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| Despite such obstacles, operations proceeded as
scheduled. On February 5th the 90th Division opened a
demonstration against Habscheid and Hollnich. Vehicles and armor moved
freely in the front line area, artillery fired volley after volley into the
towns. Armor of the 712th Tank Battalion fired on pillboxes.
During the hubhub, the 4th Infantry took advantage of the
diversion and sliced forward to take Brandscheid, its immediate objective
just within the Siegfried Line. February 6th was D-day, and at four in the morning the 359th picked its way undetected through the dragon's teeth, minefields, barbed wire and pillboxes, the first defenses of the Siegfried Line. By daylight Habscheid was in the 90th's hand, and the job of breaching the Siegfried barrier was well begun. Bypassed pillboxes throughout the day prevented armor and reinforcements from reaching the town, and it was not until a 155 mm self-propelled gun poured direct fire into the pillboxes that the enemy defenders began to see the error of their ways and promptly deserted their concrete shelters. The 358th, in the meantime, was in the process of relieving elements of the 4th Infantry at Brandscheid. At this most inopportune time a force of 450 Germans supported by three assault guns launched a determined counterattack, which was subsequently repulsed with the capture of 170 of the enemy. Interrogation of prisoners revealed the enemy intended to hold grimly to its Siegfried fortifications, German's last barrier before the Rhine.
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