Chapter 5 Endnotes
2. Eisenhower to CCS, 10 Sep 44, SHAEF SGS
File, Post OVERLORD Planning 381, I.
3. CCS to Eisenhower, OCTAGON 16, 12 Sep 44, SHAEF SGS File,
Post OVERLORD Planning 381, I.
4. Rpt of conf on 14 Sep 44, Ltr, Gen Moses to Gen Crawford,
22 Oct 44, SHAEF SGS File, Supply Problems of Allied Advance, 400.3/1.
5. Estimates by the Chief of Transportation,
ETOUSA, 19 Sep 44, AGO files (ETOUSA). See History of G-4, Com Z, ETO WS),
pp. 47ff.
6. Directive, Eisenhower to Commanders, FWD-1 4764, 13 Sep
44, SHAEF Cable Log.
7. 12th A Gp AAR, V.
8. Montgomery to Eisenhower, II Sep 44, SHAEF SGS File, Post
OVERLORD Planning 381, I. Smith to Montgomery, 15 Sep 44, SHAEF SGS File,
Supply Problems of Allied Advance, 400-3/1.
9. 21st A Gp, General Operational Situation and Directive,
M-525, 14 Sep 44.
10. Bradley to Eisenhower, 12 Sep 44, 12th
A Gp File, Military Objectives 371.3, I.
11. 21st A Gp suggestion cited in SHAEF to 12th A Gp, FWD-14837,
14 Sep 44, SHAEF SGS File, Post OVERLORD Planning 381, I.
12. Bradley to Eisenhower, 14 Sep 44, 12th
A Gp File, Military Objectives 371.3, I.
13. TUSA Diary, 14 Sep 44.
14. Eisenhower to Bradley, 15 Sep 44, 12th A Gp File, Military
Objectives 371 .3, I.
15. TUSA Amendment No. 2 to Operational Directive, 5 September,
dated 16 Sep 44.
16. XII Corps G-3 Jnl, 16 Sep 44.
17. The American journals and After Action Reports for this
period are uniformly good except for the 35th Division After Action Report,
which has several errors in dates and hours. The Historical Division Combat
Interviews have considerable value, particularly those obtained by Maj. Dello
G. Dayton and 1st Lt. Gordon A. Harrison during and after the 4th Armored
Division tank battles around Arracourt. Unfortunately, however, there are
no Combat Interviews to cover the operations of the 79th Infantry Division.
The German records are unusually complete. They include the Army Group
G KTB, the Fifth Panzer Army KTB, and the Gen. Kdo. LVIII Pz.
Korps. Ia, KTB Nr. 3 and Nr. 4 and Anlagen (hereafter cited
as LVIII Panzer Corps KTB) for the period, as well as Lage Meldung
from the XLVII Panzer Corps. The OB WEST KTB and OKW/WFSt
KTB Ausarbeitung, Der Westen, are fragmentary, but do contain the most
noteworthy orders issued by the Fuehrerhauptquartier. The manuscripts
prepared by German officers for the Historical Division cover nearly every
phase of the operations described in this chapter.
18. Personalakten (Manteuffel). General der Panzertruppen
Heinz Eberbach had commanded the Fifth Panzer Army in northern France
but was captured by the British at the end of August.
19. German plans for the counterattack are described not only in the KTB's of the various commands but in several manuscripts prepared by enemy officers who took part in this operation. See MS #A-916 (Blaskowitz); MS #B-589 (Gyldenfeldt); MS #B-037 (Manteuffel); MS #B-472 (Kahlden); MSS #B-137 and B-445 (Krueger); MS #B-473 (Triepel); MS #A-955 (Dingler); MS #A-871 (Feuchtinger); MS #13-364 (Wictersheim).
20. Hist Div Combat Interviews (Reed). Third Army Intelligence had noted an armored build-up at Epinal as early as 12 September. TUSA Diary.
21. Colonel Reed was awarded the DSC. The citation issued by the Third Army credits Colonel Reed and his command with preventing the German occupation of Luneville.
22. Neither General Patton nor General Eddy
took the German attack on 18 September very seriously. See Eddy Diary.
23. The 37th Tk Bn (-), 53d Armd Inf Bn (-), C Co, 10th
Armd Inf Bn, 166th (C) Engr Bn, C CO., 24th Armd Engr Bn, C CO 704th TD Bn,
the 66th and 94th Armd FA Bns, and the 191st FA Bn.
24. This was a fair estimate, for General Krueger reported that he had fifty tanks damaged or destroyed on 19 September-a loss he attributed mostly to artillery fire. Such a figure would seem to account for one of the two tank battalions in the 113th Panzer Brigade, but German battlefield recovery and repair still approached the high standards set months before during the North African tank battles.
