On November
20, 1944, In a driving rain, the attack to
capture Frialdenhoven, Edern and Geronsweiler
resumed. During the battle the Germans
counterattacked and 60 to 80 tanks were
repulsed. Task force B of the CCA attacked thru
a minefield and by night had occuppied and
cleared Frialdenhoven. Task force A attacked
toward Edern at 1000. They surprised the Germans
by attacking north from Friedenhoven and
approaching Edern from the SW. By 1330 they were
in position to attack and by 1730 they occupied
the town and prepared for defense. At 0900 Task
force 1, CCB, attacked north and NE to capture
hill 106.6, Task force 2, which was to attack
and capture the southern half of Geronweiler ran
into heavy fire. Task force X, attacking at the
same time got fire from Beeck and Prummeren.
Despite heavy losses, by 1400 Geronsweiler was
occupied and prepared for defense.
Major Allan H.
Mick of the 102nd Infantry Division, later
wrote in "With the 102nd Through Germany":
CAPTURE OF GEREONSWEILER
While the 84th [Infantry Division] struggled with the Germans on the Wurm,
preparations for capturing Geronsweiler on 20
November were well under way. Combat Command B
of the 2d Armored Division was ordered to attack
not later than 0900. Task Force X in turn
received orders to attack abreast with the
mission of taking the north section of the town.
Elements of the 10th and 11th Panzer-grenadier
Regiments of the 9th Panzer Division, the 115th
Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion of the 15th
Panzergrenadier Division, and remnants of the
183d Infantry Division, held the city.
Two troops of the 2d Fife and Forfar Yeomanry Squadron, a British unit armed
with flame-throwing Churchill tanks were
attached to TFX for this operation. It was
planned to make the attack in column with the
flame throwers leading the 1st Battalion, 406th
Infantry. The 3d Battalion was directed to
follow in reserve. Tanks, accompanied by
elements of the 771st TD Battalion, were to be
placed on the left to guard the north flank
while the 2d Battalion was to hold its position
in Apweiler.
Troops were concentrated for the
attack and all preparations made for the jumpoff at 0900. A detailed artillery fire
plan was developed to provide massed artillery
fire to neutralize German defenses and to
isolate the town from possible reinforcement or
counterattack once the combat teams had entered
it. However, throughout the night and early
morning, heavy rains fell and at the last
minute the operation was postponed until 1100
hours in the hope of better weather.
Beginning at H minus 10 minutes
six battalions fired five rounds per gun per
minute into the western outskirts of Geronsweiler. From H-hour to H plus 15 minutes,
Corps artillery kept the commanding ground
around the objective under constant fire. At H
plus 15 minutes the fire falling on the western
edge of the objective lifted and the six
artillery battalions rolled a barrage through
the town. At 1100 hours the ground forces moved
forward.
Combat Command B again attacked
with three task forces—TF1, TF2, and TEX. On the
right Task Force 1 quickly secured its first
objective, a small rise of ground some five
hundred yards north of Puffendorf, without loss.
It then continued northward to the eastern edge
of Geronsweiler where it swung east to take and
secure a slight dominating rise five hundred
yards east of town. No serious opposition was
encountered and the line was consolidated on
that position.
In the center Task Force 2
initially pressed forward against scattered
small—arms fire. As the troops began crossing
the high ground to their front heavy
machine-gun fire from the area south of
Geronsweiler pinned them down for a half hour.
Tank fire into the objective aided the
advance, however, in spite of the enemy’s heavy
armor firing from the vicinity of Beeck, leading
elements of TF2 reached Geronsweiler ahead of
TFX. These forces crossed the southeast corner
of the town, pushed to the high ground east of
Geronsweiler (and north of TF I) and began to
consolidate their positions at 1430 hours.
Flame-throwing tanks spearheaded
the attack of TFX. together with the 1st
Battalion, 406th Infantry, while six tanks of
Company H, 67th Armored Regiment, moved forward
on the north flank. Intense 88mm and
machine-gun fire, coming from the high ground to
the north near Prummern and Beeck, was
encountered by the infantry as they left
Apweiler. This ground was outside the Division
boundary, and a limiting line for the advance
and for artillery fire had been announced as
84th Division troops were reported to have
taken both places. Requests for artillery fire
were therefore refused on these positions due to
the belief that friendly forces were in the
Prummern—Beeck area.
Company C, 771st Tank Destroyer
Battalion, promptly moved to the east of
Apweiler and engaged the enemy guns. This
maneuver was successful in drawing all the fire
to the tank destroyers; it was costly, however,
for the company lost all but three of its
fighting vehicles. Once the harassing fire had
been diverted the troops rapidly entered
Geronsweiler. Many enemy infantrymen fled. Some
took refuge in cellars. Those who remained on
their positions had their observation hampered
by smoke from an oil reservoir, which had been
set afire on the right flank, and from fires set
by the flame throwers which were employed on the
outskirts but did not enter the town.
