90 Infantry Division (USA) passing Malling

On the next day and the next the attack was continued. The infantry moved behind a protective screen of artillery often only 75 yards to their front in skillfully coordinated moves. At last the town was cut in two, the confused enemy found itself cut off with no path of escape.

Routed and demoralized by the accurate artillery fire and the skill with which each unit functioned, the entire remaining elements of the garrison surrendered. The city hall had fallen, and Maizières-lès-Metz was firmly in American hands. An entire enemy battalion had been destroyed, while the 90th suffered only 55 casualties.

H-hour was scheduled for sometime between November 6th and November 9th. And so the plans were made for the offensive which was to rip the province of Lorraine from the grasp of Germany and to expose the Siegfried Line to immediate assault. Two crossing sites were selected, one at Malling, and another upstream at Cattenom. All preliminary moves had to be made under the cloak of darkest secrecy. The Foret de Cattenom, west of the selected bridge sites, provided the required defilade and concealment for the necessary preparations.

All troops and supplies were moved into the Foret during hours of darkness, and enemy patrols were sealed tightly from the area. But now a new enemy struck at the 90th Division, an enemy dangerous and resourceful and treacherous... the weather.

Rain, cold and penetrating, soaked the troops to the bone, transformed foxholes into deep pools of icy water, altered dirt roads into quagmires impossible to negotiate. Day after day the rain poured down. Trucks, bringing vital supplies into the assembly area by night, were sunk to the axles in a clutching sea of mud. Miserable and saturated, the troops awaited H-hour.

The initial crossings were to be made in assault boats, and after the bridgehead had been established the Engineers were to build their bridges in order to allow armor and vehicles to cross to the support of the infantry. The Engineers watched the rain and studied the river carefully. Normally, the bridging of a river 350 feet in width would have offered no insuperable problems. They watched the current flowing northward, and they grew concerned as they noted how the waters now began to race between Moselle's banks. The river, never mild at its best, sounded in an angry roar, foamed and swirled and eddied and flung itself against its shores. And still the rain poured down, feeding the wild Moselle.

H-hour was 03:30 on November 9th. The 359th Regiment on the left crossed at the town of Malling. The 358th Regiment on the right crossed at the town of Cattenom. The Engineers manning the assault boats performed Herculean labors guiding the craft to the proper point, discharging their cargo of men and guns and returning to the starting point to begin the adventure anew.

The raging Moselle contested every inch. It surged above its banks in uncontrollable fury and tossed the laden boats in its crazy currents like a juggler tossing eggs. The other enemy, the opposing troops, were momentarily stunned by the sheer insolence of the attack.

Lulled into a sense of security by weeks of relative inactivity and by the added assurance that the flooded Moselle would surely deny a crossing to the Americans, the German outposts were quickly overrun and the immediate objectives wrested from their control. But the surprise was only momentary.

Enemy reaction, when it came, was violent and deadly. German artillery and mortars, aided by excellent observation posts across the river, proceeded to shell the crossing sites with costly accuracy. Fort Koenigsmacker in particular enjoyed a panorama view of American activities...

Fort Koenigsmacker perched smugly on a hill whose interior was honey-combed with tunnels immune to artillery and bombs.And still the rain continued, and the Moselle rose with a vengeance. Bursting from its narrow confines it stretched out 400, 600, 800 yards, eight times its normal span. Against hopeless odds the Engineers fought back in an attempt to bridge the river.

Working knee deep, waist deep, chest deep in the ever-rising waters, they secured the pontoons to the banks of the river and extended the construction toward the opposite shores. And each time the Moselle defiantly ripped the bridge from its moorings.

Each hour the gravity of the situation increased immeasurably. The infantry across the river faced armor with only small arms and courage. Desperately needed support was denied them.

Only limited supplies such as could be ferried across the river in small motor launches reached the frozen, thoroughly soaked infantrymen, who nevertheless slugged their way through mud and swamps, overcoming obstacles with such valor and perseverance that even the enemy testified its grudging admiration.

On that first day the infantry stormed and captured Petite Hettange, Métrich, Kerling-lès-Sierck, Basse-Ham and had gained a precarious and exposed grip on the top of Fort Koenigsmacker itself.

The town of Koenigsmacker (not to be confused with the Fort) fell to the driving 90th. At midnight eight battalions had crossed the river, seven towns had been taken, and the bridgehead had been driven to a depth of three kilometers.