On February 5th the 90th Division opened a demonstration against Habscheid and Hollnich. Vehicles and armor moved freely in the front line area, artillery fired volley after volley into the towns. Armor of the 712th Tank Battalion fired on pillboxes. During the hubhub, the 4th Infantry took advantage of the diversion and sliced forward to take Brandscheid, its immediate objective just within the Siegfried Line.