October 1944

Western Europe

In the XIX Corps area, after further efforts to clear Bardenberg, the reserve battalion of the 119th Infantry, 30th Division, withdraws at night to permit the shelling of the enemy there. The 120th Infantry seizes the Birk crossroads, which controls the road to Bardenberg, jeopardizing enemy forces at Bardenberg. The 30th Division claims 20 German tanks destroyed during the fighting on the 9th and 10th.

In the VII Corps area, the prospects of closing the Aachen gap appear so favorable that the 1st Division delivers an ultimatum calling for the surrender of the city withing 24 hours. In the Huertgen Forest, the Germans overrun the 2 forward platoons of the 39th Infantry of the 9th Division in the Wittscheidt area early in the day. The 39th Infantry later recovers lost ground and takes Germeter without opposition. 60th Infantry units re-enter the woods and seize the road junction almost a mile southwest of Richelskaul.

In the US 3rd Army area, the III Corps headquarters (Maj-Gen John Millikin), which has recently arrived on the Continent, is assigned to the 3rd Army.

In the XII Corps area, the 35th Division clears the enemy from Fossieux.

The II Corps expands the Moselotte bridgehead to Planois, on the east-west road to La Bresse. Hopes of a quick lateral push to secure that communication center are dashed when the corps is asked to extend northward to the line Fougerolles-Remiremont-Le Tholy-Gerardmer, effective on the 14th, to relieve the southern flank units of the 7th Army. No further effort is made at this time to extend the holdings along the northern bank of the Moselotte.