Engineer units believed this heavy pontoon bridge at Uckange (765 ft.)
to be the longest in france.
After receiving the XX Corps ordered to contact the 5th Division, the 90th Division moved out
quickly, overrunning bridges and underpasses before the enemy could demolish them. The drive carried
through Aboncourt, St. Hubert and Conde-Northen in rapid succession. The same day, infantry troops
crossed the Nied River to seize an important road junction at Pontigny.
The 90th Reconnaissance Troop with a supporting platoon of tanks and tank destroyers took over
the high ground east of Avancy and cut the highway there. Late in the afternoon of the 18th of
November, an enemy battalion was caught between Avancy and the high ground and blown to pieces by
antitank guns and tank destroyers. During the night additional columns were jammed in the darkness
against the wreckage of the first column. Tank destroyers and tanks went to work again, and, by
morning of the 19th of November, 500 prisoners were taken and 32 vehicles had been destroyed.
Early on the 19th of November, the infantry captured Les Etangs in a surprise attack that plugged
another escape route east from Metz. Two more long enemy columns moving east were trapped and the
massed fires of the supporting artillery and the fighter bombardment destroyed 63 enemy vehicles.
The infantry was prepared to storm across the Nied River and capture Boulay, but the attack was
canceled on XX Corps quarter because the encirclement had already been completed at 1100 hours on
the 19th of November by the junction of the 90th Reconnaissance Troop with elements of the 735th
Tank Battalion.
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