During the respite the Fifth Army was given the previous day, Manteuffel had assimilated the remnants of three battered panzer brigades into veteran divisions. The fight that began that morning touched off an 11-day running tank battle that raged across the hills of southern Lorraine and tested the resourcefulness of two of World War IIs most gifted practitioners of the art of mobile warfare. Meanwhile the construction of an even larger Class 40 bridge "London Bridge" continued and was completed by midnight. He wanted a quick, spectacular crossing that would produce newspaper headlines in the manner of When the Germans attacking Hill 265 learned of the withdrawal of the 11th Panzer Division to Bures, they also quit the battle. He ordered Knobelsdorff to attack Dagers CCB with the 559th Volksgrenadier Division and the remnants of the 106th Panzer Brigade. This dramatic entrance to the battle by CCA caught the Germans off guard and paid large dividends. events, and resources, Patton in Lorraine: Breaking the Moselle Line. Meanwhile, Patton acknowledged that he might have to delay his advance east. 9th AID M3 Half-tracks advancing through Engers, Germany, 27 March 1945. Third Army, which formed the right wing of Bradleys 12th Army Group, was composed of Maj. Gen. Walton Walkers XX Corps and Eddys XII Corps. Site created in November 2000. Luttwitzs 47th Panzer Corps, constituting the left flank, consisted of the understrength 21st Panzer Division, the untested but intact 111th Panzer Brigade, and the remnants of the 112th Panzer Brigade. To cover CCBs former position in the line, Baades 35th Infantry Division advanced to a new position west of Chateau-Salins. As a result, the Germans broke off the attack and retreated to the safety of a nearby forest leaving behind 11 wrecked tanks. Despite the ferocity of the attack, the cavalry held on for four hours before it finally withdrew into the town. Hitler also began a systematic process to produce fresh divisions to replace those smashed by the Allies in central France. During the fighting around Juvelize, the Americans lost 14 Shermans and 7 Stuarts. This meant that two columns of tanks and half-tracks from the 113th would have to carry the objective themselves. ww2dbaseTo assist the Engineer the RAF's No.159 Wing was approached to furnish some of the men who operated the balloons to handle the winches that were to be used to haul the ferries and rafts across. ww2dbaseAll this, plus the assembly of vast amounts of troops, assault boats, Buffaloes, guns etc. Having previously been denied permission to photograph the face of the 200,000th prisoner (the Geneva Convention required that a prisoner be protected against acts of public curiosity), Patton announced that this time we will take a picture of his ass. (A week later their POW capture would top 300,000. TeachingAmericanHistory.org is a project of the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, 401 College Avenue, Ashland, Ohio 44805 PHONE (419) 289-5411 TOLL FREE (877) 289-5411 EMAIL [emailprotected]. Balck requested that Rundstedt provide Army Group G with three fresh divisions and 80 additional tanks and assault guns to continue the fight. He announced that the Third Army would shortly capture its 230,000th prisoner of war. US First Army captured Paderborn and Hamm, Germany. By the end of 24 Mar 1945, the German airfields were so damaged that the Luftwaffe practically ceased to exist on this front. Before more German tanks could ascend the hill, P-47s swooped in with bombs and rockets after the fog burned off, breaking up a counterattack. Constant shelling from German long-range guns stationed at Fort Driant, an elevated outpost on the west bank of the Moselle, made it impossible for U.S. engineers to lay a bridge at that crossing. In fact, it was the first time an invading force had crossed the Rhein into Germany since Napoleon! Gen. Holmes Dagers Combat Command B (CCB) to assist the 35th Infantry Division south of Nancy, and Colonel Bruce Clarks Combat Command A (CCA) to be held in reserve to exploit whichever crossing offered the most promise for a rapid breakout. Hitler, who had never liked Blaskowitz, sacked him on September 21. . This article is also part of our extensive collection of articles on the second World War. Patton simply used ad hoc tactics to push the 5th Infantry across. ww2dbaseWith the German defenses along the Rhine River falling apart, the industrial region of Ruhr was enveloped, depriving Germany's war manufacturing capabilities. "The pause that refreshes." The general told the troops around him. While