Patton would be promoted to General (four stars) in April, 1945, after his troops liberated some of the worst concentration camps in Germany, and was fighting toward the Czech border by the time VE Day was declared on 8 May 1945. 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. The gasoline arrived and Pattons men pressed headlong across southern Germany and into Czechoslovakia. From there, Third Army would advance along a northeast route of march toward the fortified West Wall. Hitler, who reluctantly agreed to a far less ambitious counterattack than initially envisioned, issued orders for the German attack to begin on September 18. In response to the changing circumstances, Patton issued orders on September 24 for CCA to pull back from Juvelize to Arracourt to lessen its exposure to any subsequent enemy attacks. While we were digging in for the night, the Jerries sent over a heavy artillery barrage. He engineered the Normandy breakout and was made commander of the Twelfth Army Group. The very notion was unpalatable to Old Blood and Guts. On the night of March 22, 1945, elements of the Third Army crossed the Rhine at the German town of Oppenheim. This kind of came as a surprise, but everything was so well prepared for us, recalled Tucker. Eisenhower issued orders in late August to all of his top commanders outlining a two-pronged offensive against western Germany in which the principal targets were the Ruhr and Saar industrial areas. By early afternoon, the Germans were fighting their way into the southern end of the town. 6731 Whittier Avenue, Suite C-100 McLean, VA 22101, Stay up to date with all of our latest news, ww2dbasePrior to crossing the Rhine, the Allied forces were already bombing German airfields to reduce the capability for the Luftwaffe to interfere with the plans. Another 2,153 fighters supported the ground operations. In late March 1945, Gen. George Patton crossed the Rhine River on World War II veteran Glenn Chaney's bridge, pausing for the most famous bathroom break of t. Anthony Read and David Fisher, The Fall of Berlin. ww2dbaseFurther to the south, General Patch's Seventh Army crossed the Rhine River on the same day the Remagen contingent marched forward. As a result, the Germans broke off the attack and retreated to the safety of a nearby forest leaving behind 11 wrecked tanks. A major firefight developed that resulted in the destruction of seven enemy tanks at the cost of three Shermans. The comparatively light casualty rate experienced by the first troops across (153rd and 154th Brigades of 51st Highland Division) clearly demonstrated how thorough the preparations had been made. Finally, head to Hamm American Cemetery to visit Patton's grave. Bradley did not announce this crossing until the night of 23 Mar; Patton had wished the Americans to announce that they had crossed the Rhine River before the British. Significantly, none of the panzer brigades had either organic artillery or reconnaissance vehicles. Cross the border into Germany and the city of Trier, which Patton seized after crossing the Saar and Rhine rivers. His pleas fell on deaf ears, and he prepared to make do with the untrained and understrength units he had been given. U.S. Army personnel cross the Ludendorff Bridge "CROSS THE RHINE WITH DRY FEET COURTESY OF 9TH ARM'D DIV". The German high command also reinforced the Fifth Panzer Army with Gen. Lt. Wend von Wietersheims 11th Panzer Division. Patton celebrated the victory by stopping on a treadway bridge his men had built and relieving himself into the river. The 134th was fortunate to find a bridge intact and threw a battalion across the river. Though Gen. Patton had the blessing of Twelfth Army Group head Gen. Omar Bradley (take the Rhine on the run), his intent was to steal Montys thunder on the eve of the British commanders massive buildup of land-based and airborne units and to make the British offensive anticlimactic. The tank battle raged well into the afternoon as Company B arrived to help Abrams hold back the Germans. 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. Lloyd Clark. Look for the Monument Patton and stop by the General Patton Memorial Museum. Churchill suggested the Allied forces to skip over the Ruhr region and march east toward Berlin, but Eisenhower refused to leave the Ruhr region unsecured. However, Patton was aware that this would be obvious to the Germans, and therefore he and his staff made rapid plans for another site at Nierstein and Oppenheim, about 12 miles south of Mainz. The Rhine is no ordinary river. This airborne operation was the largest of its kind during the entire war, utilizing 1,625 transports, 1,348 gliders, and 889 escort fighters to deliver over 22,000 airborne infantry into the contested territory. The fighting resulted in the final destruction of two panzer brigades. The light losses suffered by Abramss battalion were a result of his crews using their mobility to offset the advantage enjoyed by the Panthers long, high-velocity 75mm gun over the Shermans short 75mm gun. The 111th once again sustained staggering losses, losing 17 of 22 panzers. Patton, not wanting to compromise his armys success with publicity, telephoned Omar Bradley the following morning and uncharacteristically told him to keep it a secret. Although Heckers division was at nearly full strength, Rodts had been depleted as a result of nearly a year of hard fighting. During the respite the Fifth Army was given the previous day, Manteuffel had assimilated