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Endnotes
1 See FUSA G-3 Tac Jnl and file from about 16 Nov through mid-Dec.
2 Almost all corps and division journals for this period contain numerous references to the dams. Note in particular FUSA G-3 Tac file, 25-26 Nov 44.
3 On 18 December, when a six-man patrol crossed the Roer on a partially demolished bridge at Dueren, the 83d Division asked approval to reinforce the patrol, presumably to establish a bridgehead. Permission was refused. 83d Div G-2-G-3 Jnl, 18 Dec 44, and AAR.
4 The 12th Army Group engineer hints at this possibility in Summary of the Possibilities of the Military Use of the Roer River Reservoir System, 2 Nov 44, 12th A Gp Misc Log.
5 NUSA Opns, IV, Pt. II, 206.
6 Ibid.
7 See Cole, The Lorraine Campaign, pp. 295-96.
8 Msg, 1543, 18 Nov 44, FUSA G-3 Tac file, Nov 44; Sylvan Diary entry of 22 Nov 44.
9 Tel Convs, G-3 Air 12th A Gp, with G-3 Air NUSA, 22 and 23 Nov 44, NUSA G-3 Jnl file, 19-25 Nov 44.
10 Sylvan Diary, entry of 30 Nov 44; Msg from CG, FUSA, 30 Nov 44, FUSA G-3 Jnl file, Nov 44.
11 Msg, CG NUSA, to CG FUSA, 30 Nov 44, FUSA G-3 Jnl file, Nov 44; Sylvan Diary, entries of 1 and 2 Dec 44.
12 Sylvan Diary, entries of 3-5 Dec 44; Ltr, Bradley to Montgomery, 3 Dec 44, 12th A Gp Military Objectives, 371.3, 111; NUSA Opns, pp. 207-08.
13 NUSA Opns, pp. 207-08; Eisenhower to CCS, S-69334, 3 Dec 44, SHAEF SGS 381, II.
14 Sylvan Diary, entry of 9 Dec 44. A detailed "first phase interpretation" of results of the 8 December strike may be found in VII Corps G-2 Per Rpt, 8 Dec 44, VII Corps G-2 file, Dec 44.
15 NUSA Opns, pp. 207-08; Sylvan Diary, entries of 11, 13, and 14 Dec 44.
16 V Corps FO 33, 7 Dec 44, V Corps G-3 Jnl file, 8 Dec 44.
17 Unless otherwise noted, material at corps level is from V Corps Operations in the ETO, pp. 329-41.
18 In FO 33 General Gerow directed that the 2d Division first clear the sector opposite the Hoefen-Alzen ridge, then push northeast through Wahlerscheid along the Dreiborn ridge. The plan was changed to that detailed above in a letter of instructions on 8 December (V Corps Operations in the ETO, p. 332), a logical step since seizure of Wahlerscheid would, in effect, outflank the Germans opposite the Hoefen-Alzen ridge.
19 MSS #A-935, A-936, A-937 (Hitzfeld).
20 The movements of this and other divisions may be traced in Luttichau, Progressive Build-up and Operations.
21 ETHINT-57 (Gersdorff).
22 Ibid.
23 78th Div FO 1, 11 Dec 44, G-3 Jnl file, 11 Dec 44. The story of this division is based upon official unit records and an accurate unit history, titled, after the division’s nickname, Lightning (Washington: Infantry Journal Press, 1947).
24 78th Div AAR, Dec 44.
25 Annex 6, 8 Dec 44, to V Corps FO 33, and Changes to Annex 6, 11 Dec 44, both in V Corps Operations in the ETO, pp. 332-33.
26 Lightning, p. 51.
27 Ibid., p. 55.
28 2d Div FO 12, 10 Dec, in 2d Div G-3 Jnl file, Bk 2, Incl 3, Dec 44. The 2d Division records are in general excellent, including a valuable G-3 message file. A unit history entitled Combat History of the Second Infantry Division in World War II (Baton Rouge: Army and Navy Publishing Company, 1946) is not always accurate. One of the Army’s more famous regular units, the 2d Division had come ashore on D plus 1 in Normandy and fought with distinction in the push to St. Lô, then at Brest. The division’s nickname of Indianhead stemmed from its shoulder patch.
29 See 2d Div Arty AAR, Dec 44.
30 9th Inf AAR, Dec 44.
31 2d Div G-3 Msg file, 13 Dec 44.
32 395th Inf AAR, Dec 44. See also other official 99th Division records and a unit history, Maj. Gen. Walter E. Lauer, Battle Babies (Baton Rouge: Military Press of Louisiana, Inc., 1951). From its shoulder patch, the 99th was known as the Checkerboard Division.
33 2d Div G-3 MS9 file, 14 Dec 44.
34 Ibid., 15 Dec 44, and 9th Inf AAR.
35 This material from 2d Div G-2 Per Rpts, Dec 44, and Luttichau, Progressive Build-up and Operations.
36 2d Div G-3 Msg file, 16 Dec 44.
37 2d Div G-3 MS9 file, 16 Dec 44.
38 Ibid., and 99th Div AAR, Dec 44.
39 Casualty figures from V Corps AAR, Dec 44, are for the period 8-15 Dec.
40 VIII Corps AAR, Oct-Dec 44. This section is based primarily upon the corps and division AARs for the period.
41 An infantry battalion from each division had been left in France to guard communications lines.
42 See H. M. Cole, The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge, a volume in preparation for the series UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II.
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