we were digging in for the night, the Jerries sent over a heavy artillery barrage. ww2dbaseFurther to the south, General Patch's Seventh Army crossed the Rhine River on the same day the Remagen contingent marched forward. Click here to see our comprehensive article on World War 2. The 37th Tank Battalion would get no rest on September 20. The 37th Tank Battalion, led by the hard-charging Lt. Col. Creighton Abrams, brushed aside German resistance and turned north to gain the east-west road leading to Nomeny. Brad, dont tell anyone, but Im across. A surprised Bradley responded, Well, Ill be damned. A major firefight developed that resulted in the destruction of seven enemy tanks at the cost of three Shermans. For a five-day period at the beginning of September, Pattons Third Army remained idle as German forces to their east regrouped and entrenched behind the Moselle. Click here to see our comprehensive article on World War 2. At daybreak, the 358th Infantry Regiment attacked the column with a wide range of antitank weapons including bazookas, 3-inch guns, and 105 mm howitzers. Brian Horrocks, Corps Commander (Magnum Books, 1977). With no ground or air bombardments, they captured 19,000 German troops and created a six-mile bridgehead in the process. This time the engineers were able to construct a bridge under the cover of darkness, but the bridgehead was again subjected to concentrated shelling by long-range guns from the Metz defenses and also from counterattacks by various elements of all three of the German Panzergrenadier divisions defending the Moselle. When he reached the other side of the river, Patton pretended to stumble, imitating William the Conqueror, who famously fell on his face when landing in England but transformed the bad omen into a propitious one by leaping to his feet with a handful of English soil, claiming it portended his complete possession of the country. A half-dozen M8 howitzer motor carriages (HMCs) immediately deployed to contest the advancing column. Captain Richard Lamison, commanding Company C, took four Shermans and raced south along a ridge to another ambush position. On 7 March, the 9th Armoured Division of the US 1st Army captured the partially damaged railway bridge at Remagen. Shortly after crossing the Rhine river near Oppenheim, Gen. Pattons 3rd Army went into the heart of Germany as they crossed their next water barrier, the Main river. By mid-September 1944, the U.S. Third Army was poised to strike at the soft underbelly of Adolf Hitlers Third Reich along a fabled corridor in northeastern France used for centuries by armies tramping across Europe. The initial counterattacks against Third Armys bridgeheads should have convinced him that the enemy was regaining strength. This article is from the bookPatton: Blood, Guts, and Prayer2012by Michael Keane. Pattons troops beat Montgomery across the Rhine by one day. In Germany, US Third Army captured Frankfurt and Wiesbaden and US Seventh Army captured Mannheim. Patton had served with competence and distinction with the U.S. forces throughout Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa. The German armored column continued south, hoping to stampede the American soldiers into abandoning their positions. WW2DB site administrators reserve the right to moderate, censor, and/or remove any comment. Because of the heavy losses the Germans had sustained after the Normandy breakout, the Allies enjoyed a substantial advantage over the Germans in equipment, which amounted to a 2-to-1 advantage in artillery and nearly a 20-to-1 advantage in tanks. Although a bridge had been captured some weeks before at Remagen, and a bridge-head tenuously held, this was to be the first river assault crossing of this famous stream since . Nevertheless, Knobelsdorff secured permission from Hitler to use the brigade for a quick strike provided he return it to First Army reserve within 48 hours. Our database is searchable by subject and updated continuously. On the day of the deadline, Patton reported to Bradley that the southern wing of Third Army had broken out of its bridgeheads and was in position to continue pushing east. Hitler also reappointed General Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, who had been relieved of his command in June, to oversee Germanys forces in the west. Bradley told General George S. Pattonwhose U.S. Third Army had been fighting through the Palatinateto "take the Rhine on the run". The crossing of the Rhine between 22 and 28 March 1945 On 22 March, with a bright moon lighting the late-night sky, elements of U.S. XII Corps' 5th Infantry