The Story of the 10th Armored Division cont.
The German 2nd Mountain Div. challenged the advance, and the hills rang with the terrifying sound of
screaming meemies, the familiar whoosh-bang! of the 88s and the ripping sound of lead-spitting burp guns.
At night, Tigers trained anti-aircraft searchlights on overhanging clouds to illuminate the battlegrounds.
Fighting around the clock, the loth pushed a 13-mile front 25 miles in three days, stood outside its first objective, St. Wendel, on March 18.
Twenty miles to the south, Seventh Army forces were cracking the outflanked Siegfried Line, pouring through for the first junction with Third Army.
Kaiserlautern was the next target for the loth's rampaging tanks. Twenty-eight miles east of St. Wendel, this city of 100,000 was the key supply point for the two German armies facing the forces under Gen.Patton and Gen. Patch.
Resistance suddenly disintegrated as the Tigers attacked March 19. TF Cherry spurted 22 miles along the south flank while TF Chamberlain rolled 16 miles to the north. The following day, task forces swept, through and beyond the vital rail center.
Six armored divisions now ran amuck in the dwindling pocket: Driving north, the Sixth Armd. Div. criss-crossed the l0th's eastward flight near Kaiserlautern.
Of this movement, Time Magazine wrote:
...Armored divisions sometimes perform feats that would be textbook nightmares. Two Patton armored divisions once crossed each other at right angle road junction in the midst of combat, but only the Germans were confused.