LIBERATION DAY: THIONVILLE
The 12th of December 1944 was Liberation Day at Thionville. It was a joyous day to people
who after five years were again under their own rule and were again beginning to enjoy their own way
of life. They did not now have Nazi appointed officials, but those of their own choice. On Liberation
Day, children wearing colorful native costumes of the countryside danced happily about. Civic clubs
and organizations paraded with their banners streaming. Blue uniformed Chasseurs with feathered
berets and gleaming French horns added to the festive air. Officers and unlisted men from XX Corps
represented the liberating army and were most hospitably received at the City Hall. The Book of Honor
was signed and then there was a public reception at which many a XX Corps soldier sampled Moselle
wine.
In the meantime, Third Army and XX Corps were planning a drive to and over the Rhine and the
seizure of Frankfurt. XX Corps Field Order No. 14 dated December the 16th called for a continued
advance to the east to penetrate the Siegfried Line. Two Divisions launched the attack on the 18th of
December. The 5th Division, replacing the 95th Division at Saarlautern, inched its way past pillboxes
and concreted resistance. At Dillingen, the 90th Division used its own bridgehead and until the 20th of
December seemed on the verge of consolidating this area.
The Nazi High Command on the Western front had, however, made some plans of its own. On
the 16th of December, the great German counteroffensive had begun in the Ardennes.
The Third Army was compelled to discontinue its aggressive attacks to the east and to swing the
biggest part of its forces to the north. The XX Corps took up a defensive position along the line of the
Saar. The hard-won bridgeheads at Dillingen and Ensdorf were abandoned; but the bridge at Saarlautern
was held again by the 95th Division and remained both a constant threat to the Germans and a painful
reminder of how they had been outwitted in early December.
On the 17th and 20th of December, respectively, the 10th Armored Division and the 5th Infantry
Division were hurried north to knife into the southern flank of the German bulge, and so these divisions
passed from the control on XX Corps. The Corps continued, however, to hold its zone along the Saar,
and it made preparations in depth to repulse a possible German offensive in its sector. The Corps also
kept up its policy of making repeated aggressive feints to keep the enemy off balance and in fear of an
all-out attack, thus preventing the shift of German reserves to the "Battle of the Bulge". Limited
objective attacks and aggressive patrolling were the main activities of the thinly spread XX Corps during
the remaining days of December and the entire month of January.
On the 23rd of December 1944, the city of Metz held civic ceremonies honoring the heroic XX
Corps, as citizens of the city gathered to celebrate their return to freedom after five years of German
occupation. Children in native costumes joyously unlivened the streets of the city. Troops of the newly
organized a French Army as well as the veteran combat units of the vaunted XX Corps participated in
the review.
A special commemorative medal was struck for the colors, and a special battle streamer prepared
in the colors of the Citadel of Metz. The latter was attached to the XX Corps flag beside its other
streamers, each significant of a great achievement. In this square near the Cathedral of Metz, General
Walker, representing the officers and soldiers of his Corps, was made and "Honorary Citizens of the
City of Metz" when he was presented with a handsomely embossed scroll, indicating such citizenship.
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