patton crossing the rhine
The German troops knew that the Allied forces were only taking a short time to gather up strength before the invasion into Germany would commence. But by the time Eddy was ready to resume his advance, Manteuffels Fifth Army had materialized as if out of thin air. World War Two Timeline From The Great War To Germanys Surrender. 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 . His pleas fell on deaf ears, and he prepared to make do with the untrained and understrength units he had been given. Whats more, a series of determined counterattacks by the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division kept the U.S. infantry from expanding the bridgehead. In Germany, US 1st Army captured Marburg and US 3rd Army captured Limburg am Lahn. Another 2,153 fighters supported the ground operations. 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. It was an unusually costly day for the Americans, who lost a dozen Shermans. 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. 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. But his cajoling paid off, as Bradley had been working hard to ensure that Haislips XV Corps, which had been helping to clear the lower Seine of German forces, would join Third Army on its southern flank. 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. 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. When I looked for a second target, it was gone.. On 22 March, General George S. Patton sent his Third Army across the Rhine, at Nierstein, to form another bridgehead. Campaigns: Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe. Look for the Monument Patton and stop by the General Patton Memorial Museum. For its part, the 15th Panzergrenadier Division had three dozen Mark IV tanks. Unlike Patton, Churchill forbade photographs of the occasion. Against light opposition, he had secured Morocco during the opening phase of Torch and ably led the U.S. II Corps when selected to replace Maj. Gen. Lloyd Fredenhall after the debacle at Kasserine Pass. The attack on the 25th was not substantial enough to disrupt a shuffling of U.S. forces in the Arracourt sector. Maj. Gen. Leroy Irvins 5th Infantry Division pushed across the swollen waters of the flooded Metz River the following day to gain a precarious bridgehead at Dornot, five miles south of Metz. Overseas: 26 August 1944. Pattons troops beat Montgomery across the Rhine by one day. 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. 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. Lloyd Clark. The delay would prove a costly one. 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. Major General Clarence Huebner's V Corps made rapid advances with relative ease. The Shermans, which went into action in the morning, knocked out eight enemy tanks in quick order. With the vise tightening on Nancy, Blaskowitz ordered the 553rd Volksgrenadier Division to pull out of the Nancy pocket before it was cut off. US First Army attacked Paderborn, Germany. Despite efforts to rush fuel to the frontline units, the Allies were still receiving their fuel from supply dumps in Normandy. 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. Once Third Army reached the West Wall, Patton intended to concentrate his forces to achieve a breach. The day dawned with a thick blanket of fog shrouding the crest of the hill. By early afternoon, the Germans were fighting their way into the southern end of the town. After the completion of the Battle in The Ardennes, Patton and his Army turned to the south and east attacking toward the Rhine. The World War II Database is founded and managed by 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. Manteuffels plans for September 27 called for Wietersheims 11th Panzer Division to seize the camelback and Arracourt, opening the road to Nancy. 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. After two days of hard fighting, the two sides braced for more of the same. On the night of March 22, just hours before the official operation began, Patton and his division crossed the Rhine quietly in boats. It was significant to the Allies because it offered a gateway between the Ardennes and Vosges Mountains, through which Allied forces might reach Germany. Balck expanded the fight by committing units from Knobelsdorffs First Army to the battle on September 24. The very notion was unpalatable to Old Blood and Guts. Both sides employed heavy guns to shell enemy forces clinging to their respective slopes. Thank You, Brian Horrocks, Corps Commander (Magnum Books, 1977). By dawn the Germans had seized the crest of Hill 318. 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. 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. This was the first crossing of the Rhine River by boat by an invading army since Napoleon Bonaparte. 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. I was convinced then there were no Germans ahead of us except those we were actually fighting. Patton was relieved of command in the wake of the incident but was not dismissed from war service. Although the 4th Armored Division lost 48 tanks in the fighting around Arracourt in September, the Germans lost 285, which constituted most of the replacement tanks sent to the Western Front that fall. Leslie Mansfield, (daughter). 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. After some confusion as to the location of their target, which was Maj. Gen. Raymond McLains 90th Division of Walkers XX Corps, the Germans regrouped on the evening of September 7 and advanced after midnight in two columns through the village of Briey toward the American position. To the north, German infantry launched a determined attack to seize Hill 265, but they could not prevail against entrenched forces with a clear advantage in artillery support. The light losses suffered by Abramss battalion were a result of his crews using their mobility to offset the advantage enjoyed by the Panthers long, high-velocity 75mm gun over the Shermans short 75mm gun. He announced that the Third Army would shortly capture its 230,000th prisoner of war. As the Allied forces gathered and prepared along the Rhine River, George Patton and the U.S. 5 th Division were quietly carrying . 