Figure 1.-- General Courtney Hodges’ American 1st Army reached the Grand Duchy (September 9). Prince Felix and Crown Prince Jean arrived with the initial Allied units. There was little resistance and Luxembourg City was liberated (September 10). The press caption here read, "Flowers fir Friendly invaders:A little girl of Velfingen, Luxembourg., presses a flower into the hand of a soldier as liberating American troops march through the town. Another girl (right) advances with more flowers. The photograph is dated September 19, 1944, but this was when it was published in the States. Source: U.S. Army Signal Corps. .

The Allied D-Day landings took place in Normandy (June 1944). The Wehrmacht kept the Allies bottle up for several weeks. George S. Patton's Third Army launched an offensive (mid-July) and within weeks reached Paris (August). The Wehrmact units surviving the Allied offensive streamed back to the Reich. The Wehrmact largely withdrew from Luxembourg (early- September 1944). The initial plan was to stage a final defense from behind the Seigfried Line. General Courtney Hodges’ American 1st Army reached the Grand Duchy (September 9), 3 months after the Normandy landings. Prince Felix and Crown Prince Jean arrived with the initial Allied units. There was little resistance and Luxembourg City was liberated (September 10). American units reached the former border with the Reich at the Our and Sure Rivers (Sptember 11). The American advance at this time was halted as a result of supply shortages. Available supplies were directed at the British and Canadian forces who were attempting to open the crucial port of Antwerp to Allied shipping. As a result, The Ardennes (Luxembourg and eastern Belgium) became a forgotten part of the front. The Allied forces had reached the line from Luxembourg to Antwerp. Operation Market Garden expanded the front north into the Netherlands to the Rhine (October 1944), but the front in Luxenbourg remained basically unchanged until the German struck in the Ardennes (December 16). .

Liberation of France (August)

The GErman defeat of France was their major military achievement during World War II. THe exploitation of occupied France ws a major syupport for the Germn war effirt. The Allied D-Day landings took place in Normandy (June 1944). The Wehrmacht kept the Allies bottled up for several weeks. George S. Patton's Third Army launched an offensive (mid-July) and within weeks reached Paris (August). This ended the German resistance to the Allies in France. After the Allies breached the Seine, there was no major German effort to resist the Allies in Franbce. Garisons resisted uin the ports. And te Germans resisted in the Voges Mountains, but most of the German forces in France made for the Reich and West Wall (Seigfried Line), as quickly as possible.

German Withdrawl from Luxembourg

The Wehrmact units surviving the Allied offensive streamed back to the Reich. The collapse un France surprised German forces in Belgium and Luxembiourg. The Wehrmact largely withdrew from Luxembourg as part of that retreat (early-September 1944). The initial plan was to stage a final defense from behind the West Wall, just east of the Luxembourg frontier. This meant that there was no substantial German resistance in Belgium and Luxembourg. As the American approached Luxembourg, the Germans retreated without fighting.

American Liberation (September 9-10)

General Courtney Hodges’ American 1st Army reached the Grand Duchy (September 9), 3 months after the Normandy landings. U.S. Army Combat Command A (CCA), 5th Armored Division was the first U.S. forces to enter Luxembourg near Petange . They recheded the capital city (September 10). The Americans had liberated 90 percent if the Grand Duchy (September 12). American units reached the former border with the Reich at the Our and Sure Rivers (September 11). The American advance at this time was halted as a result of supply shortages. Available supplies were directed at the British and Canadian forces who were attempting to open the crucial port of Antwerp to Allied shipping. As a result, The Ardennes (Luxembourg and eastern Belgium) became a forgotten part of the front. The Allied forces had reached the line from Luxembourg to Antwerp.

Operation Market Garden (September 17-26)

Montgomery had been pressuring Eisenhower to order one big push into Germany which of course he thought he should direct rather than Patton. Eisenhower kept insisting on a broad front advance. At this stage of the campaign. Most of the Allied supplies were still coming in over the Normandy beaches. Ports like Brest, Boulogne and Calais were still in German hands. The German V-2 attacks while not a real military threat, were terrifying civilians and it was Montgomery who was best placed to seize the launching sites in the Netherlands which could still be used to hit London. Eisenhower as a result, acceeded to Montgomery's plan to seize the Rhine River bridge at Arnhem and cross the Rhine through the Netherlands. Available supplies were diverted toward this effort, Operation Market Garden (September 17-26). Operation Market Garden expanded the front north into the Netherlands to the Rhine (October 1944), but the front in Luxenbourg remained basically unchanged until the German struck in the Ardennes (December 16). .

Luxenbourg Government (September 23)

Prince Felix and Crown Prince Jean arrived with the initial Allied units (September 10). The Allies had recognised the London-based Luxembourgish Government-in-exile (LGIE) as the sole legal representative of the Grand Duchy. It was the Unio'n vun den Fraiheetsorgansatiounen (Unio'n), the umbrella group of the Luxembourgish Resistance, however, that was present in the Grand Duchy. They assisted the Americans to maintaining order after liberation. The LGIE consisting of four ministers returned from exile (September 23). It faced guge material and political difficulties. The immediate priority was the food supply, but there were many other pressing issues, including coke for heavy industry, collaborators, the repatriation of deported Luxembourgers mostvstill in the Reich, and reconstruction. The four LGIE found they had only limited authiority and that was questioned by the Unio'n. The situation was dominated by the military needs of the Allied military. The Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) created a comission of American, British, Canadian and Luxembourgish officers which became the de facto military and civil authority in Luxembourg. Amajor problemn was that out of 55 pre-war Deputies, only 25 remained. The rest had been killed, resettled, or were suspected of collaboration with the NAZI occupation authorities. The LGIE did not want to hold new elections for a reconstituted Chamber of Deputies when the war was over and the people who had been deported or forced into the Whermact had returned. It this acted under the laws of 1938 and 1939 which gave it increased powers in times of crisis. This resulted in substabtial criticism. so the LGIE established a Consultative Assembly, which apart from the remaining Deputies also included members of the Unio'n (November 23). This is where mattrers stood when the Germans struck for a second time in the Ardennes (December 16)

German Bulge Offensive (December 16)

The Germans struck for a second times in the Aedenbnbes the location of their greatest vicytory of the War (December 16). A powerful German force assembled in secrecy by denying replvements anbd supplies from the Eastern Front. The Ardennes had been a quiet front where the Americans did niot expoect an attack. The German offensuve virtually obliterated the American front along the Our and the Sûre. The Germanms reoccupied the northern half of the country as they drove toward Antwerp. The fighting devastated the Oesling and the region around Echternach, displaced large numbers of the population, and ledt the population with little or no food.

Created: 3:21 AM 1/6/2019
Last updated: 3:21 AM 1/6/2019