Table Of ContentWAR BETWEEN
THE
GENERALS
THE
DAVID IRVING
F
FOCAL POINT
O
Copyright ' NVUN by David Irving
Electronic version copyright ' OMMP by Parforce UK Ltd.
Excerpts from (cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:7)(cid:7)(cid:8)(cid:9)(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:10)(cid:3)(cid:11)(cid:12)(cid:4)NVQM(cid:13)QR, by Martin Blumenson,
are reprinted by kind permission of Houghton Mifflin Company.
Copyright ' NVTQ by Martin Blumenson
All rights reserved
Æ
A A
BOUT THE UTHOR
David Irving is the son of a Royal Navy commander. Imperfectly educated
at London(cid:146)s Imperial College of Science & Technology and at University
College, he subsequently spent a year in Germany working in a steel mill
and perfecting his fluency in the language. In NVSP he published (cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:14)(cid:3)(cid:15)
(cid:12)(cid:7)(cid:11)(cid:16)(cid:17)(cid:7)(cid:18)(cid:8)(cid:9)(cid:4)(cid:8)(cid:19)(cid:4)(cid:14)(cid:11)(cid:3)(cid:12)(cid:20)(cid:3)(cid:9). This became a bestseller in many countries. Among his
thirty books, the best-known include (cid:21)(cid:18)(cid:7)(cid:22)(cid:3)(cid:11)(cid:23)(cid:12)(cid:4)(cid:24)(cid:6)(cid:11); (cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:1)(cid:11)(cid:6)(cid:18)(cid:22)(cid:4)(cid:8)(cid:19)(cid:4)(cid:7)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:25)(cid:8)(cid:26)(cid:27)(cid:4)(cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3)
(cid:28)(cid:18)(cid:19)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:8)(cid:19)(cid:4)(cid:25)(cid:18)(cid:3)(cid:22)(cid:20)(cid:4)(cid:29)(cid:6)(cid:11)(cid:12)(cid:2)(cid:6)(cid:22)(cid:4)(cid:30)(cid:8)(cid:31)(cid:31)(cid:3)(cid:22); (cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:30)(cid:18)(cid:12)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:6)(cid:9)(cid:20)(cid:4)(cid:25)(cid:6)(cid:22)(cid:22)(cid:4)(cid:8)(cid:19)(cid:4)(cid:7)(cid:2)(cid:3)
(cid:28)(cid:16)(cid:19)(cid:7) (cid:6)(cid:19)(cid:19)(cid:3); !(cid:17)(cid:17)(cid:18)(cid:20)(cid:3)(cid:9)(cid:7)(cid:27)(cid:4)(cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:14)(cid:3)(cid:6)(cid:7)(cid:2)(cid:4)(cid:8)(cid:19)(cid:4)"(cid:3)(cid:9)(cid:3)(cid:11)(cid:6)(cid:22)(cid:4)#(cid:18)$(cid:8)(cid:11)(cid:12)$(cid:18); and
%(cid:16)(cid:11)(cid:3)(cid:31)&(cid:3)(cid:11)’(cid:27)(cid:4)(cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:28)(cid:6)(cid:12)(cid:7)(cid:4)((cid:6)(cid:7)(cid:7)(cid:22)(cid:3). The second volume of his
)(cid:2)(cid:16)(cid:11)(cid:17)(cid:2)(cid:18)(cid:22)(cid:22)(cid:23)(cid:12)(cid:4)(cid:24)(cid:6)(cid:11)(cid:4)appeared in OMMN; a third volume is in
preparation. Many of his works are available as free
downloads at www.fpp.co.uk/books.
