@218@INTO GERMANY: THE WESTWALL @4@

@218@SUBJ: TACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR @4@14 Sept. 1944

@218@AMERICAN OPERATIONS:@4@
    The rapid pursuit of the shattered German army in the West has started to slow at the German border. The only major obstacle before the Rhine is the old German Siegfried line, which intelligence reports is poorly manned.
    You are in command of a reinforced infantry battalion detached to seize a section of the Seigfried Line near the town of Roschied. This area must be captured before significant German mobile units reach the area!

@218@AMERICAN UNIT DISPOSITIONS:@4@
    For this operation the following forces will be engaged in the American sector:
 - elements of 109th Infantry Regiment/28th Infantry Division, and elements of the 744th Tank  Battalion

@218@GERMAN OPERATIONS:@4@
    Due to present fluid situation sections of the Westwall fortifications are not adequately manned. Small kampfgruppen from the exhausted panzer divisions are required to act as mobile fire brigades to allow time for the front to stabilize.
     You are in command of a small combined arms Kampfgruppe, in addition, the static infantry units in your area of operations are placed under your command. Your objective is to prevent capture of a section of the Westwall fortifications by American units.


@218@GERMAN UNIT DISPOSITIONS:@4@
    For this operation the following forces will be engaged in the German sector:
 - elements of the 353rd Infantry Division/XXX Corps, and elements of the 2nd Panzer Division

@218@WEATHER:@4@ Overcast Skies


@218@AFTER ACTION REPORT @4@
    Throughout the first weeks of September, as units of the US First Army reached the Westwall they attempted to seize a foothold before the Germans could recover. With the exception of Aachen, these attempts failed for two reasons. First, the American divisions making the attacks were tired, in great need of maintenance and not prepared to assault a fortified line. The other reason was the sacrifice of many of the remaining German mobile units as fire brigades. The result was a series of brutal slugging matches much like the one near Roschied.
