Wuensch, Anton, Cpl. [6th Parachute Regt.] Occupation unknown
Zimmermann, Bodo, Lt. Gen. [Chief of Operations, OB West] Lt. Gen. (retired); magazine and book publisher
Hitler’s “Atlantic Wall” was formidable. Never before had an attacking force encountered such defenses—yet the Wall was only partially completed. These photos (enlargements from a 16mm. German propaganda film) give some idea of the heavily gunned steel and concrete fortifications which girdled the invasion coast. Communication trenches, machine-gun nests, mortar pits and mine fields supplemented the heavy gun block-houses, and the sands were strewn with a maze of mined anti-invasion obstacles. (Wide World)
Rommel inspects defenses along French coast in February 1944. On his right (almost out of picture) is Maj. Gen. Alfred Gause, his Chief of Staff up to March 1944. Facing camera, directly behind unidentified officer who is pointing, is Rommel’s aide, Capt. Hellmuth Lang.
One of Rommel’s simple but deadly anti-invasion beach obstacles—a stake topped by Teller mine. Rommel designed most of these devices and proudly called them “my inventions.”
Blumentritt map, above, shows one reason why invasion was expected at Pas-de-Calais: it was the nearest point to the German border. Germans reasoned that Allies would pick the shortest route for their drive toward the Reich. Even after the Normandy invasion began, Rommel’s Chief of Staff, Maj. Gen. Hans Speidel, thought it was a diversionary attack. The 7th Army’s Chief of Staff, Maj. Gen. Max Pemsel, was first German general to warn that Normandy assault was the real invasion.
Maj. Gen. Dr. Hans Speidel, Rommel’s Chief of Staff.
Maj. Gen. Max Pemsel, 7th Army’s Chief of Staff.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander, and Allied chiefs. Left to right: Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley, U.S. 1st Army Commander; Admiral Bertram Ramsey, Allied Naval Commander; Air Chief Marshal Tedder, Deputy Supreme Commander; Eisenhower; Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, D Day’s Assault Commander; Air Chief Marshal Leigh-Mallory, Allied Air Commander; Maj. Gen. Walter Bedell Smith, Eisenhower’s Chief of Staff.
In last weeks of May, ports were jammed as men and equipment loaded for D Day attack. Picture at right shows troops and vehicles going aboard three LSTs at Brixham. Notice concrete “hards,” which were specially laid down to facilitate loading of shallow-draft landing craft.
Here are the five Daily Telegraph crossword puzzles containing key D Day code words, which scared Allied H Q. Although prepared months before, by some strange quirk of fate they all appeared in tense days prior to invasion. Note that “Overlord” and “Neptune,” the principal code words, showed up on same day, June 2, four days before attack. (Reproductions courtesy Michael Berry, Editor, London Daily Telegraph)
This photo showing Eisenhower talking to 101st Division paratroops just before they boarded their planes on the evening of June 5 is probably the best known of all the pre-invasion pictures, but I have always wondered about the identities of the men. The 101st Airborne Association traced them for me. Among those surrounding the Supreme Commander are: Pfc. William Boyle, Cpl. Hans Sannes, Pfc. Ralph Pombano, Pfc. S. W. Jackson, Sgt. Delbert Williams, Cpl. William E. Hayes, Pfc. Carl Wickers, 1st Lt. William Strebel, Pfc. Henry Fuller, Pfc. Michael Babich and Pfc. William Noll.
Lt. Col. Hellmuth Meyer, 15th Army Intelligence chief, who picked up the Verlaine messages going to the French underground [SEE OPPOSITE PAGE] , correctly interpreted them, and warned that the Allied invasion would take place in 48 hours. (Author’s Collection)
Photo of actual 15th Army War Diary page showing entries of two-part Verlaine message which indicated to Col. Meyer that invasion was imminent (see text). Note vital second line of the verse “Blessent mon coeur d’une longeur [sic] monotone” was picked up from BBC broadcast to French Underground at 9:15 (10:15 British time) and its meaning—that the invasion would begin within 48 hours starting 00:00, 6 June—was recorded five minutes later. Although other D Day messages were decoded, this is the only one recorded in German War Diaries. Ample evidence supports Col. Meyer’s claim that Germans considered the Verlaine verse the all-important message. On June 8 Hitler’s H Q demanded explanation from Rundstedt as to why full alert had not been ordered, and specifically referred to Verlaine passages. (Author’s Collection)
Destination Normandy, A “stick” of 101st Division paratroopers make final check before boarding D C 3.
