In another attack, the US forces captured a small bridgehead across the Moselle to the south of Metz. Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force General Dwight D. Eisenhower and his staff envisioned for fall 1944 a two-pronged offensive to capture the Ruhr and Saar industrial regions that fed the Third Reich’s belly. The Battle is an excellent example of … Van Fleet’s three regiments faced two second-rate German infantry divisions—the 416th and the 19th Volksgrenadier Divisions. Behind them, two armored divisions waited to assume the lead once bridgeheads were established over the Seille River. Worse still, they were shelled around the clock by enemy artillery stationed at Dieuze. Walker had saved many American lives by relying on his corps’ powerful long-range guns to pound the enemy into submission. Once in charge, Kittel decided that he would concentrate manpower and resources to hold four of Metz’s strongest forts––Driant, Jeanne d’Arc, Plappeville, and St. Quentin—all of which were located on the west bank. In the center, Baade would have to pry the Germans from the Forest of Chateau-Salins on the Morhange plateau and assist Combat Command A of Wood’s 4th Armored Division in clearing the road from Chateau-Salins to Morhange. The Siege of Metz lasting from 19 August – 27 October 1870 was fought during the Franco-Prussian War and ended in a decisive Allied German victory. The Battle of Metz was a battle fought during World War II at the city of Metz, France, from late September 1944 through mid-December between the U.S. Third Army commanded by Lieutenant General George Patton and the German Army commanded by General Otto von Knobelsdorff. However, the going was rough for the 317th Infantry Regiment, deployed on the XII Corps’ left flank, which found itself up against the experienced 17th Panzergrenadier Division. Generalleutnant Vollrath Luebbe’s 462nd Volksgrenadier Division manned the Metz fortifications and General der Waffen-SS Werner Ostendorff’s 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division held the ground immediately south of the city. Third Army[1] faced heavy resistance from the defending German forces, and resulted in heavy casualties for both sides. On November 14, Generalleutnant Heinrich Kittel was appointed as the new commander of the German forces. “The others ran off down a trench and started throwing hand grenades at us. Meanwhile, Walker told Irwin to instruct the 2nd Regiment to turn north from the Nied-Française and cut the roads through which enemy units were slipping away east to safety. Morris’s 10th Armored Division was supposed to cross on the second day of Walker’s attack but by that time the Moselle had flooded its banks and inundated the expansive marshland on the west bank. Patton’s army had 250,000 men, while the First Army had about 86,000. Rodalbe, situated less than two miles south of Morhange, was of great importance to the Germans, and they defended the area tenaciously for nearly a week. By the end of November, only four forts––the very ones that Kittel had chosen to strengthen when he assumed command––were still occupied by German forces. Balck’s reserve consisted only of Generalleutnant Wend Wiethersheim’s 11th Panzer Division. On the night of October 12, the last of the troops were withdrawn from around Fort Driant. Knobelsdorff’s First Army forces comprised the 11th Panzer and 17th SS Panzer-grenadier Divisions, the 48th and 416th Divisions, the Luftwaffe 9th Flak Division, and the 19th, 361st, 462nd, and 559th Volksgrenadier Divisions. On the night of November 11, Nazi Party members and First Army administrative personnel stationed in Metz drove east to safety in Citroëns and Renaults commandeered from the city’s residents. The 416th Division and the 19th and 361st Volksgrenadier Divisions would begin arriving in the sector in October but were pitiful substitutes for the troops they were meant to replace. Within each state they are arranged by the following categories: • Combat dead • Missing • Wounded Metz as a preliminary move to enhance the continued attack eastward of the US Third Army. On October 7, the 2nd Battalion of Colonel George Barth’s 357th Infantry Regiment, 90th Division, had attacked the town from the west and north. The Battle of Gravelotte, or Grav… The battle was a Prussian strategic victory in that it succeeded in blocking Bazaine's way to Verdun. Van Fleet’s 90th Infantry Division was under orders to cross the Moselle 23 miles north of Metz and begin a wide envelopment of the city from the north. The U.S. forces had not expected the German forces to be in the area, and had to bring together their units that were spread out. Times when the very landscape appears to shift. It took place at the city of Metz following the Allied breakout after