the remnants of three battered panzer brigades into veteran divisions. Our orders were to get the infantry to the east bank, then push our boat back into the river and let it float downstream., To prevent beached boats from blocking follow-up waves, the engineers were ordered to push as many boats back into the river as possible and then gather up the rest of the engineers who landed and pile into a single boat to return. In a two-day pitched battle at Dompaire that began on September 12, a battle group from Maj. Gen. Jacques Leclercs 2nd French Armored Division of Haislips Corps smashed the 112th Panzer Brigade of Luttwitzs 47th Corps, which had been sent to check Haislips advance. Still, Walkers XX Corps remained stalled before Metz, even though Eddys XII Corps had advanced well beyond its Moselle bridgeheads. It is thought that the accompanying photo of General George Patton documents Patton urinating into the Rhine River. The delay would prove a costly one. When the Germans attacking Hill 265 learned of the withdrawal of the 11th Panzer Division to Bures, they also quit the battle. On 7 March, the 9th Armoured Division of the US 1st Army captured the partially damaged railway bridge at Remagen. British sappers built another Rhine bridge, "Blackfriars", by noon. Patton began drafting plans for Third Armys advance east toward the Rhine as early as September 14. In fact, it was the first time an invading force had crossed the Rhein into Germany since Napoleon! In other words, they had no depth, Patton said. The pause that refreshes. The general told the troops around him. By September 10, Baades 35th Infantry Division was in force along the western bank of the Moselle south of Nancy. CROSSING THE RHINE After several days of what passed for R&R (Rest & Recreation) in Koblenz, we loaded up and climbed on trucks in the late afternoon of March 24 and moved upstream on the west side of the Rhine to the small town of Boppard. "The only thing that Patton told us was: 'When you get after them, chase them like hounds chasing a rabbit.' Then he said: 'Go to the Rhine and capture a bridge.' We did everything but capture. Instead, he commented, They brought up a row of trucks filled with assault boats. I was certainly very full of hopes and saw myself crossing the Rhine, Patton said. The type of close-range fighting that day is exemplified by an encounter between an M18 Hellcat of the 704th against a pair of Panther tanks. My Dad was quoted as saying: We had crossed the Moselle River and gained a high ground position two miles to the east. US First Army finally broke out of Remagen bridgehead in Germany. Bradley, who found the report satisfactory, passed the news to Eisenhower that Third Army was indeed across the Moselle in strength. In a widely publicized incident, he slapped and cursed a soldier suffering from battle fatigue in a field hospital in front of staff and patients. Although the 106th Panzer Brigade was led by veterans from the Eastern Front, its crews had received very little training and the brigade suffered from a severe shortage of communications equipment essential to coordinate an assault. Two days before, Bradley had called Patton and First Army Commander Maj. Gen. Courtney Hodge to his headquarters at Dreux and informed them that the supply situation was dire. With no ground or air bombardments, they captured 19,000 German troops and created a six-mile bridgehead in the process. Distinguished Unit Citations: 11. As expected, the Germans counterattacked at 1 pm on September 13 just as CCA began crossing the bridge. Walkers corps consisted of the 5th and 90th Infantry Divisions and the 7th Armored Division, while Eddys corps, at that time, consisted of the 35th and 80th Infantry Divisions and the 4th and 6th Armored Divisions. Yet Abramss 35th Tank Battalion counterattacked in the afternoon and recaptured the town in a fight that inflicted substantial casualties on the Germans. The reversal of fortune gnawed at Patton from the outset of his service in France. With the vise tightening on Nancy, Blaskowitz ordered the 553rd Volksgrenadier Division to pull out of the Nancy pocket before it was cut off. Near Moncourt, just east of Arracourt, a platoon of Mark IVs and towed anti-tank guns ambushed Abramss Company C, leaving a half-dozen M4 tanks mangled. In addition, the Royal Navy provided a team to construct an anti-mine boom upriver to prevent the Germans from floating demolitions down to destroy the bridges after they had been constructed. This is Part One of a Three Part look at Pattons Lorraine Campaign. ", ww2dbaseAdditional Contribution by Alan Chanter. Lava's technical capabilities. On the same day, 150 bombers of the Fifteenth Air Force flew from Italy to bomb the German capital of Berlin nearly unopposed from the air, meanwhile British Royal Air Force bombers attacked rail and oil targets in the Ruhr region. The German armored column continued south, hoping to stampede the American soldiers into abandoning their positions. He received the Bronze Star and was shot on or about 28 September, 1944. Your IP address will be tracked even if you remain anonymous. 