The convoys, protected by barrage balloons and fighter escorts, set sail for the beaches. (Wide World)
DC 3s of the 316th Troop Carrier Group towing Waco gliders over France.
First U.S. generals to land in Normandy
Maj. Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway, 82nd Airborne’s commanding officer;
Brig. Gen. James M. Gavin, 82nd’s Assistant Division Commander;
Maj. Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor, 101st Airborne Commander. First senior British officer was 6th Airborne’s Commander, Maj. Gen. Richard Gale.
Alexandre Renaud, Mayor of Ste.-Mère-Eglise, who witnessed slaughter in town square, and Father Louis Roulland, who ordered church bell rung.
This rare photo, the only one known to exist, shows a group of 82nd Airborne Pathfinders just before they took off for Normandy. These were among the first Americans to land in France. How many of the men pictured below survived the war and how many are still living? I was able to find only two 82nd Pathfinders. One of them, Pvt. Robert M. Murphy, who landed in Madame Levrault’s back garden, is standing, third from right, wearing woolen cap. (Courtesy Robert M. Murphy)
Wrecked 30-man Horsa glider in field near Ste.-Mère-Eglise. Eight para-troopers died in crash.
Flooded areas at both ends of Normandy battlefield claimed greatest number of British and American paratroopers. In darkness, weighed down by equipment and often unable to extricate themselves from chutes, many men became casualties and drowned, often like the trooper below, in less than three feet of water. (Courtesy Lt. Gen. James M. Gavin)
Father Edward Waters conducts dockside service for 1st Division assault troops. The next stop would be Omaha Beach.
Minutes before H Hour and Omaha Beach looms ahead. Spray-drenched assault troops crouch down in Coast Guard LCA racing for shore.
On bridge bespectacled Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley, U.S. 1st Army Commander, watches landing craft heading in for Omaha Beach. Next to him is Rear Admiral Alan Kirk, Overlord Western Task Force Commander.
Landing craft receives direct hit and bursts into flame off Omaha.
Survivors of another damaged craft struggle ashore from life raft.
Waves of assault boats thrash past cruiser, U.S.S. Augusta.
H Hour on Omaha Beach. Assault troops struggling through obstacles and heavy surf while under fire. This photo, taken by the late Bob Capa of Life, is probably the best remembered picture of D Day. (Wide World)
H Hour plus 15 minutes. Pinned down by enemy fire, troops take cover behind obstacles. (Courtesy Col. John T. O’Neill)
H Hour plus 25 minutes. Engineers of Assault Team 10 move in. Note troops behind obstacles and taking cover back of engineers’ tankdozer. (Courtesy Col. John T. O’Neill)
Omaha Beach wounded sheltering behind sea wall, waiting to be evacuated.
These excerpts from U.S. 1st Division’s operations journal give almost minute-by-minute account of the seven-hour crisis on Omaha Beach up to time troops began to move inland shortly after 1 P.M. Note that in first twenty-five minutes after H Hour, Patrol Craft 552, in messages number 8 and 11, reported entire first wave had foundered. (Author’s Collection)
Men of U.S. 4th Division wade ashore on Utah Beach. First-wave casualties were light, but heavy artillery fire flayed beach later in morning.
4th Division medics tend wounded on sands.
“Now listen, there’s just the two of us. We can’t afford to break up. For God’s sake, do exactly as I do. Fly behind me and follow every move. We’re going in alone—and I don’t think we’re coming back.” These were the instructions Wing Commander Josef Priller ga
ve his wingman, Sergeant Heinz Wodarczyk, just before they took off in the only Luftwaffe air attack made during the initial Allied landings. (Author’s Collection)
German 88 shell explodes among assault troops on Utah Beach. In fore-ground, right, men crouch for safety by sea wall.
Rangers march German POWs down cliff face after Colonel Rudder’s force had been relieved on D + 2. The American flag is protection against these troops being shelled by their own men.
4th Division’s commanding officer, Maj. Gen. Raymond O. Barton (center), holds conference at first command post, 300 yards in from Utah Beach. On his right, wearing woolen cap, Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt, Assistant Division Commander, who landed with first wave. Left: Lt. Col. Clarence G. Hupfer, Commander, 746th Tank Battalion. (Courtesy Maj. Gen. Barton)
The heroic Brig. Gen. Norman Cota, 29th Division Asst. Commander, who, completely oblivious of the rain of enemy fire, calmly walked up and down Omaha beach and sparked the move of 29th Div. troops inland.
