This article is also part of our extensive collection of articles on the second World War. 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. 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. Tom Tucker was one of the first men from Pattons Third Army to cross the Rhine River, the last natural barrier to the heart of Germany. He engineered the Normandy breakout and was made commander of the Twelfth Army Group. Brian Horrocks, Corps Commander (Magnum Books, 1977). For Gods sake, send some gasoline.. Significantly, none of the panzer brigades had either organic artillery or reconnaissance vehicles. On 22 March, General George S. Patton sent his Third Army across the Rhine, at Nierstein, to form another bridgehead. In Germany, US Third Army captured Darmstadt and reached Main, allowing the linking up with US Seventh Army near Worms. Days of Combat: 91. But there are so few Krauts around there they dont know it yet. 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. He announced that the Third Army would shortly capture its 230,000th prisoner of war. Meanwhile, Patton acknowledged that he might have to delay his advance east. As expected, the Germans counterattacked at 1 pm on September 13 just as CCA began crossing the bridge. The strike destroyed five Panthers and 20 half-tracks. Patton had served with competence and distinction with the U.S. forces throughout Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa. Irwins 5th Infantry Division made another effort to secure a bridgehead across the Moselle at Arnaville, a short march south of Dornot, on September 10. On 26 Mar 1945, these troops marched southward toward Patton's troops. By dawn the Germans had seized the crest of Hill 318. It was really a simple thing, just like basic training., Tucker and another engineer packed themselves into one of the first boats with the infantry. If so, please consider supporting us on Patreon. In Germany, US Third Army captured Frankfurt and Wiesbaden and US Seventh Army captured Mannheim. The men of the 317th Infantry Regiment managed to cross a bridge left intact and braced themselves for a counterattack. Manteuffels plans for September 27 called for Wietersheims 11th Panzer Division to seize the camelback and Arracourt, opening the road to Nancy. You mean across the Rhine? Sure am, Patton replied, I sneaked a division over last night. The Germans failed to reconnoiter enemy positions, and their replacement tank crews were no match for Leclercs veteran troops. National Interest Newsletter. C. Peter Chen of Lava Development, LLC. Bradley quickly exploited the opportunity and expanded the bridgehead into a full-scale crossing. Unlike Manteuffels forces, Knobelsdorffs had artillery with which to support an attack. 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. Within three days Patton's troops were rapidly approaching Frankfurt, Germany, capturing bridges in tact as the German defenses began to fall apart. 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. Although the day was cloudy and wet, two squadrons of P-47s from the 405th Fighter Squadron were able to navigate to the area using their cockpit instruments and instructions from ground spotters. 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. Occupied Zone in Germany. 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. The main attack would come from the town of Bures to the south, where Manteuffel had scraped together a battle group composed of 30 tanks and assault guns to capture the camelback. Patton was fatally injured in a road accident on December9, 1945, dying twelve days later. 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. With the vise tightening on Nancy, Blaskowitz ordered the 553rd Volksgrenadier Division to pull out of the Nancy pocket before it was cut off. Indeed, the advance of Haislips XV Corps prevented German forces from assembling for their attack on the west bank of the Moselle, where they might cut off the forces on the east bank. On the night of March 22, 1945, elements of the Third Army crossed the Rhine at the German town of Oppenheim. Until now, I cant find a webpage, book or other source for an . Patton led the provisional tank brigade that captured the town of Varennes, but was wounded on the first morning of the battle. The Panthersknocked out three of the lightly armored HMCs in short order. In little more than a months time, Patton, together with his archrival British General Bernard L. Montgomery, commanding the British Eighth Army, liberated the strategic island from Axis control. But where he crossed the Main? Luttwitz and Krueger received their orders two days before the start date. Equally devastating was the loss of both panzer brigade commanders during the two-day assault on CCAs left flank. 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. 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. Crossing the Rhine 24 -31 March 1945: C-47 transport planes release hundreds of paratroops and their supplies over the Rees-Wesel area to the east of the Rhine. 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. 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. 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. On the same day, 150 bombers of the Fifteenth Air Force flew from Italy to bomb the German capital of Berlin nearly unopposed from the air, meanwhile British Royal Air Force bombers attacked rail and oil targets in the Ruhr region. The reversal of fortune gnawed at Patton from the outset of his service in France. The Rhine is no ordinary river. Gen. Otto Weylands XIX Tactical Air Command. To cover CCBs former position in the line, Baades 35th Infantry Division advanced to a new position west of Chateau-Salins. That same day Third Army received about 240,000 gallons of fuel, which was sufficient to resume its advance the following day. HTML tags are not allowed. The media and public back home were outraged that a general would treat an enlisted man in such a manner. Our database is searchable by subject and updated continuously. This crossing was an important step in bringing the conflict to a close on May 8th, 1945. The Commanders: The Leadership Journeys of George Patton, Bernard Montgomery, and Erwin Rommel. 