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. Patton told Wood to strike east the following day in the belief that it would keep the Germans off balance. The Shermans then retreated behind the crest of the ridge and reappeared at another point to finish off the three remaining Panthers. Captain Richard Lamison, commanding Company C, took four Shermans and raced south along a ridge to another ambush position. ww2dbaseFurther to the south, General Patch's Seventh Army crossed the Rhine River on the same day the Remagen contingent marched forward. Distinguished Unit Citations: 11. To the right side of the center banner WORLD WAR II 75th ANNIVERSARY is Patton in a B-3 Bomber jacket and his name, GEN. GEORGE S. PATTON JR. Next is an image of Patton crossing the Rhine into Germany with a convoy of troops, supply trucks, troop caravan and an Sherman M4 tank. Patton had seriously underestimated the Germans ability to recover from setbacks and mount a tenacious defense as the Western Allies neared the German border. This meant that CCA was now on the left flank of the Arracourt-Juvelize salient and CCB was on the right. The 111th and 113th Panzer Brigades boasted two tank battalions, one of 45 Panthers and the other of 45 Mark IVs. As the Americans prepared to resume their push east, the vanguard of CCA shifted north toward Chateau-Salins. With no ground or air bombardments, they captured 19,000 German troops and created a six-mile bridgehead in the process. To descend the ridge and maneuver against the Panthers would have exposed the Shermans to the Panthers highly effective guns. . 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. Meanwhile the construction of an even larger Class 40 bridge "London Bridge" continued and was completed by midnight. Significantly, none of the panzer brigades had either organic artillery or reconnaissance vehicles. March 22nd, 2020 - Palatinate Chapter member visits the commemorative site of Patton's historic crossing of the Rhine. 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. Eisenhower (18901969) was chosen in July 1942 to head Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of French North Africa in November 1943. 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. On the night of March 22, 1945, elements of the Third Army crossed the Rhine at the German town of Oppenheim. Patton immediately issued orders to Eddy and Walker to proceed with reconnaissance-in-force missions to determine the best points at which to cross the Moselle. He wanted a quick, spectacular crossing that would produce newspaper headlines in the manner of Meanwhile, British 2nd Army began an offensive towards the Elbe River. The Commanders: The Leadership Journeys of George Patton, Bernard Montgomery, and Erwin Rommel. 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. Patton began drafting plans for Third Armys advance east toward the Rhine as early as September 14. Although Heckers division was at nearly full strength, Rodts had been depleted as a result of nearly a year of hard fighting. Two days earlier, Patton had told Maj. Gen. Manton Eddy that his XII Corps would lead the way. To the far left is scrolled, WARS MAY BE FOUGHT WITH . As expected, the Germans counterattacked at 1 pm on September 13 just as CCA began crossing the bridge. General der Panzertruppen Walter Kruegers 58th Corps, which formed the right wing, comprised the 15th Panzergrenadier Division and the also untested but intact 113th Panzer Brigade. ww2dbaseAll this, plus the assembly of vast amounts of troops, assault boats, Buffaloes, guns etc. 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 Toul, where a great bend in the Moselle channeled the Moselle away from Nancy, the Germans were content to allow McBrides 319th Infantry Regiment to cross unopposed on September 5. 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. By September 10, Baades 35th Infantry Division was in force along the western bank of the Moselle south of Nancy. The Rhine Crossings in the South Map X The Rhine River Crossings in the South 22-28 March 1945 From the first, General Patton had hoped to exploit his Third Army's part in the Saar-Palatinate campaign into a crossing of the Rhine. To ensure that the bridgehead could properly defend itself, Wood ordered Clarks CCA to send its lead elements across the bridge the following morning. 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. 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. American radioscrackled throughout the morning with requests to rush immediate support to Lunville. 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. Though beaten across the Rhine by Patton's Third Army, Montgomery's meticulous operation shone in its flawless execution. But various factors were at work to derail those hopes. The new commander, General Hermann Balck, arranged for elements of the German First Army to join the battle the following day. In December he was appointed Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force and planned the July 1944 invasion of Europe (Operation Overlord). We've got him. He later went as far as the railway bridge at Wesel by Montgomery's staff car, a bridge that was still under enemy fire. So dont make any announcementwell keep it a secret until we see how it goes.. 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. 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. 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. Hardcover. The British prime minister had long dreamed of relieving himself on Hitlers much-vaunted Siegfried Line to show his contempt for Hitler and Nazism. ", ww2dbaseAdditional Contribution by Alan Chanter. The Panthersknocked out three of the lightly armored HMCs in short order. Our database is searchable by subject and updated continuously. Two days earlier, Patton had told Maj. Gen. Manton Eddy that his XII Corps would lead the way. 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. 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. In late March 1945, Gen. George Patton crossed the Rhine River on World War II veteran Glenn Chaney's bridge, pausing for the most famous bathroom break of t. 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. When Patton Enlisted the Entire Third Army to Pray for Fair Weather, California Do not sell my personal information. You can also buy the book by clicking on the buttons to the left. 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. 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. A German counter attack from Frankfurt, Germany towards Kstrin barely got out of the city. Still, Walkers XX Corps remained stalled before Metz, even though Eddys XII Corps had advanced well beyond its Moselle bridgeheads. We began to cautiously filter down through the moonlit streets toward the shingled beach. Opposition was negligible and within 24 hours the entire US 5th Division had crossed the river. For the crossing 8,000 Royal Engineers came under command of the C.E. 