6731 Whittier Avenue, Suite C-100 McLean, VA 22101, Stay up to date with all of our latest news, Patton had served with competence and distinction with the U.S. forces throughout Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa. The Germans failed to reconnoiter enemy positions, and their replacement tank crews were no match for Leclercs veteran troops. The 9th Armored Division quickly expanded the bridgehead into a full scale crossing. Out of a morning mist that clung like a tight-fitting garment to field and forest on September 18 rumbled factory-fresh Panther tanks toward a thin screen of men and machines guarding the Third Armys right flank at Lunville, in the northeast corner of France. Altogether, the 106th Panzer Brigade lost 30 tanks and 60 halftracks, which greatly reduced the role it would play in subsequent operations. ww2dbaseDwight Eisenhower expected the German troops, some elite including soldiers of the First Paratroop Army, would be prepared for such an invasion in the northern Ruhr area. Luttwitz and Krueger received their orders two days before the start date. Operation Plunder landed over 16,000 British and American troops across the Rhine River region, allowing link ups with advancing British 21st Army Group's 4 bridgeheads. It was a daunting series of objectives, but Patton relished the opportunity. ww2dbaseSources:
Leslie Mansfield, (daughter). To their surprise, they were not opposed by enemy forces. Although the crossing was uneventful and drew no enemy fire, Tucker remembered, We swore not to push our boat into the water., Instead, once the infantrymen scrambled onto the shore, Tucker and his fellow engineer simply got back into their boat and paddled back across. Abrams received orders from Wood to pivot south toward Arracourt, where he would be in a position to link up with CCB and complete the encirclement of Nancy. 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. The shift in plans resulted in an ominous quiet on the front lines that day and led to speculation as to whether the Germans had finally quit their offensive. Germany. All of these units suffered serious armored and antitank deficiencies. Days of Combat: 91. In addition, Wood ordered CCB to shift to CCAs right flank to cover the ground between Rechicourt and the Marne-Rhine Canal. Occupied Zone in Germany. US First Army captured Paderborn and Hamm, Germany. Join historians and history buffs alike with our Unlimited Digital Access pass to every military history article ever published (over 3,000 articles) in Sovereigns military history magazines. The reconstituted Fifth Panzer Army was inserted into Blaskowitzs Army Group G between First Army to the north and the Nineteenth Army to the south. Had I not secured a good bridgehead by that time, I was to stop arguing and assume the mournful role of a defender, Patton said. The Germans attacking toward Hill 265 captured several key towns, one of which was Xanrey, a few miles northwest of Arracourt. On September 6, he sacked First Army commander General der Infanterie Kurt Chevallerie in favor of General der Panzertruppen Otto Knobelsdorff, who would lead German forces covering the line from Sedan to Nancy. 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. Eddy planned to isolate Nancy in a double envelopment. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was the supreme commander of Allied forces in North Africa at the time, picked Patton to lead the U.S. Right: U.S. Army Generals Omar Bradley, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and George S. Patton. As a result, Eisenhower ordered him to make a personal apology to the soldier and also to everyone present at the time of the incident. From there, the vehicle fired an armor-piercing shell into the side of a Panther in a field 300 yards away. Patton spent so much time cajoling Bradley for permission to continue his advance east and additional reinforcements that he was seemingly oblivious to the stiffening enemy resistance and to evidence that the Germans were amassing substantial reinforcements in the Nancy sector. To the far left is scrolled, WARS MAY BE FOUGHT WITH . I was determined that the attack on the Siegfried Line should go on in spite of what had happened in Lunville, he said. This post is part of our collection of resources on Nazi Germany. click here for our comprehensive guide to General Patton. So Patton called Bradley again. "It's time for another Patton to die," he said aloud. The Shermans then retreated behind the crest of the ridge and reappeared at another point to finish off the three remaining Panthers. 9th AID M3 Half-tracks advancing through Engers, Germany, 27 March 1945. To order this book, please visit its online sales page atAmazonorBarnes & Noble. Manteuffels attack for the following day involved a coordinated strike toward Arracourt using the 111th and 113th Panzer Brigades from Luttwitzs and Kruegers corps, respectively. Patton knew his entrance into German-occupied territory was of monumental historical importance. Eisenhower (18901969) was chosen in July 1942 to head Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of French North Africa in November 1943. As Pattons Third Army approached the Meuse River in late August, it paused before pushing into the Lorraine region. Irwins 5th Infantry Division made another effort to secure a bridgehead across the Moselle at Arnaville, a short march south of Dornot, on September 10. Out of the fog on September 22, the remaining tanks of the 111th Panzer Brigade punched like a steel fist through CCAs cavalry screen around Juvelize. . 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. 