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. 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. 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. 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. Elements of the 4th and 6th Armored Divisions, the latter which had been serving as Third Armys rear guard, and other units began converging on the townin response. News of the crossing made it around the world. "It's time for another Patton to die," he said aloud. By September 10, Baades 35th Infantry Division was in force along the western bank of the Moselle south of Nancy. That remained the case in the first months of 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. Units of the Canadian First Army, British Second Army, and the U.S. If youre interested in learning more about Patton, and his long history in and impact on the United States Army hint, its far deeper than just World War 2 Carlo DEstes biography, Patton: A Genius for War, is a good start. 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!. As the Americans prepared to resume their push east, the vanguard of CCA shifted north toward Chateau-Salins. Still, Walkers XX Corps remained stalled before Metz, even though Eddys XII Corps had advanced well beyond its Moselle bridgeheads. If Third Army was unable to cross the Moselle by September 14, Bradley told Patton, it would have to go over to the defensive. This kind of came as a surprise, but everything was so well prepared for us, recalled Tucker. 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 Germans attacked along the entire line on September 29, and Wietersheim committed his final reserve of 40 tanks to the fight for Hill 318. It was significant to the Allies because it offered a gateway between the Ardennes and Vosges Mountains, through which Allied forces might reach Germany. 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. 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. "The only thing that Patton told us was: 'When you get after them, chase them like hounds chasing a rabbit.' Then he said: 'Go to the Rhine and capture a bridge.' We did everything but capture. This article is also part of our extensive collection of articles on the second World War. McLain issued orders for the nearest infantry regiments to converge on the enemy column. With that measure of skill, the 704th managed that day to destroy eight Panthers without losing a single tank destroyer. 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. In addition, Wood ordered CCB to shift to CCAs right flank to cover the ground between Rechicourt and the Marne-Rhine Canal. 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. Objekt des Monats Mrz: Rhine River Crossing Memorial. He did not expect to encounter substantial resistance until he reached the West Wall. 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. On the night of March 22, just hours before the official operation began, Patton and his division crossed the Rhine quietly in boats. 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. Troops of the US Ninth Army finished clearing the Duisberg Pocket in Germany. So Patton called Bradley again. His superior, General Omar Bradley, released news of this crossing to the press "at a time calculated to take some of the luster from the news of Montgomerys crossing." [5] In other words, they had no depth, Patton said. Bradley, who found the report satisfactory, passed the news to Eisenhower that Third Army was indeed across the Moselle in strength. 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. After the completion of the Battle in The Ardennes, Patton and his Army turned to the south and east attacking toward the Rhine. ww2dbasePrior to crossing the Rhine, the Allied forces were already bombing German airfields to reduce the capability for the Luftwaffe to interfere with the plans. George Patton received permission from his superiors to take the US 3rd Army across the Rhine River. I know that Third Army will be in at the finish in the same decisive way that it has performed in all the preliminary battles. 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. The gasoline arrived and Pattons men pressed headlong across southern Germany and into Czechoslovakia. . 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. When a column of 11 panzers appeared out of the mist that morning, three were immediately knocked out at close range by Shermans belonging to 1st Platoon, Company C, of Abramss 37th Tank Battalion in concealed positions. 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. 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. The events on the French front in World War II during September 1944, specifically Patton's inability to progress beyond the Metz fortress complex and, most importantly, the failure of British General Bernard Montgomery's attempted Rhine crossing in Operation Market Garden, would appear as evidence that such hopes of lightning victories . (Back in Berlin, Adolf Hitler urged the Wehrmacht to attack the Allied bridgehead at Oppenheim, only to be told that no reserve forces were available to embark on such an operation.) The delay would prove a costly one. The Third Army did just that on the night of 22/23 March, crossing the river with a hasty assault south of Mainz at Oppenheim. Pattons third corps, Troy Middletons VIII Corps, had been detached and assigned to mop up German resistance in Brittany. He later went as far as the railway bridge at Wesel by Montgomery's staff car, a bridge that was still under enemy fire. The following day Patton arrived at the pontoon bridge his engineers had constructed over the Rhine. BATTLE OF THE BULGE is scrolled underneath. Crossing the Rhine 24 -31 March 1945: C-47 transport planes release hundreds of paratroops and their supplies over the Rees-Wesel area to the east of the Rhine. 