CHAPTER TWO
Following the breakout from Normandy and the Battle for Falaise, the Allied Armies streamed east across France and for a few short weeks it seemed as though the German Army had been broken. Meanwhile, 9th Armored Division had left New York at the end of August 1944 bound for Scotland and, after a short acclimatisation period, moved to the south coast of England to receive new tanks and equipment.
There were high hopes for an early conclusion to the war as autumn approached, however, the Allied planners faced a new problem; the advancing columns were outstripping their supply lines. Although supplies were building up along the Normandy coast, the Red Ball Express, comprising endless lines of lorries been driven day and night, was struggling to cope with the demands of the front line troops. As winter approached the problem would increase as bad weather closed the temporary harbours for long periods. Allied attempts to capture one of the Channel Ports intact had been frustrated by German rearguards. On each occasion, German engineers managed to destroy the harbour facilities before they could be taken.
As summer came to an end, Eisenhower was forced to prioritise his plans in the face of rivalry between 21 Army Group’s commander, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, and 12 Army Group’s CO, General Omar Bradley. While Montgomery’s troops raced across northern France heading for Belgium and Holland, the First US Army was driving across the southern part of Belgium and General George S Patton’s Third Army was passing to the south of Luxembourg heading north east for the Rhine. All three commanders wanted to spearhead the way into Germany. However, the shortfall in supplies meant that Eisenhower could only support one offensive. Montgomery planned to drop three airborne divisions, capturing the bridges across the Maas and Neder Rein (the Dutch name for the Rhine) by surprise. An armoured column would then push into northern Germany, advancing north of the Ruhr. General Hodges, First US Army’s commanding officer, wanted to force a crossing of the Rhine around Cologne and Bonn, in the hope of taking the Saar coalfields.
September saw the Allied advance slow to a crawl as the supply crisis deepened. Meanwhile, the German Armies had begun to regroup as Feldmarschall Model began to formulate plans to defend his homeland. Meanwhile, Eisenhower had decided to follow Montgomery’s plan and on 17 September the skies over Holland were filled with planes and gliders as Operation MARKET GARDEN began. Almost at once the operation faltered and the 101st and 82nd American Airborne Divisions faced fierce counterattacks as they tried to maintain a corridor between Eindhoven and Nijmegen for the British armoured column. The anticipated rapid advance towards the Neder Rein never materialised and the 1st British Airborne Division found itself isolated and outnumbered at Arnhem, on the north bank of the river.
Major-General John W Leonard, commander of the 9th Armored Division.
National Archives 111-SC-200522
Within a few days the hopes for a rapid advance into northern Germany had been dashed, leaving Eisenhower to confront his supply problem. Although Antwerp had fallen into Allied hands at the beginning of August, it would take three months to clear German troops from the Schelde estuary and open the port for supplies.
After completing its training, Major-General Leonard’s Division sailed to France during October and made its way east into Belgium. As his men adapted to life in the front line in a quiet sector facing the Siegfried Line west of Prüm, the battles for ‘Bloody’ Aachen and the Hürtgen Forest raged on, draining American resources.
Throughout the winter generals continued to put forward plans for an advance into Germany. Montgomery wanted to continue where Operation MARKET GARDEN had ended, while Bradley proposed a pincer movement, north and south of the Ruhr, intending to deprive Germany of its main industrial centre. This time Eisenhower chose to support Bradley, relegating Montgomery’s Army Group to a subsidiary role. The First and Third US Armies would advance towards the Rhine, in the hope of establishing a bridgehead on the east bank. To release troops for the forthcoming attacks, other sectors of the line would be kept on the defensive; one such area was southern Belgium.
After a few weeks at the front the 9th Armored Division had withdrawn to Luxembourg to carry out more training. Their lull in the fighting was shattered on 17 December when the Germans launched their offensive in the Ardennes. The 9th Armored Division was immediately called upon to help contain the breakthrough. The two Combat Commands were committed to different sectors; one was sent to help defend Luxembourg City while the second headed to Bastogne to help the 101st Airborne Division defend the vital road junction. Germans posing as American soldiers had caused panic in the St Vith sector and Combat Command Battalion (CCB) entered the line as German troops advanced in the wake of the confusion caused. 27th Armored Infantry Battalion became embroiled in the fighting around Malmedy and a number of troops were cut off. They were later found murdered by Kampfgruppe Pieper just outside the town. The headquarters company also became separated from the rest of the battalion on the night of the 21st. The intelligence officer managed to slip through the German lines under cover of darkness and located the rest of his unit. With the information he provided the battalion was able to launch a the following day, rescuing the staff from capture.
The 9th Armored Division suffered heavy casualties in the confused fighting and on two occasions German communiqués announced that the division had been destroyed. As the survivors withdrew to reorganise on 23 December they christened themselves the ‘Phantom Division’. The Germans would be hearing a lot about the 9th Armored Division in the coming months.
The start of 1945 brought new challenges as the First and Third American Armies drew close to the Siegfried Line. Yet again there were differences of opinion on how to enter Germany but Eisenhower decided to allow Montgomery to take the lead role, pushing south between the Maas and Rhine rivers. Meanwhile, Hodges First US Army would advance north towards Bonn in the hope of trapping thousands of German troops in a pincer movement behind the Siegfried Line.
9th Armored Division continued to train during the early weeks of 1945 but at the end of February the division returned to the front line, joining III Corps as it prepared to cross the Röer River.
Poised on the German border ready to push to the Rhine. The position of the Allies in February 1945.