Patton was relieved of command in the wake of the incident but was not dismissed from war service. The historic city of Metz included an extensive system of man-made fortifications from previous wars. During the fighting around Juvelize, the Americans lost 14 Shermans and 7 Stuarts. Although the Panzergrenadiers on the crest had managed to hold on during the morning, the combined pressure of American ground fire and air strikes finally broke the enemys nerve and the ground troops began retreating down the southern slope in the afternoon. 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. 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. events, and resources. 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. US-Armee unter General George S. Patton (1885-1945) die Stadt Nierstein am Rhein. By September 10, Baades 35th Infantry Division was in force along the western bank of the Moselle south of Nancy. "My dear General", Winston Churchill said to the American general as they met the next morning, "the German is whipped. Wietersheim ordered the battle group to break off its attack until the following day so that reinforcements could be sent to Bures. After the war Eisenhower was appointed Military Governor of the U.S. Lava's technical capabilities. 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. On the night of March 22, 1945, elements of the Third Army crossed the Rhine at the German town of Oppenheim. Right: U.S. Army Generals Omar Bradley, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and George S. Patton. 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. When a column of 11 panzers appeared out of the mist that morning, three were immediately knocked out at close range by Shermans belonging to 1st Platoon, Company C, of Abramss 37th Tank Battalion in concealed positions. By the end of 24 Mar 1945, the German airfields were so damaged that the Luftwaffe practically ceased to exist on this front. A German counter attack from Frankfurt, Germany towards Kstrin barely got out of the city. The Germans did not intended to give up either without a fight. All visitor submitted comments are opinions of those making the submissions and do not reflect views of WW2DB. News of the crossing made it around the world. site is two fold. Elements of the 4th and 6th Armored Divisions, the latter which had been serving as Third Armys rear guard, and other units began converging on the townin response. The following day Patton arrived at the pontoon bridge his engineers had constructed over the Rhine. Although his unit was spearheading the attack toward the river, he assumed there would be a pause to get organized for the crossing. The Germans, who observed the Americans pulling out of Juvelize, occupied the abandoned town the following day. US First Army finally broke out of Remagen bridgehead in Germany. DEste begins with Pattons early life and family and moves through his decades at a pace that makes this long book seem far shorter. Please refrain from using strong language. The Hellcats bought precious time for Companies A and B of the 37th Tank Battalion to rumble north from Lezey toward the battlefront. 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. 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. In addition, Wood ordered CCB to shift to CCAs right flank to cover the ground between Rechicourt and the Marne-Rhine Canal. But by the time Eddy was ready to resume his advance, Manteuffels Fifth Army had materialized as if out of thin air. This was because Third Army, and the other Allied armies racing to its north, had stretched their supply lines until they snapped. A major firefight developed that resulted in the destruction of seven enemy tanks at the cost of three Shermans. Having reached the Moselle as early as September 5, the 80th Division attempted to gain a foothold on the eastern bank at Pont-a-Mousson. This had elements of the 6th and 7th Parachute Divisions on their flanks and, to their rear in reserve, the 15th and 116th Panzer Divisions. All rights reserved. Patton told Wood to strike east the following day in the belief that it would keep the Germans off balance. Eddy planned to isolate Nancy in a double envelopment. In Berlin, Adolf Hitler wanted to counterattack at the Allied bridgehead at Oppenheim, but he was told that no reserve forces were available to embark on such an operation. But Pattons dash ground to a halt shortly after it crossed the Meuse. Crossing the Rhine 24 -31 March 1945: C-47 transport planes release hundreds of paratroops and their supplies over the Rees-Wesel area to the east of the Rhine. A severe shortage of fuel in the early days of September slowed Third Armys advance to a crawl, giving the Germans time to rush reinforcements from as far away as Italy to cover thinly defended sectors. On Pattons left wing, Walkers XX Corps began probing the Metz defenses on September 7. Click here to see our comprehensive article on World War 2. Luttwitz and Krueger received their orders two days before the start date. The World War II Database is founded and managed by Leclerc also benefited from repeated tactical air strikes by P-47 Thunderbolts of Brig. The Shermans then retreated behind the crest of the ridge and reappeared at another point to finish off the three remaining Panthers. Meanwhile, US Third Army captured Ludwigshafen and Speyer, Germany. The 37th Tank Battalion was sent to the rear to rest and refit. 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. From there, the vehicle fired an armor-piercing shell into the side of a Panther in a field 300 yards away. Troops of the US Ninth Army finished clearing the Duisberg Pocket in Germany. With their high-velocity guns, the Panthers easily knocked out the Yanks vehicles. Brian Horrocks, Corps Commander (Magnum Books, 1977). He did not expect to encounter substantial resistance until he reached the West Wall. 