Division began the 3rd Army's Rhine crossing. From there, the vehicle fired an armor-piercing shell into the side of a Panther in a field 300 yards away. Seventh Army during the Sicilian campaign ( Operation Husky ), and in August 1944 his Third Army became operational in northern France. In 1943 he commanded the U.S. Upon arriving at a dock area, Tucker and his comrades saw a group of sailors lowering a Landing Ship Tank (LST) into the water with a large crane. Terms & Conditions; Privacy Policy Following the disaster at the Falaise Gap in August, where the Germans suffered 300,000 casualties, resistance had been light as the surviving German units raced east toward better defensive ground in the Ardennes and Alsace-Lorraine regions. When Manteuffel learned that the 111th had becomebogged down in Lunville, he ordered it to break off the engagement and bypass the town to the east. This was the greatest airborne operation of the war. But there were simply too many crossing points for the Germans to contest every one with such promptness as they had shown at Dornot, Arnaville, and Pont-a-Mousson. For Gods sake, send some gasoline.. The Americans sought to offset the Germans armor advantage in the sector by committing a platoon of Shermans from the 8th Tank Battalion to the fight. On March 24, 1945, Patton approached a newly constructed pontoon bridge over the Rhine that his troops had placed two nights before and a Third Army division had already crossed. Meanwhile, US Third Army captured Ludwigshafen and Speyer, Germany. It was really a simple thing, just like basic training., Tucker and another engineer packed themselves into one of the first boats with the infantry. To protect the fatherland, Hitler ordered all German forces on the Western Front to hold their positions on the Moselle to allow engineers to make much-needed improvements to the West Wall fortifications. Though Patton had hoped XII Corps would be ready to resume its advance on September 16, Eddy informed Patton that his troops would not be ready to resume their eastward advance until the 19th, after they had mopped up German forces behind their lines. Manteuffel had originally been promised two more new panzer brigades, the 107th and 108th, but Hitler had shunted them north to defend Aachen against Hodges First Army. The Shermans popped over the crest of the ridge and opened fire on the enemy tank column at a range of 900 yards, destroying five enemy tanks by striking them in the side. This is Part One of a Three Part look at Pattons Lorraine Campaign. In the first day alone, CCAs vanguard had advanced nearly 20 miles and destroyed a dozen enemy tanks and 85 half-tracks and captured 350 prisoners. Patton began drafting plans for Third Armys advance east toward the Rhine as early as September 14. Pattons third corps, Troy Middletons VIII Corps, had been detached and assigned to mop up German resistance in Brittany. At Toul, where a great bend in the Moselle channeled the Moselle away from Nancy, the Germans were content to allow McBrides 319th Infantry Regiment to cross unopposed on September 5. Lloyd Clark. The flames were transparent orange, rising with startling swiftness. HistoryOnTheNet 2000-2019. With the vise tightening on Nancy, Blaskowitz ordered the 553rd Volksgrenadier Division to pull out of the Nancy pocket before it was cut off. "It's time for another Patton to die," he said aloud. By that evening, the Germans had discovered Pattons forces, and perhaps more important, Pattons British rival, Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery, was preparing to cross the Rhine as well. Gen. Otto Weylands XIX Tactical Air Command. As he came closer to the German lines, He immediately became calm, shaking off tremors of fear. Manteuffels plans for September 27 called for Wietersheims 11th Panzer Division to seize the camelback and Arracourt, opening the road to Nancy. His high hopes for a rapid advance to the West Wall would be dashed as heavy rains over the next two months restricted Third Armys tank columns to primary roads and sharply curtailed tactical air support. When a column of tanks from the 111th Panzer Brigade appeared that morning out of the fog, it was left to the gunners of the 191st Field Artillery Battalion to fight off the attack. It was significant to the Allies because it offered a gateway between the Ardennes and Vosges Mountains, through which Allied forces might reach Germany. Like his counterpart, Balck was loath to go on the defensive but found he had no choice. Meanwhile, US Third Army captured Aschaffenburg, Germany, 40 kilometers