Æ
C
ONTENTS
PROLOGUE: Cover Plan..............................................................N
N Bedfellows................................................................................S
O Uneasy Alliance.......................................................................NP
P Alibi in Washington...............................................................OV
Q Stakes Incalculable..................................................................PS
R Patton Meets His Destiny.......................................................RP
S The Bomber Barons................................................................ST
T Eyes and Ears..........................................................................US
U George, You Talk Too Much................................................VS
V Gathering the Reins...............................................................NNN
NM Ends and Means.....................................................................NOR
NN Joan of Arc.............................................................................NPO
NO Decision..................................................................................NQN
NP Invasion.................................................................................NQU
NQ Lord Mighty in Battle...........................................................NSP
NR Anything May Happen..........................................................NUP
NS Headaches.............................................................................OMP
NT Rain Check.............................................................................ONR
NU Something Spectacular.........................................................OPT
NV Banging Away.......................................................................ORQ
OM Dragooned............................................................................OSQ
ON Loaves and Fishes.................................................................OTQ
OO Crimes and Punishment......................................................OVT
OP Bottlenecks............................................................................PMV
OQ Grit........................................................................................POP
OR Grip.......................................................................................PQR
OS Mad as Hell...........................................................................PSQ
OT Hell to Pay.............................................................................PVN
OU The Main Prize.....................................................................QMU
OV Parting of the Ways..............................................................QNS
!(cid:17)$(cid:9)(cid:8) (cid:22)(cid:3)(cid:20)’(cid:3)(cid:31)(cid:3)(cid:9)(cid:7)(cid:12).................................................................QOU
!(cid:11)(cid:17)(cid:2)(cid:18)*(cid:6)(cid:22)(cid:4)#(cid:8)(cid:16)(cid:11)(cid:17)(cid:3)(cid:12).....................................................................QPN
+(cid:9)(cid:20)(cid:3)(cid:26)......................................................................................QPU
ÆÆ
+(cid:4)(cid:6)(cid:31)(cid:4)(cid:7)(cid:18)(cid:11)(cid:3)(cid:20)(cid:4)(cid:8)(cid:19)(cid:4)(cid:20)(cid:3)(cid:6)(cid:22)(cid:18)(cid:9)’(cid:4) (cid:18)(cid:7)(cid:2)(cid:4)(cid:6)(cid:4)(cid:22)(cid:8)(cid:7)(cid:4)(cid:8)(cid:19)(cid:4)(cid:10)(cid:11)(cid:18)(cid:31)(cid:6)(cid:4)(cid:20)(cid:8)(cid:9)(cid:9)(cid:6)(cid:12),
(-(cid:4)"(cid:8)(cid:20).(cid:4)-(cid:8)(cid:16)(cid:4)(cid:7)(cid:3)(cid:22)(cid:22)(cid:4)(cid:7)(cid:2)(cid:6)(cid:7)(cid:4)&(cid:16)(cid:9)(cid:17)(cid:2)(cid:4)(cid:7)(cid:2)(cid:6)(cid:7)(cid:4)(cid:18)(cid:19)(cid:4)(cid:7)(cid:2)(cid:3)-(cid:4)(cid:17)(cid:6)(cid:9)(cid:23)(cid:7)(cid:4)’(cid:3)(cid:7)
(cid:7)(cid:8)’(cid:3)(cid:7)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:11)(cid:4)(cid:6)(cid:9)(cid:20)(cid:4)(cid:12)(cid:7)(cid:8)(cid:10)(cid:4)/(cid:16)(cid:6)(cid:11)(cid:11)(cid:3)(cid:22)(cid:18)(cid:9)’(cid:4)(cid:22)(cid:18)$(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:17)(cid:2)(cid:18)(cid:22)(cid:20)(cid:11)(cid:3)(cid:9).(cid:4)+(cid:4) (cid:18)(cid:22)(cid:22)
(cid:7)(cid:3)(cid:22)(cid:22)(cid:4)(cid:7)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:11)(cid:18)(cid:31)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:29)(cid:18)(cid:9)(cid:18)(cid:12)(cid:7)(cid:3)(cid:11)(cid:4)(cid:7)(cid:8)(cid:4)’(cid:3)(cid:7)(cid:4)(cid:12)(cid:8)(cid:31)(cid:3)(cid:8)(cid:9)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:3)(cid:22)(cid:12)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:7)(cid:8)
(cid:11)(cid:16)(cid:9)(cid:4)(cid:7)(cid:2)(cid:18)(cid:12)(cid:4)(cid:20)(cid:6)(cid:31)(cid:9)(cid:4) (cid:6)(cid:11),
(cid:151)GENERAL DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
(cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:11)(cid:3)(cid:6)(cid:22)(cid:4)(cid:7)(cid:11)(cid:8)(cid:16)&(cid:22)(cid:3)(cid:4) (cid:18)(cid:7)(cid:2)(cid:4)(cid:7)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)0(cid:6)(cid:9)$(cid:12)(cid:4)(cid:18)(cid:12)(cid:4)(cid:7)(cid:2)(cid:6)(cid:7)(cid:4)(cid:7)(cid:2)(cid:3)-(cid:4)(cid:6)(cid:11)(cid:3)