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. Having failed to reconnoiter the American lines, the Germans blundered into a hornets nest. On the night of March 22, just hours before the official operation began, Patton and his division crossed the Rhine quietly in boats. The gasoline arrived and Pattons men pressed headlong across southern Germany and into Czechoslovakia. This dramatic entrance to the battle by CCA caught the Germans off guard and paid large dividends. For inquiries about military records for members of the World War II armed forces, please see our FAQ. events, and resources, Patton in Lorraine: Breaking the Moselle Line. ww2dbaseThe river on XXX Corps' front was 500 yards across and defended on its eastern bank by the German 8th Parachute Division, in and around the town of Rees. All comment submissions will become the property of WW2DB. C. Peter Chen of Lava Development, LLC. They rose through the branches of the trees to a height of 60 feet. US First Army attacked Paderborn, Germany. 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. Lorraine, situated in northeastern France, consists of a large plateau interspersed with forests, lakes, fields, and towns, through which the upper stretches of the Meuse and Moselle Rivers flow. To Allied supreme commander Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower he wrote: I have just pissed into the Rhine River. 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. 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. Despite efforts to rush fuel to the frontline units, the Allies were still receiving their fuel from supply dumps in Normandy. Patton's goal was to cross the Rhine, even if not a single bridge was left standing over which to do it. The news came as a hard blow to Patton, whose spirits had been riding high with the prospect of pushing through the West Wall to the Rhine. Patton drove to the XII Corps front on September 19, where he met first with Eddy and later with Wood. 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. Bradley, who found the report satisfactory, passed the news to Eisenhower that Third Army was indeed across the Moselle in strength. World War Two Timeline From The Great War To Germanys Surrender. If Third Army was unable to cross the Moselle by September 14, Bradley told Patton, it would have to go over to the defensive. On the night of March 22, 1945, with no artillery preparation or air cover, assault boats of the 5th Infantry began their quiet crossing near Oppenheim. The US 3rd Army crossed the Rhine River west of Mainz and near Oppenheim just before midnight; the Americans had beaten the British in crossing the river. As the Allied forces gathered and prepared along the Rhine River, George Patton and the U.S. 5 th Division were quietly carrying . Meanwhile, US Third Army reached Siegen, Germany. 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. 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. National Interest Newsletter. In effort to ensure greater success, Manteuffel ordered a detailed reconnaissance of enemy positions. Major General Clarence Huebner's V Corps made rapid advances with relative ease. 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. The troops of the French First Army crossed the Rhine River near Philippsburg, Germany on 1 Apr. The media and public back home were outraged that a general would treat an enlisted man in such a manner. click here for our comprehensive guide to General Patton. McLain issued orders for the nearest infantry regiments to converge on the enemy column. Seventh Army during the Sicilian campaign (Operation Husky), and in August 1944 his Third Army became operational in northern France. 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. HTML tags are not allowed. This paratrooper operation was not a typical one where troops were dropped a distance behind enemy lines before the operation to disrupt communications; this time, Bernard Montgomery chose to drop the paratroopers immediately behind the enemy lines after the conventional infantry had already crossed the Rhine River under the cover of darkness. Unfortunately for the Germans, the 111th Panzer Brigade became lost in unfamiliar countryside and didnt reach the staging area at Bures until late afternoon on the 19th. But where he crossed the Main? His training and experience in cavalry operations and his experience serving with the U.S. tank forces in World War I served as solid preparation for the challenges he would face as a commander when the United States declared war on Japan and Germany in December 1941. That evening German artillery brought down the bridge, and the 104th Panzergrenadier Regiment attacked with armor support in the dark of night, overrunning the bridgehead. By August 30, Pattons army was receiving only about 32,000 of the 400,000 gallons of fuel it required to run all of its tanks and vehicles. Overseas: 26 August 1944. To their surprise, they were not opposed by enemy forces. 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. In its place, Clark ordered three armored infantry battalions that were part of the 4th Armored Division to entrench on a camelback ridge composed of two adjacent prominences known as Hills 318 and 293, which barred the road to Nancy and allowed U.S. guns to sweep German positions to the east and south. 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. Despite the ferocity of the attack, the cavalry held on for four hours before it finally withdrew into the town. It is thought that the accompanying photo of General George Patton documents Patton urinating into the Rhine River. Although ordered to avoid German forces concentrated at Chateau-Salins, Abrams nevertheless overtook an armored column from the 15th Panzergrenadier Division and, in another stunning attack, captured or destroyed 26 armored vehicles and took 400 prisoners. . Left: Keeping a low profile, soldiers of the U.S. Third Armys 89th Infantry Division cross the Rhine in assault boats under intense German fire, March1945. Some of the hardest fighting was done by the 704th Tank Destroyer (TD) Battalion. 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. Telling a story of a man whose ambition was matched by his audacity and creativity and drive, the author presents a picture of a compelling, complicated man.Interested in World War II? Meanwhile, US Third Army captured Aschaffenburg, Germany, 40 kilometers to the southeast. To the far left is scrolled, WARS MAY BE FOUGHT WITH . 