Bradley, who found the report satisfactory, passed the news to Eisenhower that Third Army was indeed across the Moselle in strength. If Third Army was unable to cross the Moselle by September 14, Bradley told Patton, it would have to go over to the defensive. Having failed to reconnoiter the American lines, the Germans blundered into a hornets nest. Third Armys advance would be further slowed by squabbles among Pattons lieutenants and by lack of training in fortress warfare on the part of its infantry. Some of the hardest fighting was done by the 704th Tank Destroyer (TD) Battalion. On 26 Mar 1945, these troops marched southward toward Patton's troops. You can read more about the day . On the night of March 22, just hours before the official operation began, Patton and his division crossed the Rhine quietly in boats. 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. In short order, more than a half-dozen M5 Stuart tanks sat smoldering and crumpled in fields near the town. 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. 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. 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. . The Shermans, which went into action in the morning, knocked out eight enemy tanks in quick order. With that measure of skill, the 704th managed that day to destroy eight Panthers without losing a single tank destroyer. Patton's troops beat Montgomery across the Rhine by one day. Brad, for Gods sake tell the world were across. The day dawned with a thick blanket of fog shrouding the crest of the hill. 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. He received the Bronze Star and was shot on or about 28 September, 1944. For Gods sake, send some gasoline.. 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. He wanted a quick, spectacular crossing that would produce newspaper headlines in the manner of Two days before, Bradley had called Patton and First Army Commander Maj. Gen. Courtney Hodge to his headquarters at Dreux and informed them that the supply situation was dire. All visitor submitted comments are opinions of those making the submissions and do not reflect views of WW2DB. 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. 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.. With no ground or air bombardments, they captured 19,000 German troops and created a six-mile bridgehead in the process. events, and resources, Patton in Lorraine: Breaking the Moselle Line. Three weeks earlier Churchill had visited the front lines near Juelich. 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. British sappers built another Rhine bridge, "Blackfriars", by noon. To ensure that the bridgehead could properly defend itself, Wood ordered Clarks CCA to send its lead elements across the bridge the following morning. 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. Left: Keeping a low profile, soldiers of the U.S. Third Armys 89th Infantry Division cross the Rhine in assault boats under intense German fire, March1945. 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 Americans captured the northern fort almost immediately, but German paratroopers held out in the southern fort for five days. 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. I want the world to know Third Army made it before Monty starts across, he shouted. Brian Horrocks, Corps Commander (Magnum Books, 1977). The bulk of men and supplies would be detailed for the primary thrust toward the Ruhr in the north, but a secondary thrust through Lorraine was considered worth undertaking to stretch German forces along the Western Front. 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. 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. 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. ", ww2dbaseAdditional Contribution by Alan Chanter. Most of CCA had shifted north to prepare for an advance east in the direction of the West Wall, leaving artillery and other support units at Arracourt. XXX Corps. 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. Click here to see our comprehensive article on World War 2. click here for our comprehensive guide to General Patton. His high hopes for a rapid advance to the West Wall would be dashed as heavy rains over the next two months restricted Third Armys tank columns to primary roads and sharply curtailed tactical air support. But there are so few Krauts around there they dont know it yet. 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. 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. American troops had already made a crossing on March 7a signal moment in the war . The Panthersknocked out three of the lightly armored HMCs in short order. Pattons troops beat Montgomery across the Rhine by one day. In other words, they had no depth, Patton said. 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. 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. 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. American radioscrackled throughout the morning with requests to rush immediate support to Lunville. The 112th Panzer Brigade decimated by the clash at Dompaire, had only two dozen serviceable tanks. They did a lot of grumbling.. The comparatively light casualty rate experienced by the first troops across (153rd and 154th Brigades of 51st Highland Division) clearly demonstrated how thorough the preparations had been made. 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. WW2DB site administrators reserve the right to moderate, censor, and/or remove any comment. Luttwitz and Krueger received their orders two days before the start date. Significantly, none of the panzer brigades had either organic artillery or reconnaissance vehicles. 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. 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. 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. ww2dbaseAs the Allied forces gathered on the west banks of the Rhine River, it was no longer a matter of surprise. Patton celebrated the victory by stopping on a treadway bridge his men had built and relieving himself into the river. 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. Despite the ferocity of the attack, the cavalry held on for four hours before it finally withdrew into the town. A follow-on series of panzer brigades, numbered above 110, would contain a battalion of Panthers and a battalion of Mark IVs. The crossing would be difficult with German mortar and artillery guns already trained at river crossings. 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. To descend the ridge and maneuver against the Panthers would have exposed the Shermans to the Panthers highly effective guns. 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. The attack, which came as a complete surprise, was being orchestrated by one of the Third Reichs most talented panzer leaders, the diminutive General der Panzertruppen Hasso von Manteuffel, whom Hitler had plucked from the Eastern Front with his staff to drive Pattons forces back across the Moselle. When the Germans attempted to withdraw, they found their escape route blocked by the 359th Infantry Regiment moving east to cut them off. In 1943 he commanded the U.S. During the fighting around Juvelize, the Americans lost 14 Shermans and 7 Stuarts. Patton was fatally injured in a road accident on December9, 1945, dying twelve days later. Wietersheim ordered the battle group to break off its attack until the following day so that reinforcements could be sent to Bures. The men of the 317th Infantry Regiment managed to cross a bridge left intact and braced themselves for a counterattack. The American tank crews also benefited from a hydraulic turret that allowed them to swing into firing position faster than the Germans slower hand-cranked traverse. A German counter attack from Frankfurt, Germany towards Kstrin barely got out of the city. Email Address Copyright 2023 Center for the National Interest All Rights Reserved. 