In Germany, US Third Army captured Frankfurt and Wiesbaden and US Seventh Army captured Mannheim. The 111th and 113th Panzer Brigades boasted two tank battalions, one of 45 Panthers and the other of 45 Mark IVs. Instead, he commented, They brought up a row of trucks filled with assault boats. We figured we had a perfectly good boat. Third Army, which formed the right wing of Bradleys 12th Army Group, was composed of Maj. Gen. Walton Walkers XX Corps and Eddys XII Corps. It was a daunting series of objectives, but Patton relished the opportunity. 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. On 7 March, the 9th Armoured Division of the US 1st Army captured the partially damaged railway bridge at Remagen. 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. Using speed to its advantage, Third Army roared across two bridges over the Meuse River on August 31 before German forces could demolish them and slow the American advance. By dawn the Germans had seized the crest of Hill 318. 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. 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. In 1943 he commanded the U.S. Still, the 137th Infantry Division that same day managed to establish several small bridgeheads on the eastern bank. Anthony Read and David Fisher, The Fall of Berlin. After 48 hours of hard fighting, the bridgehead was abandoned. Through skilled use of defensive positions, the Americans stopped the Germans from capturing the town. That same day Third Army received about 240,000 gallons of fuel, which was sufficient to resume its advance the following day. Scouts from the U.S. 42nd Cavalry Squadron detected a German column approachingfrom the south toward Lunville at 7 am on September 18. Overseas: 26 August 1944. . Manteuffel, who knew the attacks were hopeless but was under orders from Balck to continue regardless of the cost, threw the remnants of the 111th and 113th against CCA again the following day, only to suffer further tank losses. So Patton called Bradley again. Patton was fatally injured in a road accident on December9, 1945, dying twelve days later. The Shermans, which went into action in the morning, knocked out eight enemy tanks in quick order. The day dawned with a thick blanket of fog shrouding the crest of the hill. 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. 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. and useful information about WW2. In a two-day pitched battle at Dompaire that began on September 12, a battle group from Maj. Gen. Jacques Leclercs 2nd French Armored Division of Haislips Corps smashed the 112th Panzer Brigade of Luttwitzs 47th Corps, which had been sent to check Haislips advance. In short order, more than a half-dozen M5 Stuart tanks sat smoldering and crumpled in fields near the town. Our database is searchable by subject and updated continuously. site is two fold. Because Knobelsdorff had no better luck than Manteuffel against the Americans, Balck returned control of the offensive back to Manteuffel. He wanted a quick, spectacular crossing that would produce newspaper headlines in the manner of Crossing the Rhine. With that measure of skill, the 704th managed that day to destroy eight Panthers without losing a single tank destroyer. In addition, Eisenhower and Bradley had decided to transfer Haislips XV Corps to Lt. Gen. Jacob Devers Sixth Army leaving Patton once again with just two corps. But the Americans stood their ground. 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. British sappers built another Rhine bridge, "Westminster". Leclerc also benefited from repeated tactical air strikes by P-47 Thunderbolts of Brig. It began with the crossing of the River Rhine in March 1945, with forces fanning out and overrunning all of Western Germany until their final surrender on May 8, 1945. By early afternoon, the Germans were fighting their way into the southern end of the town. Shortly after crossing the Rhine river near Oppenheim, Gen. Pattons 3rd Army went into the heart of Germany as they crossed their next water barrier, the Main 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. You mean across the Rhine? Sure am, Patton replied, I sneaked a division over last night. Patton, not wanting to compromise his armys success with publicity, telephoned Omar Bradley the following morning and uncharacteristically told him to keep it a secret. Einheiten des 3. HistoryOnTheNet 2000-2019. Meanwhile, US Third Army captured Ludwigshafen and Speyer, Germany. HTML tags are not allowed. To reach the West Wall, XII Corps was to change front to the northeast and push 30 miles from Chateau-Salins to Sarreguemines. To their surprise, they were not opposed by enemy forces. 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. Near Moncourt, just east of Arracourt, a platoon of Mark IVs and towed anti-tank guns ambushed Abramss Company C, leaving a half-dozen M4 tanks mangled. 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. 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? On the evening of March 22, 1945 General George S. Patton's forces were fronting the last major obstacle to the heart of Germany, the Rhine River. Click here for parts Two and Three. 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. On the night of March 22, 1945, with no artillery preparation or air cover, assault boats of the 5th Infantry began their quiet crossing near 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. The initial counterattacks against Third Armys bridgeheads should have convinced him that the enemy was regaining strength. In its place, Clark ordered three armored infantry battalions that were part of the 4th Armored Division to entrench on a camelback ridge composed of two adjacent prominences known as Hills 318 and 293, which barred the road to Nancy and allowed U.S. guns to sweep German positions to the east and south. To descend the ridge and maneuver against the Panthers would have exposed the Shermans to the Panthers highly effective guns. 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. 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. 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. Patton began drafting plans for Third Armys advance east toward the Rhine as early as September 14. ww2dbaseBetween Frankfort and the Ruhr River, the American First Army had breached the Rhine River barrier earlier in the month near Remagen. 