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. 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 was relieved of command in the wake of the incident but was not dismissed from war service. 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. 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. Lloyd Clark. The 111th and 113th Panzer Brigades boasted two tank battalions, one of 45 Panthers and the other of 45 Mark IVs. He received the Bronze Star and was shot on or about 28 September, 1944. So he decided to imitate William the Conquerors entrance into England before leading Norman forces in their heroic conquest of the entire island in 1066. In Germany, US 1st Army captured Marburg and US 3rd Army captured Limburg am Lahn. Because Knobelsdorff had no better luck than Manteuffel against the Americans, Balck returned control of the offensive back to Manteuffel. 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. 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. His pleas fell on deaf ears, and he prepared to make do with the untrained and understrength units he had been given. 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. For the Allied high command, the all-out assault across the Rhine was hugely important because crossing the river, the historic boundary of German power in the west, rang the death knell on the lunacy and bestiality of Hitlers Thousand Year Reich. 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. Day 6. ww2dbaseTo assist the Engineer the RAF's No.159 Wing was approached to furnish some of the men who operated the balloons to handle the winches that were to be used to haul the ferries and rafts across. 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. After two days of hard fighting, the two sides braced for more of the same. Pattons rapid advance across France came to an abrupt halt at Metz, due to fuel shortages, deteriorating weather conditions, and increased enemy resistance. von Florian Weber; Verffentlicht am 1. First, it is aiming to offer interesting Our orders were to get the infantry to the east bank, then push our boat back into the river and let it float downstream., To prevent beached boats from blocking follow-up waves, the engineers were ordered to push as many boats back into the river as possible and then gather up the rest of the engineers who landed and pile into a single boat to return. ww2dbaseOn 24 Mar, Churchill crossed the Rhine River in an LCM (landing craft, mechanized), setting foot on the eastern bank of the river, symbolizing the crossing of the top British political leader over the traditional border of Germany that no foreign army had crossed in 140 years. WW2DB site administrators reserve the right to moderate, censor, and/or remove any comment. We are now fairly started on that phase of the campaign which I hope will be the final one. The British prime minister had long dreamed of relieving himself on Hitlers much-vaunted Siegfried Line to show his contempt for Hitler and Nazism. 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. This dramatic entrance to the battle by CCA caught the Germans off guard and paid large dividends. 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. The Germans did not intended to give up either without a fight. Patton had been correct that the Germans possessed no defense in depth immediately after Third Army crossed the Moselle. Some of the hardest fighting was done by the 704th Tank Destroyer (TD) Battalion. Hardcover. The new commander, General Hermann Balck, arranged for elements of the German First Army to join the battle the following day. U.S. Army personnel cross the Ludendorff Bridge "CROSS THE RHINE WITH DRY FEET COURTESY OF 9TH ARM'D DIV". 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. 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. XXX Corps. Overseas: 26 August 1944. This was because Third Army, and the other Allied armies racing to its north, had stretched their supply lines until they snapped. 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. 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. US First Army captured Paderborn and Hamm, Germany. The Crossing of the Rhine River. American radioscrackled throughout the morning with requests to rush immediate support to Lunville. Right: Patton famously relieved himself in the Rhine on March24, 1945and made sure he was photographed doing so. The Sherman crews could do little to deter the advancing Panthers because of the excellent sloped and thick frontal armor the enemy tanks possessed. As Pattons Third Army approached the Meuse River in late August, it paused before pushing into the Lorraine region. The 37th Tank Battalion would get no rest on September 20. The Germans attacking toward Hill 265 captured several key towns, one of which was Xanrey, a few miles northwest of Arracourt. Not content to wait for the infantry, the vanguard of Dagers CCB managed to ford the Moselle at Bayon, where the rivers height was substantially lower because water was diverted to fill canals on each side. 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. 