It is thought that the accompanying photo of General George Patton documents Patton urinating into the Rhine River. In effort to ensure greater success, Manteuffel ordered a detailed reconnaissance of enemy positions. With their high-velocity guns, the Panthers easily knocked out the Yanks vehicles. Love him or hate him, Patton cuts a singular figure in military history, and left a long, complicated legacy for historians, soldiers, and history buffs to consider. But there were simply too many crossing points for the Germans to contest every one with such promptness as they had shown at Dornot, Arnaville, and Pont-a-Mousson. Manteuffel, who had arrived to take command of Fifth Army in the field only a week before, pleaded for yet another extension, arguing that his forces were not strong enough to achieve their objective. 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. 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. I was determined that the attack on the Siegfried Line should go on in spite of what had happened in Lunville, he said. . Charging up the slope after nightfall, the Germans once again seized the crest, forcing the Americans to retreat to the northern slope. The Germans did not intended to give up either without a fight. The media and public back home were outraged that a general would treat an enlisted man in such a manner. 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. Significantly, none of the panzer brigades had either organic artillery or reconnaissance vehicles. Montgomery was supposed to make the next crossing in a complex operation utilizing ground and airborne troops. (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. 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. Site created in November 2000. Hitler, who had never liked Blaskowitz, sacked him on September 21. All comment submissions will become the property of WW2DB. ww2dbaseSources: 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. On the night of March 22, just hours before the official operation began, Patton and his division crossed the Rhine quietly in boats. A half-dozen M8 howitzer motor carriages (HMCs) immediately deployed to contest the advancing column. I know that he carried the BAR and he was in Company A, 359th Infantry Regiment. The Lorraine campaign would test Patton and his men as they had never been tested before. Eisenhower issued orders in late August to all of his top commanders outlining a two-pronged offensive against western Germany in which the principal targets were the Ruhr and Saar industrial areas. 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. Some of the hardest fighting was done by the 704th Tank Destroyer (TD) Battalion. 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. The World War II Database is founded and managed by 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. events, and resources. Geplant war eine Flussberquerung, die nach dem Willen des Oberkommandierenden berraschend, schnell und spektakulr werden sollte. Meanwhile, Patton acknowledged that he might have to delay his advance east. This dramatic entrance to the battle by CCA caught the Germans off guard and paid large dividends. The Shermans therefore attempted to use the ridge for cover and engage the Panthers head-on, with disappointing results. Two days earlier, Patton had told Maj. Gen. Manton Eddy that his XII Corps would lead the way. American troops had already made a crossing on March 7a signal moment in the war . The 9th Armored Division quickly expanded the bridgehead into a full scale crossing. By the end of the day on September 22, the 111th Panzer Brigade had only seven tanks from an original strength of 90 when the offensive started a week before. The western boundary of Lorraine is formed by the Moselle Valley and the eastern boundary by the Saare River. All visitor submitted comments are opinions of those making the submissions and do not reflect views of WW2DB. Patton would face significant leadership and tactical challenges in the region in the months following the Arracourt clashes. 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. The gasoline arrived and Pattons men pressed headlong across southern Germany and into Czechoslovakia. That evening Manteuffel made substantial adjustments to the German plan of attack. Patton was fatally injured in a road accident on December9, 1945, dying twelve days later. The Germans failed to reconnoiter enemy positions, and their replacement tank crews were no match for Leclercs veteran troops. In Germany, US 1st Army captured Marburg and US 3rd Army captured Limburg am Lahn. 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. Copyright 2004-2023 Lava Development, LLC., all rights reserved, See all 47 photographs of Crossing the Rhine, Message from George Patton to US 5th Infantry Division. Having failed to reconnoiter the American lines, the Germans blundered into a hornets nest. 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. The Germans attacked again in the vicinity of Rechicourt in the afternoon, but after losing another nine tanks they broke off the action. Distinguished Unit Citations: 11. 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. A follow-on series of panzer brigades, numbered above 110, would contain a battalion of Panthers and a battalion of Mark IVs. Upon arriving at a dock area, Tucker and his comrades saw a group of sailors lowering a Landing Ship Tank (LST) into the water with a large crane. This article is also part of our extensive collection of articles on the second World War. 