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. 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. Like his counterpart, Balck was loath to go on the defensive but found he had no choice. As the Allied forces gathered and prepared along the Rhine River, George Patton and the U.S. 5 th Division were quietly carrying . Patton arrived in France exactly one month after the D-Day invasion to set up the operational command for Third Army. 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. US-Armee unter General George S. Patton (1885-1945) die Stadt Nierstein am Rhein. ww2dbaseFurther to the south, General Patch's Seventh Army crossed the Rhine River on the same day the Remagen contingent marched forward. This operation to cross the northern Rhine River launched in the night of 23 Mar 1945. The goal of this To ensure that the bridgehead could properly defend itself, Wood ordered Clarks CCA to send its lead elements across the bridge the following morning. Again, the Germans proved they had the determination and resources to make the Americans pay heavily to get their forces across the Moselle. 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 historic city of Metz included an extensive system of man-made fortifications from previous wars. 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. 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. If you supply any information, it would be appreciated by his family. Right: Patton famously relieved himself in the Rhine on March24, 1945and made sure he was photographed doing so. 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. ), Patton also requested the help of the press corps in informing the Germans that four of his armored divisions were slashing away at them. The reversal of fortune gnawed at Patton from the outset of his service in France. The Germans, in an effort to regroup, turned southwest to escape the ambush. When Patton Enlisted the Entire Third Army to Pray for Fair Weather, California Do not sell my personal information. Until now, I cant find a webpage, book or other source for an . 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. 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!. The combined pressure of American armor, artillery, and air support proved too much for the German armor, and as the Panthers and Mark IVs and their complement of Panzergrenadiers pulled back north, they were hammered by the Thunderbolts. Three weeks earlier Churchill had visited the front lines near Juelich. Brad, dont tell anyone, but Im across. A surprised Bradley responded, Well, Ill be damned. 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. The attack on the 25th was not substantial enough to disrupt a shuffling of U.S. forces in the Arracourt sector. 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. To the far left is scrolled, WARS MAY BE FOUGHT WITH . Subsequently VIII Corps made two additional crossings downstream, to the south of Koblenz. However, such a strong resistance was not encountered as elements of the 21st Army Group and Ninth Army crossed the river in the north in the Ruhr River region. Both sides employed heavy guns to shell enemy forces clinging to their respective slopes. The purpose of this note is to express to you personally my deep appreciation of the splendid way in which you have conducted Third Army operations from the moment it entered battle last August 1. As Third Army firmly established itself on the east bank of the Moselle at Nancy, capturing not only crossing points but also key crossroads on the east bank, the Germans had to postpone their counterattack several times and continually revise it to adjust to new events. This was the first crossing of the Rhine River by boat by an invading army since Napoleon Bonaparte. British sappers built another Rhine bridge, "Blackfriars", by noon. On the night of March 22, 1945, elements of the Third Army crossed the Rhine at the German town of Oppenheim. 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. After the completion of the Battle in The Ardennes, Patton and his Army turned to the south and east attacking toward the Rhine. (To be fair to the British 21st Army Group, their Rhine crossings were marshy (Wesel) and twice as wide, with the river carrying a far higher volume of water than the crossings consigned to the U.S. Third and Seventh Armies and the French First Army, meaning that Montgomery could not possibly cross the Rhine on the run.) The next day Patton, showing his contempt for the enemy, made good on his pledge to piss in the Rhine in a week, which he did from a pontoon bridge in full view of his men and news cameras. 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. 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. German scouts reported to the Fifth Army commander that the crossroads of Moyenvic, four miles northeast of Arracourt and three miles west of Juvelize, was unguarded and could readily serve as the gateway for an attack. 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. If so, please consider supporting us on Patreon. Cross the border into Germany and the city of Trier, which Patton seized after crossing the Saar and Rhine rivers. 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. In Germany, US Third Army captured Darmstadt and reached Main, allowing the linking up with US Seventh Army near Worms. He made his way halfway across the bridge before suddenly halting. Eddy was tasked with locating possible crossing points above and below Nancy, while Walker was instructed to do the same above and below Metz. . 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. 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. Patton (1895-1945) directed the amphibious landings near Casablanca during the Torch landings. All visitor submitted comments are opinions of those making the submissions and do not reflect views of WW2DB. 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. By the end of the day the Germans had lost a dozen Mark IVs and six Panthers. U.S. Army personnel cross the Ludendorff Bridge "CROSS THE RHINE WITH DRY FEET COURTESY OF 9TH ARM'D DIV". 6731 Whittier Avenue, Suite C-100 McLean, VA 22101, Stay up to date with all of our latest news, Click here for our comprehensive information resource on the society, ideology, and key events in Nazi Germany. Out of the fog on September 22, the remaining tanks of the 111th Panzer Brigade punched like a steel fist through CCAs cavalry screen around Juvelize. Significantly, none of the panzer brigades had either organic artillery or reconnaissance vehicles. 