UNCLASSIFIED AD NUMBER ADB067783 NEW LIMITATION CHANGE TO Approved for public release, distribution unlimited FROM Distribution limited to U.S. Gov't. agencies only; Proprietary Info.; 4 Jun 82. Other requests for this document must be referred to Commander, US Army Combined Arms Center & Fort Leavenworth, Attn: ATZL-PTS-IS. Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027. AUTHORITY USACGSC ltr, 2 May 2001 THIS PAGE IS UNCLASSIFIED , .EEhhh hmmEI~, F / ~. 1 6) J./ ARRACOURT- -- SEPTEMBER 1944 A thesis presented to the Faculty of the U.S. Amy Command and General Staff College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF MILITARY ART AND SCIENCE by RICHARD H..BARNES, MAJ, FA B.A., Temple University, 1966 B.S., University of Michigan, 1969 M.F., University of Michigan, 1969 M.A., Middlebury College, 1974 D T IC S ELECTE SEP 22 1982 Fort Leavenworth, Kansas .___- 1982 S"i5T.i.T-i .ITED TO U... GOV'T AGENCIES C) LY.,': •L3•".•."•~ . r2. O~s~ '.'si-"SS irn; .u -f ":.-.'i .'T '.•iUST ZZ REF.iRLD TO: HQ TRADOC, AT.LN•: AA'CS-D, FORT MONBOE, VA 23651 82-4652 82 u9 21 034 li11r~~rv~~ "re. UNCLAS - SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF THIS P'AGE (Wheii~ Date Rr~toerd) READ INSTRUCTIONS REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE BEFORE COMPLETING FORM 1. REPORT NUMBER 12.GVT ACCESSION NO. 3. RECIPIENT'S CAT AI.OG NUMBER 4, TITLE (and Subtitle) 5. TYPE OF REPORT & PERIOD COVERED ARRACOURT--SEPTENBER 1944 6. PERFORMING ORG. REPORT NUMBER 7. AUTH.OR(*) 8- CONTRACT0., GRANT NUMBER(b) Major Richard H. Barnes 9. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS 10. PROGRAM ELEMENT, PROJECT, TASK AREA & WORK UNIT NUMBERS Command and General Staff College Ft Leavenworth, KS 66027 I1. CONTROLLING OFFICE NAME AND ADDRESS 12. REPORT DATE Headquarters, TRADOC 43JUnBER 198 Ft Monroe, VA 23651 207UMEOFAE T IAE 14. MONITORING AGENCY NAME & ADORESS(If different from Controlling Office) IS. SECURI rY CLASS. (of thisreport) Headquarters, TRADOC UCA Ft 2361.IS5.Moroe, A DECLASSI FICATI ON/ DOWNGRADING SCHEDULE IS. DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT (of this Report) IDISRIBUION ,17 TATEENT 17. DISTRABUTIO SeThATEMN (*(ter abtr te enord IdnBtof by blockann rombReprt This battle study investigates operationa4'and tactiza1 considerations of the battles of Arracourt, which took place in'September 1944 as the 4th Armored Division of Patton's Third Army clashed with the Fifth Panzer Army in the French province of Lorraine on the U.S. drive to the German West Wall. By examining detailed German and American unit histories, logs, and summaries, as well, as personal papers, this study illuminates differences and similaritie DDI 1473 EDITION OF I NOV 65 15 OBSOLETE SECURITY CILkSSIFICATIONt OF THIS PAGE (When Data Entered) ua.-r* SE-URIT'r CLW-ITION OF THIS PAGE(When Dole antered) Bridgehead to Arracourt, the U.S. penetration from the Nancy in reportingl the and the two German as a prelude to Arracourt, German offensive at-Luneville link up with a Fifth Panzer Army attempted to offensives at Arracourt, as the German unit cut off at Nancy. and illustrates the penetration and mobile defense Arracourt exemplifies and control. It shows the intelligence and flexible command demand for good need for timely commitment of reserves, the inherent risks of piecemeal of as well as the tactical advantages orders and good logistical support, air superiority. Ii I UNCLAS PAGE(ften Detj E ntered) SICURITV CLASSIFICATION OF THIS I.._-_ ARRACOURT, -- SEPTEMBER 1944. A thesis presented to th.e Faculty of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF MILITARY ART AND SCIENCE by RICHARD H..BARNES, MAJ, FA B.A., Temple University, 1966 B.S., University of Michigan, 1969 M.F., University of Michigan, 1969 M.A., Middlebury College, 1974 ! I. Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 1982 SO DISTRIBUTIONI•~~LY; . LTIMIT. INF...,D TO U, G -©VI'T ACE'CIES OTHER WQ~S~rr K ~'~T MU41' '31 REFERRELD TO; IQ '"fADOC, . FORT bMON'ROE., VA UO8L 82-4652 W MASTER OF MILITARY ART AND SCIENCE THESIS APPROVAL PAGE Name of candidate: MAior Richard H. Barnes Title of thesis: Arracourt--September 1944 Aperoyed by: ,, _______________________Thesis Commnittee Chairman Ol W llland A. Stofft, M A. ____________________________Member, Graduate Faculty "LTC Kenneth A. Steadnan, M.A."-- Member, Consulting Faculty %gerW-p~eP.D Accepted this 3dday of _ _6W 1982 by SWAM____ Director, Graduate Degree Programs. