‘We’ll defend your town…’, quoted in Blumenson, p. 215
p. 390 ‘Everyone very depressed…’, Myles Hildyard diary, 3 August, and letter, 5 August
‘the wretched wounded…’, Captain Michael Bendix, Coldstream Guards, SWWEC 2000-356
‘I could not help thinking…’, Rev. A. R. C. Leaney, IWM PP/MCR/206
‘In the small fields of Normandy…’, quoted in Eversley Belfield and H. Essame,
p. 391 ‘To be the leading tank…’, Stanley Christopherson diary
p. 392 ‘because they slip on…’, Captain M. G. T. Webster, 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards, IWM P 182
‘in the recesses of a LST’, John Colville,
‘The tank commander would…’, Captain Michael Bendix, Coldstream Guards, SWWEC 2000-356
‘a little German stretcher-bearer…’,Rev. A. R. C. Leaney, attached to 4th Dorsets, 43rd Wessex Division, IWM PP/MCR/206 p. 393 ‘Many of them probably…’, XXX Corps, TNA WO 171/342
‘Apart from the church spire…’, Major Julius Neave diary, SWWEC T2150
‘You really had to disassociate…’, Major Robert Kiln, 86th Field Artillery, SWWEC 99-63
‘an imbroglio of steel’, Andre Heintz diary, MdC TE 32 (1-4)
severed hand, Robert Thornburrow, 4th Somerset Light Infantry, 43rd Wessex Division, MdC TE120
p. 394 ‘a little foal walking…’, William Helm, ‘The Normandy Field Diary of a Junior Medical Officer in 210 Field Ambulance’, 177th Brigade, 59th Infantry Division
‘Brigade and battalion commanders…’, Stanley Christopherson diary
‘Our intention is to capture…’, Major Julius Neave diary, SWWEC T2150
‘The nearer we got…’, Corporal D. Proctor, 4th Somerset Light Infantry, DWS
p. 395 ‘It was soon obvious…’, Sergeant W. Partridge, 4th Somerset Light Infantry, SWWEC 2006.419
p. 396 ‘more men in five weeks…’, Sergeant W. Partridge, 4th Somerset Light Infantry, SWWEC 2006.419
‘heavy enemy attacks…’, Heeresgruppe B, 6 August, BA-MA RH 19 ix/87
p. 397 German casualty figures to 7 August, Dieter Ose,
24. THE MORTAIN COUNTER-ATTACK
p. 398 ‘Situation still more acute…’, TNA DEFE 3/65
discussions Hitler, Jodl and Warlimont, Major Herbert Buchs, Luftwaffe aide to Generaloberst Jodl, ETHINT 36
‘Whenever a line of defence…’, General Warlimont, ETHINT 1
p. 399 ‘He belonged to the set…’, General Eugen Meindl, II Parachute Corps, FMS A-923
‘discouraged’ and ‘he could not hold…’ General Warlimont, ETHINT 1
‘The division is bad…’, Martin Blumenson (ed.),
p. 400 ‘a fifteen-year-old French boy…’, NA II 407/427/24242
strengthening of Fougeres, Headquarters XV Corps, NA II 407/427/24203
‘Approximately 13,000 trucks…’, Mark J. Reardon,
‘withdrawal movements’, 2 August, TNA DEFE 3/65
p. 401 ‘Joe, I already have it’, J. Lawton Collins,
‘Some of the troops held themselves well…’, P. Peschet, MdC TE 215
p. 403 ‘it seemed like an excellent…’, NA II 407/427/24037
‘As we arrived there…’, Robert B. Bradley, 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Infantry Division, MdC TE 366
120th Infantry Regiment in Mortain, NA II 407/427/24037
p. 404 ‘were the greatest obstacles…’, Generalmajor Freiherr Rudolf von Gersdorff, FMS A-918
‘They had been deceived…’, General Warlimont, ETHINT 1
‘passive resistance…’, Generalleutnant Graf von Schwerin, ETHINT 17
p. 405 ‘The Fuhrer has ordered…’, Heeresgruppe B, 6 August, BA-MA RH 19 ix/87
Hitler’s opposition to General von Funck, General Warlimont, ETHINT 1
‘virtually impossible’, Heeresgruppe B, 6 August, BA-MA RH 19 ix/87
‘little air activity’, BA-MA RH 19 ix/87 p. 406 ‘The war looks practically over’, 4th Infantry Division, NA II 407/427/6431
‘a beautiful bivouac…’, NA II 407/427/ 6431
Ultra intercepts, 6 August, TNA DEFE 3/65
Bradley’s scepticism about Ultra, see Carlo D’Este,
‘to stop spreading rumours’, NA II 407/ 427/24037
p. 407 German motorcyclists, Cherence-le-Roussel, 39th Infantry Division, NA II 407/ 427/24037
‘extraordinarily well’, General der Panzertruppen Freiherr von Luttwitz, FMS A-903
p. 408 fighting in Saint-Barthelemy, 30th Infantry Division, NA II 407/427/24037
120th Infantry in Mortain, NA II 407/ 427/24037
p. 409 ‘A loud clang followed…’, Reardon, p. 100
p. 410 ‘should deal exclusively…’, 2nd TAF Operations Report by Air Marshal Sir Arthur Coningham, TNA AIR 20/1593
‘This is the moment…’, John Golley,
pilots in 123 Wing, Desmond Scott,
‘roughly a four-per-cent chance…’, Ian Gooderson,
p. 411 ‘Diving point…’, ‘The Rocket Racket’, Air Ministry, AHB
Typhoon operations, 7 August, TNA AIR 25/704
‘Our fighters have been engaged…’, Telephone Journal, Seventh Army, 7 August, NA II 407/427/6431
p. 412 ‘
83 Group, Alfred Price, ‘The Rocket-Firing Typhoons in Normandy’,
‘As the day developed…’, 2nd Tactical Air Force Operations Report by Air Marshal Coningham, TNA AIR 20/1593
Operational Research Section reports: Joint Report No. 3, ‘Rocket-firing Typhoons in Close Support of Military Operations’, Operational Research in North-West Europe, TNA WO 291/1331; and No. 2 ORS, 2nd TAF, Report No.1, ‘Investigations of the Operation of TAF Aircraft in the Mortain Area — 7th August 1944’, TNA AIR 37/61
p. 413 ‘Whether you realise it or not’, General der Panzertruppen Geyr von Schweppenburg, ETHINT 13
‘There is nothing…’, Operational Research Section, ‘Investigation of the Operation of TAF Aircraft in the Mortain Area, 7th August 1944’, dated 7 December 1944, AHB
field artillery in support of 30th Infantry Division, Brigadier General James M. Lewis, commanding 30th Division Artillery, NA II 407/427/24037
p. 414 ‘a thorn in the flesh…’, General der Panzertruppen Walter Kruger, LVIII Panzer Corps, FMS B-445 p. 415 Germans with cognac, Pfc John Cole, 8th Infantry, NA II 407/427/6432
‘It was quite clear…’, comments on Seventh Army war diary, Generalmajor Rudolf Freiherr von Gersdorff, FMS A-918
p. 416 ‘In formal manner…’, 30th Division, NA II 407/427/24242
12th Infantry, NA II 407/427/6431
