Siegfried Line 1944-45 by Steven Zaloga

Author:Steven Zaloga
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: The Siegfried Line 1944 – 45: Battles on the German Frontier
ISBN: 9781472800183
Publisher: Osprey Publishing

The sole link between the battalions at Kommerscheidt was this narrow dirt trail up the side of the Kall ravine, barely wide enough for a tank to pass. Several tanks became bogged down on the trail after losing their tracks, blocking it at critical moments during the battle. Their tracks can still be seen here littering the sides of the hill, weeks after the fighting has ended. (NARA)

Schmidt was much more vulnerable to counterattack, being at a road junction. The town was hit from three sides by elements of the 89th Infantry Division supported by Sturmgeschütz Brigade 341; the US battalion in Schmidt was outnumbered by over three to one. Aside from a small number of antitank mines, the only antitank defenses in the town were bazookas, and these proved ineffective against the attacking assault guns. By noon, the German infantry had seized the northern and western portions of Schmidt, and a last-ditch defense of the southeastern corner of the town was finally overrun in the afternoon with the arrival of nine PzKpfw IV tanks of 2/Panzer Regiment 16. With the momentum of the attack in their favor, the Panzers and assault guns charged out of Schmidt towards Kommerscheidt. The 1/112th Infantry defenses in Kommerscheidt were backed by three M4 tanks; three PzKpfw IV tanks were knocked out in quick succession and a fourth became trapped in a swamp even before reaching the town. The Panzers barreled into Kommerscheidt without infantry support and quickly lost three more in a short-range duel with the Shermans. The Panzers were forced to withdraw with their surviving five vehicles.

General Cota ordered Peterson to counterattack and retake Schmidt, a remarkably unrealistic order in the circumstances. The 1/112th Infantry was entirely exposed in Kommerscheidt, connected to the rest of the division by the thin muddy trail up the Kall ravine. The Panzer Aufklärungs Abteilung (PzAA) 116 made numerous attempts to cut this link starting on November 4, and the trail and the nearby river bridge at the Mestrenger Mill changed hands several times during the fighting on November 5. The attack by PzAA 116 was reinforced in the other direction by the Grenadier Regiment (GR) 1056 of the 89th Division, which had been slow to arrive due to the lack of roads in the area. The combined forces of the reconnaissance battalion and GR 1056 were ordered to capture the Mestrenger Mill, which controlled the only bridge over the River Kall. After prolonged fighting with US engineer units in the ravine, the Mestrenger Mill was finally secured on November 6. In an attempt to regain Schmidt, Cota formed Task Force Ripple around the 3/110th Infantry, which moved through the ravine on November 6 and established a defensive line behind Kommerscheidt near the edge of the woods. The ravine remained a confused no-man’s land, with German units intermingled with American units in the rough hills and foliage.

The 2/112th Infantry in Vossenack remained under assault for most of November 5, but the terrain made it much more difficult for the Germans to mass forces, and US artillery was able to break up some of the attempts.

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