Major Werner Pluskat, Omaha beach battery commander who spotted the huge invasion fleet from his forward observation post, a coastal bunker almost in the dead center of the Normandy beachhead. (Author’s Collection)
British troops land under fire. Beach is unidentified, but it is probably Gold. Note, at left, wounded men lying in water and others falling, while at right trooper strides calmly along beach. This is one of the most human of all D Day photos, for it shows what every invasion veteran remembers— sudden death in one place, false security in another. (Wide World)
Canadian troops jam LCI as it heads for Juno. Note collapsible bicycles at left.
Led by amphibious tanks, their balloonlike canvas “water wings” now deflated, British troops assault unidentified beach—possibly the western half of Sword.
Picture above is historic and a rarity—it has never appeared before. It shows Col. R. Ernest Dupuy, Eisenhower’s press officer, rising to broadcast the news the free world had been waiting for—that Allied troops had landed in Europe. The time was 9:33 A.M. (Courtesy Col. Ernest Dupuy)
Greatest American success on D Day was Utah Beach assault. Fourth Division troops moved inland faster than anyone had anticipated. At right, troops slosh through inundated area heading for link-up with paratroopers. By roadside is sight that was to become all too common as Normandy battle progressed—bodies of Germans and Americans alike.
At dusk on D Day, troops on Utah watch glider trains fly over to reinforce still-beleaguered airborne troops.
The beginning of the end for Hitler’s Third Reich. German prisoners trudge down Omaha Beach.
(All photos, unless otherwise credited, are courtesy of the U.S. Dept. of Defense. Photo prints were provided by The Ryan Archive of Ohio University. All captions by Cornelius Ryan.)
Acknowledgments
THE PRINCIPAL sources of information for this book came from Allied and German D-Day survivors, French underground workers and civilians—more than a thousand in all. Freely and unselfishly they gave of their time, and no inconvenience seemed too great. They filled out questionnaires, and after these forms had been collated and cross-checked with those of other veterans they cheerfully provided additional information. They answered my many letters and queries. They supplied me with a wealth of documentation and memorabilia—water-stained maps, tattered diaries, after-action reports, logs, message pads, company rosters, casualty lists, personal letters and photographs—and they made themselves available for interview. I am deeply indebted to these contributors. On preceding pages the reader will find a complete list of all military personnel and French underground workers who helped. To my knowledge this partial list of D-Day participants is the only one of its kind in existence.
Of the total numbers of survivors located—a task that took the best part of three years—some seven hundred were interviewed in the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, France and Germany. Some 383 accounts were blended into the text. For a variety of editorial reasons—principally that of repetition—it was impossible to include everyone’s account. However, the framework of the book was constructed on the information supplied by all the participants, plus Allied and German after-action reports, war diaries, histories or other official records (such as the magnificent combat interviews conducted during and after the war by Brigadier General S.L.A. Marshall, U.S.A.R., the European Theater Military Historian).
At the onset I wish to thank De Witt Wallace, editor and publisher of The Reader’s Digest, for underwriting nearly all of the costs and thus making this book possible.
Next I must pay tribute to the U.S. Secretary of Defense; General Maxwell D. Taylor, until recently the U.S. Army’s Chief of Staff; Major General H. P. Storke, the Army’s Chief of Information; Colonel G. Chesnutt, Lieutenant Colonel John S. Cheseboro and Lieutenant Colonel C. J. Owen of the Army’s Magazine and Book branch; Commander Herbert Gimpel of the U.S. Navy’s Magazine and Book branch; Major J. Sunderman and Captain W. M. Mack of the U.S. Air Force’s Information Division; Mrs. Martha Holler of the Defense Department’s Accreditation and Travel Division; and the many public relations officers in Europe and elsewhere who assisted me at every turn. All of these people aided not only in helping me locate veterans but by opening doors everywhere, granting me permission to examine hitherto classified documents, supplying me with detailed maps, transporting me to and from Europe, and in setting up interviews.
