Rhineland Expedition

After frustrations through much of October, the main Allied attacks kicked off on 13 November. The French First Army used its two armored divisions and its experienced colonial infantry divisions to liberate Belfort and Mulhouse. The French reached the Rhine on 19 November. Meanwhile, the Seventh Army had several divisions that had developed sound mountain-fighting experience in the Italian campaign and managed to push through the Vosges via two mountain passes. Although armor was used in a supporting role in the fighting, this was primarily an infantry contest.

The Seventh Army’s armored reserve at this point was the French 2e DB, which remained under American command through most of 1944 because of political differences between Leclerc and the French First Army leaders. When the Seventh exited the mountain passes to the Rhine plains, the 2e DB was unleashed and made a dash for the provincial capital of Strasbourg, which was liberated on 25 November. Gen. Jacob Devers, the 6th Army Group’s commander, proposed to leap-frog the Rhine and advance up its eastern bank in order to unhinge German defenses standing in Patton’s way, but Eisenhower was skeptical of this approach. Instead, the Seventh Army was given the task of striking toward Hagenau and the Wissenibourg gap in the hopes of undermining German defenses on the western bank of the Rhine, while the French First Army continued to struggle against a large pocket of German troops still holding out on the western side of the Rhine around Colmar.

A French M4A4 of the 2e Cuirassiers, 1 e DB (French 1st Armored Division) knocked out during the fighting on the approaches to Alsace in the autumn of 1944.

A U.S. Seventh Army M7 105mm howitzer motor carriage crosses a hastily repaired bridge near Remiremont on 24 September. Typical of vehicles that had served in Italy, it is a 1942-production vehicle upgraded in the field with a piece of armor welded behind the machine-gun pulpit to extend the side panel upward to cover the hull ammunition racks. It is also refitted with the later suspension bogies.

On 21 September, American troops inspect a 37mm Flakpanzer, popularly dubbed the Mobelwagen (“furniture truck”), abandoned in Vertigny during the German retreat into the Vosges Mountains. This was a specialized antiaircraft version of the Pz.Kpfw. IV tank armed with a 37mm automatic cannon.

September 1944 was one of the wettest on record in Europe, with many fields being turned to mud by the rain. Here, an M4 of the 59th Armored Field Artillery Battalion’s HQ company is retrieved by a wrecker after having become bogged down in a field near Plombieres on 26 September.

In the autumn of 1944, the Germans began deploying surplus tank guns on expedient pedestal mounts to create hasty defensive lines along the German frontier. One of the first of these guns in action was an SK-L Ila pedestal 88mm KwK 43 gun from Festungs-PaK-Verband XXVI (XXVI Fortress Anti-Tank Unit) on a standard Betonfundament concrete pad positioned in the Saverne gap in the High Vosges to block access to Phalsbourg as part of the Vosges Line. This particular gun was originally intended for the Jagdpanther tank destroyer. This position fell during the fighting with the U.S. Seventh Army in November, one of thirty-two of these guns lost in this campaign.

An M4A1 of the 756th Tank Battalion knocked out during the fighting in Vagney, France, on 8 October. This is a tank from the early-production batch of about 250 M4A1 s with the direct vision ports for the driver. Like many veterans of the Italian campaign, the 756th Tank Battalion had a large number of old tanks when it arrived in southern France.

This Panther turret was intended for emplacement as a fixed Panzerturm in the Saales Pass in November on a concrete bunker, but it was overrun before completion. This is an example of a Pantherturm-Stellung based on a surplus tank turret rather than a newproduction Ostwallturm, which was a dedicated fortification Panther turret with thicker roof armor.

The men of an M4 (105mm) assault gun crew of the HQ Company, 191st Tank Battalion, cook food during a lull in the fighting near Rambervillers, France, on 15 October. The M4 (105mm) was fitted with a 105mm howitzer instead of the normal 75mm gun and was used to provide indirect fire support for the battalion. In 1944, most tank battalions had six of these attached to their headquarters company.

An M4A3 (76mm) medium tank of the 756th Tank Battalion, supporting the 3rd Infantry Division near Brouvelieures, France, in October. The crew has started to weld metal strips to the glacis plate as the first step in applying a layer of sand bags to add further protection to the tank. The M4 was not well protected against typical German antitank weapons like the Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck, which led to many improvised armor improvements in the field.

The Polish TKS tankette was used for antipartisan patrols by German forces on the Russian front and in the Balkans and was rarely encountered in the West.

Riflemen of the Japanese-American 442nd Infantry Regiment near Bruyeres pass by a disabled German Leichte SPW U304(f), an armored conversion of the captured French Unic Kegresse P107 half-track.

The M4 (105mm) assault gun was a prodigious consumer of ammunition since it was normally used on firesupport missions like normal field artillery. Here, one of the crewman helps load a 105mm round through the shell ejection port on the left turret side. The stenciled 5698GG marking is a shipping code for the unit.

During the campaign along the Meurthe River, the 21st Panzer Division was committed against the U.S. Seventh Army in October. This is a pair of Panthers of the division knocked out near Autrey to the east of Vesoul in a tank battle with American forces in late October.

