Chapter XXIV
The Mortain CounterattackFootnotes
1. MS # B-807 (Kuntzen); AGp B KTB, 3 Aug.
2. Telecon, Gersdorff and Kuntzen, 1115, 6 Aug, LXXXI Corps KTB; Telecons, Gersdorff and Kluge, 1025 and 1045, 6 Aug, AGp B KTB; MS # B-179 (Hausser); MS # B-725 (Gersdorff). The two latter documents and Hodgson, R-58, are basic sources for this chapter.
3. Telecons, 1445 and 1500, 6 Aug, OB WEST KTB; Telecon, Kluge and Jodl, 1210, 3 Aug, AGp B KTB; MS # B-723 (Gersdorff).
4. Telecon, 1510, 6 Aug, OB WEST KTB; Telecon, 1516, 6 Aug, AGp B KTB.
5. Telecon, Jodl and Blumentritt, 1525, 6 Aug, OB WEST KTB.
6. Telecons, Kluge and Blumentritt, 1600, 6 Aug, Kluge and Buttlar-Brandenfels, 1650, 6 Aug, and Zimmerman and Templehoff, 1905, 6 Aug, AGp B KTB; Telecon Jodl and Zimmerman, 1900, 6 Aug, OB WEST KTB.
7. Der Westen (Schramm), p. 83.
8. Quoted in Msg, AGp B to Fifth Pz A, 7 Aug, Fifth Pz A KTB, Anlage 275; OB WEST KTB, 7 Aug, and Anlage 1176.
9. Choltitz, Soldat unter Soldaten, pp. 222-23.
11. Telecon, Gersdorff and Lt Col Guenther von Kluge, 2100, 6 Aug, Seventh Army Tel Msgs.
12. Telecons, Wisch and Gersdorff, 1630, 6 Aug, and Funck and Hausser, 2200, 6 Aug, Seventh Army Tel Msgs; MS # B-017 (Voigtsberger); MS # A-918 (Gersdorff).
13. Telecon, Gersdorff and Speidel, 1515, 7 Aug, and Gersdorff Telecon, 1200, 7 Aug, AGp B KTB; MS # P-159 (Sueckler); see Jules and Gilles Buisson, Mortain et sa Bataille, pp. 74ff.
14. Telecons, Ziegelmann and Lt Col Guenther von Kluge, 0430, 7 Aug, Gersdorff Telecon, 0915, 7 Aug, and Gersdorff and Speidel, 1515, 7 Aug, AGp B KTB; MS # A-904 (Luettwitz); MS # A-918 (Gersdorff)
15. Telecons, Funck and Hausser, 2200, 6 Aug, Gersdorff and Reinhard, 1800, 7 Aug, Gersdorff and Hausser, 1540, 7 Aug, Gersdorff and Speidel, 1940, 7 Aug, Seventh Army Tel Msgs; Gersdorff and Speidel, 1515, 7 Aug, Kluge and Hausser, 2150, 7 Aug, AGp B KTB; MS # B-017 (Voigtsberger); ETHINT 17 (interview with Schwerin); MS # C-017 (Speidel); MS # B-721 (Speidel).
16. Telecon, Blumentritt and Gersdorff, 1940, 7 Aug, Seventh Army Tel Msgs; MS # P-169 (Stueckler); see Pogue, Supreme Command, p. 208, n. 43.
17. Quoted in Msg, AGp B to Fifth Pz A, 7 Aug, Fifth Pz A KTB, Anlage 275; Der Westen (Schramm), p. 83; OB WEST KTB, 7 Aug, and Anlage 1176; see also MS # A-918 (Gersdorff).
18. See, for example, Telecon, Kluge and Kuntzen, 0730, 7 Aug, LXXXI KTB.
19. Telecon, Kluge and Eberbach, 2140, 7 Aug, Fifth Panzer Army KTB; AGp B Forward CP Tel Log (entry 2000, 7 Aug), AGp B KTB.
20. Seventh Army Tel Jnl, entry 2200, 7 Aug; see OB WEST KTB, 7 Aug, and Anlage 1184.
21. Collins' Talk at the Armored School, 19 Jan 48. The last German in Mortain trying to escape was killed by a French policeman armed with a nineteenth century rifle and one bullet. Jules and Gilles Buisson, "Les Combats de Mortain," in Herval, Bataille de Normandie, I. 229.
