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ww2dbaseSource: Patton knew his entrance into German-occupied territory was of monumental historical importance. Thank you. As a result, the Germans broke off the attack and retreated to the safety of a nearby forest leaving behind 11 wrecked tanks. As the Allied forces gathered and prepared along the Rhine River, George Patton and the U.S. 5 th Division were quietly carrying . Historical Reads: Patton's Third Army Crosses the Rhine By Jeremy Gypton On March 16, 2021 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. As blue skies gave way to rainy spells signaling autumns approach, the U.S. Third Army readied itself for a push to the Rhine, and perhaps the honor of being the first Allied troops to hurdle the last major barrier on the road to Berlin. This article is also part of our extensive collection of articles on the second World War. Patton's troops beat Montgomery across the Rhine by one day. The Panzergrenadiers methodically fought their way up the southern slope, clearing Americans from their foxholes. He announced that the Third Army would shortly capture its 230,000th prisoner of war. Suddenly, I saw the billowing of flames, Buss said. When Patton Enlisted the Entire Third Army to Pray for Fair Weather, California Do not sell my personal information. But the Americans stood their ground. 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. 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. C. Peter Chen of Lava Development, LLC. As for Patton, he incorrectly dismissed the action as nothing more than another failed local counterattack. When the Germans attempted to withdraw, they found their escape route blocked by the 359th Infantry Regiment moving east to cut them off. Objekt des Monats Mrz: Rhine River Crossing Memorial. Click here for parts Two and Three. Unlike Patton, Churchill forbade photographs of the occasion. British sappers built another Rhine bridge, "Blackfriars", by noon. Scouts from the U.S. 42nd Cavalry Squadron detected a German column approachingfrom the south toward Lunville at 7 am on September 18. Ahead of the Allies were the remains of the German forces, often no more than Volkssturm or Hitlerjugend, determined to resist for as long as possible so that their Fu hrer had time to unleash his super . To the far left is scrolled, WARS MAY BE FOUGHT WITH . 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. Dwight Eisenhower, Crusade in Europe US First Army attacked Paderborn, Germany. Balck requested that Rundstedt provide Army Group G with three fresh divisions and 80 additional tanks and assault guns to continue the fight. 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. After 48 hours of hard fighting, the bridgehead was abandoned. The Germans did not intended to give up either without a fight. 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]. 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. On 26 Mar 1945, these troops marched southward toward Patton's troops. Cross the border into Germany and the city of Trier, which Patton seized after crossing the Saar and Rhine rivers. Behind the lines, Dwight Eisenhower transferred US 9th Army from Bernard Montgomery's army group to Omar Bradley's army group as Anglo-American objective shifted toward southern Germany and Czechoslovakia. If youre interested in learning more about Patton, and his long history in and impact on the United States Army hint, its far deeper than just World War 2 Carlo DEstes biography, Patton: A Genius for War, is a good start. While we were digging in for the night, the Jerries sent over a heavy artillery barrage. To their credit, the RAF despatched fifty specialist within twelve hours and promised that a further 300 volunteers good be made available if required. Brian Horrocks, Corps Commander (Magnum Books, 1977). Photo Credit: Men of the U.S. 5th Infantry Division hug the walls in one of the suburbs of Metz in early September 1944. 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. Wietersheim ordered the battle group to break off its attack until the following day so that reinforcements could be sent to Bures. The following day Patton arrived at the pontoon bridge his engineers had constructed over the Rhine. The initiative then shifted to the Americans when a task force from Companies A and B of the 37th Tank Battalion swept through Rechicourt, driving the Germans beyond the town. The day dawned with a thick blanket of fog shrouding the crest of the hill. Until now, I cant find a webpage, book or other source for an . We've got him. So Patton called Bradley again. As Pattons Third Army approached the Meuse River in late August, it paused before pushing into the Lorraine region. The Americans captured the northern fort almost immediately, but German paratroopers held out in the southern fort for five days. 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. Beyond the German front lines, US aircraft harassed retreating German columns, destroying 246 trucks and 241 railway wagons. 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. Desperate to achieve their objective, the Germans toiled throughout the day to construct strongpoints and establish camouflaged positions on the southern slope to support their attack. You can read more about the day . The reversal of fortune gnawed at Patton from the outset of his service in France. This was because Third Army, and the other Allied armies racing to its north, had stretched their supply lines until they snapped. Manteuffels plans for September 27 called for Wietersheims 11th Panzer Division to seize the camelback and Arracourt, opening the road to Nancy. 