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"The whole area was extremely mountainous and thus unsuitable for large-scale airborne
operations, while the roads into it followed narrow valleys which could easily be held by determined
defenders. The snows and danger of avalanches limited the possibility of any military operations to the
summer months between May and October. Although there was no evidence of any completed system of
defenses along the natural ramparts, some progress appeared to have been made in this respect along the
northern flank. Air reconnaissance also revealed underground constructional activity. It was believed
that some subterranean factories had been established in the area, but if any considerable numbers of
troops were to be maintained there they would have to rely for their supplies, both of food and
ammunition, upon previously accumulated stocks. …
"At the same time that the 21st Army Group concentrated on its principal thrust to Lubeck, a
similar advance was to be made in the southern zone down the Danube Valley toward Linz with the
object of effecting a further junction with the Russians. The static situation in the center now permitted
the use of the Third Army for this purpose, while the 6th Army Group devoted the whole of its attention
to the problem with the Redoubt farther south and west."
The other Corps in Third Army, and the forces in 6 Army Group, might have saved their breath
rushing down into the "National Redoubt" area. There was going to be no last-ditch fight there. XII
Corps, by sealing the southwestern and southern exits from the Bohemian Bastion, had bottled up the
German armies which were intended to implement the plans of Hitler, Goebbels & Company for that
fanatic defense. As Gen Marshall says of this operation in his relevant Biennial Report: "the swift
advances into the mountains of Austria and Bohemia had prevented the establishment of an inner
fortress."
It was XII Corps' special destiny, then, to establish the much-advertised "National Redoubt" as a
myth.**
* The 97th Infantry Division whose men bore proudly the blue-and-quite trident shoulder patch for the three most 'Down East' states in the
USA, was with XII Corps only eight days in combat. After participating in the reduction of the Ruhr Pocket, they had been rushed down
into Bavaria, and held the left flank of XII Corps from 22-30 April 45. After the war they were the only division with a combat record
under XII Corps which actually completed redeployment to Japan. In connection with this latter operation they made the headlines all over
the US -- and we heard about it in the ETO.
** TOWNS CAPTURED IN APRIL BY XII CORPS, as credited to the corps in Third Army After Action Report:
Town
Date
Berka
3
Schenkfed
3
Sitzelbach
3
Suhl
3
Allendorf
4
Barchfeld
4
Eckartshausen
4
Mohra
4
Oberhof
4
Zella-Mehlis
4
Bonndorf
5
Breitenbach
5
Ineierau
5
Meiningen
5
Metzels
5
Schwarza
5
Drossenhausen
9
Gehlberg
9
Grattstadt
9
Unterneubrunn
9
Veilsdorf
9
Gressuebel
10
Ilmenau
10
Wiedersbach
10
Breitenbach
11
Gehren
11
Langwiesen
11
Town Date
Neustadt
11
Ebertshausen
12
Ernstthal
12
Lauscha
12
Sonneberg
12
Buebbach
13
Golsberg
13
Heberndorf
13
Kulmbach
13
Lothra
13
Rottersdorf
13
Ruppersdorf
13
Stadtsteinach
13
Bruck
14
Bayreuth
14
Gorlitz
14
Schelgel
14
Hof
15
Kirchenlamitz
15
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