to the southeast. All rights reserved. I know that Third Army will be in at the finish in the same decisive way that it has performed in all the preliminary battles. The Sherman crews could do little to deter the advancing Panthers because of the excellent sloped and thick frontal armor the enemy tanks possessed. To the right side of the center banner WORLD WAR II 75th ANNIVERSARY is Patton in a B-3 Bomber jacket and his name, GEN. GEORGE S. PATTON JR. Next is an image of Patton crossing the Rhine into Germany with a convoy of troops, supply trucks, troop caravan and an Sherman M4 tank. As blue skies gave way to rainy spells signaling autumns approach, the U.S. Third Army readied itself for a push to the Rhine, and perhaps the honor of being the first Allied troops to hurdle the last major barrier on the road to Berlin. However, such a strong resistance was not encountered as elements of the 21st Army Group and Ninth Army crossed the river in the north in the Ruhr River region. That evening Manteuffel made substantial adjustments to the German plan of attack. (Back in Berlin, Adolf Hitler urged the Wehrmacht to attack the Allied bridgehead at Oppenheim, only to be told that no reserve forces were available to embark on such an operation.) Eddys final plan, which was a compromise between his initial plan and that of headstrong 4th Armored Division commander Maj. Gen. John Wood, called for Brig. Initially, at least, Eddys XII Corps suffered setbacks as severe as those experienced by Walkers corps to its north. The events on the French front in World War II during September 1944, specifically Patton's inability to progress beyond the Metz fortress complex and, most importantly, the failure of British General Bernard Montgomery's attempted Rhine crossing in Operation Market Garden, would appear as evidence that such hopes of lightning victories . The publicity was not for meGod knows Ive got enoughI could go to heaven and St. Peter would recognize me right awaybut it is for the officers and the men. Patton then complained that the Marines go to town by reporting the number [of their men] killed, I always try to fight without getting [our] people killed.. The final stage of World War II in the European Theatre commenced with the Western Allied invasion of Germany. Again, the Germans proved they had the determination and resources to make the Americans pay heavily to get their forces across the Moselle. Patton might have been destined to oversee U.S. forces in the invasion of France the following year, but his inability to control his emotional outbursts and a personal sense of honor and duty that blocked him from sympathizing with the trials and tribulations of frontline troops caused him to stumble. All of these units suffered serious armored and antitank deficiencies. Bradley (18931981) took part in the buildup to the July 1944 Normandy landings (Operation Overlord) and was given charge of the U.S. First Army. On Pattons left wing, Walkers XX Corps began probing the Metz defenses on September 7. Hitler, who reluctantly agreed to a far less ambitious counterattack than initially envisioned, issued orders for the German attack to begin on September 18. A heavy artillery barrage preceded an attack near Chateau-Salins by two regiments supported by tanks across flat ground against U.S. forces in defensive positions on a long ridge. ", ww2dbaseAdditional Contribution by Alan Chanter. Please use this data for any reference citations. Patton, who actually did not have the orders to cross the river, did so under an extremely low profile: quietly, his troops crossed the river in boats without artillery barrage nor aerial bombardment. 20th Century Timeline Of World History: What Happened? But his cajoling paid off, as Bradley had been working hard to ensure that Haislips XV Corps, which had been helping to clear the lower Seine of German forces, would join Third Army on its southern flank. Though beaten across the Rhine by Patton's Third Army, Montgomery's meticulous operation shone in its flawless execution. Two days earlier, Patton had told Maj. Gen. Manton Eddy that his XII Corps would lead the way. In short order, more than a half-dozen M5 Stuart tanks sat smoldering and crumpled in fields near the town. The 111th and 113th Panzer Brigades boasted two tank battalions, one of 45 Panthers and the other of 45 Mark IVs. I was determined that the attack on the Siegfried Line should go on in spite of what had happened in Lunville, he said. click here for our comprehensive guide to General Patton. 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