| Counterattacks and roving German tanks pounded against
the doughboys whose only support was the artillery, still emplaced across
the river. With no bridge or ferry in operation, the armor remained chafing
and impotent on the west side of the Saar. The attacks of the enemy
increased in intensity as fanatical Nazi, occasionally marching in close
order into battle, endeavored desperately to erase the American penetration
of the Siegfried Line. Casualties among the Germans were immense. Division
artillery, massing its fires to halt the incessant counterattacks, strewed
the fields and the streets of Dillingen with dead and wounded Boche. But the enemy action was also grinding down the strength of the 90th Division. The two regiments across the river, in three days of valiant effort, had succeeded in establishing a precarious bridgehead to which they clung with desperate tenacity. How long they could hang on without help, however, was a serious question. Shortly after midnight on the fourth day, the 359th Regiment was committed to the attack. Trench foot, too, inflicted more than its share of casualties as the malady hit the 90th with epidemic force. Men limped into battle on senseless swollen feet. Some were carried to their weapons. P-47's of the XIX Tactical Air Force joined the fight, but not with guns or bombs. They came in low, swooped over the area at tree top level, and dropped their freight with heartening accuracy... medical supplies for the wounded and sick. On the fifth day a ferry and raft were placed in operation. Tanks and jeeps and anti-tank guns began to trickle into the fight on the right sector of the Division zone. In five days of vicious fighting, however, no contact had yet been established between the 358th on the right and the 357th and the 359th on the left and center respectively. A line of fortifications, perpendicular to the river, remained unreduced and prevented all physical contact between the regimental elements. Therefore, since the armor crossed in the right zone, it was unable to swing to the support of the center or the left. The 95th Division was meeting similar resistance in the city of Saarlautern on the right, and a juncture with that Division was only too far from being realized. Bridging activities continued to be the main business of the Engineers, but all the elements combined to make that job most difficult. Smoke screens, placed to cover the crossing sites, were dissipated by the high and constantly changing winds racing up and down the Saar valley. Even the patience of Job might have been taxed under the circumstances, but the Engineers and the Chemical Warfare units continued their labors in spite of the obstacles. The seventh day witnessed great improvements in the infantry's position. A civilian volunteered to induce the defenders of the pillboxes which separated the right from the left sectors to surrender. He succeeded in persuading the occupants to come out, and contact between regiments was finally obtained. It was now possible to send armor all along the Division front. |
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