Companies B and C drove straight
through the town, attained the northeastern
outskirts at 1300 hours and organized for
defense. Company A made contact with the tanks
of Company H to the north and swung back to
Geronsweiler to complete mopping-up operations.
This well organized and
vigorously extended attack completely
demoralized the defenders, and German troops
began streaming in a withdrawal toward Linnich.
They were cut down in large numbers by
Companies B and C. The town was thus secured by
1400 hours but it was not until 1700 that all
the enemy within the village were captured.
In the meantime the 3d Battalion
followed the 1st Battalion toward the objective.
Its advance from Apweiler was held up an hour
and a half by 88mm fire from Prummern and
machine-gun and sniper fire from inside
Geronsweiler. Company I finally swung to the
left and secured the high ground taken by the
tanks and Company A, while Companies K and L
went into assembly areas in the west part of
Geronsweiler.
The 2d Battalion attacked from Immendorf. It secured a defensive line from
Apweiler to Geronsweiler where contact was made
with Company I, and a defensive line was
organized around the town, tied in with TF1 on
the southeast.
The enemy situation at this time
was summarized in a field order of Combat
Command B, directing the next day’s
operation: Enemy rear installations are
withdrawing across the Roer. Our advance is
opposed by elements of the 9th Panzer and 15th
Panzer grenadier Division and remnants of the
183d Infantry Division. Dug-in tanks (Mark V and
Mark VI) effectively delay our advance and
artillery and mortar fires continue to be heavy.
Casualties have reduced the enemy in our sector
to approximately 1000 men and 20 tanks; no
reinforcements are reported by POWs and
inclement weather prevents air reconnaissance,
in the absence of which it appears the enemy
will defend its present line, with a strongpoint
north of Geronsweiler, then retreat to the Roer
River.
During the entire operation,
German artillery had accurately registered on
all road intersections and maintained continuous
interdicting fire on them. The tempo of
artillery fire increased as Geronsweiler was
invested and continued so throughout the night.
For many weeks to come the church was a favorite
target of the Wehrmacht gunners who gradually
reduced the entire town to a pile of rubble.
Notwithstanding this almost continuous firing by
the enemy, casualties among our troops were few.
It is interesting to note that a large
percentage of duds was reported. As many as
seven or eight consecutive rounds failed to
explode. These duds later proved to be
armor-piercing shells with which the enemy
apparently hoped to demolish brick and concrete
shelters. Aside from the artillery the night
proved quiet although outposts received
scattered machine-gun fire from Welz and 20mm
fire from the direction of Linnich.
The day’s coordinated attack had
been completely successful. All objectives were
secured and plans were immediately formulated
for a continuance of the advance the next day. TFX was given the mission of taking two hills
on 21 November—actually no more than slight
knolls—one approximately a thousand yards
northwest of Geronsweiler and the other about
1,700 yards directly north of the front lines. A
heavy artillery preparation was scheduled to
support the jump-off from H minus 10 to H plus
15 minutes and was to be followed by a rolling
barrage through the objectives. Air strikes were
also arranged to cover both objectives but misty
weather later interfered. On the left, elements
of the 84th Division had the task of keeping
abreast of TFX.
SWIFT
ATTACK
Promptly at H-hour, the 3d
Battalion, 406th Infantry, with Company K
attacking on the right and Company L on the
left, moved out. The battalion followed so
closely behind our artillery fire that it
reached its objective twenty-two minutes later.
Resistance, however, was light since the enemy
had suffered heavily the day before.
In conjunction with this attack,
the 84th Division decided to employ the 405th
Infantry and pass it through and around its
infantry elements which had been stopped in
front of Prummern and Beeck. Through some error,
the 405th Infantry began crossing the front of
the 3d Battalion, 406th Infantry, and by 1500
hours had completely pinched the positions out.
After reassembling the 3d Battalion moved to
positions to the north, northeast, and east of
Geronsweiler and formed a reserve line for the
task force.
The 1st Battalion, 406th
Infantry, also jumped off precisely on time.
They too crowded friendly artillery fire to
reach the crest of the rise just as the enemy
rose from their foxholes to fight. Resistance
did not continue long, and by 1200 hours all the
enemy had been driven back, killed or captured.
Approximately two hundred prisoners were taken
by the two battalions.
Achievement of the objectives,
however, had left both flanks of Company A in
the air. A gap of five hundred yards had
developed on the left toward the 3d Battalion
while a similar gap of seven hundred yards
separated it from Company B on the right. One
platoon of Company B, sent to maintain contact,
was insufficient to close this opening. Sensing
this weakness, the enemy launched a determined
effort to drive Company A off the objective at
1600 but was repelled without penetrating the
position.