Two M31’s of the 753rd Tank Battalion recover an overturned truck near Les Rouges Eaux, France, on 22 October. The M31 nearest the camera is named Sad Sack.

A close-up view of the M31 Sad Sack during the recovery effort by the 753rd Tank Battalion on 22 October.

An M4 medium tank and M8 armored car of the 753rd Tank Battalion pass by the town church of Brouvelierures while supporting the 36th Division during the fighting for the Vosges mountain passes on 29 October.

An M4A1 of the Seventh Army knocked out near La Salle, France, on 3 November. The GI points to where a German antitank shell penetrated the hull armor and then passed through the turret race. This is an early-production M4A1 with the early-pattern bogie assemblies. The Seventh included many units that had fought in 1943 in the Italian theater and so had a large amount of older equipment.

The rainy conditions in the autumn of 1944 are graphically shown in this view of an M4A3 (105mm) assault gun of the 756th Tank Battalion, seen near Les Rouges Eaux on 8 November.

An M12 155mm gun motor carriage of Battery C, 557th Field Artillery Battalion, near Morteau, France, on 15 November. This photo shows the recoil chocks placed under the front tracks and the hoops for the camouflage net erected over the gun compartment. This vehicle is unusual in that it is still fitted with the front portion of the sand skirts, a feature not commonly seen on the M12 155mm gun motor carriage in Europe.

A 75mm PaK 40 auf Chenillette (f) abandoned in Vesoul. This was a Becker conversion done in France to reinforce the poorly equipped garrison forces in 1942-43. This type of conversion was more commonly seen with the 21st Panzer Division in Normandy than in Alsace, but some elements of the division served in the Lorraine campaign in the autumn.

An M4 tank is covered in a fresh coat of wet snow on a roadside near Belmont, France, after having run over a mine on 12 November. The tank has already been roped off by engineers with white cloth tape, the usual precaution in mined areas.

A rare example of a late-production Sd.Kfz. 251/17 half-track armed with 2centimeter KwK 38 is seen knocked out in the ruins of La Bourgance during the fighting with the 3rd Infantry Division on 15 November in the Vosges Mountains.

An M2A1 command post vehicle of the 56th Armored Infantry Battalion, 12th Armored Division, lands in France at Le Havre from an LST on 15 November. This was the second American armored division assigned to the Seventh Army and the last to arrive. The French 2e DB and U.S. 14th Armored Division were already in combat in Alsace by this time.

The le Spahis, the reconnaissance element of the French 2e DB, pass through Brouville on 17 November during the approach to the Alsatian capitol of Strasbourg. The unit was equipped with the M5A1 light tank and M8 light armored car.

On 17 November, the crewmen of an M4A3 (76mm) tank of the 712th Tank Battalion perform a “show and tell” for a Signal Corps photographer to demonstrate how a German Panzerschreck rocket launcher knocked out their tank near Metzervisse. The crewman on the right is showing the small penetration hole caused by the rocket’s shapedcharge warhead.

An M10 3-inch gun motor carriage tank destroyer takes up covered positions in the Vosges foothills during the fighting around St. Benoit in November.

The effect of a Panzerfaust antitank rocket could be catastrophic if it detonated the internal ammunition of an M4. This M4A2 of the French 5e DB, serving with the U.S. 6th Army Group in Alsace, had its turret blown off after a Panzerfaust set off its ammunition during the fighting in Issans on 18 November. The tank’s hull can be seen in the distance.

A German Sd.Kfz. 251/21 with triple machine-gun mount, possibly from Panzer Brigade 106, was knocked out by Seventh Army artillery in St. Michel-surMeurthe during the fighting on 20 November.

An M10 3-inch gun motor carriage with the XV Corps during the fighting on the approaches to Sarrebourg in late November. This is probably one of the M1 O’s of the RBFM, the tank destroyer battalion of the French 2e DB, which was the main armored element of the attack.

Infantry of the French 3rd Moroccan Infantry Division (3e DIM), supported by camouflaged Sherman tanks, pass through Rochesson during the fighting along the Rhine in November.

An M4A2 tank of the French 5e DB crosses a treadway bridge near Belfort on 20 November during the siege of that city. Logs were carried on the tanks in corduroy bundles that were placed under the track in muddy ground conditions to improve traction.

An M4A2 tank of the French 5e DB with infantry support moves into the outskirts Belfort on 20 November during the efforts to penetrate the Belfort Gap onto the Alsatian plains along the Rhine. Although the Free French Army was equipped mainly with American equipment and uniforms, some French armored units managed to locate prewar French crew helmets, as can be seen on several of the troopers behind the tank.

Fontenay, an M4A4 of the 2e Cuirassiers, French le DB, takes part in the attack on the Gestapo headquarters in Mulhouse on 22 November.

A pair of M4A4 medium tanks of the 2e Cuirassiers, 1e DB, during the fighting for Mulhouse on 22 November. One of the key cities in the Belfort gap, Mulhouse covered access to the Rhine plains and so was a key objective of the 6th Army Group’s offensive.