I must also acknowledge the gracious assistance and cooperation of Dr. Kent Roberts Greenfield, until recently chief historian, the Office of Chief of Military History, and the members of his staff—Major William F. Heitz, Mr. Israel Wice, Mr. Detmar Finke and Mr. Charles von Luttichau—for giving me permission to draw on official histories and records and for their constant guidance and advice. I would like to mention here the work of Charles von Luttichau, who spent all of his spare time over a period of nearly eight months translating bale loads of German documents and the all important German war diaries.
Amont the contributors to the book I would like to thank in particular the following: Sergeant William Petty for meticulously reconstructing the Ranger’s action at Pointe du Hoc; Corporal Michael Kurtz of the 1st Division, Second Lieutenant Edward Gearing and Brigadier General Norman Cota of the 29th for their vivid descriptions of Omaha Beach; Colonel Gerden Johnson of the 4th Division for his careful breakdown of the equipment carried by first-wave assault troops; Colonel Eugene Caffey and Sergeant Harry Brown for their portrayals of Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt on Utah Beach; Major General Raymond O. Barton, the 4th Division’s Commanding Officer on D Day, for his guidance and for loaning me his maps and official papers; Brigadier E.E.E. Cass, whose 8th British Brigade led the assault on Sword Beach, for his detailed memorandums and papers and his kind efforts in trying to research the British casualty figures; Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt for her many kindnesses, thoughtful suggestions and criticisms; William Walton, formerly of Time and Life, the only war correspondent to jump with the 82nd, for digging through his trunks and finding his old notebooks and then over a two-day session re-creating the atmosphere of the assault; Captain Daniel J. Flunder and Lieutenant Michael Aldworth of the 48th Royal Marine Commandos for painting the scene on Juno; and Piper Bill Millin of Lord Lovat’s Commandos for his diligent search to find the list of tunes that he played throughout the day.
I would also like to express my appreciation to General Maxwell D. Taylor, who took time out from his grueling schedule to take me step by step through the 101st Airborne’s assault and who later read pertinent parts of the manuscript for accuracy. Others who checked for errors and who read two or three versions of the manuscript were Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Morgan, the architect of the original Overlord plan, and Lieutenant General James M. Gavin, who commanded the 82nd’s parachute drop into Normandy.
I am also indebted to General Omar N. Bradley, who commanded the U.S. First Army; Lieutenant General Walter B. Smith, who was Chief of Staff to General Dwight D. Eisenhower; Lieutenant General J. T. Crocker
, who commanded the 1st British Corps; and General Sir Richard Gale, who commanded the British 6th Airborne. These men kindly answered my queries, or granted me interviews or made available to me their wartime maps and papers.
On the German side I wish to acknowledge the generous cooperation of the Bonn Government and the many service associations who located veterans and set up appointments.
For assistance from the many German contributors I am particularly grateful to Colonel General Franz Halder, former Chief of the German General Staff; Captain Hellmuth Lang, Rommel’s aide; Major General Günther Blumentritt, Field Marshal von Rundstedt’s chief of staff; Lieutenant General Dr. Hans Speidel, Rommel’s chief of staff; Frau Lucie Maria Rommel and her son, Manfred; Lieutenant General Max Pemsel, the 7th Army’s chief of staff; General Hans von Salmuth, the 15th Army’s commanding officer; General von Oppeln-Bronikowski of the 21st Panzer; Colonel Josef Priller of the Luftwaffe’s 26th Fighter Wing; Lieutenant Colonel Hellmuth Meyer of the 15th Army; and Major Werner Pluskat of the 352nd Division. All these and scores of others were kind enough to grant me interviews, spending hours reconstructing various phases of the battle.
In addition to the information collected from D-Day participants, many works by eminent historians and authors were consulted during the research. I would like to express my gratitude to Gordon A. Harrison, author of the official D-Day history, Cross-Channel Attack, and Dr. Forest Pogue, author of the U.S. Army’s The Supreme Command, both of whom gave me guidance and helped me solve many a controversial point. Their books proved invaluable in giving me an over-all picture both politically and militarily of the events leading up to the invasion and in detailing the attack itself. Other books that I found most helpful were The Invasion of France and Germany by Samuel E. Morison; Omaha Beachhead by Charles H. Taylor; Utah to Cherbourg by R. G. Ruppenthal; Rendezvous with Destiny by Leonard Rapport and Arthur Norwood, Jr.; Men Against Fire by Brigadier General S.L.A. Marshall, U.S.A.R.; and The Canadian Army: 1939-1945 by Colonel C. P. Stacey. A bibliography of books referred to is appended.