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. Although the U.S. First Army had already captured an intact bridge over the river at Remagen, there was still a rivalry between Patton and British Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery to cross next. A follow-on series of panzer brigades, numbered above 110, would contain a battalion of Panthers and a battalion of Mark IVs. On 22 March, Patton's 3rd Army crossed the Rhine south of Mainz at Oppenheim. Patton, not wanting to compromise his army's success with publicity, telephoned Omar Bradley the following morning and uncharacteristically told him to keep it a secret. The following day Patton arrived at the pontoon bridge his engineers had constructed over the Rhine. Some 22,000 tons of assault bridging had to be brought forward, including 25,000 wooden pontoons, 2,000 assault boats, 650 Storm boats, 120 River tugs, 80 miles of balloon cable and 260 miles of steel wire rope. Patton's goal was to cross the Rhine, even if not a single bridge was left standing over which to do it. The main column found itself in the midst of the 90th Division headquarters at 3 am, and several Panthers engaged an M4 Sherman guarding McLains command post situated on a knoll. Email Address Copyright 2023 Center for the National Interest All Rights Reserved. Brian Horrocks, Corps Commander (Magnum Books, 1977). The new panzer brigades each had a battalion of Panzergrenadiers drawn from the three Panzergrenadier divisions already in Lorraine. The crossing would be difficult with German mortar and artillery guns already trained at river crossings. Once it captured the section of the West Wall protecting the Saar factories, Third Armys next objective would be to cross the Rhine and seize Frankfurt. We are now fairly started on that phase of the campaign which I hope will be the final one. The Panzergrenadiers methodically fought their way up the southern slope, clearing Americans from their foxholes. It was an unusually costly day for the Americans, who lost a dozen Shermans. Photo Credit: Men of the U.S. 5th Infantry Division hug the walls in one of the suburbs of Metz in early September 1944. Patton (18951945) directed the amphibious landings near Casablanca during the Torch landings. The eastern thrust of the 113th Panzer Brigades attack that day was aimed at Companies C and D of the 37th Tank Battalion guarding the eastern and southern approaches to Arracourt. 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. Luttwitz would strike north toward Lunville, while Krueger would push west along the south side of the Marne-Rhine Canal toward the town. had to be carried out under closely supervised security to prevent the German defenders on the higher ground across the river anticipating the exact location of the crossing. It controlled the majority of American forces on the Western Front in 1944 and 1945: the U.S. First Army under Gen. Courtney H. Hodges, the Third Army under Gen. George S. Patton, the Ninth Army under Gen. William H. Simpson, and the Fifteenth Army under Gen. Leonard T. Gerow. Even Hitlers closest supporters like Heinrich Himmler and Joseph Goebbels could clearly hear the clanging bell. Manteuffels goal, as head of the 5th Panzer Army on the Western Front, was to transform Lunville into a base from which to roll up Third Armys flank on the east bank of the river. The Hellcats bought precious time for Companies A and B of the 37th Tank Battalion to rumble north from Lezey toward the battlefront. After the completion of the Battle in The Ardennes, Patton and his Army turned to the south and east attacking toward the Rhine. For its part, the 15th Panzergrenadier Division had three dozen Mark IV tanks. As the Americans prepared to resume their push east, the vanguard of CCA shifted north toward Chateau-Salins. Having mustered 50 tanks for the attack, Manteuffel ordered Wietersheim to capture Moyenvic and inflict as much damage as possible on CCA. By dawn the Germans had seized the crest of Hill 318. In little more than a months time, Patton, together with his archrival British General Bernard L. Montgomery, commanding the British Eighth Army, liberated the strategic island from Axis control. If so, please consider supporting us on Patreon. ww2dbaseAs the Allied forces gathered on the west banks of the Rhine River, it was no longer a matter of surprise. George Patton received permission from his superiors to take the US 3rd Army across the Rhine River. But the main attacks were made by the bulk of the 80th Division north of Nancy, and by Maj. Gen. Paul Baades 35th Infantry Division south of the city. They swooped in at extremely low level, catching the German tank crews by surprise. 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. Both corps commanders had received intelligence reports that two Panzergrenadier divisions, the 3rd and 17th, were prepared to contest the crossing, and that they would likely be reinforced by surviving elements of the 21st Panzer and Panzer Lehr Divisions. 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. Pattons Third Army found itself mired in a morass as it struggled against fuel shortages, flooded rivers, and fresh German panzer units in September 1944. On September 2, Hitler issued orders for the creation of 25 new divisions, most of which were to be given the designation of Volksgrenadier. He was confident that Eddys 35th Division, with close support of the 4th Armored, could achieve a breach and hold it open to allow Third Armys armored divisions to punch through the wall. After two days of hard fighting, the two sides braced for more of the same. 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