyer.
38. For singlehandedly destroying a machine gun position that had halted his company, Pfc. Earl G. Goins was awarded the DSC.
40. MS # A-968 (Elfeldt), MS # B-784 (Criegern), MS # P-164 (Meyer).
45. Information is scanty; see MS # P-169 (Fiebig).
48. 90th Div G-3 Per Rpt, 21 Aug. According to the Polish narrative: "The fraternity of arms displayed by the Americans during our common battle deserves special recognition. The Americans shared with us their rations, ammunition, gasoline, and were very generous with their cigarettes. It will be difficult to forget the supply officer of the American regiment, Major Miller, who, being short of working hands, helped personally to load ammunition boxes on our trucks." 1st Polish Armored Division, pp. 104-05.
49. V Corps Operations in the ETO, p. 190; Interv with Capt M. H. Smith, Hosp Intervs, Vol. III, GL-93 (249); [Alpert], Notes.
50. Hawk was awarded the Medal of Honor.
51. Quotes are from VII Corps AAR, Aug, and McHugh Interv, Stockton's Hosp Intervs, III, GL-93 (235); see also V Corps G-2 Est of Enemy Situation 7, 2400, 23 Aug.
52. Maczuga is the Polish word for cudgel, which seemed to match the shape of the Mt. Ormel ridge. See 1st Polish Armored Division, pp. 116-17.
53. AGp B Tagesmeldung, 21 Aug, dated 0100, 22 Aug.
54. AGp B Tagesmeldungen, 20 Aug, dated 0155, 21 Aug, and 21 Aug, dated 2000, 21 Aug, AGp B KTB. Hitler on 23 August ordered OB WEST to submit a report on strengths and losses pertaining both to the divisions that had escaped from the pocket and to those that had not been involved, but this report, if submitted, has not been located. AGp B KTB, Anlagen, 21-23 Aug, p. 1626.
55. See MS # B-526 (Badinski); MS # P-179 (Neumann)
58. AGp B Tagesmeldung, 20 Aug, AGp B KTB.
59. MS # P-159 (Stueckler); MS # B-526 (Badinski); MS # P-179 (Nettmann).
60. First U.S. Army, Report of Operations, I, 18; see V Corps Operations in the ETO, p. 188, and 90th Div AAR, Aug. Guingand, Operation Victory, page 410, has a vivid description of the destruction.
61. Telecons, 1335 and 1355, 21 Aug, AGp B KTB. Dietrich remained in command of the Fifth Panzer Army and apparently Eberbach several days later took command of the Seventh Army. See AGp B Tagesmeldung, 31 Aug.
62. FUSA G-2 Telecon, 1730, 18 Aug, FUSA G-2 Jnl and File, and AAR, Aug.
63. V Corps G-2 Est of Enemy Situation 7, 23 Aug; FUSA AAR, Aug; B. H. Liddell Hart, Strategy, The Indirect Approach, p. 317; Sylvan Diary, 20 Aug.
64. 2d French Armd Div G-3 Rpt, Opns; 90th Div AAR, Aug.
65. 12th AGp WD Observers Bd Ltr, AGF Bd Rpt, ETO, No. 208, Visit to Falaise Pocket, 31 Aug.