The Story of the 10th Armored Division cont.
Two serpentine waterways-the Moselle and Saarwriggle northward to a confluence just below Trier, Germany. The Siegfried Switch Line, east-west spur of the main fortifications, spans the distance between the two rivers to form the base of the Saar-Moselle triangle. CC B already had driven a steel wedge parallel to and seven miles south of the Siegfried fortifications. Now XX Corps directed Brig. Gen. Kenneth Althaus' CC A to cross behind CC B and attack northward to penetrate the formidable triangle defenses.
The Tigers struck at dawn, Nov. 21, moving in four columns along the Moselle Valley. They clawed their way forward to seize towns bordering the Siegfried three miles inside Germany.
Concrete fortifications made armor impotent, demanded infiltration and demolition by foot troops. Raked by 88s, mortars and small arms fire, doughs and Lt. Col. W. P. Clapp's engineers slowly and painfully yanked the dragon's teeth, blasted the Krauts from one pillbox after another. Five days of steady slugging netted little more than a mile-a costly mile.
Corps postponed the triangle's conquest. CC A left the Siegfried Line to fight beside CC B in mopping up pockets of resistance to the banks of the Saar west of Merzig. However, the triangle had not seen the last of the 10th.
The Tiger's first operation ended Dec. 5. Metz fell soon afterward. No longer green, the Tigers had (1) liberated 100 square miles of France and occupied 50 square miles of Germans; (2) captured 2.000 prisonerS; (3) repulsed 11 counter-attacks; (4) destroyed vast quantities of enemy personnel and materiel.