Captain Richard Lamison, commanding Company C, took four Shermans and raced south along a ridge to another ambush position. 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. From there, Third Army would advance along a northeast route of march toward the fortified West Wall. The Crossing of the Rhine River. As US Third Army made another Rhine River crossing near Worms, Germany, British Second Army and Canadian First Army launched their assaults across the Rhine River north of the Ruhr River. Instead, the final orders that Blaskowitz gave to Manteuffel called for a two-pronged strike northwest to disrupt the advance of the U.S. 4th Armored Division and retake the crossroads at Chateau-Salins. In addition, Wood ordered CCB to shift to CCAs right flank to cover the ground between Rechicourt and the Marne-Rhine Canal. Wietersheim ordered the battle group to break off its attack until the following day so that reinforcements could be sent to Bures. Through skilled use of defensive positions, the Americans stopped the Germans from capturing the town. 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. 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. This dramatic entrance to the battle by CCA caught the Germans off guard and paid large dividends. The plan focused on Wesel, with multiple crossings set to occur along a 22-mile front on the evening of 23 March. The task before Third Army was to establish bridgeheads across the Moselle that would enable it to capture the two strategic towns. and useful information about WW2. Eddy was tasked with locating possible crossing points above and below Nancy, while Walker was instructed to do the same above and below Metz. 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. Above and below Nancy, the Germans were content to wait for the Allies to attempt to cross the Moselle and launch local counterattacks in an effort to contain or eliminate the bridgeheads. Meanwhile the construction of an even larger Class 40 bridge "London Bridge" continued and was completed by midnight. When I looked for a second target, it was gone.. 2. 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. Suddenly, I saw the billowing of flames, Buss said. Second, it is to showcase 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. 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. 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. Patton told Wood to strike east the following day in the belief that it would keep the Germans off balance. This operation initially called for an air drop by the troops of the US 13th Airborne Division, but as the German defenses crumbled, the airborne operation was called off. 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. At Nierstein assault troops did not meet any resistance. (To be fair to the British 21st Army Group, their Rhine crossings were marshy (Wesel) and twice as wide, with the river carrying a far higher volume of water than the crossings consigned to the U.S. Third and Seventh Armies and the French First Army, meaning that Montgomery could not possibly cross the Rhine on the run.) The next day Patton, showing his contempt for the enemy, made good on his pledge to piss in the Rhine in a week, which he did from a pontoon bridge in full view of his men and news cameras. Altogether, the 106th Panzer Brigade lost 30 tanks and 60 halftracks, which greatly reduced the role it would play in subsequent operations. 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. Geplant war eine Flussberquerung, die nach dem Willen des Oberkommandierenden berraschend, schnell und spektakulr werden sollte. He engineered the Normandy breakout and was made commander of the Twelfth Army Group. He made his way halfway across the bridge before suddenly halting. 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. U.S. Army personnel cross the Ludendorff Bridge "CROSS THE RHINE WITH DRY FEET COURTESY OF 9TH ARM'D DIV". This meant that two columns of tanks and half-tracks from the 113th would have to carry the objective themselves. 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. 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. Meanwhile, Patton acknowledged that he might have to delay his advance east. 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 the end of the day the Germans had lost a dozen Mark IVs and six Panthers. Once Third Army reached the West Wall, Patton intended to concentrate his forces to achieve a breach. Lying astride Third Armys route of advance were the key cities of Metz and Nancy, both of which are located on the east bank of the Moselle. For Gods sake send some gasoline. Neither a patient nor defensive-minded commander, Patton seems not to have hindered his promotion to the temporary rank of four-star general in April by acting or remarking as he did. 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. The goal of this Bradley told General George S. Pattonwhose U.S. Third Army had been fighting through the Palatinateto "take the Rhine on the run". 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. Thank You, Our database is searchable by subject and updated continuously. Patton simply used ad hoc tactics to push the 5th Infantry across. CROSSING THE RHINE. Meanwhile, US Third Army captured Aschaffenburg, Germany, 40 kilometers to the southeast. 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. Some of the hardest fighting was done by the 704th Tank Destroyer (TD) Battalion. Anthony Read and David Fisher, The Fall of Berlin. This was the greatest airborne operation of the war. 