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.If you were here, I d undo yourdress button by button, then kiss first the nape of yourneck, and then the little hollow in your throat, andthen the gentle dip between your breasts.And that swhere I d put the roses, a perfect decoration for such apretty place.Tomorrow s June the first, and we regoing one step closer.We re moving forward to theembarkation area.Today we were given the passwordsfor the first few days.We ve topped up our fuel tanksand taken on rations and ammunition.June 1.At the embarkation area they wait, and speculate onwhat city  Poland will be.They stroll, drink beer, strum the pi-ano in the mess and sing songs like  We Must Never Say Good-bye and  Moonlight Becomes You and  As Time Goes By. Hehears alarming news: that panzer division has now sniffed for-ward to  Poland itself and been practicing counterattacks.June 2.Rommel is again shooting with the Marquis deChoisy.Bannerman is writing:  This morning we heard that wemove off tomorrow at the crack of dawn to embark.So the game sbeginning.June 3.Rommel is in Paris, buying shoes for Lucie.Banner-man s diary says:  Up early, after waking at 4:30.Dressed by hur-ricane lamp, had just enough time for Communion at five beforewe drove off at six. The day is spent winching the heavy gunsand gear aboard the landing craft. D day is Monday, so we veonly got tomorrow, Sunday, left.June 4.In the morning, as Rommel leaves France for hishome in Herrlingen, Bannerman writes:I have written a letter to you, but I don t know if any-body s coming to collect them.We re riding at anchor,and there s a strong wind and the sea s quite rough.We ve got these monster trailers on board, and the495david irvingdeck is packed with tractors, jeeps, personnel carriers,guns and tanks, and the men have been sleeping onbuckboards or in their vehicles, with three blanketsapiece.I turned in shortly after nine, in the wheel-house, and slept quite well on a stretcher.I believe Dday s going to be tomorrow, so I haven t much timeleft.Pray for courage, though I know I m no hero.On Sergeant Matthews s personnel carrier, inwhich I m supposed to go on land, the entire sectionhas chalked the names of their girls and a cupid s heart.So in order not be left out, I ve added your name to thegallery too.You re in between Lance Corporal Baker sDoris and Sergeant Matthews s Vera.The harbor soverflowing with ships, barrage balloons are up and themen are eating their meals in little groups.I wonderwhat dress you re wearing? It s 1:00 p.m., I supposeyou re just taking Andrew down for Sunday lunch.Your sunburned arms are preparing his food, and he sclamoring for it from his high chair.If I was with younow, I d interrupt you just long enough for a kiss, andsee the laughter in your eyes as you turn around andoffer me your soft lips, before you turn back like a goodmother to the job at hand.How I love to see Andrew shalf-shy surprise when he sees us embrace.We vebeen in the harbor all day.The invasion s been post-poned because of bad weather, the harbor s full ofships.Bannerman goes ashore to stretch his legs.Rommel is doing thesame, in Germany, with Lucie.June 5.Bannerman writes:There s still a strong wind blowing, but soon afterbreakfast we weighed anchor and sailed.The chalk cliffslit up in the sun like white curtains along the shallowgreen coastline.The white fleet of tank landing andsupport craft with their large silver barrage balloons496the trail of the foxand the motorboats throwing up white plumes of spraymake a lovely picture of blue and white and silver.Partof Britain s armada: it looks more like a regatta.The signal s been given:  Open sealed orders at0700 hours. Another order from a motor boat:  Sail-ing time 1230 hours. So tomorrow must be D day.Wesailed at 12:45 p.m.I mustered all the men and toldthem this is it.It wasn t easy to speak, as I had to gripthe railing with one hand, the papers in the other, andprevent the wind from tearing the megaphone out ofmy hands as well.I had to shout to make myself heardabove the wind, the sea and the engines.I told them,with a great feeling for the drama of the moment, thattomorrow is D day and that our first assault waves hitthe beaches at 7:25 a.m.Our objective is the city ofCaen.Normandy and Brittany are to receive our inva-sion forces.That night, Bannerman does not sleep well.June 6:I think we all can t help feeling from time to time wemust be dreaming.My friend James spoke for us allwhen he said,  I keep feeling that my wife s going togive me a wallop on the backside and tell me I ve over-slept and I m half an hour late for breakfast. It s now3:00 a.m., and I ve been up on the bridge.The moon sshining and it s quite bright but a bit overcast.I can seethe columns and rows of little ships and dark balloons,silhouetted fore and aft of us against the gray sea.And so we sail on toward Caen.And you, my angel, aresleeping, I hope, fast asleep in the nursery.Yourthoughts have been such a help to me.I ve drawn a lotof strength from them.I can imagine you listening tothe nine o clock news each day, and thinking lovinglyof me.I hope that Andrew is fast asleep with his goldenhead on his little pillow, and that Richard is lying snugin his tiny cot.497david irvingThe hours pass, as the invasion fleet slowly approaches Nor-mandy.Bannerman can see antiaircraft fire to the right of him Þöthat must be the Cherbourg defenses. I expect that you ve heardthe news by now, my darling.My eyes grow quite moist, as I real-ize that you may at this very moment be listening to the news.His diary comes to an abrupt halt soon after.Bannerman s landing craft had been part of an immense invasionfleet Þö 6,483 ships, including six battleships, twenty-three cruisersand 104 destroyers.All day long it had sailed from England to-ward the Normandy coastline, as conspicuous a movement asthere has ever been, especially in this, the age of the reconnais-sance plane, radio, radar and secret agents.Yet nobody on theGerman side had detected the fleet s approach.If just one Nazipatrol boat had been stationed in the English Channel, it couldhave given Hitler ten hours warning Þö but the German navyhad declared the seas too rough for their own patrol boats to putto sea.The German defenders received no warning until the firstenemy shots were fired at them.Paratroops landed right in theirmidst and caught them unawares.Thus the British radio com-mentators could claim,  The Germans were caught with theirpants down.The astonished and angry German High Command on June9 ordered Rommel s headquarters to investigate in full whetherthis insinuation was true Þö that the German forces had been sur-prised.Backward and forward went the teleprinter messages con-cerning what General Speidel s staff came to dismiss with guiltylevity as the  underwear inquiry. Rommel evidently guessedwhere the dirty linen was and squelched all further action, toprotect his own and Rundstedt s officers.On July 4 Tempelhoff,498the trail of the foxRommel s operations officer, advised the Seventh Army:  Thecommission of inquiry into the events of June 5 6 is a dead duck.If ever a situation warranted such an inquiry, it was this one.On the eve of the invasion, the entire German command struc-ture in France was in disarray.Rommel, who had always stressedthe need to thwart the enemy invasion in its first few hours, wason leave in Germany [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]