De Trein der Traagheid: 2010

Brereton Diaries:
8 August'44 ( D --plus-63 ):
In 1784 Franklin said: 'Where is the Prince who can afford so to cover his country with troops for its defense, as that ten thousand men descending from the clouds, might not, in many places, do an infinite deal of mischief before a force could be brought together to repel them?'
13 August'44( D --plus-68 ):
Gen.Bradley heartily agrees with our decision not to permit the use of airborne troops in small harassing operations such as requested by Gen.Montgomery.
3 September'44( D --plus-89 ):
I told Gen.Browning that the operation - "Linnet II"-, would be mounted tomorrow or not at all.
5 September'44( D --plus-91 ):
"Linnet II", a drop in the Aachen-Maastricht gap cancelled. Planning proceeded on Operation Market.

From : Extract of 4th Para Sqn War Diary September 1944 ;

In fact, at 2100hrs the same day [Sept.3] he was back at Knossington Grange to hear of another possible operation in the area of Maastricht, Holland, 'Linnet II'. This was now the thirteenth operation that had been planned for 1st Airborne Division to be involved. All thirteen had now been cancelled.
Linnet II would have involved much the same forces as that of Linnet I. It involved elements of the Division being dropped and landed to block the gap between the Dutch town of Maastricht and that of Aachen in Germany to the east. Unbelievably less than three hours later this operation was cancelled! The Americans had already reached the town and liberated it. Such was the speed of the ground offensive.[ In point of fact on Sept.14, Maastricht was the first Dutch city to be liberated by allied forces during World War II.]

Further reading on these Airborne Operations in the European Theater between D-Day and 'Market Garden' : 'From Neptune to Market'-Airborne Operations In World War II European Theater-

'The Lonely Leader- Monty 1944-1945 -' Alistair Horne with David Montgomery

..As the victorious Allies swept across the line of the Seine, Monty ended the section of his diary for the month August: 'The Battle of Normandy is over.....And they were destroyed... Today 26 Aug., is D + 81; we are well ahead of our forecast.'In this he was referring back to the notorious phase-lines presentation of April in St.Paul's School, which had predicted that the line of the Seine would be reached by D + 90. So, in the event, he was ahead of the schedule by a good nine days; the time lost before Caen had been more than made up. The following week he would himself cross the Seine, in triumph.
What was missing, however, was that, in all their anxiety to achieve a secure foothold in Normandy and to defeat the German forces there, the OVERLORD planners had formulated absolutely no forward contingency plan after D-Day + 90. Charles Richardson admitted, 'Euphoria took over, and we started planning for a German surrender [ as in 1918 ]. We said originally, that the Germans would fight to the bitter end, but by the end of August we thought the war could have been over by the end of the year.'In a way there was to be a certain alarming similarity, in reverse, to Hitler's masterly blueprint, Sichelschnitt, which had defeated France so effectively in the spring of 1940. Unsure of the totality of their success, the Germans then had planned nothing beyond the occupation of the Channel ports. There was no immediate follow-up plan to invade a defenseless Britain, so the BEF was allowed to get away, to fight another day - and ultimately to come back to the continent to defeat Hitler. Now, in 1944, as they crossed the Seine in the opposite direction, each army group was virtually deciding its own strategy. 'The situation is not very clear as regards who is in charge,' Monty wrote to VCIGS, Sir Archibald Nye, on 26 August. Meanwhile, standing at the ready to gather the garlands of the greatest success of his career, Monty was about to suffer its most devastating reversal of fortune..p 256-257

..Writing to David on 20 June in his usual breezily uninformative manner, Monty disclosed simply, 'All goes well here except that the weather is bad and it is extremely rough on the beaches... He was in fact referring to the worst storm recorded in nearly forty years, of almost hurricane strength, which struck Normandy out of the blue...By any reckoning, it was a major catastrophe. Fortunately the original British Mulberry, though damaged, remainde intact
What would have happened had it been destroyed - or, worse still, if the terrible storm had suddenly arisen during the critical period following D-Day - hardly bears thinking about. In its aftermath, Group Captain Stagg wrote tactfully to Ike, reminding him that, if on 5 June he had decided to delay OVERLORD until the 19th, it would have run into this devastating storm. The story of the Spanish Armada would have been repeated. Eisenhower scribbled at the bottom of the message, 'Thanks, and thank the gods of war we went when we did!'History has reason to be grateful for the accuracy of Group Captain Stagg and his experts..p 151-153 .

'Overlord' in a Moon Phase-diagram

'Squaring the Circle'

Read : 'Planning the peace: Operation "Eclipse" and the Occupation of Germany.'
and : 'Waging Peace: Operations ECLIPSE I and II- Some Implications for Future Operations' by Kenneth O. McCreedy

'..The decision to go to war involves a calculus that the application of force will set the conditions that will allow the state to achieve its policy aims. The first step going to war must be linked to the last step ordering the resulting peace to ensure the achievement of policy objectives..'

'Squaring the Circle'

Zie: Richard Cassaro

Read : 'The Other Side of the Hill' by Captain Basil Liddell Hart, p428-429

Liberation of Bruxelles : 3 Sept.'44

11 September'44 ( D --plus-97 ):
The stage is set to deal the enemy a knockout.Ten operations are planned.
No.10: Operation "Talisman", in the event of German surrender to seize airfields in the Berlin area to facilitate the establishment of a SHAEF force there and the seizure of the German naval base at Kiel.

Paris, 20 November 1944 ( D - plus - 167) :
SHAEF has designated the following code names :
Operation "Eruption" – airborne invasion of Kiel.
Operation "Eclipse" – airborne invasion of Berlin.
This is a change from the previous name of operation "Talisman".
The present plan is to use two U.S. airborne divisions and a British brigade on the Berlin drop.
These operations were planned for execution in the event of a sudden general collapse of German resistance. Operation "Eclipse" was assigned the following mission: to seize Berlin airfields and establish bases for immediate air force occupation; to occupy Berlin for the purpose of seizing control of the central government; to capture high government officials; to seize government records; and to take over communications. It was expected that ground forces would establish contact with the airborne force in about a week.
Paris, 7 December 1944 ( D - plus - 184 ) :
My planning section briefed me on Operation "Eclipse", the drop on Berlin.
The proper liaison between the Russians, British, and ourselves has not been accomplished on this operation. This will have to be done on a very high level, but it is absolutely necessary. For one thing, we need more airfields in the Berlin area. As matters stand now, only Tempelhof Airdrome is in the U.S. and British zones.

7 August 1944 ( D -plus- 62 )

8 August 1944 ( D -plus- 63 )

14/15 August 1944 ( D plus 69/70 )

1 / 3 September 1944 ( D -plus- 87/89 )

4/5 September 1944 ( D -plus- 90/91 )

Captain Basil Little Hart schreef over dit moment in de oorlog - 4 sept. 1944-, nadat hij in de gelegenheid was geweest om de Duitse generaals hierover te horen in 'The Other side of the Hill'