Book review—Schwerpunkt: From D-Day to the Fall of the Third Reich

In the 51-plus years I have been a member of the ISBA, I have had the wonderful opportunity of meeting, traveling with, and working on various Committees and Section Councils with many accomplished attorneys throughout the State of Illinois.

Not only are these attorneys well respected leaders in their fields of practice and in the ISBA, they are also very giving (both financially and of time) in their communities and within the ISBA. In addition to law, the interests of many of them never cease to impress and amaze me.

Over the years, I have met attorneys from various parts of our State whose outside interests involve farming, the fine arts, literature, poetry, music, athletics, comedy and theater, as well as competitive sailing and vehicle racing, just to name a few.

One such ISBA member is Susan Gunty, who practices law and lives in Chicago. She is also a World War II historian and writer, and it is her 2015 historical novel that I have chosen for this book review.

The title of this book is “Schwerpunkt: From D-Day to the Fall of the Third Reich.” It is available in soft cover (341 pages) and electronically.

“Schwerpunkt” (pronounced Shverhr-Punkt) means a critical striking point in German.

A most interesting aspect of this book is the historical statements of fact at the beginning of each chapter. These facts are then followed up within the chapter by comments and observations of events for the allies by Frank Greathouse, a fictional enlisted man, who works as a planner on the staff of General Eisenhower at the Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expedition Force.

Frank is kind of like the answer to the question of what if these walls could talk, because he gives detailed descriptions, in an enlisted man’s vernacular, of how D-Day was planned in late 1943, its launching on June 6, 1944, and how it was executed by allied forces.

Frank also receives letters throughout the book from his younger brother, who is in the infantry, who describes his life in the army before, during and after his Normandy landing early in the invasion of Northern France. In addition, Frank’s paratrooper cousin sends him several letters about his combat experiences during and after his jump behind enemy lines, also during the invasion. These letters paint a picture of just how it was in the trenches, so to speak, on and after D-Day.

With Frank’s comments and these letters, the reader experiences the invasion almost on a day to day basis, starting on June 6, 1944. The description begins with the invasion on Normandy’s five beach heads, continues through the allies’ hard fought 400 mile march from Northern France into Germany and then culminates with the surrender by Germany on May 8, 1945.

Frank minces no words in his impressions of the egos and nuances of some of the Allied Generals, including George Patton, Omar Bradley, George Marshall, Walter “Beetle” Smith, Bernard Montgomery, and, by no means least, Charles DeGaulle.

Frank’s German counterpart is Rudi Katzenmeir (also fictional), who is a soldier of the Third Reich, serving under General Erwin Rommel.

Rommel and all German officers and soldiers took their orders from Hitler, who was the supreme military commander of all German forces. As a result, Hitler made all of the strategic decisions dealing with this invasion, including ordering his troops to never retreat or surrender.

Hitler was convinced that this invasion would take place at Calais, rather than Normandy, because Calais was closer to Dover, England, and an easier location for bringing in more troops and supplies. He also thought that any invasion would be in July or even August due to June’s unpredictable weather conditions in Northern France. Therefore, Hitler, thinking Normandy was just a diversion, refused Rommel’s several requests to release a great number of troops, tanks and heavy armaments, positioned for a Calais invasion, until mid July, or approximately six weeks after the allies landed at Normandy.

As the invasion progresses, Rudi’s opinion of Hitler slowly deteriorates until he finally renounces him just before Germany’s surrender. Perhaps a major contributing factor to this was Hitler’s replacement of Rommel.

Rommel had been implicated in the assassination attempt on Hitler in July of 1944. Rather than creating a martyr by executing Rommel, Hitler gave him the choice of a public trial, conviction and execution for attempted murder and treason, or suicide. In order to protect his pension and family, Rommel elected suicide. He took poison in October of 1944. His cause of death was officially given as a brain hemorrhage, which allowed him to be given a military hero’s burial.

The allies’ invasion slowly but surely progressed, with hard fighting and large casualties each step of the way, and, even after Paris was liberated in late August, Hitler refused to allow any surrendering.

Hitler, in order to buy time for the development of his secret weapon (the V-2 rocket), ordered a counteroffensive in December of 1944. He thought the use of the V-2 rocket would end the war on his Western Front. It was during this counteroffensive that the 101st Airborne’s remaining troops were surrounded by the Germans at Bastogne. When the Germans made an offer for them to surrender, General McAulliffe sent the famous one word reply of “Nuts.” Ultimately, McAulliffe and his men were rescued by Generals Abrams and Patton.

This book also describes the detailed planning and co-ordination of the Normandy Invasion, which appears to have involved:

• 7,000 seacraft, including 34 cruisers and 100 destroyers

• 13,000 aircraft

• 170,000 men

• 20,000 land vehicles

In spite of this planning, the one thing no one could specifically plan for or control was the weather, which was horrible. First of all, bad weather caused the invasion to be postponed from June 4th to June 6th and for airborne drop zones and glider planes to be disastrously thrown off course, with heavy casualties and destruction. The bad weather also caused many of the invading forces to be delayed for scheduled rendezvous points and capturing of key landing ports in Northern France, resulting in the delay of re-enforcements, tanks, heavy artillery, food and supplies.

To me, the tense scenario caused by the weather was comparable to composing a four part, separate section, symphony to be performed in a Denver Concert Hall for an audience of rival motorcycle clubs.

And yet, as a result of this invasion and in less than one year, the six year war in Europe finally ended. However, before it ended with the allied victory, the casualties apparently included 4 million German soldiers; 300,000 U. S. soldiers; 250,000 French soldiers; 400,000 English, Canadian and Polish soldiers; 13.5 million Soviet soldiers; millions of civilians in Europe and England; and 6 million Jews. Considering the alternative, in retrospect, one can now say it was worth it.

All of this was profoundly summed up by Rudi, as a POW at the end of the war, when he stated: “The loss (for Germany) is bitter but I know that a victory would have been worse.” 