again to the vicinity of Fontoy and Angevillers just west of Thionville. The assault of the Moselle,
which had been first planned in September, was on. Metz would be encircled and the 90th would drive
across the German frontier into Naziland.
Days were filled with planning, preparation and rehabilitation. Nights were filled with movement
of troops and equipment being juggled into position for the assault. Two battalions and other units of the
1l32nd Engineer Group would support the operation. The 315th would ferry a portion of the assault
troops, furnish engineer support on the far shore and construct a foot bridge and a light raft. The corps
engineers would ferry the other assault troops and build the heavy bridges and rafts.
The Moselle was 350 feet wide at the selected crossing sites of Cattenom and Malling. Normally
the bridging of such a stream would not have presented any insuperable problems, but as D-Day
approached the steady downpour of rain continued. Assembly areas were turned into impossible bogs of
mud where supply trucks sank to their axles. Foxholes were turned into deep pools of icy water and as
the hour approached - still the rain poured down.
0330 on 9 November was H-Hour. The 359th Infantry crossed on the left at Malling and the
358th crossed at Cattenom – across the wild Moselle – angrily foaming, swirling and eddying as it
reached then passed, flood-stage.
Surprise over the enemy had been gained but violent reaction soon came from the German
artillery and mortars, already "zeroed in" on the crossing sites, directed from the ancient Prussian Fort
Koenigsmacher, and in spite of the artificial fog created by generators and smoke pots the fire was
murderously accurate. A single salvo hit and severely damaged five truck loads of bridging.
Still, the rain poured down and the Moselle swiftly spread to 400, then 600 and then 800 yards -
out across the flood plain - eight times the normal span. Pontoons were ripped from their moorings and
were washed downstream. Boats carrying supplies were capsized and only those with large motors could
stem the tide.
A bridge at Malling (although the approaches were under 4 ft of water) was under construction
on the 11th but a well placed mortar burst deflated several floats. The bridge capsized and was swept
downstream in the swirling current. Amphibious trucks were brought in but only a few were able to
battle the raging torrent and these were mired up in the mud banks or disabled by submerged antitank
mines on the far shore.
Power boats and liaison planes were the only means of transportation as the troops savagely
fought on and captured fortress Koenigsmacher and repulsed counterattack after counterattack.
On the night of 11-12 November two tank destroyers crossed the reconstructed bridge at Malling
but the raging torrent, in one mighty blast, swept the bridge away and scattered its remnants 800 yards
downstream.
Then the river passed its crest and began to subside – first at a rate of ¾ of an inch per hour, then
as rapidly as it had risen, it receded. On the fifth day the moselle was bridged. At Cattenom the tanks
and artillery rolled in a steady stream – uninterrupted only when the receding water allowed some of the
floats to come to rest on previously submerged mines. Mines had been numerous in the hedgerows of
Normandy but never had the 315th encountered such deliberate minefields and antitank defenses as the
enemy had prepared here east of the Moselle. Along a 12 mile band parallel to the river hundreds of
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