Chapter XX
"Take Brest"

Footnotes

1. The sources for this chapter are: The invaluable msgs in the VIII Corps G-3 Jnl and File (all msgs cited are from this source unless otherwise noted). [Burk], Combat Record of the Sixth Armored Division, pp. 6ff. Robert W. Grow, "An Epic of Brittany," Military Review, XXVI, No. 11 (February, 1947), pp. 3-9. Author's Intervs with former 6th Armd Div personnel: Gen Grow 18, 19, 31 Dec 52, 3 Jan 53; Mr. Michael J. Galvin (G-3), 6 Jan 53; Col Glen C. McBride (CofS), 19 Feb 53; Col Donald G. Williams (Engr), 16 Jan 53; Lt Col Thomas A. Bruce (comdr of 128th FA Bn), 7 Jan 53. Ltrs, Gen Grow to Author, 26 and 27 Apr 54; Lt Col William J. Given (Sig Officer) to Gen Grow, 12 Jan 53; Mr. Ernest W. Mitchell (G-2) to Gen Grow, 5 Mar 53. Memo, Gen Grow to Author, n.d. Comments by Lt Col Eugene J. White, n.d. All in OCMH Files. See also, [Maj. Gen. Robert W. Grow], Brest to Bastogne, the Story of the 6th Armored Division (pamphlet. Stars and Stripes, Information and Education Division, Special and Information Services, ETOUSA, Paris, c. 1945); [Lt. Robert J. Burns, Jr., and Lt. John S. Dahl], The 68th Tank Battalion in Combat (Minden, Nebraska: Warp Publishing Co., 1945); [Lt. Elmer J. Gruber], A History of the 212th Armored Field Artillery Battalion in the E.T.O. (n.p., n.d.); [Maj. Samuel R. Ross, Editor-in-Chief], Battle Book: a Combat History of Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, Division Artillery, 6th Armored Division (Apolda, Germany: Rob. Birkner, 1945); Overseas Pictorial History of Headquarters Battery, 231st Armored Field Artillery Battalion (Germany, 1945).

2. VIII Corps Opns Instrs (confirming fragmentary verbal orders), 31 Jul; 6th Armd Div G-3 Jnl, entry 0330, 1 Aug.

3. VIII Corps Opns Instrs (fragmentary verbal orders), 31 Jul, Msg, 1 Aug, and FO 9, 1600, 1 Aug.

4. Maj. Homer H. Hammond, The Operations of the 6th Armored Division in the Brittany Peninsula, Thesis, Officers' Advanced Course (The Infantry School, Ft. Benning, Ga., 1946-47) (hereafter cited as Hammond, 6th Armored Division); see also [Committee 9], Super Sixth in Exploitation (6th Armored Division, Normandy to Brest), Operation COBRA, Research Report, Officers' Advanced Course (The Armored School, Ft. Knox, Ky., May 1949) (hereafter cited as [Committee 9], Super Sixth), an excellent source that includes good material on logistics, intelligence, and administration.

5. 6th Armd Div G-2 Per Rpt 4, 31 Jul, and Jnl, entry 1125, 1 Aug.

6. Morton was awarded the DSC.

7. Hanson to Grow, 1832, 1 Aug, 6th Armd Div G-3 Jnl; T. Sgt. Charles D. Byrd, The 15th Tank Battalion, a Record of Action (Amorbach, Germany: Miltenberg, Gottlob Volkhardtsche Druckerei, 1945), (hereafter cited as Byrd; 15th Tank Battalion) pp. 24-28.

8. 6th Armd Div G-3 Jnl, entry 0930, 2 Aug.

9. 6th Armd Div G-3 Jnl, entry 2300, 2 Aug, and G-2 Per Rpts 5 and 6, 1 and 2 Aug; Msgs, Middleton to Grow, 1520, 1620, and 1645, 2 Aug; VIII Corps Sitrep 95, 2 Aug, and FO 10, 2 Aug; 79th Div G-3 Per Rpt 35, 2 Aug; Msg, Middleton to Wyche, 2 Aug.

