Siegfried Line 1944?45: Battles on the German frontier (Campaign)
Language: English
Pages: 96
ISBN: B01BY34L06
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
The campaign on the German frontier in late 1944 was one of the most frustrating and costly efforts by the US Army in the ETO. The Allies first encountered the Siegfried Line (Westwall) fortifications in September 1944, having pursued the retreating Wehrmacht through Belgium and the Netherlands. The border area around Aachen had been fortified with a double line of bunkers, and both the terrain and the weather made things difficult for the Allies. This book focuses on the involvement of the US First and Ninth armies in the six-month fighting, including the hellish fighting for the Hürtgen forest.
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50 6. Attacks by PGR 156 begin on Vossenack on the morning of November 4, which is unable to break into the town. However, the exposed companies outside town take a pounding from German artillery. 7. On November 4, Schmidt is attacked from three sides by elements of the 89th Infantry Division, supported by Sturmgeschutz Brigade 341. The last defenders of 3/112th Infantry hold out in the southern part of the town until finally overrun in the early afternoon, when nine PzKpfw IV tanks of 2/Panzer.
Difficulties of the terrain, and they were generally positioned to cover key firebreaks, river crossing points, roads, or other significant objectives. In many cases, accompanying trenches were built at the same time as the bunkers, though in other cases they were constructed in August-September 1944 when an effort was made to refresh the Westwall after years of neglect. The trenches (2) are log-lined to prevent their collapse during the incessant autumn rains. They were dug in a zigzag fashion.
Novice 334th Infantry received the support of British tanks for the remainder of the day and reached their objectives against moderate opposition. That night, a small but sharp German counterattack by PGR 10 supported by tanks hit the regiment near Prummern. The bunkers around Prummern were finally cleared the next day with the assistance of British Crocodile flamethrower tanks, and the 333rd Infantry joined the fray towards Geilenkirchen. The attacks the following day were greatly impeded by the.
Tasked with the final push out of the Hurtgen through Gey, while to the north the 9th Division was tasked with pushing beyond the corner of the Hiirtgen near Langerwehe on to the Roer plains beyond. The offensive resumed on December 10. The forces opposing the VII Corps were primarily 87 The RAF missions in December 1944 were able to score several hits on the Roer dams, but none managed to breach them. This is the Zwischendamm Paulushof; two large bomb craters are evident in the foreground.
Within Germany itself. In desperation, the untrained units from the reserve training divisions and sometimes even the staffs of the training schools were thrown into combat. Each military district also had several Landesschiitzen battalions for territorial defense, local home guard units made up of men "as old as the hills" armed with aging rifles, and usually commanded by World War I veterans. Another source of personnel for the army was the Luftwaffe, since many of its ground personnel were.