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From D-Day to V-Day

October 1944

October 3, 1944 - D-Day + 119

The 117th Infantry Regiment from the XIX Corps’ 30th Infantry Division reached Uebach and started to mop up the city, moving from house to house. Here, too, they encountered tanks from the 2nd Armored Division’s Combat Command B, which had crossed the Wurm River in Marienberg and expanded the bridgehead to the north, while the infantry attempted to make contact with the US VII Corps operating in the south. The small bridgehead was blocked by a large amount of vehicles and machinery, and no armored or infantry units could get beyond Uebach. The 30th Infantry Division’s 119th Infantry Regiment conquered the Rimburg Castle, which the day before had been the source of strong enemy fire. At the same time, the regiment took control of the adjacent forests in frontal and flank attacks. On the corps’ left flank, Combat Command R switched positions with the 7th Armored Division’s Combat Command A, and both groups advanced jointly in the effort to surround Overloon.

In the operational zone of the Third US Army’s XX Corps, the 90th Infantry Division launched a limited attack towards Maiziéres-les-Metz. The objective of the attack was to secure a line of access to Metz from the north and gain space to launch an attack on the fortress zone located here. With little difficulty, two companies from the 90th Infantry Division’s 357th Infantry Regiment moved in from the northwest to occupy the hills located within sight of the city. At noon, the 5th Infantry Division renewed its assault on Fort Driant in the space south of Metz. To support the assault, the corps’ entire artillery was redeployed. One of the cupolas on the fort took eight direct hits from the 203 mm howitzer, but just fifteen minutes later, the Germans responded with fire from the very same tower. Planned aerial bombing raids could not be carried out due to poor weather. The 2nd Battalion from the 5th Infantry Division’s 11th Infantry Regiment, with reinforcements from the 1st Battalion’s Company B, a company of combat engineers and twelve Sherman tanks, attacked the southwest and northwest sides of the fort. Company B broke through the southern section of the fortress, followed by Company G. The fighting was chaotic and the Germans, who had surfaced from the fortress tunnels, launched a counterattack after dark. In the course of the fighting, the Americans lost four tanks.

At 0555 hours on the same day, the 317th Infantry Regiment’s 2nd Battalion from the XII Corps’ 80th Infantry Division finished mopping up Sivry. As a result, the corps’ line in the middle and on the right flank was now renewed. In the XV Corps zone, the troops from the 79th Infantry Division advanced in the Forét de Parroy with tank assistance, and they slowly surrounded the German units that were defending the barriers they had built.

The date of October 3, 1944, was a dark day in the history of the Czechoslovak-piloted No. 311 Squadron RAF. The crew of P/O Hala did not return from an anti-U-boat mission that three aircraft had participated in that day. The nine men comprising the crew of the lost Liberator fell victim to an attack by an enemy craft over the Norwegian Sea. Their bodies were never found. The names of P/O Hala’s men are inscribed on the RAF pilot memorial in Runnymede.

After a brief pause, fighter aircraft from the No. 310 RAF went back into action. As part of Ramrod mission no. 1308, the Czechoslovaks escorted 250 four-engine Lancasters whose crews were headed over the dikes on the Dutch island of Walcheren. The bombers were able to break through part of the Westkappele Dike located west of Walcheren Island, causing extensive flooding. On the same day, the Czechoslovak-piloted No. 312 Squadron moved out of the North Weald airfield to a new base at Bradwell Bay, where the pilots were outfitted with new aircraft – Spitfire Mk IX aircraft versions B and C.

Late that night, the command of the Czechoslovak Independent Armoured Brigade located in the Falaise zone received an order stating that the unit must be ready to redeploy to the operational zone within twelve hours. Three days later, the Czechoslovaks appeared at the French port of Dunkirk, launching a new chapter in the history of the Czechoslovak military units abroad during World War II.