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From D-Day to V-Day

December 1944

December 29, 1944 - D-Day + 206

Till now under the British Second Army's 2nd Armoured Division, the operational zone on the western flank of the VII Corps started to be taken over by units from the British XXX Corps.

In the sector of the US First Army's V Corps, both sides of the front were quiet throughout the day. The situation was similar in the XVIII Corps zone, where the two rivals took up defense positions. The 75th Infantry Division took over the operational zone of the 7th Armored Division, while units from the VII Corps cleared its area of enemy reconnaissance patrols that had penetrated its line. The 83rd Infantry Division released the 331st Infantry Regiment to the 3rd Armored Division. The division's 329th Infantry Regiment attacked in the direction of Rochefort but made just little territorial gains during the strike.

The US Third Army's VIII Corps prepared to advance on Houffalize. The 11th Armored Division approached Neufchâteau while the 87th Infantry Division was brought out of the supreme command's reserve and attached to the Corps. Tank units from the III Corps' 4th Armored Division were able to open the main road between Arlon and Bastogne. In the course of December 29, 1944, the 35th Infantry Division mopped up the Villers-la-Bonne-Eau – Lutrebois area. In the area northeast of Basogne, the division's vanguard units made contact with General McAuliffe's paratroopers in Marvie. Exposed to increasingly strong enemy resistance, the 26th Infantry Division continued to advance on Wiltz. The 101st Airborne Division and part of the 9th Armored Division blocked in Bastogne were reassigned to the III Corps. The 6th Armored Division, which had gathered between Arlon and Neufchâteau, was assigned from the XII Corps to the III Corps.

In the south of the perimeter around the French port city of Dunkirk, two enemy deserters were held in the area guarded by the Anti-Tank Cannon Unit. It was soon discovered that the men were Polish. Two days later, the Czechoslovaks won another German deserter. This soldier under Vice-Admiral Frisius was originally from Bohumín, which was part of Czechoslovakia before World War II broke out. Many young men, originally citizens of Czechoslovakia who had been forced to enter the Wehrmacht based on orders from up above, became soldiers of the Czechoslovak Independent Armoured Brigade after the second front opened. Most were natives of Silesia, a region first occupied by Poland, and later by Germany.

RAF, moved to the airfield in Bradwell Bay, England, the headquarters of the Czechoslovak No. 312 Squadron RAF. On the same day, the Czechoslovaks participated in Operation Ramrod 1420 in which they escorted a formation of 162 four-engine Halifaxes and 23 Lancasters from Bomber Command. The crews were given the mission of destroying the train station in Koblenz, Germany.