| Meanwhile, the 357th and the 359th
Regiments were pressing east toward the Saar River. The long-awaited promise
of an actual physical invasion of Germany took active form and shape as the
90th moved steadily eastward, out of the soil of France and into
the fringes of the enemy homeland itself. All approaches to the Saar were heavily and ingeniously mined, enemy artillery swept the roads ; but town after town was cleared, and mile after mile was gained as the Division moved steadily forward toward the Saar... and to the Siegfried Line. At last, on November 29th, 90th Division patrols reached the banks of the Saar River, the first such patrols in the XX Corps to reach the preliminary objective. To the south the 95th Division approached the Saar with the mission of establishing a crossing at Saarlautern. To the north, the 10th Armored was closing in on Merzig. Originally the plans called for the seizure of a bridge over the river at Saarlautern by the 95th, and that division was then to swing north and seize the high ground opposite Rehlingen, covering the 90th's crossing at that point. However, the approach of the American troops set off such intense enemy fire from across the Saar that the German's intentions to hold firmly became evident. In view of the opposing strength, therefore, the 95th's plan to swing northward became impracticable. The 90th would make its own bridgehead at Dillingen... the most dense, the thickest portion of the entire Siegfried Line. The date for the crossing was set at December 6th. The few days preceding the assault were devoted to the readjustment of lines, establishing OPs, clearing roads of mines, and the reduction by direct fire of those pillboxes on the opposite banks which could be observed. After having successfully negotiated the flooded Moselle, it might be presumed that there was no further terror in rivers for the 90th. But the Saar presented new problems, some of them seemingly insurmountable. The nature of the terrain offered only a few approaches to the river itself, approaches whose location were well known to the enemy, and therefore subject to whatever artillery he chose to expend on such profitable targets. High ground to the north provided the Germans with ideal observation posts from which to observe all that might occur along the entire length of the river, and to adjust fire accordingly. Mutually supporting pillboxes of great density were seen by observers. How far back from the river they extended no one knew. The flat open ground between the river and the parallel railroad was well and thoroughly covered by the fortifications, and in addition there were entrenchments in the flat ground itself. |
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