The intervening days were devoted to cleaning out the area west of the Our and to make all necessary preparations. Deep snow which blanketed the roads and precipitous hills on either side of the river proved the major natural obstacles. Again the Engineers performed prodigiously to clear the way for the assault.

Now once again the 90^th stood on the threshold of German soil. General Von Rundstedt's costly gamble had succeeded. only momentarily in stemming, the advance juggernaut of Allied armies. Once more Germany itself was the target, and this time the advance was not to be denied. The "sacred" soil of Germany was soon to know the feel of American combat boots trudging through the snows and through the "sacred" German mud. The points at which the 90^th was to make its drive was the juncture of Luxembourg, Belgium and Germany, the very gap through which the enemy had poured only six weeks before. But this time the traffic had changed directions, and to the conclusion of the war there was no turning back.

On the morning of the 29^th the 90^th Division crossed the Our River and stood on German soil. Moving rapidly against determined resistance they fought the Germans and the winter to a standstill. January had come to an end, and Spring was not far off, an encouraging thought to men for whom warmth was a remote luxury.

Not so encouraging, however, was the realization that beyond the present lines lay the bulwark of the enemy defense... the Siegfried Line.

- 57 -

back    next