September 1944

Western Europe

Gen Montgomery issues orders for the next phase of the offensive, to begin on the 17th, calling for the British 2nd Army to secure crossings of the Rhine and Meuse Rivers in preparation for a major drive on the Ruhr and for the Canadians to open the port of Antwerp and seize Boulogne and Calais. Offensive operations are virtually at a standstill while supplies are being brought forward and units regrouped.

The XXIX TAC (Provisional) is activated under the command of Brig-Gen Richard E. Nugent to provide direct assistance to the US 9th Army, whose movement to the main battle front will begin upon the fall of Brest. The new command is attached temporarily to the IX TAC.

In the XIX Corps area, CCA of the 2nd Armored Division reaches the Maas and crosses the canal to Maastricht island late in the day as the Germans are withdrawing. Earlier, elements of the 117th Infantry, 30th Division, cross to Maastricht island and find the town undefended. Some elements of the 119th Infantry cross the De Geul a mile north of Gulpen without opposition, but others crossing at Valkenburg under enemy fire are just able to maintain a foothold on the eastern bank. The 30th Division then halts temporarily, maintaining its De Geul bridgeheads while bridges are being built and adjacent forces come abreast.

In the VII Corps area, TF Lovelady (Lt-Col William B. Lovelady) of CCB, 3rd Armored Division, pushes to the Vicht River southwest of Stolberg and crosses. Engineers begin bridging the river. CCA gains 4 miles, reaching the outskirts of Eilendorf, a suburb of Aachen, where it halts to await the 16th Infantry, 1st Division, which is moving up on the left flank. On the right flank of the armor, the 9th Division commits the 47th Infantry, which moves elements eastward into the Roetgen Forest to envelop the towns of Zweifall and Vicht while the rest works northward along the Vicht River. A 60th Infantry force turns over Camp d'Elsenborn to the 4th Cavalry Group and drives northward across the German border, seizing Kalterherberg and trying in vain to take the Hoefen-Alzen ridge in order to attack the West Wall in the Lammersdorf corridor. To strengthen the assault on the ridge, the rest of the 60th Infantry is ordered southeastward from Eupen through the Hertogenwald to Monschau from which to attack the ridge in conjunction with forces from Kalterherberg. The 39th Infantry drives southeastward from Roetgen to Lammersdorf, then attacks to the north against a strong portion of the Scharnhorst Line but is pinned down.

In the V Corps area, the 4th Division penetrates the West Wall in the Schnee Eifel. The 12th Infantry cuts the Schnee Eifel highway and drives northeastward along it, taking Hill 698. The 22nd Infantry reaches the crest of the Schnee Eifel ridge and gets one battalion on the eastern slopes overlooking Hontheim. The 28th Division begins major attacks in an effort to breach the West Wall in its sector. The 109th Infantry makes futile efforts to reach Roscheid while the 110th, to the north, attacks toward Kesfeld and sends a column through Heckhuscheid and southeastward to take Hill 553, an enemy strongpoint on the Heckhuscheid-Uttfeld highway, but can clear neither objective. On the southern flank of the corps, CCR, 5th Armored Division, begins to cross the Sauer into Germany at Wallendorf, clearing that town and the bluffs beyond.

The XX Corps regroups in order to place greater weight on the southern flank. The 43rd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, assisted by a team from 12th Army Group headquarters whose function is to make a show of strength, is given responsibility for the left flank of the corps. The 90th Division, leaving a containing force in Thionville, shifts to the south, relieving elements of the 7th Armored Division and 5th Infantry Division west and north of Mets for planned action to the south. A planned attack to expand the Arnaville bridgehead is postponed because of deep mud that makes the movement of armor almost impossible.

The XII Corps completes the envelopment of Nancy and is seriously threatening Lunéville. In local counterattacks against the 80th Division's Dieulouard bridgehead, the Germans gain Ste Geneviève and Loisy. The 80th Division then recovers lost ground and expands the bridgehead. The 3rd Battalion of the 318th Infantry taks Atton and continues northward to the crest of Mousson Hillo. The 317th Infantry pushes eastward to Mt Toulon, which is still in German hands, on the left and reaches Falaise Hill, south of Landremont, where an enemy force moving northward from Nancy is dispersed, on the right. CCA, 4th Armored Division, ordered to bypass Château-Salins races to the Arracourt-Moncourt area to block enemy movement from the east and cut escape routes from Nancy. Southeast of Nancy, the 35th Division gains positions astride the Meurthe with forward elements within 6 miles of Nancy. From the Meurthe, CCB of the 4th Armored Divison drives through Forêt de Vitrimont to the Marne-Rhine Canal near Dombasle, cutting the main road west of Lunéville. The 2nd Cavalry Group, upon crossing the Meurthe southeast of Lunéville, cuts the approaches from this direction. With a junction of the patrols of CCA and CCB near the canal late at night, the envelopment of Nancy is complete.

In the XV Corps area, the French 2nd Armored Division makes contact with a patrol of the French 1st Armored Division, 7th Army, near Clefmont. CCB, 6th Armored Division, is released to the 3rd Army with the mission of protecting the southern flank west of Troyes, relieveing the French 2nd Armored Division of this task. The 79th Division is ordered, except for the battalion on the east bank, to remain west of the river until further notice. The 313th Infantry mops up Poussy and takes Mirecourt on the Neufchâtaeu-Espinal road. The 315th drives the enemy rear guards from Châtenois, southeast of Neufchâteau, to Ramecourt, where elements of the 313th destroy them during the night. The French 2nd Armored Division clashes with retreating Germans near Hennecourt.