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. Until sufficient forces were gathered for the counterattack, the frontline troops were ordered to defend as many crossing points along the Moselle as possible between Nancy and Metz. On 26 Mar 1945, these troops marched southward toward Patton's troops. Pattons third corps, Troy Middletons VIII Corps, had been detached and assigned to mop up German resistance in Brittany. Frankfort was captured by Allied troops on 29 Mar. BATTLE OF THE BULGE is scrolled underneath. 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. His superior, General Omar Bradley, released news of this crossing to the press "at a time calculated to take some of the luster from the news of Montgomerys crossing." [5] You mean across the Rhine? Sure am, Patton replied, I sneaked a division over last night. All visitor submitted comments are opinions of those making the submissions and do not reflect views of WW2DB. 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. The purpose of this note is to express to you personally my deep appreciation of the splendid way in which you have conducted Third Army operations from the moment it entered battle last August 1. This kind of came as a surprise, but everything was so well prepared for us, recalled Tucker. Like his counterpart, Balck was loath to go on the defensive but found he had no choice. In December he was appointed Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force and planned the July 1944 invasion of Europe (Operation Overlord). The delay would prove a costly one. In Germany, US 1st Army captured Marburg and US 3rd Army captured Limburg am Lahn. He wanted a quick, spectacular crossing that would produce newspaper headlines in the manner of German scouts reported to the Fifth Army commander that the crossroads of Moyenvic, four miles northeast of Arracourt and three miles west of Juvelize, was unguarded and could readily serve as the gateway for an attack. Further south, where the river was narrower, Patton's Third Army vaulted the Rhine with its customary elan, as did Devers' Sixth Army Group. Click here for our comprehensive information resource on the society, ideology, and key events in Nazi Germany. As expected, the Germans counterattacked at 1 pm on September 13 just as CCA began crossing the bridge. 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. Not content to wait for the infantry, the vanguard of Dagers CCB managed to ford the Moselle at Bayon, where the rivers height was substantially lower because water was diverted to fill canals on each side. Using speed to its advantage, Third Army roared across two bridges over the Meuse River on August 31 before German forces could demolish them and slow the American advance. Patton (1895-1945) directed the amphibious landings near Casablanca during the Torch landings. We've got him. He believed that it would leave too long of a left flank vulnerable to German counter offensives. The Germans attacked along the entire line on September 29, and Wietersheim committed his final reserve of 40 tanks to the fight for Hill 318. Click here for parts Two and Three. 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. 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. When the Germans attacking Hill 265 learned of the withdrawal of the 11th Panzer Division to Bures, they also quit the battle. He did not expect to encounter substantial resistance until he reached the West Wall. 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. In preparation for his counterattack, Hitler made several key command changes. 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. 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. It began with the crossing of the River Rhine in March 1945, with forces fanning out and overrunning all of Western Germany until their final surrender on May 8, 1945. To reach the West Wall, XII Corps was to change front to the northeast and push 30 miles from Chateau-Salins to Sarreguemines. Though beaten across the Rhine by Patton's Third Army, Montgomery's meticulous operation shone in its flawless execution. We were surprised the Navy was there, he commented, and the Navy was surprised they were so far away from the ocean. That remained the case in the first months of 1945. Click here to see our comprehensive article on World War 2. 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. Love him or hate him, Patton cuts a singular figure in military history, and left a long, complicated legacy for historians, soldiers, and history buffs to consider. Objekt des Monats Mrz: Rhine River Crossing Memorial. 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. Patton was relieved of command in the wake of the incident but was not dismissed from war service. 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. 6731 Whittier Avenue, Suite C-100 McLean, VA 22101, Stay up to date with all of our latest news, 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. 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. 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. Two days earlier, Patton had told Maj. Gen. Manton Eddy that his XII Corps would lead the way. A week before the Rhine crossing, Patton had held a press conference in which he delivered a classic performance, mixing the humorous, provocative, and the profane. Subsequently VIII Corps made two additional crossings downstream, to the south of Koblenz. Luttwitz would strike north toward Lunville, while Krueger would push west along the south side of the Marne-Rhine Canal toward the town. George Patton received permission from his superiors to take the US 3rd Army across the Rhine River. 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 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. On 22 March, Patton's 3rd Army crossed the Rhine south of Mainz at Oppenheim. Lloyd Clark. Still, Walkers XX Corps remained stalled before Metz, even though Eddys XII Corps had advanced well beyond its Moselle bridgeheads. When Patton Enlisted the Entire Third Army to Pray for Fair Weather, California Do not sell my personal information. 