At 1200 hours on the 7th of December, unconditional terms of surrender were agreed upon and
Fort Plappeville was vacated. Again units in the 5th Division were relieved and on the 8th of December
proceeded by motor to Creutzwald. On this day across the Moselle River, Fort Driant, the next-to-last if
not the mightiest of all the forts, was surrendered. At 1600 hrs, with a single company remaining to
evacuate the prisoners, the remainder of the 5th Division prepared to move immediately forward to
within striking distance of the Seigfried Line.
Fort Jeanne D'Arc surrendered on the 13th of December to the 26th Division which moved in to
Metz for arrest.
When the 2nd Infantry Regiment closed in its area on the 9 th of December the 5th Division was
once again an integrated unit. The balance of the Division had progressed through many square miles of
woods heavily barricaded with roadblocks, craters, fallen trees, and antitank ditches.
With Ludweiler, Wadgassen, Hostenbach, and Differten cleared, the Saar River line in this area
was under control. With the link-up of the 10th Infantry Regiment and the 95th Division the entire
Corps zone now fronted the river.
Troops of the 5th Division from December the 9th to 19th practiced formations for assaulting
pillboxes, brushed up on demolition tactics, and maintained heavy patrols on constant watch for enemy
activity. Thus it was when the Germans mounted a furious, lashing counteroffensive in the Ardennes.
Combat Command "A" of the 10th Armored Division had the mission of capturing a bridgehead
at Merzig. In the days prior to the 6th of December this Command had come into contact with the
heavily defended fortifications of the Siegfried switch line and, with the 3rd Cavalry Group, was
restricted to probing along the trace from west to east. On the 6th of December control of the entire
north flank of the Corps was placed in the hands of the Cavalry Group. The Group's zone extended
from Besch on the Moselle River to Schwemlingen with a patrol reaching Driesbach. It was operating
on a 15-mile line, nearly a third of the Corps front.
In retrospect the successful conclusion of the battle for Metz was the result of the close
teamwork and loyal strenuous efforts of every member of XX Corps and attached troops. The breaching
of the Moselle and the encirclement of the entire fortified region of Metz was a military operation that
required the intensive employment of almost every branch of the service. And important in the
operation were all Corpsmen from the man with the M1 on the front lines to the man in the chemical
battalions which generated smoke to screen Corps activities from enemy eyes.
The guns of the Corps artillery battalions were frequently emplaced within range of small arms
fire. This was necessary in order to give the closest possible fire support to the hard-pressed Corps
assault waves which were battling against some of the strongest fortifications encountered anywhere in
World War II. Instances were noted of 8-inch guns firing from ranges of 1,000 yards in an effort to
drive the enemy from his concrete bunkers.
The steel steeds of the 735th Tank Battalion and tank destroyers of the 4th Destroyer Group
roared up to the very walls of the forts to rip gaps in the embrasures for the infantry.
The engineers of XX Corps conducted their bridging operations in mud and cold, under heavy
shelling, to speed the build-up of the offensive. Then they moved in with the infantry to blast their way
into forts with satchel charges and "beehives".
 |
 |
 |