Lorraine 1944: Patton Versus Manteuffel (Praeger Illustrated Military History)

In the wake of the defeat in Normandy in the summer of 1944, Hitler planned to blunt the Allied advance by cutting off Patton's Third Army in the Lorraine with a great Panzer offensive. But Patton's aggressive tactics continued to thwart German plans and led to a series of violent armored battles and the breakout of the American forces. The battle-hardened Wehrmacht confronted the well-equipped and trained U.S. Army. The Germans managed to re-establish a fragile defensive line but could not stop the U.S. Army from establishing bridgeheads over the Moselle along Germany's western frontier.In the wake of the defeat in Normandy in the summer of 1944, Hitler planned to blunt the Allied advance by cutting off Patton's Third Army in the Lorraine with a great Panzer offensive. But Patton's aggressive tactics continued to thwart German plans and led to a series of violent armored battles and the breakout of the American forces. The battle-hardened Wehrmacht confronted the well-equipped and trained U.S. Army. The Germans managed to re-establish a fragile defensive line but could not stop the U.S. Army from establishing bridgeheads over the Moselle along Germany's western frontier.Patton was planning his own offensive to exploit his gains in Lorraine. However, with the Allies concentrating on capturing the key port of Antwerp, he had to accomplish this with his own limited resources. Both sides were planning their offensives in the same place at the same time. The formations clashed head-to-head around the small town of Arracourt on 18-23 September in a classic meeting engagement. By the end of the month Patton's tank units had crushed the Panzer attacks, but the German counter-attack exhausted Patton's limited resources, and his thrust into Germany was pre-empted.