The slog was relentless. Through dark, deep forest and across broken terrain, mountain peaks studded with bare hillocks, draws and ridgelines, the US Seventh Army had fought its way northward nearly 500 miles (800km) from the French Riviera.
The Germans had contested virtually every mile of the advance since the Allies had come ashore in southern France during Operation Dragoon on 15 August 1944, intent on supporting the D-Day offensive in Normandy and opening the Mediterranean ports to supply and reinforcement convoys. Once a junction had been affected with the armies advancing from Normandy, the Allies intended to press further across the frontier of the Third Reich on a broad front, bringing the Second World War home to Nazi Germany and striking a fatal blow to the enemy.
In late October, after ten weeks of fighting, the veteran US 3rd Infantry Division had battered its way northward through the Vosges Mountains to the vicinity of the French town of La Bourgonce, with the village of St Die identified as an immediate objective. While high-ranking officers planned grand strategy, their aims were being prosecuted and advanced, as always, by small unit actions on the ground.
Two days after his 22nd birthday, 28 October 1944, Staff Sergeant Lucian Adams, Company I, 3rd Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Division, was with his squad in an area noted on maps as the Magdeleine Woods. The 30th Infantry was poised to support the neighbouring 7th Infantry Regiment, moving to capture Hill 616 and open Route N-420, the highway north of Le Haut Jacques Pas, where the 7th Regiment had run into substantial resistance, probably from the German 716th Division and elements of the tough 201st Mountain Battalion.
この記事は History of War の Issue 136 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
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この記事は History of War の Issue 136 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
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