(cid:17)(cid:8)(cid:31)(cid:10)(cid:22)(cid:3)(cid:7)(cid:3)(cid:22)-(cid:4)(cid:18)’(cid:9)(cid:8)(cid:11)(cid:6)(cid:9)(cid:7)(cid:4)(cid:6)(cid:12)(cid:4)(cid:7)(cid:8)(cid:4)(cid:7)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:11)(cid:16)(cid:22)(cid:3)(cid:12)(cid:4)(cid:8)(cid:19)(cid:4)(cid:7)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)’(cid:6)(cid:31)(cid:3)
(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:6)(cid:11)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:10)(cid:22)(cid:6)-(cid:18)(cid:9)’(cid:4) (cid:18)(cid:7)(cid:2)(cid:4)(cid:7)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)"(cid:3)(cid:11)(cid:31)(cid:6)(cid:9)(cid:12),(cid:4)0(cid:8)(cid:16)(cid:4)(cid:10)(cid:22)(cid:6)-(cid:4)(cid:12)(cid:8)
(cid:31)(cid:16)(cid:17)(cid:2)(cid:4)&(cid:3)(cid:7)(cid:7)(cid:3)(cid:11)(cid:4) (cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:9)(cid:4)-(cid:8)(cid:16)(cid:4)$(cid:9)(cid:8) (cid:4)(cid:7)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:11)(cid:16)(cid:22)(cid:3)(cid:12),
(cid:151)FIELD MARSHAL SIR BERNARD MONTGOMERY
"(cid:8)(cid:20).(cid:4)+(cid:4) (cid:18)(cid:12)(cid:2)(cid:4) (cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:17)(cid:8)(cid:16)(cid:22)(cid:20)(cid:4)(cid:19)(cid:8)(cid:11)’(cid:3)(cid:7)(cid:4)(cid:8)(cid:16)(cid:11)(cid:4)(cid:3)’(cid:8)(cid:12)(cid:4)(cid:19)(cid:8)(cid:11)(cid:4)(cid:6)(cid:4) (cid:2)(cid:18)(cid:22)(cid:3)1
(cid:151)LIEUTENANT GENERAL EVERETT S. HUGHES
ÆÆÆ
،(cid:231)(cid:228)(cid:231)(cid:214)(cid:236)(cid:201)
C P
OVER LAN
May NM, NVQR, two days after the surrender of Nazi Germany. Five generals
sit around an oaken table in the Frankfurt headquarters of one of the most
powerful men in the world, Dwight D. Eisenhower. On his shoulders are
the five stars of his rank as General of the Army. The other four generals
have sixteen more stars between them (cid:150) they are the commanders of the
four American armies that, in one spectacular year, have penetrated the
French coastline at Normandy, have hurled themselves at the Germans at
Avranches, have battled forward through rains and mud and snow to the
German frontier, have recoiled under Hitler(cid:146)s counterattack, and have fi-
nally, just three weeks before, shaken hands with Marshal Georgi Zhukov(cid:146)s
troops coming from the ravaged east.
Five generals (cid:150) Eisenhower, Hodges, Patton, Simpson, Patch. Their
faces bear the congratulatory grins of men who have done a job they are
proud of. But already there are worries clouding the minds of some.
George Patton has relished the war, and he fears the peace that is now to
come. He actually dreams of using the surviving German divisions in his
army sector for a drive against what he now considers the true enemy (cid:150) the
Soviet Union. He is still furious with Eisenhower for restraining him, and
for toadying to his particular bŒtes noires, the British. The others in the
room, while far more temperate, harbour their own grudges, disappoint-
N
ments, resentments. Alliance (cid:150) with the British and especially the French (cid:150)
has often been an agony. So much misunderstanding, some of it willful; so
much outright hatred. So many decisions that, in the minds of the dissent-
ers, occasioned so many hundreds of thousands of needless deaths. Indeed,
the running contest between the Allies on the cruelest issue (cid:150) whose troops
should bear the brunt and thereby perish (cid:150) has caused deep psychic
trauma. These five chiefs and their close colleagues must live their re-
maining lives with knowledge too fierce to forget.
After the meal is cleared away, Eisenhower pulls out a cigarette and
rams it into his wide, expressive mouth. There is something important he
wants to tell these generals (cid:150) because they have shared his troubles, with
him they have seen opportunities slip through American fingers, they have
witnessed his rages and fury at the behaviour of America(cid:146)s Allies. Yet
Eisenhower wants history to remember him for the great Allied partner-
ship that he has cemented, here on Europe(cid:146)s blood-sodden soil. It would
be a tragedy, he thinks, if the shameful realities should leak out. He has
pledged himself to prevent it.
White-jacketed flunkies rattle away the last plates and cutlery and
scrape crumbs from the wine-splotched tablecloth. Brandy and liqueurs,
captured from the Wehrmacht(cid:146)s finest stocks, are served. Eisenhower
clears his throat. What he is going to say now, he warns the men, is very
confidential. Some of them, he says, may well be called before a congres-
sional committee. He talks on the urgent need for continued solidarity,
and says, without explanation: (cid:147)Let(cid:146)s agree on the right form of organisa-
tion.(cid:148)
Patton(cid:146)s clear blue eyes are expressionless. He does not speak, but he
has realised suddenly what Eisenhower is saying: he is talking solidarity for
one reason only (cid:150) the big cover-up is beginning. There is to be no criticism
of the strategic blunders that Eisenhower has unquestionably, in Patton(cid:146)s
view, committed during the campaign. There is to be no searching analysis
as to whether these have been Eisenhower(cid:146)s own fault, or whether too
much cooperation with the British was to blame. Patton is not surprised.
