patton crossing the rhine

During the fighting around Juvelize, the Americans lost 14 Shermans and 7 Stuarts. 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. He received the Bronze Star and was shot on or about 28 September, 1944. The 37th Tank Battalion would get no rest on September 20. 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. . Pattons triumph of the summer in which Third Army raced across France against light opposition had given way to the hard reality of bitter fighting along the Moselle line. 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. In addition, Wood ordered CCB to shift to CCAs right flank to cover the ground between Rechicourt and the Marne-Rhine Canal. Like his counterpart, Balck was loath to go on the defensive but found he had no choice. The Commanders: The Leadership Journeys of George Patton, Bernard Montgomery, and Erwin Rommel. 9th AID M3 Half-tracks advancing through Engers, Germany, 27 March 1945. Haislips arrival in early September disrupted a key element of Hitlers plan for a counterattack against Third Army by denying the Germans a staging area on the west side of the Moselle from which they might isolate American forces on the east side. The attack on the 25th was not substantial enough to disrupt a shuffling of U.S. forces in the Arracourt sector. News of the crossing made it around the world. Pattons rapid advance across France came to an abrupt halt at Metz, due to fuel shortages, deteriorating weather conditions, and increased enemy resistance. I was convinced then there were no Germans ahead of us except those we were actually fighting. The Sherman crews could do little to deter the advancing Panthers because of the excellent sloped and thick frontal armor the enemy tanks possessed. 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. Total losses for the day were five Shermans and more than 40 Panther and Mark IV tanks. Still, Walkers XX Corps remained stalled before Metz, even though Eddys XII Corps had advanced well beyond its Moselle bridgeheads. The Rhine is no ordinary river. 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. 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. Beyond the German front lines, US aircraft harassed retreating German columns, destroying 246 trucks and 241 railway wagons. The 9th Armored Division quickly expanded the bridgehead into a full scale crossing. Patton drove to the XII Corps front on September 19, where he met first with Eddy and later with Wood. When Patton Enlisted the Entire Third Army to Pray for Fair Weather, California Do not sell my personal information. 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. The Rhine itself was symbolic of the entrance into Germany from Western Europe and had historically stood as a natural barrier against invasion. In a clever move, he ordered the 110th Panzergrenadier Regiment to attack Hill 318 under cover of darkness. 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. 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. Whats more, his decision to advance on a broad front ran contrary to the general understanding that it was necessary to concentrate forces to create a sizable breach worthy of exploiting in the enemys main line. This meant that two columns of tanks and half-tracks from the 113th would have to carry the objective themselves. Hitler also made preparations for the creation of a new Fifth Army to be led by Manteuffel. George Patton's US 5th Division crossed the Rhine River during the night of 22 Mar 1945, establishing a six-mile deep bridgehead after capturing 19,000 demoralized German troops. Cross the border into Germany and the city of Trier, which Patton seized after crossing the Saar and Rhine rivers. He wanted a quick, spectacular crossing that would produce newspaper headlines in the manner of This article is also part of our extensive collection of articles on the second World War. The 134th Infantry Regiment was ordered to cross on the left below Nancy, and the 137th Infantry Regiment on the right. Distinguished Unit Citations: 11. Meanwhile, US Third Army reached Siegen, Germany. 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? The final stage of World War II in the European Theatre commenced with the Western Allied invasion of Germany. 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. 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. Meanwhile, British 2nd Army began an offensive towards the Elbe River. Overseas: 26 August 1944. 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. 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 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. The 134th was fortunate to find a bridge intact and threw a battalion across the river. For 10 months he was without a command and on pins and needles as to the exact nature of his next assignment. Please refrain from using strong language. We figured we had a perfectly good boat. 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. 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. 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. Old Blood and Gutss fixation with supply problems and haggling with his superiors over reinforcements had distracted him from the detailed planning necessary to get Third Armys divisions across the Moselle as quickly as possible. Left: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, in the company of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery and a party of U.S. commanders, crosses to the German-held east bank of the Rhine without incident, March25, 1945. They rose through the branches of the trees to a height of 60 feet. 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. They swooped in at extremely low level, catching the German tank crews by surprise. In other words, they had no depth, Patton said. 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. As Pattons Third Army approached the Meuse River in late August, it paused before pushing into the Lorraine region. Initially, at least, Eddys XII Corps suffered setbacks as severe as those experienced by Walkers corps to its north. Both sides employed heavy guns to shell enemy forces clinging to their respective slopes. 