25. Two companies of the 35th Tank Battalion and the balance of the 10th Armored Infantry Battalion had joined CCA during the night.
26. Colonel Abrams was awarded the DSC for
bravery in the fighting on 20 September. Junghannis and his detachment were
cited in dispatches to Berlin for this action. As in most cases of this kind
the estimates and reports of losses differ considerably with the headquarters.
The 4th Armored Division After Action Report says that the 37th Tank Battalion
lost 7 tanks and destroyed 18 of the enemy's. The CCA Operations journal records:
". - - 37th lost 12 tanks and knocked out 8 enemy tanks." The Fifth Panzer
Army KTB says that both sides lost 11 tanks.
27. The night attack on Moncourt had been hastily organized
and little co-ordinated. As a result some troops of the 10th Armored Infantry
Battalion, which had entered the town first, were killed by the American fire.
28. The LVIII Panzer Corps KTB estimated that 18 American tanks were destroyed. The After Action Reports of CCA estimated that the Germans lost the same number. The events of this day resulted in one of the few recorded instances of pessimism on the part of General Patton. General Eddy phoned Patton to say that the Germans were determined to hold. Then, says the XII Corps commander, "Much to my surprise, Patton replied, 'It may be impossible to complete the mission which we started out on, but we could kill a lot of Germans trying.'" Eddy Diary.
29. This term was the German soldier's argot
for the American fighter-bomber.
30. In the face of heavy fire Capt. Thomas J. Evans, C Company,
704th Tank Destroyer Battalion mounted a disabled American tank destroyer,
manned its gun, and knocked out one of the enemy tanks. During the fight Captain
Evans distinguished himself by coolly walking about and disposing his troops,
all the while under fierce enemy fire. Evans was awarded the DSC.
31. This attack was led by Capt. William L. Spencer, A Company,
37th Tank Battalion, who had distinguished himself repeatedly during the fighting
begun on 19 September. He was awarded the DSC.
32. Colonel Seckendorff, commander of the 113th Panzer Brigade, was killed the next day, apparently by an American P-47 from the 405th Group.
33. No evidence can be found that such an
American attack ever was contemplated. Perhaps these German reports resulted
from "sympathetic fears" induced by the Allied airborne operations which had
just begun in Holland.
34. The 3d Battalion, 314th Infantry, received a Distinguished
Unit Citation for its part in this battle.
35. Planes of the XIX TAC had made an air strike against the 11th Panzer Division rail movement on 21 September.
36. Pfc. Clyde E. Workman, A Company, 10th Armored Infantry Battalion, was given the DSC for "conspicuous courage, many times displayed." When his squad leader was killed, Workman took command and in single combat destroyed an enemy mortar and killed ten German riflemen who were harassing his men. Later he engaged an enemy tank with a .50-caliber machine gun on a half-track and set the German tank afire.
37. These leaflets had apparently been loaded for use at the Metz forts.
38. The 405th Group claimed 11 enemy tanks destroyed and 2 damaged on this date. The 511th Squadron claimed an "assist" after flushing 6 German tanks into the open, where they were knocked out by the American artillery. The CCB After Action Report estimates that the three-day battle in this sector cost the enemy 700 dead.
39. The 4th Armored Division After Action Report, September 1944, records the losses of that division during the entire month of September as 181 killed in action, 394 wounded in action, and 51 missing in action. CCA, which bore the brunt of the armored clashes, lost 25 medium tanks and 7 tank destroyers; totally destroyed.
40. Cpl. Harold J. Lange, Medical Detachment,
320th Infantry, was awarded the DSC (posthumously) for his gallantry in this
initial engagement. Lange volunteered to go forward and aid the wounded. He
continued his task, even after he himself was wounded, until he was cut down
by machine gun fire.
41. MS #A-972 (Muehlen).
42. During this fight 1st Lt. Odie T. Stallcup, 1st Battalion,
137th Infantry, led his antitank platoon with such bravery that he received
the DSC.
43. Sgt. James A. Burzo and Pfc. Gerald D.
Downing, both of L Company, 320th Infantry, received posthumous awards of
the DSC for bravery in this action. When their squad ran into an ambush the
two soldiers attacked the enemy machine gunners sweeping the American position.
Both were mortally wounded but lived long enough to hurl their grenades and
wipe out the German machine guns.
44. See Ltr, Gen Baade to Hist Div, 18 Jan 49.
45. The story of the meeting at the 320th command post has been pieced together from sources which are fragmentary and often contradictory. The sources used are: 35th Div G-3 Jnl; 320th Inf AAR and G-3 Jnl; 134th Inf Jnl; TUSA Diary; Eddy Diary; Ltr, Gen Baade to Hist Div, 18 Jan 49; Ltr, Gen Grow to Hist Div, 23 Feb 49.
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Last updated 12 October 2004 |