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. This operation to cross the northern Rhine River launched in the night of 23 Mar 1945. Another 2,153 fighters supported the ground operations. It might be impossible to complete the mission which we started out on, but we could kill a lot of Germans trying, he told Eddy. Eisenhower (18901969) was chosen in July 1942 to head Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of French North Africa in November 1943. The Germans gained considerable ground on the morning of September 25, but the attack ground to a halt when the Germans were unable to dislodge CCA units from high ground northeast of Arracourt. 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. ww2dbaseOn 24 Mar, Churchill crossed the Rhine River in an LCM (landing craft, mechanized), setting foot on the eastern bank of the river, symbolizing the crossing of the top British political leader over the traditional border of Germany that no foreign army had crossed in 140 years. But the Americans stood their ground. The Germans, in an effort to regroup, turned southwest to escape the ambush. The turning point in the battle came when a U.S. artillery observer directed more than 300 howitzer rounds onto a German column lined up on a sunken road in preparation for an assault on the village of Mairy. 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 134th was fortunate to find a bridge intact and threw a battalion across the river. This post is part of our collection of resources on Nazi Germany. But various factors were at work to derail those hopes. Suddenly, I saw the billowing of flames, Buss said. Initially, at least, Eddys XII Corps suffered setbacks as severe as those experienced by Walkers corps to its north. 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. Photo Credit: Men of the U.S. 5th Infantry Division hug the walls in one of the suburbs of Metz in early September 1944. Click here for our comprehensive information resource on the society, ideology, and key events in Nazi Germany. By the end of the day on September 22, the 111th Panzer Brigade had only seven tanks from an original strength of 90 when the offensive started a week before. "The pause that refreshes." The general told the troops around him. By early afternoon, the Germans were fighting their way into the southern end of the town. To compensate for a reduction in forces, the main objective was switched to a strike toward Nancy to relieve those elements of the 553rd Volksgrenadier still fighting their way out of the tightening pocket. British sappers built another Rhine bridge, "Blackfriars", by noon. 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. You can also buy the book by clicking on the buttons to the left. To succeed in Lorraine, Patton would have to exercise careful planning, make quick tactical adjustments, and adjust his goals and expectations when the weather failed to cooperate. Lieutenant-General Brian Horrocks of XXX Corps commented later that, although they heard stories of German soldiers surrendering in their thousands at other places, the German troops encountered in XXX Corps' area were extremely fanatical in defence of their homeland. As for Patton, he incorrectly dismissed the action as nothing more than another failed local counterattack. Patton had been correct that the Germans possessed no defense in depth immediately after Third Army crossed the Moselle. Because Knobelsdorff had no better luck than Manteuffel against the Americans, Balck returned control of the offensive back to Manteuffel. He received the Bronze Star and was shot on or about 28 September, 1944. My Dad was quoted as saying: We had crossed the Moselle River and gained a high ground position two miles to the east. Fearing Hitlers ire, Blaskowitz berated Manteuffel for failing to make any noticeable gains and ordered him to continue the counterattack regardless of the losses incurred. The attack on the 25th was not substantial enough to disrupt a shuffling of U.S. forces in the Arracourt sector. Total losses for the day were five Shermans and more than 40 Panther and Mark IV tanks. From the standpoint of losses in men and equipment, the Arracourt battles were a resounding victory for the Americans. 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. 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. 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. Distinguished Unit Citations: 11. Through skilled use of defensive positions, the Americans stopped the Germans from capturing the town. In preparation for his counterattack, Hitler made several key command changes. Until now, I cant find a webpage, book or other source for an . Nevertheless, the Germans established strong defensive positions in two dilapidated French fortresses that effectively blocked the western approaches to the city. For the crossing 8,000 Royal Engineers came under command of the C.E. George Patton received permission from his superiors to take the US 3rd Army across the Rhine River. Patton's troops beat Montgomery across the Rhine by one day. Rather than give command of the U.S. First Army in the D-Day invasion to Old Blood and Guts, Ike gave it to Lt. Gen. Omar Bradley, a commander who had served directly under Patton in North Africa and Sicily. The pause that refreshes. The general told the troops around him. Click here for our comprehensive information resource on the society, ideology, and key events in Nazi Germany. BATTLE OF THE BULGE is scrolled underneath. The goal of this It was significant to the Allies because it offered a gateway between the Ardennes and Vosges Mountains, through which Allied forces might reach Germany. First, it is aiming to offer interesting ww2dbaseSource: Meanwhile, the western thrust of the 113th Panzer Brigade that morning ran headlong into a platoon of four Hellcats from the 704th TD Battalion, which had been informed of an attack that morning and taken a defensive position in a depression in the landscape. Our database is searchable by subject and updated continuously. 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