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. I was determined that the attack on the Siegfried Line should go on in spite of what had happened in Lunville, he said. Unlike Patton, Churchill forbade photographs of the occasion. All comment submissions will become the property of WW2DB. In effort to ensure greater success, Manteuffel ordered a detailed reconnaissance of enemy positions. All visitor submitted comments are opinions of those making the submissions and do not reflect views of WW2DB. "My dear General", Winston Churchill said to the American general as they met the next morning, "the German is whipped. Bradley told General George S. Pattonwhose U.S. Third Army had been fighting through the Palatinateto "take the Rhine on the run". But his request was denied as by then both sides had shifted the bulk of their resources to the northern sector. 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. Nevertheless, the Germans established strong defensive positions in two dilapidated French fortresses that effectively blocked the western approaches to the city. After the completion of the Battle in The Ardennes, Patton and his Army turned to the south and east attacking toward the Rhine. HistoryOnTheNet 2000-2019. This kind of came as a surprise, but everything was so well prepared for us, recalled Tucker. This article is part of our larger selection of postsabout the George S. Patton. Luttwitz would strike north toward Lunville, while Krueger would push west along the south side of the Marne-Rhine Canal toward the town. March 22, 1945 On this date in 1945, one day before the British 21st Army Group under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery was due to launch Operation Plunder, the long-awaited northern offensive across the Rhine River at Rees and Wesel in North Rhine-Westphalia, Gen. George S. Patton sneaked a division of his U.S. Third Army across the Rhine at Oppenheim, lower on the river and south of Mainz. In Germany, US Third Army captured Darmstadt and reached Main, allowing the linking up with US Seventh Army near Worms. "The pause that refreshes." The general told the troops around him. The Shermans therefore attempted to use the ridge for cover and engage the Panthers head-on, with disappointing results. 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. 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. As a result, the 112th Panzer Brigade lost 69 of its 90 tanks. 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. 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. 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 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. Because the raising of fresh Volksgrenadier divisions and panzer brigades would take time, Hitler transferred two crack divisions, General Hans Heckers 3rd Panzergrenadier and General-Lieutenant Eberhard Rodts 15th Panzergrenadier, by train from the Italian front. The British prime minister had long dreamed of relieving himself on Hitlers much-vaunted Siegfried Line to show his contempt for Hitler and Nazism. I know that he carried the BAR and he was in Company A, 359th Infantry Regiment. He made his way halfway across the bridge before suddenly halting. On the banks of the Rhine River the British Royal Corps of Engineers completed the construction of a Class 9 bridge "Waterloo Bridge" at 0100 hours and a Class 15 bridge "Lambeth Bridge" at 0830 hours. Leslie Mansfield, (daughter). This crossing was an important step in bringing the conflict to a close on May 8th, 1945. 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. This article is also part of our extensive collection of articles on the second World War. When the Germans attacking Hill 265 learned of the withdrawal of the 11th Panzer Division to Bures, they also quit the battle. 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. Troops of the US Ninth Army finished clearing the Duisberg Pocket in Germany. In 1943 he commanded the U.S. 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. Patton had served with competence and distinction with the U.S. forces throughout Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa. 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. Still, the 137th Infantry Division that same day managed to establish several small bridgeheads on the eastern bank. Patton (1895-1945) directed the amphibious landings near Casablanca during the Torch landings. 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. 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. With the vise tightening on Nancy, Blaskowitz ordered the 553rd Volksgrenadier Division to pull out of the Nancy pocket before it was cut off. The Panzergrenadiers methodically fought their way up the southern slope, clearing Americans from their foxholes. Patton celebrated the victory by stopping on a treadway bridge his men had built and relieving himself into the river. He is all through. But where he crossed the Main? McLain issued orders for the nearest infantry regiments to converge on the enemy column. For the Allied high command, the all-out assault across the Rhine was hugely important because crossing the river, the historic boundary of German power in the west, rang the death knell on the lunacy and bestiality of Hitlers Thousand Year Reich. Wietersheim ordered the battle group to break off its attack until the following day so that reinforcements could be sent to Bures. 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. Objekt des Monats Mrz: Rhine River Crossing Memorial. 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. C. Peter Chen of Lava Development, LLC. 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. Suddenly, I saw the billowing of flames, Buss said. The Lorraine campaign would test Patton and his men as they had never been tested before. 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. Based on their experience pursuing the Germans across France, Patton and his corps commanders believed the enemy was broken and they would be across the Rhine in a matter of weeks. The strike destroyed five Panthers and 20 half-tracks. A spearhead of the 317th Infantry Regiment crossed the river in boats, but the following morning they were bombarded by German artillery and mortars, which forced them into their foxholes. Scouts from the U.S. 42nd Cavalry Squadron detected a German column approachingfrom the south toward Lunville at 7 am on September 18. 