Читать книгу Remembering D-day: Personal Histories of Everyday Heroes - Martin Bowman - Страница 46

‘I was asleep when the invasion began. The first bombardment started at about 01:00, and it was so loud and shocking that all of us knew instantly it was something out of the ordinary. I shot out of bed and went straight to the battalion staff quarters to organize my men. Then we hung around until 07:00, waiting for orders. Feldmarschall Rommel was away and so was our divisional commander so there was no one to give orders. We were told to push on to the coast in our armoured personnel carriers and we had almost got there when we fell upon English troops. I’ve no idea to this day who they were but they were on foot. During that night, my battalion lost three-quarters of the men. I’ve no doubt that if we had not wasted those valuable first hours waiting for orders, we could have pushed the Allies back right away. Those hours from 01:00 to 0:700 were critical and our tanks were left idle for too long.’