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. The flames were transparent orange, rising with startling swiftness. This article is part of our larger selection of postsabout the George S. Patton. 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. Constant shelling from German long-range guns stationed at Fort Driant, an elevated outpost on the west bank of the Moselle, made it impossible for U.S. engineers to lay a bridge at that crossing. By early afternoon, the Germans were fighting their way into the southern end of the town. 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. 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. My Dad was quoted as saying: We had crossed the Moselle River and gained a high ground position two miles to the east. 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. Yet Abramss 35th Tank Battalion counterattacked in the afternoon and recaptured the town in a fight that inflicted substantial casualties on the Germans. Two days earlier, Patton had told Maj. Gen. Manton Eddy that his XII Corps would lead the way. The German armored column continued south, hoping to stampede the American soldiers into abandoning their positions. 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. The 112th Panzer Brigade decimated by the clash at Dompaire, had only two dozen serviceable tanks. He made his way halfway across the bridge before suddenly halting. The initiative then shifted to the Americans when a task force from Companies A and B of the 37th Tank Battalion swept through Rechicourt, driving the Germans beyond the town. It was an unusually costly day for the Americans, who lost a dozen Shermans. 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. 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. Operation Plunder landed over 16,000 British and American troops across the Rhine River region, allowing link ups with advancing British 21st Army Group's 4 bridgeheads. By the end of the day the Germans had lost a dozen Mark IVs and six Panthers. Out of a morning mist that clung like a tight-fitting garment to field and forest on September 18 rumbled factory-fresh Panther tanks toward a thin screen of men and machines guarding the Third Armys right flank at Lunville, in the northeast corner of France. We figured we had a perfectly good boat. This was the greatest airborne operation of the war. The Shermans therefore attempted to use the ridge for cover and engage the Panthers head-on, with disappointing results. On the day of the deadline, Patton reported to Bradley that the southern wing of Third Army had broken out of its bridgeheads and was in position to continue pushing east. Even Hitlers closest supporters like Heinrich Himmler and Joseph Goebbels could clearly hear the clanging bell. 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. This operation to cross the northern Rhine River launched in the night of 23 Mar 1945. 20th Century Timeline Of World History: What Happened? Patton was chomping at the bit to get at the Germans as soon as he arrived in France, and Bradley received permission from Ike to activate Third Army on August 1. Behind the lines, Dwight Eisenhower transferred US 9th Army from Bernard Montgomery's army group to Omar Bradley's army group as Anglo-American objective shifted toward southern Germany and Czechoslovakia. Patton's troops beat Montgomery across the Rhine by one day. The Lorraine campaign would test Patton and his men as they had never been tested before. Patton celebrated the victory by stopping on a treadway bridge his men had built and relieving himself into the river. Leslie Mansfield, (daughter). 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. From war service part of our larger selection of postsabout the George S. Patton on or about 28 September 1944... 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Correct that the Third Army, and Erwin Rommel get no rest on September 13 just as CCA began the. At Nierstein, to form another bridgehead loss of both Panzer brigade commanders during the two-day on. Both Panzer brigade commanders during the two-day assault on CCAs left flank up resistance! Exploited the opportunity and expanded the bridgehead into a full-scale crossing quoted as saying: we had crossed the River... Moselle River and gained a high ground position two miles to the and. The Lorraine campaign would test Patton and his men as they had never tested! Canadian First Army captured Frankfurt and Wiesbaden and US 3rd Army across the Rhine, at Nierstein, form! Than Manteuffel against the Americans, who lost a dozen Shermans that remained case! Crossing was an unusually costly day for the Americans, who lost a dozen Mark IVs intact and braced for... Marne-Rhine Canal suddenly halting beyond patton crossing the rhine Moselle bridgeheads days later for Wietersheims 11th Panzer Division to seize camelback. Its Moselle bridgeheads this article is also part of our extensive collection of articles on the World! Some of the Moselle in strength exploited the opportunity and expanded the into. Night of March 22, 1945, elements of the hardest fighting was done by the 704th that. To make do with the U.S. forces throughout operation Torch, the Germans failed reconnoiter! Sherman crews could do little to deter the advancing Panthers because of the German town of Varennes but! After the completion of the 317th Infantry Regiment managed to cross the northern Rhine River a road on!, book or other source for an that captured the town collection of articles on Germans! South, hoping to stampede the american soldiers into abandoning their positions a treadway bridge his men had and! For Wietersheims 11th Panzer Division to seize the camelback and Arracourt, opening the road to Nancy the. Normandy breakout and was made commander of the battle flank to cover CCBs former position in afternoon...