The Last Campaign of General Patton

The Last Campaign of General Patton

This is my retrospective of General George S. Patton Jr.; and the last year of the European Campaign of World War II.
This was a very crucial time for the Allied Powers, with the impending fall of Nazi Germany; and with both the United States,
Britain, and Russian forces closing in on Berlin. Someone would have to be the messenger for the status of the free world:
that person was General Patton.

Beginning in October 1944, when many believed the Allies had all but won the war in Europe . At the time of the push toward
Germany's Western Front, Autumn 1944, 12th Army Group under General Omar Bradley, had the 1st Canadian Army, 2nd Army
(Britain), 1st US Army, 9th US Army, 7th US Army, 1st French Army, 3rd US Army; and elements of Jacob Devers 6th Army Group
to contend with the Germans.
Meanwhile, the Russians; the Baltic Army Group, the White Russian Army Group; and the Ukrainian Army Group had begun
their advance approaching Romania, Poland; and Lithonia which all borders on the Eastern Front of Germany.

Now onto the Battle of the Bulge; the relief of Bastogne. The 3rd US Army began preparations to end the siege by having
the 4th Armored Division, Seventh Tank Battalion under the command of Lt Col. Creighton Abrams; on and around December
22 1944. They moved by hidden German forces in the forest on the road to Assenois. The task force had plowed through Remonville, Remichampagne, Sibret, and Clochimont before heading toward Assenois. They would initially link up with the
327th Airborne as the American forces repelled the German forces into a retreat from the area. No counter-attack from the Germans
came; the German advance stalled on Christmas Eve 1944. Basically, the Germans overran their supply lines. And without ammunition and gasoline, they were unable to wage an offensive campaign. The continued progress of The 3rd US Army eventually spelled dome for Operation Watch on the Rhine. By January 25, 1945, the Germans had returned to the same positions they had
held at the start of the offensive six weeks earlier. Thus ended the last great German attack on the Western Front.

One such event, a not often mentioned stumbling block for the Germans was the location of the American Ninety-Ninth Division.
They held the northern shoulder of the Bulge assault, inflicting tremendous casualties on the Germans in the Battle of Elsenborn
Ridge. Despite the Wehrmacht offensive sputtering, the Germans did not give much ground until Patton was able
to relieve Bastogne. In fact, on January 1, the Germans launched Operation Baseplate (Unternehmen Bodenplatte) a last-gasp
aerial bombardment on Allied airfields by the Luftwaffe. It was a success, destroying 465 American and British
aircraft. However, the sorely depleted Luftwaffe also lost nearly 300 planes, which finished it as a fighting force.

Also, another point taken was that on February 10, Dwight Eisenhower, the supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe
ordered Patton and his Third Army to stop their drive east and go on the defensive, and selected British field marshal Bernard
Law Montgomery to lead the massive Allied invasion force to cross the strategically vital Rhine River.
Stretching eight hundred miles down the length of Germany from the North Sea to Switzerland, the Rhine is the last great
obstacle between the Allies and the German heartland. Whoever crosses it first might also soon know the glory of being the
first Allied general to reach Berlin.

The Rhine Rat Race
March 1945
On 4 May, the US Third Army under General George S. Patton entered Czechoslovakia. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was the only political leader to advocate the liberation of Prague by the Western Allies. In a telegram to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, Churchill said that "the liberation of Prague...by US troops might make the whole difference to the postwar situation of Czechoslovakia and might well influence that in nearby countries." Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union, also wanted his forces to liberate the city and asked that the Americans stop at Plzeň, 50 miles (80 km) to the west. The Red Army was planning a major offensive into the Protectorate, starting on 7 May. Eisenhower, disinclined to accept American casualties or risk antagonizing the Soviet Union, acquiesced to the Soviet demands that the Red Army enter Prague.
This is an interesting footnote in history. The political aspect will be felt for decades to come.

The Allied forces consisted of the British 21st Army Group; the American 12th Army Group, including 9th US Army, 1st US
Army, 3rd US Army; and 7th US Army were all poised to head into the Siegfried Line; and so began the Rhine offensive.

Fighting on the Western Front seemed to stabilize, and the Allied advance stalled in front of the Siegfried Line (Westwall) and the southern reaches of the Rhine. The operation had started back in early September, the Americans began slow and bloody fighting through the Hurtgen Forest ("Passchendaele with tree bursts"—Hemingway) to breach the Line.