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. Manteuffels goal, as head of the 5th Panzer Army on the Western Front, was to transform Lunville into a base from which to roll up Third Armys flank on the east bank of the river. 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. 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. 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. This crossing was an important step in bringing the conflict to a close on May 8th, 1945. Mrz 2023; . Meanwhile, US Third Army captured Aschaffenburg, Germany, 40 kilometers to the southeast. We hope that visitor conversations at WW2DB will be constructive and thought-provoking. 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. US First Army captured Paderborn and Hamm, Germany. But there are so few Krauts around there they dont know it yet. The Germans attacked again in the vicinity of Rechicourt in the afternoon, but after losing another nine tanks they broke off the action. This meant that two columns of tanks and half-tracks from the 113th would have to carry the objective themselves. 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. Seventh Army in the invasion of Sicily in July 1943. Once again, Company C of the 704th TD Battalion rushed forward to delay the advance supported by P-47s firing rockets and machine 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. Manteuffel, who had arrived to take command of Fifth Army in the field only a week before, pleaded for yet another extension, arguing that his forces were not strong enough to achieve their objective. By mid-September 1944, the U.S. Third Army was poised to strike at the soft underbelly of Adolf Hitlers Third Reich along a fabled corridor in northeastern France used for centuries by armies tramping across Europe. 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. From Metz to Nancy the Germans were deployed on the east bank of the Moselle as follows: the 559th Volksgrenadier Regiment opposite Thionville, Division Number 462 (partially composed of zealous officer cadets from the Metz service schools) and the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division at Metz, the 3rd Panzergrenadier Division opposite Pont-a-Mousson, the 92nd Luftwaffe Training Regiment opposite Marbache, the 3rd Parachute Replacement Regiment in front of Nancy in a westward loop of the river, and the 553rd Volksgrenadier Regiment inside Nancy. ww2dbaseWith the German defenses along the Rhine River falling apart, the industrial region of Ruhr was enveloped, depriving Germany's war manufacturing capabilities. The 134th Infantry Regiment was ordered to cross on the left below Nancy, and the 137th Infantry Regiment on the right. This post is part of our collection of resources on Nazi Germany. From the standpoint of losses in men and equipment, the Arracourt battles were a resounding victory for the Americans. Frankfort was captured by Allied troops on 29 Mar. 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. To their credit, the RAF despatched fifty specialist within twelve hours and promised that a further 300 volunteers good be made available if required. 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. Since the days of the Roman Empire it has served as central Germany's traditional defense against invasion from the west. Second, it is to showcase Click here for parts Two and Three. 25 March Military History Office It was during this week, in late March of 1945, that the U.S. Third Army under Gen. Patton, began its famous bridging and crossing operations of the Rhine. 2. WW2DB site administrators reserve the right to moderate, censor, and/or remove any comment. The German armored column continued south, hoping to stampede the American soldiers into abandoning their positions. Finally, head to Hamm American Cemetery to visit Patton's grave. 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. During the respite the Fifth Army was given the previous day, Manteuffel had assimilated the remnants of three battered panzer brigades into veteran divisions. This article is also part of our extensive collection of articles on the second World War. The Panzergrenadiers methodically fought their way up the southern slope, clearing Americans from their foxholes. 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. Altogether, the 106th Panzer Brigade lost 30 tanks and 60 halftracks, which greatly reduced the role it would play in subsequent operations. George Patton received permission from his superiors to take the US 3rd Army across the Rhine River. Meanwhile, the main attack that morning by the Germans against the 51st Armored Infantry Battalion of Dagers CCB occupying the camelback was broken up by the concentrated fire of six artillery battalions. After the war Eisenhower was appointed Military Governor of the U.S. Balck requested that Rundstedt provide Army Group G with three fresh divisions and 80 additional tanks and assault guns to continue the fight. 20th Century Timeline Of World History: What Happened? Against such odds, a breakout at that location was not deemed feasible. 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. Patton's goal was to cross the Rhine, even if not a single bridge was left standing over which to do it. The Shermans therefore attempted to use the ridge for cover and engage the Panthers head-on, with disappointing results. 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. Following the setback at Pont-a-Mousson, McBride ordered his men to attempt another crossing four miles south at Dieulouard. For Gods sake, send some gasoline.. When Manteuffel learned that the 111th had becomebogged down in Lunville, he ordered it to break off the engagement and bypass the town to the east. I was determined that the attack on the Siegfried Line should go on in spite of what had happened in Lunville, he said. Copyright 20122023 World War II - Day By Day. Events in the northern sector made it necessary to divert precious fuel and ammunition to British and American units in that sector, which meant that Third Army would have insufficient resources to sustain prolonged offensive action. Amounts of troops, assault boats, Buffaloes, guns etc Montgomery across the Rhine at the German border prepared. Had seriously underestimated the Germans ability to recover from setbacks and mount a tenacious defense as the Allies! Dawn the Germans ability to recover from setbacks and mount a tenacious defense as the bank! 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