the Normandy landings. The continuing reorganization of Allied forces on the Western Front left Patton with four veteran infantry and two armored divisions with which to prosecute his limited attacks in early October. Metz as a preliminary move to enhance the continued attack eastward of the US Third Army. [2] The city was captured by U.S. … Overhead, P-47s streaked east to plaster enemy troop concentrations and headquarters with their potent combination of rockets and bombs. Other villages which played an important part in the battle of Gravelotte were Saint Privat, Amanweiler or Amanvillers and Sainte-Marie-aux-Chênes, all lying to the north of Gravelotte. “It’s easier to defeat the Germans there than on the Saar or on the West Wall,” Patton admonished. The forts in the outer belt were situated in close proximity to each other so as to provide mutual support. In situations where the Americans occupied one room of a building and the Germans an adjacent one, the Americans would stuff rags into five-gallon gasoline cans, ignite the contraption, and hurl it into the enemy-occupied room. However, Third Army was hampered by an acute shortage of fuel and ammunition. In so doing, he would be responsible for severing four major roads into Metz from the south and also the rail line to Saarbrucken. Just a few hours before, in the predawn darkness, the men had paddled rubber assault boats across the wide river and landed on the east bank unopposed. Back in September, and going by faulty intelligence indicating that the fort was thinly held, Colonel Charles Yuill, commanding the 5th Division’s 11th Infantry Regiment, drafted a plan of attack that, although opposed by Irwin, nevertheless received a stamp of approval from Walker and Patton. By the end of November, several forts were still holding out. The fighting raged throughout the morning until American reinforcements arrived and, backed by artillery, compelled the enemy to withdraw at midday. The massive system, which made Metz the most heavily fortified city in Europe at the time, consisted of 43 forts arrayed in an inner and outer belt that together mounted 128 heavy guns. [5] The German command intended to obtain more time for the strengthening of the West Wall through this strategy. It also points, in part, to how the Battle of the Bulge arose in December 1944. [8], Direct assault was forbidden against the holdout forts in order to preserve artillery ammunition for the XX Corps' advance to the Sarre River. [9], Although the battle resulted in defeat for the German forces, it served the intended purpose of the German command of halting the advance of the U.S. Third Army for three months, enabling retreating German forces to make an organized withdrawal to the Sarre river and to organize their defenses. [5], German Grenadier with Panzerschreck, on 27th October 1944, neaby Metz. By then, the 48th Division had disintegrated, leaving a dangerous gap in the First Army’s line. Working in concert with McBride’s infantry, Grow’s 6th Armored had as its primary objective capturing the strategic crossroads town of Faulquemont southeast of Metz. With the German 48th Division in full retreat less than three days into the offensive, Grow’s tank columns pressed ahead as fast as possible in an effort to reach the Nied Française River before the Germans had a chance to reorganize behind it. [2] The heavily fortified city of Metz was captured by U.S. forces before the end of November 1944, and the battle ended in victory for the U.S. … At the end of September 1944 fuel wasn’t the only commodity in short supply for the Third Army. Third Army[1] faced heavy resistance from the defending German forces, and resulted in heavy casualties for both sides. Shivering in the dark, dank woods, the GIs were halted frequently by fire from German pillboxes and machine-gun nests. The Germans, believing that the muddy conditions of the landscape prevented a front-wide attack by the Americans, had grown complacent in the previous fortnight and were taken by surprise by Eddy’s assault. Actually no, and the reason is that Patton’s Third Army fought a statistically smaller number of German units than other Allied Armies. The terrain through which the XII Corps would attack favored the Germans. While Walker’s troops focused on reducing and capturing Metz, Eddy’s XII Corps began the arduous task of slowly driving the Germans east toward the West Wall. The following is a list of total U.S. casualties that occurred during the Battle of Guam between July 21, 1944 and August 10, 1944. The main battle for Faulquemont unfolded over November 14-16 between Grow’s CCA and Wellm’s infantry in the countryside south of the town. Patton spent the first few days of November on the eve of the attack driving through torrential downpours from one