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. 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. After the completion of the Battle in The Ardennes, Patton and his Army turned to the south and east attacking toward the Rhine. Please use this data for any reference citations. Until now, I cant find a webpage, book or other source for an . To Allied supreme commander Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower he wrote: I have just pissed into the Rhine River. National Interest Newsletter. The delay would prove a costly one. The initial counterattacks against Third Armys bridgeheads should have convinced him that the enemy was regaining strength. We are now fairly started on that phase of the campaign which I hope will be the final one. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, Against All Odds: A True Story of Ultimate Courage and Survival in World War II, Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Day's Black Heroes, at Home and at War, A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II, The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz: A True Story of Family and Survival, Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 19411942 (The Pacific War Trilogy, 1), Facing the Mountain: An Inspiring Story of Japanese American Patriots in World War II, Sons and Soldiers: The Untold Story of the Jews Who Escaped the Nazis and Returned with the U.S. Army to Fight Hitler, Hitler's American Gamble: Pearl Harbor and Germanys March to Global War, The Bedford Boys: One American Town's Ultimate D-day Sacrifice, A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II, The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz, Potsdam: The End of World War II and the Remaking of Europe. By dawn the Germans had seized the crest of Hill 318. On Pattons left wing, Walkers XX Corps began probing the Metz defenses on September 7. 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. Though beaten across the Rhine by Patton's Third Army, Montgomery's meticulous operation shone in its flawless execution. 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. Although his unit was spearheading the attack toward the river, he assumed there would be a pause to get organized for the crossing. Along the way the Third Army liberated some of the most ghastly killing and concentration camps in the Reich: Ohrdruf (a subcamp of Buchenwald), Flossenbuerg, Dachau, and Mauthausen-Gusen. For the crossing 8,000 Royal Engineers came under command of the C.E. It was a daunting series of objectives, but Patton relished the opportunity. The 111th once again sustained staggering losses, losing 17 of 22 panzers. Two days earlier, Patton had told Maj. Gen. Manton Eddy that his XII Corps would lead the way. Crossing 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. Late in the evening of 22 March, XII Corp's 5th Infantry Division began a Rhine crossing near Oppenheim against little resistance. 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. HistoryOnTheNet 2000-2019. This meant that CCA was now on the left flank of the Arracourt-Juvelize salient and CCB was on the right. 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. 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. 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. In Germany, US 1st Army captured Marburg and US 3rd Army captured Limburg am Lahn. 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. 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. Activated: 15 July 1942. On 22 March, General George S. Patton sent his Third Army across the Rhine, at Nierstein, to form another bridgehead. In addition, he ordered the creation of 10 new panzer brigades, numbered 101 to 110, each of which would boast a battalion of approximately 45 Panther tanks. I think, everybody here know the photo as Patton urinated into the Rhine. In Germany, US Third Army captured Darmstadt and reached Main, allowing the linking up with US Seventh Army near Worms. Click here to see our comprehensive article on World War 2. All of these units suffered serious armored and antitank deficiencies. ww2dbaseSource: 9th AID M3 Half-tracks advancing through Engers, Germany, 27 March 1945. Photo Credit: Men of the U.S. 5th Infantry Division hug the walls in one of the suburbs of Metz in early September 1944. Montgomery was supposed to make the next crossing in a complex operation utilizing ground and airborne troops. 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. 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. Germany. US First Army finally broke out of Remagen bridgehead in Germany. In fact, it was the first time an invading force had crossed the Rhein into Germany since Napoleon! The troops of the French First Army crossed the Rhine River near Philippsburg, Germany on 1 Apr. 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. This post is part of our collection of resources on Nazi Germany. As expected, the Germans counterattacked at 1 pm on September 13 just as CCA began crossing the bridge. 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 initial objective for both was Lunville, which would become a staging area for a drive north to Chateau-Salins. Eddys final plan, which was a compromise between his initial plan and that of headstrong 4th Armored Division commander Maj. Gen. John Wood, called for Brig. When word reached Clark that morning of another determined attack by the Germans, he ordered the entire combat command to turn back to Arracourt and sweep the area. Patton knew his entrance into German-occupied territory was of monumental historical importance. 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. 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. 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 plan focused on Wesel, with multiple crossings set to occur along a 22-mile front on the evening of 23 March. However, Patton was aware that this would be obvious to the Germans, and therefore he and his staff made rapid plans for another site at Nierstein and Oppenheim, about 12 miles south of Mainz. Ive been looking forward to this for a long time, Patton said as he unzipped his fly and urinated into the river while an Army photographer recorded the moment for posterity. Right: U.S. Army Generals Omar Bradley, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and George S. Patton. 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. Seventh Army during the Sicilian campaign ( Operation Husky ), and in August 1944 his Third Army became operational in northern France. The Shermans popped over the crest of the ridge and opened fire on the enemy tank column at a range of 900 yards, destroying five enemy tanks by striking them in the side. 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. Captured Limburg am Lahn September 13 just as CCA began crossing the bridge day with... 111Th once again sustained staggering losses, losing 17 of 22 panzers Mark IVs of! Of 22 panzers to make the next crossing in a complex operation utilizing ground and airborne troops he assumed would. There would be a pause to get organized for the crossing would be a pause to get for. # x27 ; s troops beat Montgomery across the Rhine guns already trained at River crossings south. The 359th Infantry Regiment moving east to cut them off now on the flank... The C.E toward the River remove any comment was done by the 704th Tank Destroyer &... 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