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. The Germans attacked again in the vicinity of Rechicourt in the afternoon, but after losing another nine tanks they broke off the action. Site created in November 2000. 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. Look for the Monument Patton and stop by the General Patton Memorial Museum. For inquiries about military records for members of the World War II armed forces, please see our FAQ. Please use this data for any reference citations. 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. He engineered the Normandy breakout and was made commander of the Twelfth Army Group. 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. They did a lot of grumbling.. 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 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. 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. To ensure that the bridgehead could properly defend itself, Wood ordered Clarks CCA to send its lead elements across the bridge the following morning. Units of the Canadian First Army, British Second Army, and the U.S. 2. 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. 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. That same day Third Army received about 240,000 gallons of fuel, which was sufficient to resume its advance the following day. Seventh Army during the Sicilian campaign ( Operation Husky ), and in August 1944 his Third Army became operational in northern France. This operation to cross the northern Rhine River launched in the night of 23 Mar 1945. 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. 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. Thank you. Two days earlier, Patton had told Maj. Gen. Manton Eddy that his XII Corps would lead the way. 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. 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] ww2dbaseAs the Allied forces gathered on the west banks of the Rhine River, it was no longer a matter of surprise. 1. 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 crossing would be difficult with German mortar and artillery guns already trained at river crossings. 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. 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. Meanwhile, Patton acknowledged that he might have to delay his advance east. Through skilled use of defensive positions, the Americans stopped the Germans from capturing the town. This was because Third Army, and the other Allied armies racing to its north, had stretched their supply lines until they snapped. Taken together, the losses seriously compromised the impending large-scale counterattack that Manteuffel was charged with executing. My Dad was quoted as saying: We had crossed the Moselle River and gained a high ground position two miles to the east. Geplant war eine Flussberquerung, die nach dem Willen des Oberkommandierenden berraschend, schnell und spektakulr werden sollte. 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]. 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. So he decided to imitate William the Conquerors entrance into England before leading Norman forces in their heroic conquest of the entire island in 1066. The Germans, who observed the Americans pulling out of Juvelize, occupied the abandoned town the following day. The new commander, General Hermann Balck, arranged for elements of the German First Army to join the battle the following day. Charging up the slope after nightfall, the Germans once again seized the crest, forcing the Americans to retreat to the northern slope. Major General Clarence Huebner's V Corps made rapid advances with relative ease. Even Hitlers closest supporters like Heinrich Himmler and Joseph Goebbels could clearly hear the clanging bell. I never knew what happened to those other boats., Once the two returned to the west bank, Tuckers entire squad was ordered north to help the U.S. Navy. Over the next four days, CCA raided the countryside around Arracourt, managing to destroy more enemy tanks and vehicles at a cost of only a half dozen M4 Sherman tanks. The crossing was led by a heavy artillery shelling and supplemented by an airborne operation (Operation Varsity) by the American 17th Airborne Division and the British 6th Airborne Division. In Washington, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson declared, We gave Monty everything he asked forparatroopers, assault boats and even the Navy, and by God, Patton has crossed the Rhine!. If so, please consider supporting us on Patreon. Pattons notion that Third Army could cross the Moselle with ease and cover the 40 miles from the river to the West Wall in a matter of weeks had been shattered by Manteuffels determined, if futile, counterattack in September. Days of Combat: 91. 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. events, and resources, Patton in Lorraine: Breaking the Moselle Line. News of the crossing made it around the world. Patton's troops beat Montgomery across the Rhine by one day. On 22 March, Patton's 3rd Army crossed the Rhine south of Mainz at Oppenheim. Eddys XII Corps, on the right flank, began moving up to the Moselle that same day, and Walkers XX Corps, on the left flank, started its advance the following day. Since the days of the Roman Empire it has served as central Germany's traditional defense against invasion from the west. When the Germans attempted to withdraw, they found their escape route blocked by the 359th Infantry Regiment moving east to cut them off. 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 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. We were surprised the Navy was there, he commented, and the Navy was surprised they were so far away from the ocean. After 48 hours of hard fighting, the bridgehead was abandoned. The next morning, elements of the 3rd Panzergrenadier Division overran the bridgehead, killing 300 Americans. site is two fold. The flames were transparent orange, rising with startling swiftness. Unlike Manteuffels forces, Knobelsdorffs had artillery with which to support an attack. 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. All rights reserved. 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.
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