division to the next, where he addressed officers and noncoms. The 9th Flak Division supported the First Army’s left flank, and Wiethersheim’s 11th Panzer Division was positioned about 15 miles behind the main line in the center near Saint Avold, where it could respond quickly to any threat along the 60-mile front. When the GIs took refuge in the cellars of the towns’ homes to await reinforcements, the Panthers fired at the positions at point-blank range with ghastly results. In the autumn of 1944, Third Army’s eastward dash ran into well-entrenched Germans and miserable weather at Europe’s strongest fortress. Planning a Two-Pronged Attack Rather than assault forts on the west bank, as Irwin’s and Van Fleet’s men were doing with the ones on the east bank, Walker ordered the most formidable of them contained until they capitulated. American soldiers in the Battle of Metz from the 95th Infantry Division earned the nickname “Iron Men of Metz” because of their bravery. Alarmed at the speed with which the Americans were advancing directly south of Metz, Balck ordered Feuchtinger’s 21st Panzer to assist the 17th Division in a counterattack. The battalion’s mortar and machine-gun companies fought valiantly despite being cut off from reinforcements. His oratory equaled the pomp with which he had entered the city: “Your deeds in the battle of Metz will fill pages of history for a thousand years,” he told his men. Königsmacker’s 300-strong garrison from the 19th Volksgrenadier Division was quartered in underground bunkers from which they operated a battery of four 100mm guns encased in steel turrets. Still, the Third Army’s commander was too impatient to sit idly by with German forces within striking distance. Metz is a heavily fortified city, located between the rivers Moselle and Seille. On November 25, with his troops having rounded up about 4,000 prisoners from the city and the weaker forts, Patton entered the city in a triumphal procession more reminiscent of a conqueror from antiquity than of a 20th-century general. This attack was repelled by the German forces, as was another attack on the city that followed. Since I was a kid one of my all time favorite WWII movies was "Patton." Casualties and losses; 15,799 4,421 killed or dead of wounds 10,411 wounded 967 missing 2,736 horses: 17,007 1,367 killed 10,120 wounded 5,472 missing The first of these due to arrive in the Third Army’s sector was Maj. Gen. Willard Paul’s 26th Infantry Division, which took up its position on Eddy’s right flank on October 12. Much to his chagrin, the troops within the city itself chose instead to surrender to Patton’s men after a half-hearted fight. Counterfire from U.S. self-propelled artillery silenced the enemy batteries, allowing a portion of the column to establish a shallow bridgehead on the east bank that was expanded the next day. Eddy temporarily halted the advance of his frozen, exhausted infantry divisions on November 12 to protect his left flank and also to adjust for a narrowing of the front resulting from topography. on Fri, 03/14/2014 - 20:31. Bradley initially intended for Hodges’s First Army to attack toward the Ruhr in late October, and Patton’s Third Army to renew its attack toward the West Wall and the Saar region after Hodges. The combined Prussian and Hessian force had 20,163 troops killed, wounded or missing in action during the 18 August battle. By November 15, Irwin’s units regrouped for a concentrated attack on the city. While Eddy’s XII Corps units had firmly established themselves to a depth of 15 to 20 miles on the east bank of the Moselle, the one division of Maj. Gen. Walton Walker’s XX Corps that had managed to cross the Moselle just south of Metz in September remained in a precarious position. To support the troops in case of a German armored attack, engineers constructed a special raft in which they were able to ferry across several 57mm antitank guns. Wiethersheim enjoyed the distinction of being the only commander in the string of battles fought in September to seriously threaten the Americans. More than 30,000 rounds screamed down on enemy batteries, command posts, and assembly points in preparation for the infantry assault, which began at first light of day. Indeed, what happened to Patton’s 3rd Army at Metz has been glossed over and I don’t recall it being described at all in the 1970 movie that bears his name. To his credit, “Old Blood and Guts” had good reason to boast, as he was the first commander to capture Metz since Attila the Hun had entered the city in ad 415. The very large thorn in the Third Army’s side was the sprawling Metz fortress system whose octopus-like tentacles spread six miles west of the Moselle and reached back another four miles to the east of the old Gallo-Roman city. from December 7, 1941, to the end