Armageddon - Max Hastings [5]
THE WESTERN ALLIES
General Dwight Eisenhower, as Supreme Commander, directed Anglo-American operations in north-west Europe from SHAEF—Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force—located at Granville in Brittany in September 1944; later moved to Versailles and thence to Rheims. His Chief of Staff was U.S. General Walter Bedell-Smith. His deputy was the British Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder. The British General Sir Bernard Montgomery exercised operational control of the Allied armies for D-Day and the Normandy campaign, but surrendered this to Eisenhower on 1 September 1944, with the consolation from Churchill of promotion to field-marshal.
Under SHAEF’s control were the following ground forces:
The U.S. 12th Army Group, led by General Omar Bradley. Under his command were the U.S. First Army (General Courtney Hodges); the U.S. Third Army (General George Patton); and U.S. Ninth Army (General William Simpson). The U.S. Fifteenth Army (General Leonard Gerow) was activated in February 1945. Command of American corps sometimes shifted within the armies. At various periods of the campaign, the following U.S. corps served in one or other of Bradley’s armies: III (Major-General John Millikin, then Major-General James van Fleet from 16 March 1945); V (Major-General Leonard Gerow, then Major-General Clarence Huebner from 16 January 1945); VII (Lieutenant-General J. Lawton Collins); VIII (Major-General Troy Middleton); XII (Major-General Manton Eddy, then Major-General Stafford Le R. Irwin from 20 April 1945); XIII (Major-General Alvan Gillem); XVI (Major-General John Anderson); XVIII Airborne (Lieutenant-General Matthew Ridgway); XIX (Major-General Charles Corlett, then Major-General Raymond McLain from 17 October 1944); XX (Major-General Walton Walker); XXII (Major-General Ernest Harmon); XXIII (Major-General James Van Fleet, then Major-General Hugh Gaffey from 17 March 1945).
The U.S. 6th Army Group in southern France and later southern Germany was commanded by General Jacob Devers. It comprised the U.S. Seventh Army (General Alexander Patch) and First French Army (General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny). For most of the north-west Europe campaign, 6th Army Group—much smaller than 12th—contained five corps: U.S. VI (Major-General Lucian Truscott, then Major-General Edward Brooks from 25 October 1944); XV (Major-General Wade Haislip); XXI (Major-General Frank Milburn), together with the French I (Lieutenant-General Emile Bethouart) and II (Lieutenant-General Goislard de Montsabert).
American corps normally contained three divisions. Each infantry division consisted of three fighting regiments plus support troops. A U.S. infantry regiment of 3,000 men was the equivalent of a British brigade. An American armoured division was normally divided for operational purposes into two “combat commands”—heavy brigades. Among all the combatants, field artillery was integrated into divisions, while heavier guns came under the orders of corps or armies.
The Anglo-Canadian 21st Army Group was led by Field-Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery, whose chief of staff was Major-General Frederick de Guingand. Under its command was the British Second Army, commanded by General Sir Miles Dempsey. For most of the campaign, Second Army possessed four corps—I, VIII, XII and XXX, led respectively by Lieutenant-General John Crocker, Lieutenant-General Sir Richard O’Connor, Lieutenant-General Neil Ritchie and Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks.
First Canadian Army was commanded by Lieutenant-General Harry Crerar, and comprised I Canadian Corps (Lieutenant-General Charles Foulkes) and II Canadian Corps (Lieutenant-General Guy Simonds). A Polish armoured division served under Canadian command.
A British or Canadian corps normally comprised two or three divisions, plus specialist troops—engineers, support and logistics personnel. Montgomery’s two army commanders also possessed six independent armoured brigades, which were deployed according to operational requirements.