He has, he believes, personally suffered, for three long years, from Eisen-
hower(cid:146)s craven anglophilia. . . .
Eisenhower had indeed had an almost obsessive desire to be liked and
admired by the British. During the Mediterranean campaigns, he had
O
searched the British newspapers in vain for references to his initiative and
boldness but had found those words being applied only to generals Alex-
ander and Montgomery; the British begrudged him any recognition except
as a manager who had (cid:147)welded an Allied team.(cid:148) He thought of all the op-
erations he had ordered which had seemed so daring at the time, like the
invasions of Salerno and Pantelleria, and he sighed. (cid:147)It wearies me to be
thought of as timid,(cid:148) he wrote on February T, NVQQ, (cid:147)when I(cid:146)ve had to do
things that were so risky as to be almost crazy.(cid:148) He bit his pencil, wrote,
(cid:147)Oh hum,(cid:148) and laid it aside. And British criticism continued.
Anglo-American tension, to be sure, was not the only variety to fray
the sinews of the Grand Alliance. Just before the day of victory in Europe,
Eisenhower warned General Charles de Gaulle: (cid:147)I am deeply concerned . . .
that the American public will become aware of what has actually tran-
spired as I know this would awaken a storm of resentment which would be
most unfortunate in its results.(cid:148) But it was British hostility that concerned
him most.
There had in fact been one Briton who above all others had tried his
patience sorely, a fact that Eisenhower strove to disguise. After the end of
the war he tried to convince everyone that, in spite of occasional differ-
ences of conviction, there existed between Field Marshal Sir Bernard
Montgomery and himself only mutual respect and friendly regard. From
the official publication (cid:1)(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:10)(cid:3)(cid:11)(cid:12)(cid:4)(cid:8)(cid:19)(cid:4)(cid:14) (cid:18)’(cid:2)(cid:7)(cid:4)(cid:14),(cid:4)2(cid:18)(cid:12)(cid:3)(cid:9)(cid:2)(cid:8) (cid:3)(cid:11) he expunged
certain passages highly critical of Montgomery (cid:150) for example, lines from
one letter to General George Marshall criticizing Montgomery(cid:146)s overcau-
tiousness. He wrote to his aide Harry Butcher, ordering him similarly to
censor the diaries he had been keeping for Eisenhower.
The suppression became a life(cid:146)s work. Long after D-day, when Mont-
gomery made outspoken remarks on British television about Eisenhower,
he refused to make any retort. (cid:147)British newsmen staying over here were on
the phone very quickly to get my reply,(cid:148) he wrote to General Sir Hastings
Ismay, (cid:147)but I gave them nothing but silence.(cid:148) He added, (cid:147)Actually, I feel
sorry for the man. He had it within his grasp to be one of the legendary
heroes of his nation; I fear he has hurt himself badly during the past dec-
ade.(cid:148) When Eisenhower(cid:146)s own writings were appearing and were carried in
English newspapers, there was another set-to. Eisenhower himself thought
they were lenient to Montgomery, but the British general erupted when he
P
saw the headline on a #(cid:16)(cid:9)(cid:20)(cid:6)-(cid:4)(cid:14)(cid:18)(cid:12)(cid:10)(cid:6)(cid:7)(cid:17)(cid:2) article about the Battle of the Bulge:
HOW MONTGOMERY UPSET AMERICANS. Worse was the announcement at the
end of the article: (cid:147)Next week: British Methods That Always Shocked Me.(cid:148)
Stung to reply, Montgomery wrote: (cid:147)My dear Ike . . . you can hardly won-
der at my dislike of the whole matter in the headlines such as the enclosed
appearing in London papers. I fear you have lost many friends in England.
Yrs. ever, Monty.(cid:148)
Dwight D. Eisenhower and Bernard L. Montgomery.(cid:4)(cid:4)(cid:4)(cid:229)~(cid:237)Æ(cid:231)(cid:229)~(cid:228)=~Œ¯(cid:220)Æ(cid:238)(cid:201)º
Thus the war between the generals continued long after the guns had
fallen still. In NVSR Eisenhower was shocked to learn that the British gov-
ernment had invisibly punished some of those who had collaborated with
the Americans. General Sir Frederick Morgan, one of his closest partners
in planning Operation Overlord, was living in poverty, he was told, with-
out much food or money to buy coal for the fireplace before which he sat
huddled, an exhausted, half-frozen old man. Eisenhower could not believe
the government(cid:146)s lack of charity. (cid:147)Knowing how vindictive our own Pen-
tagon can be about its own officers,(cid:148) an aide remarked to him, (cid:147)I can
Q
