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Endnotes
1 Min, Mtg held at SHAEF FWD, 22 Sep 44, 12th A Gp Military Objectives, 371.3, I; see also, Ltr, Bradley to Patton, 23 Sep 44, same file.
2 Ltr, Bradley to Patton, 23 Sep 44; FWD 15510, Eisenhower to 12th A Gp for Bradley and 21 A Gp for Montgomery, 23 Sep 44; Min, Mtg at SHAEF FWD, 22 Sep 44. All in 12th A Gp 371.3, Military Objectives, I.
3 Ltr, Bradley to Eisenhower, 25 Sep 44, 12th A GP 371.3 Military Objectives, I.
4 Sylvan Diary, entries of 24 and 26 Sep 44.
5 Commanded by Colonel Piron, B. E. M., the 1st Belgian Brigade had three motorized infantry companies (325 men each), a field artillery battery, an engineer company, a squadron of armored cars, and headquarters, signal, supply, and medical personnel. Armed, equipped, and supplied by the British, the brigade fought with the British in Normandy and participated in the liberation of Brussels. Although the Kingdom of Belgium subsequently augmented Allied ranks with a number of units made up primarily of men from the Resistance, the troops of the 1st Belgian Brigade were Belgians who had escaped to England during and after 1940. See Narrative History by Colonel Mampuys, Directeur Superieur du Renseignment et de l’Historique, attached to Ltr, 6 Sep 51, Maj Count I. G. Du Monceau de Bergendal, Attaché Militaire et de l’Air, Embassy of Belgium, Washington, D.C., to OCMH.
6 Sylvan Diary, entry of 26 Sep 44.
7 Interv with Bradley, 7 Jun 56; Bradley, A Soldier’s Story, pp. 56-59.
8 Memo, CG XIX Corps, to CG FUSA, 26 Sep 44, XIX Corps Combat Interv file.
9 FUSA, Amendment 1, 27 Sep 44, to FUSA Ltr of Instrs, 25 Sep 44, FUSA G-2 Jnl file, 1-3 Oct 44; Sylvan Diary, entry of 26 Sep 44.
10 FUSA Ltr of Instrs, 25 Sep 44; Ltr Corlett to OCMH, 20 May 56.
11 XIX Corps FO 27, 28 Sep, and Ltr of Instrs, 29 Sep, XIX Corps G-3 file, 28-29 Sep 44.
12 See XIX Corps G-2 Per Rpts for the period and Maj Franklin Ferriss, Notes on XIX Corps Opns, 28 Jul 44-13 Jan 45, in particular entries for 26 through 28 Sep 44. A combat historian attached to the XIX Corps, Major Ferriss kept a detailed record of XIX Corps operations, field orders, and the like, and of his own observations. Filed with XIX Corps Combat Intervs.
13 Dispositions of German units are from TWX, A Gp B to OB WEST, 1330, 29 Sep 44, A Gp B KTB, Operationsbefehle. See Heichler, The Germans Opposite XIX Corps.
14 Records of Kampfgruppe Walther are as sketchy for this as for earlier periods. The above is based on Strength Rpt, 107th Panzer Brigade, 1 Oct 44, in records of General Inspekteur der Panzertruppen, Strength Rpts of Panzer Divs, Sep-Oct 44; TWX A Gp B to OB WEST, 1330, 29 Sep 44; and XIX Corps intel rpts for the period.
15 Order, A Gp B to First Prcht Army, 1330, 24 Sep 44, A Gp B KTB, Operationsbefehle.
16 For tactical information on the 1st Belgian Brigade, see XIX Corps G-3 Per Rpts 115 and 116, 29-30 Sep 44; XIX Corps G-3 Msg files, 29-30 Sep 44; XIX Corps AAR, Oct 44; and Mampuys, Narrative History.
17 See 113th Cav Gp AARs, Sep and Oct 44, and 29th Div AAR, Oct 44.
18 The 7th Armored Division first saw combat after the opening of the pursuit phase with Third Army’s XX Corps. Just before assignment to the XIX Corps, the division had helped establish a hotly contested bridgehead across the Moselle River south of Metz. The story of the Peel Marshes offensive is based on: div AARs, Jnls, and Jnl files for Sep-Oct 44.
19 7th Armd Div G-2 Per Rpts, 1-2 Oct 44.
20 Daily Sitrep, A Gp B, 0145, 2 Oct 44, A Gp B KTB, Tagesmeldungen.
21 FUSA Ltr of Instrs, 6 Oct, in FUSA G-2 file, 7-8 Oct 44; Sylvan Diary, entry of 6 Oct 44.
22 G-2 Rpt, A Gp B, 2 Oct 44, A Gp B KTB, Anlagen, Ic/AO..
23 Montgomery, Normandy to the Baltic, p. 257.
24 For the British story during this period, see Montgomery, Normandy to the Baltic, pp. 258, 260-67, and 269-72. Unless otherwise noted, the 7th Armored Division story is based upon official unit records and Lt. Robert E. Merriam, Battle of the Canals, Ninth United States Army Operations, vol. III, Combat in Holland.
25 Tel Conv, OB WEST to A Gp B, 1230, 24 Oct 44, OB WEST KTB, Anlagen, Befehle und Meldungen, 21.X-3I.X.44 (hereafter cited as OB WEST KTB, Belehle und Meldungen).
26 MS # B-367, Das XLVII Panzer-Korps im Rheinland, 23 Oct-5 Dec 44 (Luettwitz).
27 Establishing the strength of these divisions is difficult. Figures given are for 1 November 1944, after five days of combat in the Peel Marshes, and do not indicate either losses or reinforcements during that period. See Strength Rpt, 9th Pz Div, 1 Nov 44, General Inspekteur der Panzertruppen (OKH), Zustandsberichte-Panzerdivisionen, Nov-Dec 44. Allied estimates of German tank strength in the spoiling attack ranged from thirty to fifty. See also Lucian Heichler, Surprise Attack in the Peel Marshes, a MS prepared to complement this volume and filed in OCMH.
28 Rpt, OB WEST to OKW/WFSt, 2200, 25 Oct 44, OB WEST KTB, Befehle und Meldungen.
29 See Annex 2 (Miscellaneous Information—Recent German Attacks) to XIII Corps G-2 Per Rpt, 16 Nov 44, citing XIX Corps, 13 Nov 44, found in XIII Corps G-3 Jnl file, 14-17 Nov 44.
30 Rpt, OB WEST to OKW, 27 Oct 44, OB WEST KTB, Befehle und Meldungen.
31 OB WEST KTB, 28 Oct 44.
32 Rpt, OB WEST to A Gp B, 25 Oct 44, OB WEST KTB, Befehle und Meldungen.
33 Annex 2 to XIII Corps G-2 Per Rpt, 16 Nov 44; OB WEST KTB, 28 Oct 44.
34 Order, OB WEST to A Gp B, 1115, 29 Oct 44, OB WEST KTB.
35 Entry of 29 Oct 44, OB WEST KTB.
36 Daily Sitrep, OB WEST to OKW, 30 Oct 44, OB WEST KTB.
37 Ltr, Bradley to Eisenhower, 2 Nov 44, copy in personal papers loaned by General Silvester; Ltr, Silvester to OCMH, 1 May 56; 7th Armd Div AAR, Oct-Nov 44. After the war an Army court of inquiry upheld General Bradley’s action.
38 See below, Ch. XVI.
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