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From D-Day to V-Day

November 1944

November 3, 1944 - D-Day + 150

The 3rd Canadian Infantry Division from the First Canadian Army’s II Corps finished mopping up the Breskens Pocket that day, taking about 12,500 enemy troops prisoner in the course of the operation. This was a high number – and a phenomenon that would repeat in ever greater numbers in the spring of the following year, when the Allies would advance into the German interior. The British 52nd Infantry Division, reinforced by the British 4th Special Service Brigade, made significant progress in fighting on Walcheren Island. The forces that attacked out of Westkapelle made contact with units advancing out of Vlissingen. The German defense on the line along the Mark River in the British I Corps’ operational sector collapsed under the assaults launched by the British 49th and American 104th Infantry Divisions, but several strong German footholds held out. During the day, the Polish 1st Armored Division built a bridgehead near Zevenbergen on the corps’ right flank. Fighting on the left flank, the 4th Canadian Armored Division improved its position in the Steenbergen area when it successfully managed to advance forward.

Operating as part of the British Second Army’s VIII Corps, Combat Command A from the US 7th Armored Division continued mopping up the northwestern bank of Canal du Nord, occupying Horik and Ospel in the process.

The 112th Infantry Regiment from the US V Corps’ 28th Infantry Division crossed the Kall River and conquered Kommerscheid and Schmidt, while units from their sister regiments, the 110th and 109th, moved forward just a few hundred yards. The town of Schmidt was located on the enemy’s main supply route in the Lammersdorf corridor. The 109th Infantry Regiment attempted to go around a mine field and created about a mile-deep spur into enemy territory in the flat forested terrain between the Weisser Weh Creek and the main road between Huertgen and Germeter. The Germans held their positions along the creek, though. The advance of the 110th Infantry Regiment, now without direct artillery support, was naturally halted by German fire; as a result, several units were forced to retreat. After the attack against enemy positions, just 42 men remained from the single assault company. Over time, the name of Huertgen would become a synonym for destruction and human suffering.

A long-awaited order to go on the offensive was issued to units from the XX and XII Corps of Patton’s US Third Army. The XX Corps was to eliminate the enemy in Metz, secure crossings over the Saar River near Saarburg and, according to orders, continue to advance to the northeast. The XII Corps would attack between November 5 and 8, 1944, according to the orders, taking control of Faulquemont, securing a bridgehead west of the Rhine River between Oppenheim and Mannheim, and attempting to advance to the Darmstadt area. In the operational sector of the XX Corps, the 3rd Cavalry Group (Mechanized) went forward and at night destroyed an enemy unit in Berg-sur-Moselle west of the Mosel River.

In the course of a limited attack towards Gerardmer, the Algerian 3rd Infantry Division from the French First Army’s II Corps came up against strong enemy resistance.

The command of the Czechoslovak Independent Armoured Brigade ordered its unit to attack enemy positions in the eastern sector of the Dunkirk front – a section controlled by the 2nd Tank Battalion and the Motorised Battalion. There was already fighting here on October 28, and now the attack against Vice-Admiral Frisius was to be repeated.

There was also fighting that day on the west side of the perimeter, where members of the 1st Tank Battalion attacked one of many farms occupied by the Germans. There were several casualties on the enemy’s side and the Czechoslovaks even managed to take three German soldiers prisoner - but the battalion also had its victims. During the attack, Sergeant Oldřich Kočář (b. 1916), a native of Kroměříž, was critically wounded and died soon afterwards. In a twist of fate, the Germans reoccupied the conquered farm later that day. Death was also in the air in the south, where the Anti-Tank Cannon Unit was operating. In an unfortunate accident, Private Emil Přibík (b. 1922), a unit member harking from Český Krumlov, was mortally wounded by his own weapon.