Figure 1.--After the exilerting drive liberasting France (August 1944), the Loraine Campasign approahing the West Wall and Rhinelnd became a slow, muddy slog with heavy cassuaslties. A look at the tamk gives a good idea of the mud the GIs faced in Loraine. Notice that the tankers have jerry-rigged a hot plate. And the two interested French boys, who look like they have just come out of a GI surplus store, are hoping to share in a tasty treat. The tank is clearly a M-4 Sherman. Many Shermans were piled high with sand bags and other ersatz protction. This one looks like a mobil garbage dump. A CIH consultant helped work out what we are seeing. "It is definitely the front of the Sherman. The turret is probably reversed so the barrel is out of the way. Some of the extra gear looks to me like towing gear, the rest of the junk I have no idea about."

Loraine is a historic region like Alsace contested by France and Germany. The province at the time in northeastern France bordered on Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany. It was thus the route into the German Rhineland. As the Normandy front began to collapse (late-July), Hitler finally began thinking about the unthinkable -- the need to orgnize a stand somewhere between the Seine and the West Wall. He ordered the construction of defensive field works, chosing the World War I battlefields, he was familiar with, the Somme and Marne Rivers. As a result of his psycological need to stand and fight and not permit timely withdrawls, the battered remnants of the 7th Army which managed to reach the Somme (late-August), were in no way capable of making a stand. The Germans retreating from Falaise had lost their heavy weaons, had no supplies left, and were exhausted, disorganized, and uterly demoralized. They were in no way capable of facing well organized Allied forces fielding mobil armored forces, superb artillery, and increasingly effective close air support. German forces in France soon cracked, leaving the make-shift defenses wide open and in a few days, the Allies reached the West Wall. The West Wall was an entirely different matter. It was a system of well-designed German fortifiucations that had faced the Maginot Line. It was much less formidable, but still well thoughout and a serious defensive line when manned by a competent military force. It was built along the old pe-War German frontier. After the 1940 victory in the West. Hitler had removed much of he artillery for use eleswhere, especially on the Atlantic Wall. At the same time the advancuing Allies, especilly the Americans were out-running their supplies. Without a functuioning port and with the French rail system in shambles, supplying the advaning forces was becoming increasingly difficult. The Red Ball Express kept the Allies going, but was inadequate. Fuel was already a special problem (early-September) when Patton's fuel allocation was cut to supply Montgomery for Market Garden. This marked the beginning of the Loraine Campaign (September 1-December 18). After the break-neck drive through France, Patton found his Third Army mired in a morass. The Americans struggled against fuel shortages, flooded rivers, and fresh German Panzer and ultimately the West Wall. One historian writes, "Having raced 400 miles from the hedgerows of Normandy to the forested banks of the Moselle River in less than one month’s time, Lt. Gen. George S. Patton’s troops had fought desperately to secure bridgeheads in the Lorraine region from an enemy that had at last turned like a cornered animal and bared its fangs. As blue skies gave way to rainy spells signaling autumn’s approach ...." 【Welsh】 By November, slowed by the Fall mud and fuel shortages, Patton's Third Army hit the West Wall. The conrete draggons teeth and bunkers were still there and the German had the time to move move in men and arms to make a stand. What was left of the 7th Army also was used to man the defenses. Then the Germans struck in the Ardennes (December 16). Patton shifted his fron nt (Devenber 18) and headed north, racing to the north to relieve Bastogne, a masterful piece of maneuver.

Sources

Welsh, William E. "Patton in Lorraine: Breaking the Moselle Line," Warfare History (Spring 2011 ).

Created: 12:19 AM 4/23/2023
Last updated: 6:12 PM 4/23/2023