Another counterattack, in much
greater force, came shortly after dusk at 1745
hours. Three companies of the 11th Panzer
grenadier Regiment were employed, again making
their main effort against Company A. As in the
operations two days earlier trickery was again
used and a few enemy groups employed white
flags. Others advanced with hands up, holding
grenades ready for throwing when they reached
the range.
This attack forced Company A to
withdraw to the south about three hundred yards
to a better position where it obtained defilade
against machinegun and small-arms fire. Here the
company made a determined stand, restored the
line, and drove the enemy back. Because of the
heavy fighting in this area it became necessary
to employ Company B, 327th Engineer Combat
Battalion: The engineers acquitted themselves
well as infantrymen. The 2d Battalion, which had
moved to Geronsweiler earlier in the day as a
reserve, reassembled during the counterattack in
order to furnish depth to the defense.
Although the Germans continued
to shell the entire area it was nevertheless
possible to stabilize the front line and secure
all objectives during the early hours of the
night. This brought to a close the operations of
the 406th Infantry under 2d Armored Division’s
control and concluded the advances in the
northern part of that division’s sector.
Consolidation of the high ground was resisted
furiously by local counterattacks but enemy
armor was handicapped by lack of maneuver
space, and his tanks were pressed into a space
small enough to make them especially vulnerable
to artillery, antitank and air attack.
Poor soil trafficability
throughout the operation had canalized movement
of armored vehicles to roads and high ground.
The enemy, however, fully exploited the heavy
frontal armor of his Mark VI tanks. On several
occasions he had maneuvered the Tigers into
position between 3,000 and 3,500 yards from our
tank destroyers and tanks and engaged in a fire
fight. At this range even the 90mm projectile
of the M36 TDs ricocheted off the front of the
Mark VI German tanks while the enemy’s high
velocity guns still neutralized Shermans and TDs.
After the battle ended, Maj.
Gen. E. N. Harmon, Commanding General of the 2d
Armored Division, commended the 406th Infantry
for having accomplished its missions “with a
dashing and vigorous fighting spirit.” Company
C, 771st Tank Destroyer Battalion,
received a Distinguished Unit Citation for
having knocked out sixteen German tanks while
defending Immendorf against armored
counterattacks. Specifically, the Company was
cited for its “audacity and brilliant tactical
skill” and for the “brilliant maneuvering and
firing” which forced the remnant of the enemy to
retreat. The 771st Tank Destroyer Battalion was
destined to serve with the 102d Infantry
Division throughout the remainder of its combat
experience."
By 20
November Apweiler and Gereonsweiler had been
seized by the 406th Infantry after 2d
Armored Division's heavy slugging in the
beet and grain fields around Immendorf.
Colonel Hurless had expected to meet
resistance in this area bat his doughboys
were hardly prepared for the furious curtain
of fire which greeted them from pillboxes,
machine guns, tanks and German 88's. Snipers
lurked in every cellar, atop church steeples
and on roofs. Bitter house-to-house fighting
raged for hours. Topflight Panzer Grenadier
and SS troops taking full advantage of
community diggings, demolished buildings,
anything that offered shelter, gave ground
foot by foot. By evening of 21 November,
however, the high ground over-looking Merz
Brook was in American hands. Only a single
ridge remained before the Roer.
Major General
E, N, Harmon, then commanding 2d Armored
Division, praised Ozark troops in a letter
to General Keating:
"I wish to commend the 406th Infantry
Regiment, commanded by Colonel Hurless, for
the highly efficient manner in which it
per-formed its duties and accomplished its
missions while attached to the 2d Armored
Division.
The
attack and capture of Immendorf by
the 2d Battalion, 406th Infantry
Regiment, support-ed by Company H,
67th Armored Regiment in the face of
heavy enemy fire and large numbers
of enemy anti-tank and
anti-personnel mines, was
accomplished promptly with a dashing
and vigorous fighting spirit.
The attack and
capture of Apweiler and Geronsweiler by the
406th Infantry Regiment in conjunction with
the 67th Armored Regiment and 1st and 3rd
Battalions of the 41st Armored Infantry
Regiment, was executed in spite of strong
enemy resistance and difficult weather
conditions.
The subsequent
capture of the regimental objective north of
Geronsweiler, supported by the 3rd
Battalion, 67th Armored Regiment, was a
splendid example of timing and coordination
of all arms. The holding of this critical
terrain feature in the face of determined
enemy counterattack with tanks and infantry,
demonstrated the fighting spirit of our
infantry even after several days of hard
fighting and in spite of heavy casualties.
The fighting
quality displayed by the 406th Infantry
Regiment is in the best traditions of the
service and has won the respect and
commendation of the 2d Armored Division."
Private First
Class Figliuzzo
is buried at Margraten American Military
Cemetery, Plot A Row 21 Grave 9
