The Beginning Of The End

There's a funny story about the capture of Trier that shows the
differences between General Patton and General Bradley and their
ability to judge a military situation. After the battle was already
won and the Third Army had taken the city, General Patton received a
message from General Bradley. The message said, "Bypass Trier. It
would take too many divisions to capture it." Patton's humorous reply
to Bradley was, "Have already taken city, do you want me to give it
back?"

By this time, Germany's manpower problem was becoming very evident to
the Allies. All units of the Third Army was meeting great numbers of
rear echelon German troops. Among these were many Volkssturm (German
militia) troops.

After their defeat at Bastogne, the Germans were now totally incapable
of stopping the Third Army in it's sweep across the Rhine River. Parts
of eleven German divisions were trapped between the Third Army in the
south and the First Army in the north. They were being chopped to
pieces with only a very few of them managing to escape. The enemy was
all but whipped and they knew it. They were becoming more demoralized
as each day passed.

By driving quickly to the Rhine River, the Third Army exposed the
enemy's right flank. This created the opportunity for Patton's men to
reopen a devastating war of movement for the first time since the
fighting they had done in France. This was Patton's favorite kind of
war.  He liked to hit hard and fast. He never stopped to regroup his
forces the way General Montgomery did with his British 2nd Army.

After crossing the Moselle River south of Koblenz, Third Army's 4th
Armored Division ripped across the enemy's rear. They were followed
closely by XII Corps Infantry units who did the mopping up. Shortly
afterwards, XX Corps armored units plunged through the Siegfried Line
and they, too, raced toward the Rhine River. When the XX Corps linked
up with the XII Corps units, they had trapped the remaining Germans in
the Hunsruck Mountains.

While the Third Army was busy cleaning out the Hunsruck Mountains, the
American Seventh Army, commanded by Lieutenant General Alexander
Patch, attacked to their north through the Siegfried Line. There was
no safe place for the Germans and there was no place for them to hide.

By now, the Germans were panic-stricken. They tried, but failed, to
hold a line of defense against the Third Army's unstoppable armor west
of Mainz and Mannheim.

Third Army's 4th Armored Division penetrated deeply into Germany
territory and into the Seventh Army's zone of operations. Major
General W.H.H. Morris' 10th Armored Division and Major General R.R.
Allen's 12th Armored Division pushed the enemy eastward toward
the Rhine.

The German withdrawal was completely disorganized and confused. It was
quickly becoming a complete rout. The enemy was making a mad dash for
the city of Speyer. It was the only city they could get to that still
had an open crossing to the Rhine River.

During this period, the enemy lost the greater part of two entire
armies. They were chopped to pieces by the powerful armor rushing on
him from three different directions.

From the air, the XIX Tactical Air Command, commanded by General O.P.
(Opie) Weyland, attacked the Germans relentlessly with their P-47 and
P-51 fighter-bombers. On the ground, they were pursued closely by
Third Army infantry. In addition to losing a large part of two armies,
more than 81,000 German soldiers were captured as prisoners of war
during this campaign.

To the north, at Remagen, General Montgomery was planning a major
assault.  Montgomery never believed in attacking unless he had such
overwhelming odds in his favor that he was assured of victory simply
by the weight of his attack. His massive preparations for crossing the
Rhine River included landing craft, air support, artillery, and large
numbers of troops. All of the materials, supplies, and manpower he
planned on using was almost equal to that used by the Allies during
their landings in Normandy on D-Day.

Montgomery's crossing of the Rhine was supposed to be a spectacular
invasion of Germany. It was meant to be an earth-shaking event that
would be broadcast throughout England over the BBC radio network.
Monty had even invited the Prime Minister of England, Winston S.
Churchill, to be present at the crossing.

Meanwhile, very quietly, and without any great fanfare or massive
preparations, Patton's Third Army was already crossing the Rhine and
driving toward the heart of Nazi Germany.

Patton's men were just following his basic order to, "Kill the enemy
before they kill you." The soldiers of the Third Army gave the Germans
no chance to recover from the beating they were taking.

Third Army quickly moved two bridgeheads over the Rhine River within
five days. Patton had often warned his men that, "Many battles have
been lost because of an army stopping on the wrong side of a river."

The 5th Infantry Division, under Major General S. Leroy Irwin, made a
perfectly executed assault crossing of the Rhine early on the morning
of March 23rd. They had received no artillery or air support and the
Germans offered little or no resistance at all.

Third Army's VIII Corps made a second assault crossing of the Rhine
south of Koblenz on the 26th of March. The Third Army's bridgeheads
were expanded rapidly. The enemy's high losses and his concern over
First Army's bridgehead at Remagen left him with totally
inadequate forces to contain the Third Army. Advancing to the Main
River, the Third Army seized bridgeheads over that river in the
vicinity of Hanau and Aschaffenburg on the 25th of March. The enemy's
attempt to contain the Main River bridgeheads ended in utter failure.
The Third Army broke through and by March 28th, the 4th Armored
Division had swiftly driven thirty miles northward to join forces with
the First Army.  Their movement had again trapped thousands of German
troops in the Wiesbaden and Bingen area.

When General Patton was ready to cross the Rhine, he did it on foot.
He got out of his jeep and walked across the river on a pontoon bridge
built by his Third Army Engineers.  When he reached the half-way point
he stopped and urinated into the German river. He then continued his
walk to the other side of the bridge and got back into his jeep.
Patton always enjoyed being dramatic.

Advancing as quickly as their tracks could carry them, the Third Army
again gave the enemy no time to build defense lines. Armor and troops
drove swiftly down both sides of the Werra River, across the Fulda
River, and twenty miles beyond, ruining any hope the enemy had of
making a strong stand.

They met strong enemy resistance only at the town of Kassel. By the
10th of April, the Third Army was pushing toward the Mulde River in a
five day drive that gained them eighty miles. This campaign ended on
the 21st of March. While the Third Army was getting ready to advance
east of the Mulde River, they once again were ordered by Eisenhower to
halt

After four days of preparation and regrouping (which Patton called the
curse of warfare) the Third Army was given a new mission. On the 22nd
of March they were to advance to the southeast into Bavaria to attack
what SHAEF called the National Redoubt area. Patton protested this
order claiming that the National Redoubt existed only in General
Eisenhower's imagination. As it turned out, Patton was right again.

Patton had wanted to turn his Third Army north and head for Berlin
before the Russians got there. Eisenhower, however, failed to
understand the importance of the German Capital and he refused
permission.

It was later discovered that Eisenhower had sent unauthorized messages
to some Russian generals. He had taken upon himself the authority to
make strategic decisions which were not his to make.

By now, enemy resistance appeared to be on the point of total
collapse. Final victory was in the air. On the 4th of May, the 11th
German Panzer Division surrendered unconditionally to the Third Army.

It became very clear that the Germans had no desire at all to defend
the so-called Redoubt area. Germans were surrendering in ever
increasing numbers.

Third Army's final campaign across the Danube River, into
Czechoslovakia and Austria, was halted with the official end of the
war in Europe at 0001 hours (one minute after midnight) on May 9th,
1945.

The Germans had officially surrendered all of Germany on May 8th,
1945, a date which would become known as V.E. Day or Victory In Europe
Day.

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