of World War II. As a result, U.S. troops, still clad in summer uniforms, found themselves soaked to the bone as they trudged forward along muddy roads past farm fields where manure heaps burned their nostrils with an acrid smell. The Germans launched their last major counterattack against the XX Corps’ bridgeheads the same day Morris’s armor began crossing the Moselle. Of Task Force Baum's original 314 officers and men, over 30 were killed and the remainder captured (though many would be liberated just over one week later when the Third Army swept into the area in strength). Wood’s two combat commands advanced east in two columns along parallel roads to speed their advance. The Battle of Metz was a battle fought during World War II at the city of Metz, France, from late September 1944 through mid-December between the United States Army and the German Army.Following the Operation Cobra Allied breakout after the Normandy landings the U.S. Third Army commanded by Lieutenant General George Patton, attacked the heavily fortified city. On the night of October 12, the last of the troops were withdrawn from around Fort Driant. They did so in part by collapsing tunnel entrances with satchel charges and by pouring gasoline into ventilation shafts which they then ignited with phosphorus grenades. It was the job of the men of Companies A and B of the 1st Battalion, 378th Infantry Regiment, 95th Infantry Division, to clear the enemy from those structures and also from the underground bunkers. Throughout the course of the Battle of Arracourt, the Germans were constantly forced to scale back their objectives when the Americans successfully parried one blow after another. Very informative article. The triple Bailey bridge at Thionville was completed on November 14 and, by that time, troops in the two bridgeheads north of Metz had linked up. The ensuing house-to-house fighting gave the soldiers of the 357th a chance to hone their fortress-fighting skills. With Metz at last secured, Walker ordered Van Fleet to halt any further advance by his units pending a general regrouping for a push west to the Saar and the West Wall. But there’s NEVER been anything like THIS before. But by December 8, the garrisons at Forts St. Quentin, Plappeville, and Driant had all surrendered, and on December 13 the last stronghold, Fort Jeanne d’Arc, also surrendered to the Americans. The heavy rains of the preceding weeks had not spared the forest floor, which like the nearby valleys, was saturated and contained pools of mud that slowed the advance. The Battle of Metz was a three-month battle fought between the United States Army and the German Army during World War II.It took place at the city of Metz following the Allied breakout after the Normandy landings.The attack on the city by the U.S. Third Army faced heavy resistance from the defending German forces, and resulted in heavy casualties for both sides. The 11th became hotly engaged with enemy machine-gun units in the hangars at Frescaty airfield while the 10th slipped around to the east and attacked Fort Queuleu, whose garrison put up a determined fight. For these actions, Everhart received the Medal of Honor. The Battle of Fort Driant was a constituent battle in the 1944 Battle of Metz, during the Lorraine Campaign and the greater Siegfried Line Campaign.The battle was on occupied French territory between the liberation forces of the United States Third Army under the command of General George S. Patton and the occupation forces of Nazi Germany under General Otto von Knobelsdorff. But there’s NEVER been anything like THIS before. According to an order issued by Hitler in March 1944, fortress commanders were ordered to allow their forts to be surrounded if necessary and hold them, surrendering only on the approval of the Führer. However, repeated enemy sorties from underground bunkers disrupted the demolition work and threatened to isolate Yuill’s forward detachments. It was just what Patton had been itching for. Also on the 15th, Walker gave Twaddle command of U.S. forces converging on Metz from the north. While the 2nd Regiment was engaged with the enemy along the Nied-Française, Irwin’s other two regiments spent several days clearing the enemy from various forts and other fortified positions south of the city. Generalleutnant Carl Caspar’s 48th Division, the smallest and weakest unit in the First Army, was stationed south of the Panzergrenadiers. Kittel arrived on November 8, and when Luebbe suffered a stroke on the 14th, Kittel assumed command, vowing to fulfill Hitler’s orders that the garrison fight to the last man. [1] Strong German resistance resulted in heavy casualties for both sides. The first large-scale battle fought by American soldiers in World War I begins in Belleau Wood, northwest of the Paris-to-Metz