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. 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. The Sherman crews could do little to deter the advancing Panthers because of the excellent sloped and thick frontal armor the enemy tanks possessed. Patton drove to the XII Corps front on September 19, where he met first with Eddy and later with Wood. By the end of the day the Germans had lost a dozen Mark IVs and six Panthers. 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. 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. Against such odds, a breakout at that location was not deemed feasible. The US 3rd Army crossed the Rhine River west of Mainz and near Oppenheim just before midnight; the Americans had beaten the British in crossing the river. Hardcover. 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. This operation to cross the northern Rhine River launched in the night of 23 Mar 1945. Patton knew his entrance into German-occupied territory was of monumental historical importance. So dont make any announcementwell keep it a secret until we see how it goes.. . Frankfort was captured by Allied troops on 29 Mar. 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. I was convinced then there were no Germans ahead of us except those we were actually fighting. 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. Both corps commanders had received intelligence reports that two Panzergrenadier divisions, the 3rd and 17th, were prepared to contest the crossing, and that they would likely be reinforced by surviving elements of the 21st Panzer and Panzer Lehr Divisions. had to be carried out under closely supervised security to prevent the German defenders on the higher ground across the river anticipating the exact location of the crossing. But various factors were at work to derail those hopes. Eddy was tasked with locating possible crossing points above and below Nancy, while Walker was instructed to do the same above and below Metz. By early afternoon, the Germans were fighting their way into the southern end of the town. Because the raising of fresh Volksgrenadier divisions and panzer brigades would take time, Hitler transferred two crack divisions, General Hans Heckers 3rd Panzergrenadier and General-Lieutenant Eberhard Rodts 15th Panzergrenadier, by train from the Italian front. Please refrain from using strong language. At this location, on March 22 & 23, 1945, the 249th Engineer Combat Battalion, after supporting the U.S. Army 5th Infantry Division at Oppenheim, in the first successful Rhine river assault crossing since Napoleon, completed the construction of a 366 meter floating bridge to carry elements of General George S. Patton's 3rd Army across the Rhine. By dawn the Germans had seized the crest of Hill 318. Company A, advancing on the left, gained high ground west of Juvelize, and with substantial artillery support, it checked the momentum of the enemy armor pushing south. 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. About 766 miles in length, with an average width of about 1,300 feet, the generally north-flowing waterway also is exceptionally swift and deep. Patton had seriously underestimated the Germans ability to recover from setbacks and mount a tenacious defense as the Western Allies neared the German border. Wietersheim ordered the battle group to break off its attack until the following day so that reinforcements could be sent to Bures. But his cajoling paid off, as Bradley had been working hard to ensure that Haislips XV Corps, which had been helping to clear the lower Seine of German forces, would join Third Army on its southern flank. 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. Please use this data for any reference citations. It was a daunting series of objectives, but Patton relished the opportunity. In late March 1945, Gen. George Patton crossed the Rhine River on World War II veteran Glenn Chaney's bridge, pausing for the most famous bathroom break of t. The destruction of the 112th Panzer Brigade occurred less than a week after the equally embarrassing debut of the 106th Panzer Brigade on Third Armys northern flank. Patton had served with competence and distinction with the U.S. forces throughout Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa. This is Part One of a Three Part look at Pattons Lorraine Campaign. 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. Brian Horrocks, Corps Commander (Magnum Books, 1977). Although the Panzergrenadiers on the crest had managed to hold on during the morning, the combined pressure of American ground fire and air strikes finally broke the enemys nerve and the ground troops began retreating down the southern slope in the afternoon. The Rhine is no ordinary river. Seventh Army in the invasion of Sicily in July 1943. 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. 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. 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. 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. McLain issued orders for the nearest infantry regiments to converge on the enemy column. Did you enjoy this article or find this article helpful? 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. 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. 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