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From D-Day to V-Day

December 1944

December 1, 1944 - D-Day + 178

It was now December of 1944. Six months earlier, the Allies landed on the coast of Normandy, France, and started their advance into the French interior. In August of 1944 they attacked from the south and started to grip the German occupants of France in a huge vice. In the end, they plowed their way through to the German border, breaking through the Siegfried Line at several sites and attacking the Germans on their own soil. Despite the significant losses, it seemed as if everything would continue to go as well has it had thus far and Germany would soon capitulate. At the beginning of December, 1944, no one on General Eisenhower’s staff fathomed that the Germans would still attempt a counterattack. The showdown would take place in the Ardennes. Here is where Hitler had decided to play one more hand, and the stakes were high. The aim was to win back the port of Antwerp while dividing the American and British armies, who would then each be forced to make a separate peace with Germany. At the beginning of December, Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein – the German name of the operation that would launch the Battle of the Bulge – was getting ready to start.

The 102nd Infantry Division’s 406th Infantry Regiment from the Ninth Army’s XII Corps occupied Linnich, while the division’s 405th Infantry Regiment used a double envelopment maneuver to take the heights located along the main highway between Lindern and Linnich. The 29th Infantry Division’s 116th Infantry Regiment launched an attack that aimed to eliminate two enemy positions west of the river in the Jülich area – one was located in a group of buildings called Hasenfeld Gut, and the other had been set up by the enemy in a sports complex. Both positions were protected by fire from the hills on the eastern bank of the Rur, and could be reached only by crossing through the open terrain. As a result, enemy fire quickly pinned attacking units to the ground.

The 104th Infantry Division from the US First Army’s VII Corps occupied the southern section of Inden. Assault battalions from the 4th Infantry Division’s 8th Infantry Regiment once again attempted to break through the Huertgen Forest, but were unsuccessful. In three days of heavy fighting, they had advanced just two thirds of a mile. Using its reserves, the division’s 22nd Infantry Regiment advanced to within sight of Gey, where they then built a shallow defense line along the nearby forest. Major General Collins, commander of the VII Corps, opted to halt the attack. Since November 16, when the fighting in the cursed Huertgen Forest started, the 4th Infantry Division advanced three miles at most – and this came at the price of heavy losses. Units from the 47th Infantry Regiment were moved from the 1st Infantry Division back to their “home” division, the 9th Infantry. Units from the 8th Infantry Division’s 28th and 121st Infantry Regiments from the US V Corps mopped up the area around the Tiefen Creek in the woods near Branderberger, and secured the main road leading along the ridge between Kleinhau and Brenderberger so that tanks could drive through.

The XX Corps under Patton’s Third Army continued with mopping up operations aimed against the remaining enemy positions west of the Saar River, and prepared to cross the river. The 10th Armored Division overcame relatively weak resistance in its sector in the Merzig area. In the meantime, units from the 90th Infantry Division quickly mopped up the sector south of the town. Shortly before the 95th Infantry Division started to advance to the Saar River and cross the river, mid-sized bombers raided Saarlautern, Ensdorf and Fraulautern while fighter aircraft prevented enemy units on the east bank of the river from maneuvering at all. Nevertheless, the Germans put up a fierce defense. The 95th “Victory” Division’s 377th Infantry Regiment occupied Felsberg and advanced to Ste Barbary, where they immediately started to mop up the remaining enemy footholds. Units from the division’s 378th Infantry Regiment took control of the hill near Berus, but they were unable to occupy Bisten. The Victory Division’s 379th Infantry Regiment went through the positions of the 377th Infantry Regiment and attacked in the direction of Saarlautern. Task Force Fickett under Col E. M. Fickett, composed of the 6th Cavalry Group (Mechanized) and the 5th Rangers Battalion, gathered near the French town of St Avold and was given the mission of protecting the Corps’ southern flank in the 5th Infantry Division’s sector. This relieved Task Force Bell, which moved back under the command of the 5th Infantry Division. Part of the division was still busy mopping up fortified posts in the Metz area. For the advance to the Saar River, it was assigned a narrow front on the Warndt salient located on the right flank of the 95th Infantry Division.

Tanks from the 4th Armored Division’s Combat Command B and troops from the 26th Infantry Division’s 101st Infantry Regiment under the XII Corps launched a coordinated attack against Sarre-Union. Despite strong resistance, in the end they were able to break through the enemy’s defense. The 101st Infantry Regiment’s 3rd Infantry Battalion mopped up the town, but it was unable to take the hill located to the north. As a result, the battalion withdrew to the defense line for the night. In the meantime, the 1st Infantry Battalion mopped up the Bannholtz Forest. The 4th Armored Division’s Combat Command B, composed of the 8th Tank Battalion and the 51st Armored Infantry Battalion, occupied Hill No. 318 north of Mackwiller, but the group’s advance was slowed by the narrow and extremely muddy roads. At around noon the group deflected a German counterattack launched by the Panzer Lehr division. Major Van Arnam, the commander of the 51st Armored Infantry Battalion, was killed in the battle. Units from the 80th and 35th Infantry and 6th Armored Divisions were ordered to carry out a limited attack to even out the Corps’ front line in the central section and on the left flank.

Attacking 44th Infantry Division regiments from the Seventh Army’s XV Corps encountered strong enemy resistance near Tieffenbach. The situation was similar for units from the 45th Infantry Division in the Zinswiller – Meitesheim sector. The 79th Infantry Division, now with reinforcements from the 14th Armored Division’s 94th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, battled for Schweighausen. The French 2nd Armored Division from the VI Corps continued to advance to the south along the Rhine River. Units from the 103rd and 36th Infantry Divisions met up in Sélestat. The 14th Armored Division’s Combat Command A was called back to the Corps’ reserves that day.

In the eastern sector outside of Dunkirk, patrols made up of Czechoslovak soldiers searched for Cavalry Lieutenant Zdeněk Pužej, who went missing the previous day in Bray Dunes Plage, but found no one. Zdeněk died that day from the injuries he had sustained in an enemy assault 24 hours earlier. He was only 30 years old.