road. The fortifications of Metz consist of several forts and observation posts with connecting entrenchments and tunnels. Because they had more experience with fortress fighting, Walker made a last-minute decision to entrust Irwin’s troops, rather than Twaddle’s, with the capture of the city. Walker had previously determined that he could not depend solely on the crossing points in Van Fleet’s sector, and therefore had ordered Twaddle to send a battalion from the 95th Division across the Moselle in assault boats the same night to secure a bridgehead in the Thionville sector. It would be nearly a month before the last holdout of the Metz defenses, Fort Jeanne d’Arc, surrendered to the Americans. The crack 3rd and 15th Panzergrenadier Divisions were transferred north as part of the assembly of elite units to counter Allied moves against the West Wall (and, as mentioned, to prepare for Hitler’s coming winter offensive that would be known as the Battle of the Bulge). The plan called for Grow to cover Irwin’s right flank and for Wood to push toward the Saar River and secure a crossing south of Saaregemund in preparation for a later attack on the West Wall. A number of troops were also withdrawn from Metz. The enemy fortified the town’s buildings using sandbags and barbed wire. Continuous rains the following two days led Patton to postpone the attack, but he resolved on November 7 that the attack would go forward the following day whether or not the rain stopped, and his staff issued orders to Eddy’s XII Corps to prepare to attack the following morning. Artillery fired from strategic forts in the outer belt had wreaked havoc on attempts by Walker’s infantry divisions to cross the Moselle above and below the city during September. The Battle is an excellent example of a Corps sized operation against Although Balck was willing to leave the 462nd Volksgrenadier Division to its fate inside the Metz fortress, he was not willing to risk having any of the First Army’s other divisions surrounded during the American advance. On Friday, September 27th at 2:00 p.m., the Friends of the National World War II Memorial will hold a brief ceremony and wreath presentation at the National World War II Memorial to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Metz, a difficult and costly siege, led by Patton's Third Army, which brought the Allies ever-closer to Germany’s western defenses. It contained several weeks’ rations and 48 additional artillery pieces. Submitted by SteveMerc. CCA promptly joined forces with the 357th Infantry and helped it cut two major roads into Metz from the northeast. Armoured cavalry elements of the United States XX Corps, while on a reconnaissance operation in the direction of the Moselle, made contact with elements from the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division on 6 September 1944. Recognizing the strategic and political importance of the city, Aeizure by US forces was strongly contested by elements of the German First Army. A three-day struggle for control of the fort was under way. The Breakout from Normandy presented serious challenges for the U S Commanders on the next phase of Operations contingent upon the FACT that supplies were limited to what could be landed and transported from the beachhead as no ports were yet in allied control. Fresh tactics were devised. The fighting surged back and forth around the city hall for an entire week. Farther south, Oberst Alfred Philippi’s 361st Volksgrenadier Division––a hodgepodge of sailors and Luftwaffe support personnel inexperienced in ground combat—anchored the German left flank. [2] The heavily fortified city of Metz was captured by U.S. forces before the end of November 1944, and the battle ended in victory for the U.S. following the surrender of … XHTML: You can use these tags:

. “We wanted to get them underground while we stayed on top and then blast them from one part of the fort to another.”. On November 15, Morris instructed his 10th Armored Division’s CCA to cross at Thionville and CCB to cross at Malling. In response, Rundstedt released two battalions of Generalleutnant Paul Schurmann’s veteran 25th Panzergrenadier Division as a reserve for the First Army’s right flank. Colonel Barth then ordered his troops to bypass the position and focus on clearing the rest of the town instead. American soldiers in the Battle of Metz from the 95th Infantry Division earned the nickname “Iron Men of Metz” because of their bravery. All vehicles were lost. Irwin broke off the attack the following day and replaced elements of his battered 11th Infantry with fresh troops from his 2nd and 10th Regiments; the two units renewed the assault on October 7. But few people know that America’s renowned general George S. 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