November 1944

Western Europe

In the VIII Corps area, the 15th Division finds Meijel clear of the enemy.

In the XII Corps area, patrols reach the Zig Canal, southeast of Meijel.

The US 9th and 1st Armies open a co-ordinated offensive to clear the Roer Plain between the Wurm and the Roer. The combined air-ground effort is called Operation QUEEN. The air phase of QUEEN marks the greatest close support effort yet made by Allied air forces. British and US strategic and tactical air forces joining in the assault on a relatively small zone of attack and dropping 10,000 tons of bombs.

The XIX Corps attacks for the crossing of the Roer at Juelich at 1245. CCB, 2nd Armored Division, pushes toward Gereonsweiler on the left flank of the corps from Waurichen and Beggendorf, seizing Immendorf, Floverich, and Puffendorf. Puffendorf is in the outer ring of the Juelich defenses. Efforts of one column to take Apweiler are costly and unsuccessful, but another column seizes a hill 700 yards northeast of Puffendorf on the highway to Gereonsweiler. In the center, the 29th Division, committing a battalion each from the 115th and 175th Regiments, attack from the Baesweiler-Oidtweiler area toward Aldenhoven en route to Juelich but is stopped close to the line of departure near the villages of Siersdorf and Bettendorf. The 30th Division, reinforced by a regiment of the 84th, attacks southward in the Wuerselen area with 3 regiments abreast, the 117th taking Mariadorf and the 120th overrunning Euchen. Little progress is made in Wuerselen.

The VII Corps opens the attack of the 1st Army at 1245, pushing toward Dueren and Cologne to secure Roer River crossings, with the 104th Infantry, 3rd Armored, 1st Infantry, and 4th Infantry Divisions from left to right. The 104th Division makes the main effort on the right with the 414th Infantry, reinforced by a battalion of the 415th, driving toward the Donnerberg (Hill 287) and Eschweiler Woods. Enemy opposition from the commanding ground of the Donnerberg limits progress, but elements secure a weak hold on Birkengang, a suburb of Stolberg northwest of Donnerberg. The rest of the 104th Division conducts limited actions to the north without making appreciable progress. CCB, 3rd Armored Division, attacks in the Stolberg corridor toward 4 villages at the western base of Hamich Ridge. TF Mills loses 15 tanks in a vain effort to take Hastenrath and Scherpenseel. TF Lovelady seizes Kottenich and Werth. The 1st Division, reinforced by the 47th Infantry of the 9th Division, makes the main effort of the corps from Schevenhuette, pressing through the Huertgen Forest toward Langerwehe and Juengersdorf. The 47th Infantry gets a battalion into Gressenich. The 16th and 26th Regiments attack in the Huertgen Forest astride the Schevenhuette-Langerwehe highway, the 26th Infantry in the right, but lacks tank support and advances slowly. The 16th reaches the edge of the woods overlooking Hamich. The 4th Division, reinforced by CCR of the 5th Armored Division, attacks on a broad front in the Huertgen Forest as the scene of earlier battles in an effort to break through between Schevenhuette and Huertgen, making the main effort on the left in order to support the 1st Division. Elements of the 8th Infantry on the north and the 22nd Infantry in the center make extremely slow progress against well-organized positions within the forest. The 12th Infantry can scarcely move on a plateau southwest of Huertgen.

In the XX Corps area, the 357th Infantry of the 90th Division, silencing the guns of the Hackenberg, takes the ridge beyond. The 358th seizes Inglange and Metzervisse. CCB, 10th Armored Division, reaches Kirschnaumen. CCA's TF Chamberlain (Lt-Col Thomas C. Chamberlain) gets beyond Laumesfeld while TF Standish (Lt-Col Miles L. Standish) takes Ste Marguerite. TF Bacon, 95th Division, starts southward toward Metz along the east bank of the Moselle, advancing steadily 4-1/2 miles to Trémery. In the region west of the Moselle, the 377th and 378th Regiments take up the pursuit as the Germans begin withdrawing their bridgehead, abandoning Woippy. The 379th Infantry, strengthening its attack takes the St Hubert Farm and the Moscou Farm. The 5th Division attacks northward toward Metz. The 11th Infantry contains the Verdun Forts and is heavily engated at the Frescaty airfield. The 10th Infantry finishes clearing Marly and pushes on toward Magny. The 2nd Infantry is largely engaged at the Nied Française River line, but a battalion pushes toward Frontigny.

In the XII Corps area, CCA of the 6th Armored Division and the 318th and 319th Regiments of the 80th Division attack toward Faulquemont, supported by massed fire from Côte de Suisse, and seize the high ground south of the town. During the advance, the Germans are driven from 5 towns and about 1,200 prisoners are taken.

In the XV Corps area, the 79th Division gains ground toward the Vezouse River, overrunning Barbas. The French 2nd Armored Division, which is to exploit an expected breakthrough of infantrymen, clears Nonhigny with reconnaissance elements of CCR.

In the VI Corps area, the 103rd Division clears part of the triangular hill mass southwest of St Dié.

The I Corps overruns Ste Marie and pushes on toward Montbéliard on the left while pushing to Roches-lès-Blâmont on the right.