St. Kilian's Bloody Sword WTO (id:#66791)

(ASL 16 - Twilight of the Reich ID: 301)   [next]   [previous]

Heilbronn, Germany 1945-04-09 (17 others)

Overview:

Given the long period of formation stateside, the men of the Century Division had been saddled with the unwanted reputation as a prade unit. Once the unit came ashore at Marseilles in October 1944, they quickly rewrote this narrative by being part of the first army since the first century BCE to cross the High Vosges Mountains of northeastern France, breaching the Winter Line and gaining access to the Rhine River plain and the German border. Eventually, the 100th Infantry Division would acquire a new sobriquet, "Sons of Bitche," after capturing the heavily fortified town of Bitche, Germany in mid March 1945. In April 1945, as a key element of Lt. General Jacob L. Devers' 6th Army Group, the soldiers of 100th Division would be tasked with capturing the 700-year-old Swabian city of Heilbronn, a key industrial and railroad center. Although much of the strategic value of the area had been reduced through a devastating Allied bombing campaign, a variety of retreating German formations now collected themselves in Heilbronn to make a last stand on home ground. Key among these survivors were units from the elite SS-Panzergrenadier-Division 17 "Götz von Berlichingen," whom American forces had been battling since June. A hodgepodge of other defenders in the city included engineer battalions, training regiments, sailors, and veterans of the Afrika Korps. Under the command of Major General Withers A Burress, a Virginia Military Institute graduate with a reputation for achieving his assigned objectives without needlessly risking the lives of his men, the assault on the devastated city would not be an easy feat. One GI of 100th Division's 399th Regiment eventually characterized the nature of the combat for control of Heilbronn as one of "house-to-house, room-to-room, over dead Krauts, through rubbish, under barbed wire, over fences, in the windows, and out the doors, sweating, cussing, firing, throwing grenades, charging into blazing houses, shooting through floors and closet doors."

Defender: American (Companies A and B, 1st Battalion, 397th Infantry Regiment, 100th Infantry Division and Company C, 781st Tank Battalion and Company B, 824th Tank Destroyer Battalion)  

Errata (source)