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. Bradley did not announce this crossing until the night of 23 Mar; Patton had wished the Americans to announce that they had crossed the Rhine River before the British. After suffering significant casualties from heavy anti-aircraft fire, the airborne infantry landed and participated in direct combat during daylight to attack the German defenders from both sides. 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. 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. The final stage of World War II in the European Theatre commenced with the Western Allied invasion of Germany. We've got him. By the time the Third Army had gained a firm foothold on the east bank of the Moselle in mid-September, the masterminds of the German high command had hatched plans for a bold strike to regain the initiative. Great article cannot wait for the rest of the battle, I am trying to find out more about where and in what battle my Dad, Donald Mansfield was shot. Thank You, The Rhine is no ordinary river. Bradley, who found the report satisfactory, passed the news to Eisenhower that Third Army was indeed across the Moselle in strength. News of the crossing made it around the world. Patton's goal was to cross the Rhine, even if not a single bridge was left standing over which to do it. Charging up the slope after nightfall, the Germans once again seized the crest, forcing the Americans to retreat to the northern slope. I want the world to know Third Army made it before Monty starts across, he shouted. 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. ww2dbaseTo cross the Rhine presented the Royal Engineer with many highly technical problems, but experiments and preparations for just such a task had been carried out on the River Ouse, near Goole, since 1943, and orders for specialised equipment needed had been placed with the Ministry of Supply in good time. click here for our comprehensive guide to General Patton. This article is part of our larger selection of postsabout the George S. Patton. All rights reserved. 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. Did you enjoy this article or find this article helpful? 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. Copyright 20122023 World War II - Day By Day. 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. Having mustered 50 tanks for the attack, Manteuffel ordered Wietersheim to capture Moyenvic and inflict as much damage as possible on CCA. 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. The crossing would be difficult with German mortar and artillery guns already trained at river crossings. 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. On Pattons left wing, Walkers XX Corps began probing the Metz defenses on September 7. The very notion was unpalatable to Old Blood and Guts. 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. 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. Within three days Patton's troops were rapidly approaching Frankfurt, Germany, capturing bridges in tact as the German defenses began to fall apart. This was because Third Army, and the other Allied armies racing to its north, had stretched their supply lines until they snapped. Still, Walkers XX Corps remained stalled before Metz, even though Eddys XII Corps had advanced well beyond its Moselle bridgeheads. Occupied Zone in Germany. 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. 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. 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. Some of the hardest fighting was done by the 704th Tank Destroyer (TD) Battalion. From there, the vehicle fired an armor-piercing shell into the side of a Panther in a field 300 yards away. On 22 March, General George S. Patton sent his Third Army across the Rhine, at Nierstein, to form another bridgehead. 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. DEste begins with Pattons early life and family and moves through his decades at a pace that makes this long book seem far shorter. C. Peter Chen of Lava Development, LLC. 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. Patton's troops beat Montgomery across the Rhine by one day. Although a bridge had been captured some weeks before at Remagen, and a bridge-head tenuously held, this was to be the first river assault crossing of this famous stream since . He believed that it would leave too long of a left flank vulnerable to German counter offensives. As a result, the 112th Panzer Brigade lost 69 of its 90 tanks. Patton knew his entrance into German-occupied territory was of monumental historical importance. For inquiries about military records for members of the World War II armed forces, please see our FAQ. This was the greatest airborne operation of the war. Even $1 per month will go a long way! The 134th was fortunate to find a bridge intact and threw a battalion across the river. 140 kilometers to the north, British Second Army captured Wesel, Germany. 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. Hitler, who reluctantly agreed to a far less ambitious counterattack than initially envisioned, issued orders for the German attack to begin on September 18. 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. Unlike Patton, Churchill forbade photographs of the occasion. 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. 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. 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. 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. BATTLE OF THE BULGE is scrolled underneath. 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. May be FOUGHT with go on the eastern bank Allied forces gathered and prepared the... As the Allied forces gathered and prepared along the Rhine River, George Patton and his Army turned the! Finally withdrew into the southern end of the Third Army captured Wesel, Germany establish several bridgeheads. To Old Blood and Guts ordered Wietersheim to capture Moyenvic and inflict as damage... Highly effective guns was photographed doing so into action in the night of 23 Mar 1945 but relished! 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