22. VII Corps Notes for CofS, 6 Aug, Opns Memo 59, 7 Aug (confirming oral orders, 6 Aug), and G-2 Summary, 1800, 6 Aug.
23. VII Corps FO 7, 1 Aug, and Incl 3.
24. 30th Div G-3 Per Rpt 54, 0200, 7 Aug; see Hewitt, Story 0/ 30th Division, pp. 56-57; Sylvan Diary, 6 Aug.
25. 30th Div FO 2, 0030, 7 Aug, and Intel Summary, 0400, 7 Aug.
26. Telecon, Collins with Huebner and Hobbs, 0038, 7 Aug; see VII Corps AAR, Aug; Hewitt, Story of 30th Division, p. 54.
27. 1st Div AAR, Aug, and G-3 Per Rpts 63 and 64, 7 and 8 Aug; 4th Cav Recon Sq S-3 Rpt 1, 2400, 7 Aug; 3d Armd Div G-3 Per Rpt 44, 7 Aug. 2d Lt. Joseph Gorniak, Jr., of the 1st Medical Battalion was awarded the DSC for his heroic leadership of medical personnel during a chance encounter with a German patrol.
28. 39th Inf and 9th Div AAR's, Aug; Hewitt, Story of 30th Division, p. 57.
29. CI 96 (30th Div, 6-12 Aug). Sergeant Sterling received the DSC, as did Pfc. Clifford W. Buzzard and Pvt. Frank D. Joseph, Jr., who destroyed two enemy tanks with a bazooka and two rounds of ammunition.
30. 30th Div Msgs, VII Corps G-3 Jnl and File; Telecons, 0400, 0520, and 0700, 7 Aug, FUSA G-2 Jnl and File; Sylvan Diary, 6 Aug.
33. Telecon, Collins and Hobbs, 0755, 7 Aug, 30th Div G-3 Jnl and File.
34. Msg, Collins to Hobbs, 0042, 7 Aug, 30th Div G-3 Jnl and File; FUSA Sitrep 125, 7 Aug.
35. Telecons, Collins and Hobbs, 1720, 7 Aug, Collins and Brooks, 2125, 7 Aug, 30th Div G-3 Jnl and File.
36. 35th Div AAR, Aug, and FO 13, 2000, 7 Aug (issued verbally 1845, 7 Aug); Notes for General Hobbs, 1249, 7 Aug, and Telecon, Collins and Hobbs, 1550, 7 Aug, 30th Div G-3 Jnl and File.
37. The 35th Division remained officially under XX Corps control until midnight, 8 August, but tactically its action was an integral part of the VII Corps operation.
38. Telecon, Hobbs, Stephens, and Col Robert G. McKee, 1805, 9 Aug; Hewitt, Story of 30th Division, pp. 54-55; Ruppenthal Notes, ML-2185.
39. Telecons and Msgs, 30th Div G-3 Jnl and File, 7 Aug, in particular Hobbs and Lewis, 0900, Collins, and Hobbs, 1140, 1150, 1550, 1600; 105th Engr C Bn S-3 Rpt, 7 Aug; VII Corps Msg (signed Lt Col Bergin V. Dickey), 7 Aug, VII Corps G-3 Jnl and File.
40. FUSA G-2 Per Rpt 59, 8 Aug; Collins to Huebner, 1745, 7 Aug, VII Corps G-3 Jnl and File.
41. 823d TD Bn Unit Rpt, 7 Aug; 117th Inf Unit Rpt, 7 Aug. Lt. Col. Robert E. Frankland, commander of a battalion that destroyed more than fifteen German tanks, was awarded the DSC. A soldier of that battalion, Pvt. Peter Preslipsky, also received the DSC for destroying two tanks by bazooka fire.
42. 39th Inf, 9th Div, and 4th Div AAR's, Aug.
43. Telecon, Hobbs, and Lewis, 1715, 7 Aug, 30th Div G-3 Jnl and File; FUSA Sitrep 127, 8 Aug; 39th Inf, 30th Div, VII Corps AAR's, Aug; Leigh-Mallory, "Despatch," Fourth Supplement to the London Gazette of December 31, 1946, p. 66.