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. The Germans did not intended to give up either without a fight. . 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. 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. 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. 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. In effort to ensure greater success, Manteuffel ordered a detailed reconnaissance of enemy positions. 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. Patton was chomping at the bit to get at the Germans as soon as he arrived in France, and Bradley received permission from Ike to activate Third Army on August 1. He wanted a quick, spectacular crossing that would produce newspaper headlines in the manner of From there, the vehicle fired an armor-piercing shell into the side of a Panther in a field 300 yards away. Right: U.S. Army Generals Omar Bradley, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and George S. Patton. His commanding general Omar Bradley, who issued the order for him not to cross to avoid interfering with Bernard Montgomery's operations, did not know of the crossing until the next morning. He announced that the Third Army would shortly capture its 230,000th prisoner of war. Indeed, the advance of Haislips XV Corps prevented German forces from assembling for their attack on the west bank of the Moselle, where they might cut off the forces on the east bank. Most of the forces opposite Pattons Third Army belonged to the German First Army, which was part of General-Colonel Johannes Blaskowitzs Army Group G. Hitler planned to increase the forces opposite Patton to the point that they would be capable of launching a strong counterattack that would rock Third Army back on its heels. It was significant to the Allies because it offered a gateway between the Ardennes and Vosges Mountains, through which Allied forces might reach 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 134th Infantry Regiment was ordered to cross on the left below Nancy, and the 137th Infantry Regiment on the right. Gen. Otto Weylands XIX Tactical Air Command. ww2dbaseAll this, plus the assembly of vast amounts of troops, assault boats, Buffaloes, guns etc. 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. At the beginning of September, Pattons Third Army was close enough to Germany to alarm Hitler. The Lorraine campaign would test Patton and his men as they had never been tested before. Altogether, the 106th Panzer Brigade lost 30 tanks and 60 halftracks, which greatly reduced the role it would play in subsequent operations. This meant that CCA was now on the left flank of the Arracourt-Juvelize salient and CCB was on the right. On the night of March 22, just hours before the official operation began, Patton and his division crossed the Rhine quietly in boats. To learn more,click here for our comprehensive guide to General Patton. Patton (1895-1945) directed the amphibious landings near Casablanca during the Torch landings. But by the time Eddy was ready to resume his advance, Manteuffels Fifth Army had materialized as if out of thin air. The Shermans therefore attempted to use the ridge for cover and engage the Panthers head-on, with disappointing results. 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. 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. Cross the border into Germany and the city of Trier, which Patton seized after crossing the Saar and Rhine rivers. In 1943 he commanded the U.S. Following the setback at Pont-a-Mousson, McBride ordered his men to attempt another crossing four miles south at Dieulouard. Both sides employed heavy guns to shell enemy forces clinging to their respective slopes. 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 . 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]. 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. ww2dbaseTo Eisenhower's surprise, the crossing of the Rhine River north of the Ruhr was not met with fierce resistance, and he attributed it to the beginning of the destruction of German morale. The following day Patton arrived at the pontoon bridge his engineers had constructed over the Rhine. By dawn the Germans had seized the crest of Hill 318. The pause that refreshes. The general told the troops around him. The plan called for a diversionary attack at daybreak by elements of the 11th Panzer Division against the 10th Armored Infantry Battalion atop Hill 265, another key position held by the Americans. After the completion of the Battle in The Ardennes, Patton and his Army turned to the south and east attacking toward the Rhine. This post is part of our collection of resources on Nazi Germany. 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. 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. 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. 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.. Yet Abramss 35th Tank Battalion counterattacked in the afternoon and recaptured the town in a fight that inflicted substantial casualties on the Germans. 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. 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. 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. Patton's goal was to cross the Rhine, even if not a single bridge was left standing over which to do it. 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. On 26 Mar 1945, these troops marched southward toward Patton's troops. First, it is aiming to offer interesting Meanwhile the construction of an even larger Class 40 bridge "London Bridge" continued and was completed by midnight. While we were digging in for the night, the Jerries sent over a heavy artillery barrage. I want the world to know Third Army made it before Monty starts across, he shouted. 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. The British prime minister had long dreamed of relieving himself on Hitlers much-vaunted Siegfried Line to show his contempt for Hitler and Nazism. 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. Dwight Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe Occupied Zone in Germany. Significantly, none of the panzer brigades had either organic artillery or reconnaissance vehicles. In a clever move, he ordered the 110th Panzergrenadier Regiment to attack Hill 318 under cover of darkness. To the far left is scrolled, WARS MAY BE FOUGHT WITH . 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. 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. Even Hitlers closest supporters like Heinrich Himmler and Joseph Goebbels could clearly hear the clanging bell. Brian Horrocks, Corps Commander (Magnum Books, 1977). Eddy planned to isolate Nancy in a double envelopment. To cover CCBs former position in the line, Baades 35th Infantry Division advanced to a new position west of Chateau-Salins. Equally devastating was the loss of both panzer brigade commanders during the two-day assault on CCAs left flank. Bradley quickly exploited the opportunity and expanded the bridgehead into a full-scale crossing. 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. Although Heckers division was at nearly full strength, Rodts had been depleted as a result of nearly a year of hard fighting. 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. It was an unusually costly day for the Americans, who lost a dozen Shermans. Unlike Manteuffels forces, Knobelsdorffs had artillery with which to support an attack. Still, the 137th Infantry Division that same day managed to establish several small bridgeheads on the eastern bank. 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