After the failure of British General Bernard Montgomery’s 21st Army Group in September 1944 to capture key bridges at the Rhine River in Operation Market Garden — a single thrust airborne and infantry assault designed to pave the way to Berlin that was betrayed to the Germans by members of the Cambridge Five Soviet spy ring in London — Allied forces in Western Europe approached the Third Reich across a broad front.
MacDonald concluded that the “great hammerblow of GRENADE … had effectively crushed the enemy.”
In November, American troops attacked the Siegfried Line and fought a series of battles in and near small German towns (Siersdorf, Setterich, Bettendorf, Schleiden, Durboslar, Aldenhoven, Niedermerz and Bourheim) until in December 1944 they reached the Roer River. Poised to strike across the Roer and seize the German cities of Julich, Linnich, and Duren as part of Operation Grenade, U.S. forces stalled as Germany launched its winter Ardennes offensive known to history as the Battle of the Bulge. Operation Grenade would have to wait.
More than two months later, beginning on February 23, 1945 — 80 years ago today — Gen. William Simpson’s Ninth Army began Operation Grenade with an artillery bombardment from 2000 guns that, in the words of Charles B. MacDonald in his book The Last Offensive, “thundered Armageddon, illuminating the night.” Twenty-ninth Division historian Joseph Balkoski wrote that the artillery barrage “transformed a tranquil darkness into an infernal maelstrom.” Another 29th Division historian described “big guns leap[ing] into action … the earth trembled … the sky was red,” while “batteries of machine guns and mortars hammered the far bank” of the river. Joseph Ewing, who served in the 175th regiment, in the War Department’s official history of the 29th Division 29 Let’s Go, wrote that the “sky was alive with great flashes of sheet lightning” from the big guns.
Gen. Simpson’s force consisted of 10 divisions — more than 350,000 troops — including the 29th in which my father Frank Sempa served as a communications sergeant. (My father would later be awarded a Bronze Star for his courageous actions from Normandy to the Roer). The infantry was supported by 375 warplanes and about 1,400 tanks. Army engineers attempted to build and anchor three footbridges, but ran into difficulties which delayed their use.
Other troops crossed the Roer in small boats under fire from German forces on the Roer’s east bank. The Roer crossings had been delayed for two weeks because German forces opened one of the Roer Dams which turned the normally placid river into a raging torrent.
Brave engineers constructed the footbridges while under enemy rocket and artillery fire. A few enemy planes also strafed the engineers and bridges. My father’s regiment — the 175th — crossed the Roer on footbridges at Julich. “As each of [the 175th’s] companies tramped across the footbridges,” Balkoski wrote, “they pushed ahead straight away toward what remained of Julich’s city center.” Movie cameras recorded some of the Roer crossings.
The city’s center, Balkoski wrote, was a “tangle of smashed warehouses and factories,” but the main building was a large stone structure called the Citadel, an ancient fortress with 45-foot walls with a thickness of 144 feet surrounded by a moat, and which the Germans used to hurl small arms fire at the Americans.
It had been subjected to air and artillery bombardment but it still stood as the Americans attacked. By nightfall, MacDonald wrote, Julich was in American hands, except for stubborn resistance at the Citadel. By the next day, the Citadel was captured. MacDonald concluded that the “great hammerblow of GRENADE … had effectively crushed the enemy.” Interestingly, the American 84th Division, including a young officer named Henry Kissinger, took part in Operation Grenade.
The Ninth Army moved quickly after crossing the Roer to seize the industrial city of Munchen-Gladbach, and was on its way to the Rhine River. Operation Grenade, despite the friction of war, had been executed with what Balkoski described as “consummate skill and power.” The New York Times’ headline said it all: “EISENHOWER OPENS WIDE ROER OFFENSIVE, 1st AND 9th ARMIES DRIVE TOWARD RHINE.” The Germans suffered 45,000 casualties (including more than 29,000 captured), while U.S. forces suffered over 7,000 casualties (dead, wounded, missing). The Soviet army meanwhile had launched its offensive in the east. In a few months’ time, Hitler’s “thousand-year” Reich would expire after only 12.
READ MORE from Francis P. Sempa:
.jpg){kind=link}
#/media/File:SC_201660_-_Displaying_this_sign_in_front_of_the_citadel_in_Julich,_Germany,_are_L-R_(53009879381).jpg){kind=link}