10. 6th Armd Div FO 5, 1 Aug. The 128th Field Artillery Battalion, organic to the 6th Armored Division, officially noted in the battalion journal at 0930, 3 August: "objective announced to be Brest."

11. Msg, Evans to Grow, 1345, 3 Aug; 6th Armd Div G-3 Jnl, entry 1615, 3 Aug.

12. Memo, Middleton for Grow, recorded in the 6th Armd Div G-3 Journal as having arrived "No time 3 Aug." The actual message is missing from the file. It has been reconstructed through interviews with General Grow and Colonel McBride.

13. Msg, Grow to Middleton, 3 Aug, VIII Corps G-3 Jnl File (4 Aug); Msg, Grow to McBride, 1700, 3 Aug, 6th Armd Div G-3 Jnl.

14. Msg, Grow to Middleton, 1910, 3 Aug.

15. 6th Armd Div G-3 Per Rpt 7 [4 Aug]; see also Msg, Grow to Middleton, 0330, 4 Aug [Sitrep 10].

16. On the Dinan attack details, see Ltr, no heading, 0730, 4 Aug; Grow to CO, Combat Team, 83d Div, 0525, 4 Aug, and entry 1007, 4 Aug. All in 6th Armd Div G-3 Jnl and File.

17. VIII Corps Sitrep 97, 2 Aug; Msg, Galvin to Evans, 1630, 2 Aug; TUSA Sitrep 5, 2 Aug, and Msg, 1845, 2 Aug; Msg, Middleton to Grow, 1110, 3 Aug; Memo, Middleton for Grow, 3 Aug, 6th Armd Div G-3 Jnl File.

18. VIII Corps Arty Msg, 1800, 3 Aug; Msgs, Middleton (signed Evans) to Grow, 1800, and Middleton to Grow, 2150, 3 Aug.

19. Msg, Maddox to Evans, 0145, 4 Aug; Msg, Grow to Middleton, 3 Aug, received at VIII Corps CP, 0700, 4 Aug.

20. Msg, Middleton to Grow, 0915, 4 Aug; Msg, Grow to Middleton, 1910, 3 Aug; Msg, 6th Cav Gp to Cav Detachment with 6th Armd Div, 1040, 4 Aug; Msg, Middleton to Macon, 1348, 4 Aug.

21. See, for example, Msg, Middleton to Grow, 1715, 4 Aug.

22. Msg, Grow to Middleton, received by VIII Corps, 2200, 4 Aug; Msg, Grow to Middleton, 2110, 4 Aug, 6th Armd Div G-3 Jnl File, received by VIII Corps, 1205, 5 Aug; Msg, Grow to Middleton, 5 Aug.

23. Msg, Grow to Middleton, 0535, 6 Aug.

24. Msg, XIX TAC to 6th Armd Div, intercepted by VIII Corps, 6 Aug; TUSA Info Serv Msg, Lt Colin Satterfield to VIII Corps, 1330, 6 Aug.

25. TUSA Info Serv with 6th Armd Div Msg, 1120, 6 Aug; TUSA Info Serv Msg, Satterfield to VIII Corps, 1330, 6 Aug.

26. Msg, Middleton to Grow, 1720, 6 Aug.

27. VIII Corps G-2 Per Rpt 49, 3 Aug; see also G-2 Per Rpt 51, 5 Aug.

28. Memo (by radio), Middleton for Grow, 6 Aug.

29. Msgs, Evans to Grow, 0915 and 1100, 4 Aug, 6th Armd Div G-3 Jnl (Delayed Msgs due to radio silence received 4 Aug); TUSA Info Serv Detachment to 6th Armd Div, 1145, 4 Aug.

30. Radio signed Galvin, 1125, 4 Aug.

31. Msg, Grow to Middleton, 1230, 4 Aug.

32. An aide who accompanied Patton later informed Grow that Patton had had to discard several maps during his trip to the division command post. Each time he ran off one map sheet onto another was an occasion for jubilant profanity.

