The Operations Of The 407th Infantry Regiment 102d Infantry Division In The Crossing Of The Roer River At Linnich Germany

The Ozarks carried into battle no valorous history: it's only traditions were those of the Army as a whole.

An account of the ups and downs of a six-month-long WWII campaign with “a well detailed chronological order of the battles [and] interesting photographs” (Armorama). A selection of the Military Book Club. Following the Allied breakout from the Normandy beachhead in July 1944, the vaunted German Army seemed on the verge of collapse. As British and US forces fanned out across northwestern France, enemy resistance unexpectedly dissolved into a headlong retreat to the German and Belgian borders. In early September, an elated Allied High Command had every expectation of continuing their momentum to cripple the enemy’s warmaking capability by capturing the Ruhr industrial complex and plunging into the heart of Germany. After a brief pause to allow for resupply, Courtney Hodge’s First Army prepared to punch through the ominous but largely outdated Westwall, the Siegfried Line, surrounding Aachen. But during the lull, German commanders such as the “lion of defense,” Walter Model, reorganized depleted units and mounted an increasingly potent defense. Though the German Replacement Army funneled considerable numbers to the front, they too often strained an overburdened supply system and didn’t greatly enhance existing combat formations. More importantly, the panzer divisions, once thought irretrievably destroyed, were resupplied and reinvigorated. When the Allied offensive resumed, it ran into a veritable brick wall—gains measured in yards, not miles, if any were made at all. While both sides suffered equally in an urbanized environment of pillbox-infested hills, impenetrable forests, and freezing rain, the Germans were on the defensive and better able to inflict casualties out of proportion to their own. For the US First Army, what was originally to be a walk-through turned into a frustrating six-month campaign that decimated infantry and tank forces alike. The “broad front,” as opposed to a “Schwerpunkt” strategy, led to the demise of many a citizen-soldier. Drawing on primary Wehrmacht and US sources, including battle analysis and daily situation and after-action reports, The Roer River Battles provides insight into the desperate German efforts to keep a conquering enemy at the borders of their homeland. Tactical maps down to battalion-level help clarify the very fluid nature of the combat. Combined, they serve to explain not just how, but why decisions were made and events unfolded, and how reality often differed from doctrine in one of the longest US campaigns of World War II.

This story carries the authors desire it will aid, in its small way, the mending process for combat soldiers who are stricken by postwar distress upon returning home.

Joseph Balkoski concludes his landmark series on the U.S. 29th Infantry Division in World War II with the story of the 29ers during the war's final five months. Opening with the division's participation in Operation Grenade, Balkoski follows the 29ers through the crossing of the Roer River, the blitzkrieg-style drive across the Rhineland to the Rhine River, their military-government duties while helping to reduce the Ruhr pocket, and the survivors' return home.

“‘The most rigorous service which a soldier is called upon to perform is the duty of a ground combat soldier. He is the man who must wade in the mud, endure heat and cold, and sleep on the ground. That is the toughest kind of service.’ These words, spoken from the floor of the United States Senate on April 19th, 1945 reflect the sincere feeling of the American people toward the Queen of Battles. “Through the medium of TIMBERWOLF TRACKS, it is our intention to present an honest commentary on the fighting in Europe incurred by the U.S. Infantryman...specifically the ground combat soldier who wore the green and silver patch of the Timberwolf. His lot was not a glamorous one; he fought, ate, slept in mud, snow and hail; his battle-weary body answered the call to move up time and time again while his tortured mind heroically withstood the numbing shock of having time-honored buddies fall by the wayside. His moments of praise were fleeting and none too consoling—still he wore the blue and silver Combat Infantryman Badge with an intense burning pride and he gloried in the record and achievements of his ‘outfit.’ His was the supreme satisfaction of a job well done. “The 104th Infantry Division did not win the war. We make no such far-reaching claim...but the Timberwolves did play a most effective role in crushing the iron fist of Nazidom. The record, compiled by the men of this fighting division, is in the words of the Commanding General ‘second to none’. It is appropriate that such a record be preserved. In the following pages, Americans may find a justifiable gratefulness that such men as these stood so valorously between them and slavery.”