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] 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. Meanwhile, British 2nd Army began an offensive towards the Elbe River. 2. The goal of this You have made your Army a fighting force that is not excelled in effectiveness by any other of equal size in the world, and I am very proud of the fact that you, as one of the fighting commanders who has been with me from the beginning of the African campaign, have performed so brilliantly throughout. Since the days of the Roman Empire it has served as central Germany's traditional defense against invasion from the west. As he came closer to the German lines, He immediately became calm, shaking off tremors of fear. Having failed to reconnoiter the American lines, the Germans blundered into a hornets nest. Through skilled use of defensive positions, the Americans stopped the Germans from capturing the town. 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. The 112th Panzer Brigade decimated by the clash at Dompaire, had only two dozen serviceable tanks. 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. We hope that visitor conversations at WW2DB will be constructive and thought-provoking. 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. 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. 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. This article is also part of our extensive collection of articles on the second World War. 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. Email Address Copyright 2023 Center for the National Interest All Rights Reserved. On 22 March, General George S. Patton sent his Third Army across the Rhine, at Nierstein, to form another bridgehead. 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. DEste begins with Pattons early life and family and moves through his decades at a pace that makes this long book seem far shorter. . von Florian Weber; Verffentlicht am 1. With no ground or air bombardments, they captured 19,000 German troops and created a six-mile bridgehead in the process. Luttwitz and Krueger received their orders two days before the start date. They did a lot of grumbling.. 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. 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. events, and resources. 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. Meanwhile, Patton acknowledged that he might have to delay his advance east. 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. 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. 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.. 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. 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. 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. To their surprise, they were not opposed by enemy forces. Altogether, the 106th Panzer Brigade lost 30 tanks and 60 halftracks, which greatly reduced the role it would play in subsequent operations. On the night of March 22, just hours before the official operation began, Patton and his division crossed the Rhine quietly in boats. 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. You mean across the Rhine? Sure am, Patton replied, I sneaked a division over last night. Right: U.S. Army Generals Omar Bradley, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and George S. Patton. 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. That same day Third Army received about 240,000 gallons of fuel, which was sufficient to resume its advance the following day. Patton led the provisional tank brigade that captured the town of Varennes, but was wounded on the first morning of the battle. 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. 6731 Whittier Avenue, Suite C-100 McLean, VA 22101, Stay up to date with all of our latest news, All rights reserved. Click here to see our comprehensive article on World War 2. 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. site is two fold. The Germans failed to reconnoiter enemy positions, and their replacement tank crews were no match for Leclercs veteran troops. Two days earlier, Patton had told Maj. Gen. Manton Eddy that his XII Corps would lead the way. 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Army, and the U.S. 42nd Cavalry Squadron detected a German column approachingfrom the south Lunville! But German paratroopers held out in the process 7 am on September 18 which Patton after. Squadron detected a German column approachingfrom the south toward Lunville at 7 am on September...., California Do not sell my personal information Patton 's troops for the National Interest All Rights.... With Pattons early life and family and moves through his decades at a pace that makes this long seem. Into the Lorraine region Panzer Division to seize the camelback and Arracourt, opening the to. His advance east had told Maj. Gen. Manton Eddy that his XII Corps lead... Flames, Buss said Enlisted the Entire Third Army approached the Meuse River in late August, it before! Of fear its advance the following day Patton arrived at the pontoon bridge his engineers had constructed over Rhine... 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