33. See Byrd, 15th Tank Battalion, pp. 29-31. 2d Lt. James I. Durden of the 15th Tank Battalion, who was killed when he went forward on foot to clear a mine field under enemy fire and lead drivers along safe paths, was posthumously awarded the DSC.

34. Msg, Weyland to Grow, 1210, 6 Aug; Msg, Grow to Weyland, 1250, 6 Aug; Memo (by radio), Middleton for Grow, 6 Aug; Msg, Patton to Grow (via plane), 1820, 6 Aug.

35. 6th Armd Div G-2 Per Rpt 9, 6 Aug.

36. 6th Armd Div G-2 Per Rpt 10, 7 Aug.

37. Memo, Evans for Maddox, 7 Aug.

38. TUSA Info Serv Patrol Msg, received at VIII Corps CP 1156, 8 Aug; TUSA Memo to VIII Corps, 8 Aug; VIII Corps Memo to 8th Div, 8 Aug; 6th Armd Div G-3 Jnl, entry 0410, 8 Aug.

39. TUSA Info Serv Msg, 1350, 8 Aug.

40. 6th Armd Div Msg, sent 2139, 6 Aug, received at VIII Corps CP, 0410, 7 Aug; Ltr, Given to Grow.

41. Ltr, Mitchell to Grow, 5 Mar 53; Abendmeldung, 8 Aug, OB WEST KTB, Anlage 1217; the ultimatum is reproduced in Grow, "An Epic of Brittany," Military Review, XXVI, No. 11, p. 3.

42. Msg, Grow to Middleton, 1500, 8 Aug, 6th Armd Div G-3 Jnl; Msg, Middleton to Grow, 0140, 9 Aug.

43. 6th Armd Div G-2 Per Rpt 11. 8 Aug.

44. 6th Armd Div G-2 Per Rpt 12, 0800, 9 Aug; AGp B Sitrep, 1715, 7 Aug, AGp BIa Letzte Meldung, 8.v.-10.viii.44.

45. Msg, Grow to Middleton, 1800, 9 Aug, 6th Armd Div G-3 Jnl; Msg, Grow to Middleton, 1910, 9 Aug.

46. See Sgt. Joseph D. Buckley, A History of the 50th Armored Infantry Battalion (Frankfurt: Baier and Wurm, c. 1945.), pp. 24-27.

47. Msg, Grow to Middleton, 1330, 11 Aug, received at VIII Corps CP, 1755, 11 Aug.

48. Msg, Middleton to Grow, 2135, 11 Aug; see also, Msg, Galvin to McBride, 1400, 11 Aug, 6th Armd Div G-3 Jnl; Memo, Col. Evans to Col. Thomas J. Cross, 11 Aug.

49. Msg, Middleton to Grow, 1645, 12 Aug, received at 6th Armd Div CP, 2350, 12 Aug; Msg, Read to Grow, 2130, 13 Aug; Msg, Grow to Middleton, 2220, 14 Aug. All in 6th Armd Div G-3 Jnl.

50. 6th Armd Div G-2 Per Rpt 15, 12 Aug.

51. Grow, "An Epic of Brittany," Military Review, XXVI, No. 11, pp. 3-9; [Committee 9], Super Sixth, p. 108.

52. MS # B-731 (Fahrmbacher).

53. See Ltr, Mitchell to Grow, for American belief that Ramcke had turned down the ultimatum.

54. H. B. Ramcke, Fallschirmjaeger, Damals und Danach (Frankfurt: Lorch-Verlag, c. 1951), pp. 30-46.

55. See [Committee 9], Super Sixth, p. 151.

56. VIII Corps G-2 Weekly Per Rpt 8, 12 Aug.

57. App. A to PS SHAEF (44) 29 (First Draft), 16 Jul, SHAEF G-3 File 24533/Opns, Future Opns.

58. Hammond, 6th Armored Division.

59. See Combat History of the 128th Armored Ordnance Maintenance Battalion (Wiesbaden, Germany: Wiesbaedner Kurier-Wiesbaedner Verlag, 1945) pp. 21-26.



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