Osprey CAM 181 The Siegfried Line 1944 1945 Battles on the German Frontier By Steven J. Zaloga Teu Pdf.pdf

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Campaign
O
SPREY
PUBLISHING
The Siegfried Line
1944 – 45
Battles on the German frontier
Steven J Zaloga
•
Illustrated by Steve Noon
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
Campaign • 181
The Siegfried Line
1944 – 45
Battles on the German frontier
Steven J Zaloga
•
Illustrated by Steve Noon
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHRONOLOGY
THE STRATEGIC SITUATION
OPPOSING COMMANDERS
German commanders • US commanders
7
8
9
13
16
27
31
OPPOSING ARMIES
The Wehrmacht • The US Army
OPPOSING PLANS
US plans • German plans
THE CAMPAIGN
The first battle of Aachen • North of Aachen
Encircling Aachen • The second battle of Aachen
Prelude to Operation
Queen:
Hürtgen • Operation
Queen
Operation
Clipper:
VIII Corps • Operation
Queen:
the December clean up
The prelude to the Ardennes
THE CAMPAIGN IN RETROSPECT
The battlefields today
91
93
94
95
FURTHER READING
GLOSSARY AND ABBREVIATIONS
INDEX
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com
INTRODUCTION
T
he western frontier of the Third Reich was protected by the
Westwall fortifications, better known to the Allies as the Siegfried
Line. The Allies began encountering the Siegfried Line in
September 1944 after pursuing the retreating Wehrmacht through
Belgium and the Netherlands. Fighting along the Westwall lasted for
more than six months, with the final major operations in March 1945 in
the Saar. All of the major Allied formations, including Montgomery’s 21st
Army Group, Bradley’s 12th Army Group, and Devers’ 6th Army Group,
were involved at one time or another in fighting against the Westwall
defenses. However, the focus of this book is on the most concentrated and
intense fighting along the Siegfried Line by the US First and Ninth
armies, the campaign that epitomizes the grim battles along the German
frontier. Given its nature as a historic invasion route towards Germany’s
industrial heartland in the Ruhr, the Wehrmacht fortified the border area
around Aachen with a double line of bunkers. The campaign in the
autumn of 1944 and the winter of 1944/45 was one of the most frustrating
and costly efforts by the US Army in the European theater in World War
II, reaching its crescendo in the hellish fighting for the Hürtgen forest.
Although the US Army finally broke through the defenses by the middle
of December 1944 and reached the River Roer, the German counter-
offensive in the neighboring Ardennes put a temporary halt to the
fighting. It resumed in February 1945, culminating in Operation
Grenade,
the crossing of the Roer.
RIGHT
On September 13, 1944
Task Force X of the 3rd Armored
Division penetrated the Siegfried
Line near Aachen. Here, one of
the division’s M4 tanks drives
through some dragon’s teeth,
the first layer of the Scharnhorst
Line. (NARA)
LEFT
A pair of GIs take cover
from the incessant rain under
the rear of an M4 tank. They
are from 2/60th Infantry,
9th Division, which teamed up
with Task Force Hogan of the
3rd Armored Division to assault
the village of Geich beyond
the Langerwehe industrial area
on December 11, 1944. (NARA)
7
© Osprey Publishing • www.ospreypublishing.com

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