Introduction to Breakthrough in France During World War II
Patton's Advance. The breakthrough occurred on July 25 near St. Lô. The recently organized American Third Army, led by General Patton, attacked through a gap in the German defenses and began one of the most brilliant campaigns of the war, a blitzkrieg turned against its developers. The Americans feinted toward the Brittany peninsula, tying up four German divisions there. At the same time, combined British and American forces stopped a German attempt to cut off the Allied thrust at Avranches. Patton's army then swung eastward in a wide arc toward Argentan, while the British drove from Caen toward Falaise. These advances encircled 100,000 German troops. Efforts to close the pocket completely were not successful, and many of the Germans escaped and set up a defensive line at the Seine river. However, some 50,000 Germans were captured.
The Americans turned eastward, deliberately forgoing the opportunity of liberating Paris. The Allied leaders had decided that a fight for Paris would slow down the advance by involving the tanks in a debilitating street battle. Sweeping south of Paris, Patton's armor moved with such speed toward the Seine that his divisions had to be supplied by air, and even then were in constant danger of running out of gasoline. Tactical air units covered his southern flank. Mantes was taken on August 19, ending German hope of halting the Allied drive at the Seine.
Southern France Invaded
On August 15 the United States Seventh Army under General Alexander M. Patch landed in southern France near Cannes. While the First French Army under General Jean J. de Lattre de Tassigny seized Marseille and Toulon, the main thrust was made up the Rhone valley, reaching Lyon on September 3. By September 11, the Allied forces had linked up with elements of Patton's Third Army, and the German 19th Army, which had been defending southern France, was cut off. The Allies now formed a continuous front across the whole of France.
The German forces were now retreating to the shelter of the Siegfried Line within the borders of Germany, and Allied forces were pushing rapidly in pursuit. Under the command of General Eisenhower were three groups of armies:
1. The 21st Army Group, in the north, commanded by Montgomery. It consisted of the First Canadian Army, commanded by H. D. G. Crerar, and the Second British Army.
2. The 12th Army Group, in the center, commanded by Bradley. It consisted of the First and Third United States armies, and the newly organized Ninth Army under General William H. Simpson. The Ninth Army was given the task of taking Brest and other ports still occupied by the Germans.
3. The Sixth Army Group, in the south, commanded by General Jacob L. Devers. It consisted of the Seventh United States Army and the First French Army. (An army consisted of two to four corps; a corps, of two to-five divisions, often two armored and three infantry divisions.)
Allied Advance Slows Down
Paris was occupied by a French division on August 25 while the armies were pushing across the Seine, Aisne, and Somme rivers. Patton's Third Army reached the forts of Metz and Nancy on September 7 and four days later made contact with the southern invasion forces at Dijon. The First Army under General Courtney H. Hodges reached Belgium on September 2, took Liège, crossed Luxembourg, and entered Germany on September 11. Montgomery's armies took Brussels on September 3 and Antwerp on the following day and reached the Netherlands on September 11.
By this time, all the armies had outrun their supplies, despite a convoy system of motor trucks, called the Red Ball Express, that operated between Normandy and the front. The port of Antwerp was needed, but German forces on islands at the mouth of the Schelde River blocked it. Montgomery's forces were not able to clear these islands until November 9.
The scope of the supply problem is indicated by Eisenhower's report at this time that the armies were using 8,000,000 rounds of artillery and mortar ammunition a month. (During all of World War I the American Expeditionary Forces used only 10,000,000 rounds of artillery and mortar ammunition.) It was lack of gasoline, however, that had stopped Patton at Metz.
On September 17 and 18, in an effort to break through in the north, the First Allied Airborne Army under General Lewis H. Brereton launched Operation Market Garden, a massive airborne attack using 2,800 planes and 1,600 gliders. The American 82nd and 101st divisions seized crossings of the Meuse and Waal rivers near Eindhoven and were reached by ground troops. The British First Airborne Division, however, was isolated at Arnhem and lost two-thirds of its troops while being forced to withdraw.
Advances in other areas were slow. The First Army took Aachen on October 21 and the Third took Metz on November 20. The Ninth Army was brought into the line between them. Devers' armies entered Alsace and took Strasbourg on November 23. German defense of the Siegfried Line proved too strong to be easily shaken. Floods along the Roer and bad weather conditions added to the difficulties of the attackers.