Two French M4A2 tanks of the French 1 e DB fire on German defenders near the Lefevre Kaserne in Mulhouse on 23 November during the attack of the French First Army beyond Belfort. Obscured by the smoke is an M7 105mm howitzer motor carriage in the background in front of the two tanks.

On 23 November, the Panzer Lehr Division began a counterattack from Sarre-Union against the Seventh Army, hitting two regiments of the 44th Division. This Panther Ausf. G was knocked out near Schalbach on 25 November during fighting with the 114th Infantry. There is a bazooka hit evident on the hull side immediately below the turret. The Panzer Lehr was forced to abandon the attack when the 4th Armored Division launched a flank attack from Fenetrange with its Combat Command B.

M4A1 medium tanks refuel and rearm in the town square of Sarrebourg on 24 November. The nearest tank carries the name Audrey.

GIs look over a well-camouflaged 88mm PaK 43 antitank gun positioned in front of Hotel Mazeran in the Saales Pass on 25 November during the fighting in the Vosges Mountains.

The 14th Armored Division was one of the last American armored divisions to arrive in France, docking at Marseilles on 31 October. It was committed to the fighting in the Vosges region on 20 November, and here, some M4A3 tanks of its Combat Command A move forward near Cirey on 23 November.

After the Seventh Army burst out of the Vosges in mid-November, Gen. Alexander Patch unleashed his mobile exploitation force, the French 2e Division Blindee.The advance of Leclerc’s 2e DB was so sudden and unexpected that when the French tanks burst into Strasbourg on 23 November, the citizens were going about their business with no expectation of the drama that was unfolding. This photo was taken a few days after the liberation, with the damaged Notre Dame cathedral in the background.

An M10 3-inch gun motor carriage of the RBFM, knocked out in Strasbourg on 25 November.

An M10 of the RBFM, French 2e DB, on the approaches to Strasbourg during the mid-November fighting.

The rainy conditions in the autumn of 1944 undermined roads and led to accidents like this one where a M4A3 (76mm) of Company A, 781st Tank Battalion, slid off the road in Lamberg after the bank collapsed under its weight. It is being recovered by one of the new M32 armored-recovery vehicles.

The M4 (named Brive-la-Gaillarde) of Lieutenant Krebs, leader of the 3rd Platoon, 3rd Squadron, 12th Cuirassiers, French 2e Division Blindee, advances through Strasbourg on 25 November. It carries the distinctive Cross of Lorraine insignia unique to this division, which always fought in American armies, in this case with Patch’s Seventh Army. The other French armored divisions of the French First Army carried the 1804 Napoleonic flag instead.

A GI inspects a StuG III in Molsheim during the fighting in the Alsace region of France. Two of its side skirts have been removed and placed in front to provide improvised camouflage.

A GI looks over an M4 tank of the 756th Tank Battalion knocked out by a German StuG III during an engagement near Mutzig on 26 November while supporting Task Force Whirlwind from the 3rd Division.

M4A3’s of the 14th Armored Division pass by three other Shermans knocked out by German mines near Barr, France, on 29 November. These are very lateproduction M4A3 tanks, evident from the late-style 75mm gun turret with its improved commander’s vision cupola and the raised rear bustle casting.

GIs from Company B, 114th Infantry, 44th Division, hop aboard M5A1 light tanks of the 749th Tank Battalion in Struth, France, on 28 November following the fall of Sarrebourg. By this stage, the sand bags added to the glacis plate have become a heap of mud from the wet weather.

An M3A1 half-track (named Baby Bastard No. 1) passes the burning wreck of an M4A3 (76mm) medium tank of the 48th Tank Battalion, 14th Armored Division, knocked out during the fighting in Barre on 29 November.

A column of M4A3 tanks from Combat Command A, 14th Armored Division, halts in the Alsatian village of Scherwiller on 2 December during the Seventh Army’s assault toward Selestat. These are late-production vehicles with the oval loader’s hatch and the commander’s all-round vision cupola.

The crew of an M18 76mm gun motor carriage of the 602nd Tank Destroyer Battalion loads ammunition in SaarUnion on 2 December. The ammunition came packed in black fiber-board containers, and the crew can be seen removing them from the tubes to load in the ammunition racks inside the M18.

Panzer support for the German Nineteenth Army in the Belfort Gap was scant. The badly depleted Panzer Brigade 106 served as its fire brigade, rushing from spot to spot in hopes of averting catastrophe. One of its Pz.Kpfw. IV tanks is seen on fire after being hit by bazooka fire during a skirmish with the French 4e DMM in the Hardt Woods near Pont-du-Bouc, north of Mulhouse, during the fighting for the Belfort gap in the first days of December.

Riflemen of the 313rd Infantry, 79th Division, advance into Bischwiller on 8 December while supported by M5A1 light tanks of Company D, 191st Tank Battalion.

Source and Excerpt: Armored Attack 1944: U.S. Army Tank Combat in the European Theater