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. (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.) . 140 kilometers to the north, British Second Army captured Wesel, Germany. This article is also part of our extensive collection of articles on the second World War. Once again, Company C of the 704th TD Battalion rushed forward to delay the advance supported by P-47s firing rockets and machine guns. Patton similarly arose, clutching two handfuls of German earth in his fingers, and exclaimed, Thus, William the Conqueror!That evening Patton sent a communiqu to General Eisenhower: Dear SHAEF [Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force], I have just pissed into the Rhine River. 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. On March 22nd, 1945, elements of the United States Third Army, under the command of Lieutenant General George S. Patton, crossed the Rhine River at Oppenheim, south of Mainz. I was determined that the attack on the Siegfried Line should go on in spite of what had happened in Lunville, he said. To cover CCBs former position in the line, Baades 35th Infantry Division advanced to a new position west of Chateau-Salins. McLain issued orders for the nearest infantry regiments to converge on the enemy column. . 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. The World War II Database is founded and managed by 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. The 37th Tank Battalion would get no rest on September 20. 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. Weeks ahead of his rival, British Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, Patton fought his own higher command structure nearly as hard as he did the Germans, making impolitic comments in public, moving farther and more aggressively than ordered, and even having his troops pose as First Army soldiers in order to steal fuel from that units stores in order to maintain their own advance to the east. While waiting for fuel to arrive with which to resume his eastward advance, Patton received good news from Bradley on September 4 that he would soon receive reinforcements in the form of Maj. Gen. Wade Haislips XV Corps, which would guard his right flank against German forces retreating up the Rhone Valley. The strike destroyed five Panthers and 20 half-tracks. To their credit, the RAF despatched fifty specialist within twelve hours and promised that a further 300 volunteers good be made available if required. The Germans failed to reconnoiter enemy positions, and their replacement tank crews were no match for Leclercs veteran troops. Even Hitlers closest supporters like Heinrich Himmler and Joseph Goebbels could clearly hear the clanging bell. Patton received orders from Bradley on September 23 to switch to a defensive position until further notice. In fact, it was the first time an invading force had crossed the Rhein into Germany since Napoleon! 2nd Lt. Richard Buss, commanding a platoon of M18s, ordered one of his vehicles to take up a well-protected position behind a railroad embankment with only its barrel visible. But its fortune ended there. 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. As Pattons Third Army approached the Meuse River in late August, it paused before pushing into the Lorraine region. Another 2,153 fighters supported the ground operations. Patton had seriously underestimated the Germans ability to recover from setbacks and mount a tenacious defense as the Western Allies neared the German border. The Germans did not intended to give up either without a fight. Next is an image of Patton crossing the Rhine into Germany with a convoy of troops, supply trucks, troop caravan and an M4 Sherman Tank. 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. Patton celebrated the victory by stopping on a treadway bridge his men had built and relieving himself into the river. Equally devastating was the loss of both panzer brigade commanders during the two-day assault on CCAs left flank. 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. This was because Third Army, and the other Allied armies racing to its north, had stretched their supply lines until they snapped. 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. To descend the ridge and maneuver against the Panthers would have exposed the Shermans to the Panthers highly effective guns. This adventurous expedition, however, was later criticized by Eisenhower as far too daring, and noted that had Eisenhower been there he would never have permitted Churchill to cross the river at that time, just as Eisenhower had fought to stop Churchill from observing the Normandy landings in France. Having failed to reconnoiter the American lines, the Germans blundered into a hornets nest. 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. 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. By the end of 24 Mar 1945, the German airfields were so damaged that the Luftwaffe practically ceased to exist on this front. Meanwhile, British 2nd Army began an offensive towards the Elbe River. While we were digging in for the night, the Jerries sent over a heavy artillery barrage. By September 7, U.S. armored reconnaissance units had reached the Moselle despite resistance from Germans still on the west bank. North of Metz, Third Armys left flank lay exposed, and Knobelsdorff sent the 106th Panzer Brigade to attack the Americans in an effort to keep them off balance and slow their efforts to cross the Moselle. Effective guns Line should go on the society, ideology, and the other armies. Night, the 106th Panzer Brigade commanders during the Torch landings on September.... 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