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the student author and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College or any other governmental agency. (References to this study should include the foregoing statement.) Ae(o•.ss ion For ti i t i J ru ' Dilt r i-•ut ion/. Availczbi ity codes :A."iil and/or Tic -w~,4. .. ,v. ABSTRACT ARRACOURT--SEPTEMBER 1944, by Major Richard H. Barnes, USA, 207 pages. This battle study investigates operational and tactical considerations of the battles of Arracourt, which took place in September 1944 as the 4th Armored Division of Patton's Third Army clashed with the Fifth German Panzer Army in the French province of Lorraine on the U.S. drive to the German West Wall. By examining detailed German and American unit histories, logs, and summaries, as well as personal papers, this study illuminates differences and similarities in reporting the U.S, penetration from the Nancy Bridgehead to Arracourt, the German offensive at Luneville as a prelude to Arracourt, and the two German offensives at Arracourt, as the Fifth Panzer Army attempted to link up with a German unit cut off at Hancy. I Arracourt exemplifies penetration and mobile defense and illustrates the demand for good intelligence and flexible command and control. It shows the inherent risks of piecemeal commitment of reserves, the need for t ~ oftimely air superiority,.iorders and good logistical support, as well as the tactical advantages il '14 . ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, I received much help in the preparation of this thesis. I gratefully acknowledge the able assistance of my thesis committee. COL William A. Stofft, chairman, guided me through the entire project from initial research [: ~through the subsequent stages of writing and editing. LTC Kenneth A. " Steadman provided valuable insights into the tactical and intelligence aspects of the battle. Dr. Roger J. Spiller enabled me to maintain my focus on the central problem and directed me to pertinent literature and reports. I gathered much of the primary source material outside of Fort Leavenworth. I am grateful to John Slonaker and Dennis Vetock of the Military History Institute at Carlisle and to Herbert Pankratz of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, KS, for selflessly locating pertinent documents for me. George Wagner of the Modern History Branch of the National Archives located four microfilm rolls of captured German documents, which fcrmed the backbone of this study. Gathering information and writing it down is only the beginning; it must be presented in such a way as to be understandable to the reader. I am indebted to LTC David M. Glantz of the Combat Studies Institute, who carefully reviewed the manuscript and checked for Inconsistencies. Marjorie Christine Collier-Trevino and Greg Smith of the Media Support Center expertly prepared the maps. The typists of the Word Processing Center carried out the tedious business of typing and retyping the manuscript. Elizabeth R. Snoke and Alice M. McCart painstakingly arranged and edited the notes and bibliography. I am indebted to GEN Bruce C. Clarke for his valuable letters and other pertinent literature. Samuel Schenker, Secretary-Treasurer of the 4th Armored Division Association, provided names and addresses of former members of the Division who served at Arracourt. I am also indebted to the following who provided key insights for this study: Thomas J. Cooke, William A. Dwight, Thomas J. Evans, Lawrence E. Fleischman, GEN Paul 0. Harkins, Charles L. Kimsey, Kenneth R. Lamison, Merwin A. Marston, MG Delk M. Oden, Robert M. Parker, and James Turner. Most of all, I acknowledge the contribution of my wife Linda, without whose moral support, advice and devotion I could never have completed this project. [i -!lI TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstraot * * * . * o9 * * * * . * . * . .. ± Aoknowledgements . ... Table of Contents ......... ..... List of Maps ..... .... .. ..... iv Introduotion ....... ... .. ..... ....... .. vvi Chaepter 1- Background .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 1 Chapter 2 - Advance of CCA to Arraoourt and the Luneville Diversion . 43 Chapter 3 - First Arracourt Tank Battle 19-22 September 1944 .. 69 Chapter 4 - The Battle Continues ............ .. 105 Chapter 5 - Significance of Arraoourt ......... .. .. *.. 150 Appendix 1 - German Land Coimnd in the West • • • . ......... 165 Appendix 2 - Organio and Attached Units of the 4th Armored Division . 167 Appendix 3 - TO&E's of Fifth Panzer Army Divisions . 170 Appendix 4 - Fifth Panzer Army Order of Battle ........... 173 Appendix 5 - Tanks used at Arracourt . .... ......*176 . .4 Notes 178 Bibliographby ... .. .. ... ...... 208 I.j liii :~I! j .- LIST OF MAPS - ARRACOURT RWTER 1.,- BACWnO PAGE Map 1 - Broad vs Narrow Front. 2 Map 2 - German Eastern and Western Front. * . .......... 12 Map 3 - Allied and German Foroes in Western Europe, September 1944. .15 Map 4 - Lorraine . 18 Map 5- Arraoourt Area of Operations ........ ... .e. 920 CHAPTER 2 - ADVANCE O CCA TO ARRACOURT AND THE LUNEVILLE DIVERSION 4 Map 6- Mission of th Armored Division... ......... 45 Map 7 - Route of CCA, 4th Armored Division, 13-14 September 1944 .... 47 Map 8 - 37th Tank Battalion attaok on 16 September to assist CCB- over Canal .. ... ............ 55 Map 9 -CCR to Luneville, 15-18 September 1944. ............. 57 Map 10- Battle of Luneville- 18 September 1944 ............ 62 CHAPTER 3 - FIRST ARRACOURT BATTLE (19.22 SEPTEMBER 19144) Map 11 - Disposition or 4th Armored Division, 18/19 September 1944 • 68 Nap 12 - Disposition of CCA, 4th Armored Division, 18/19 September 1944.