Battle of Arracourt

The Battle of Arracourt was a battle between U.S. and German armored forces during World War II near the town of Arracourt, Lorraine, France, from 18 to 29 September 1944. As part of a counteroffensive against recent U.S. advances in France, the German 5th Panzer Army had as its objective the recapture of Lunéville and to force the collapse of the U.S. XII Corps bridgehead over the Moselle River at Dieulouard. With a local superiority in troops and tanks, the Germans anticipated the defeat of the defending Combat Command A(CCA) of the U.S. 4th Armored Division. Against German expectations, due in part to poor tactics and the terrain, the 4th Armored Division's CCA, in concert with U.S. tactical air forces, defeated two Panzer brigades and elements of two Panzer divisions.

Opposing forces
For the battle, the German Fifth Panzer Army had an actual strength of 182 tanks (75 Panzer IVs and 107 Mark V Panther tanks), with an additional 80 self-propelled assault guns, for a total of 262 vehicles. It initially comprised two panzer corps headquarters, the 11th Panzer Division, and the 111th and 113th Panzer Brigades. The 11th Panzer Division, while battle-experienced, was badly in need of tanks, having lost most of its complement in earlier fighting, while the panzer brigades had the newest Panther tanks and fresh crews but had little unit training, and virtually no experience in tactical maneuvering in large-scale, combined arms operations.

At the time of the battle, the U.S. 4th Armored Division's Combat Command A (CCA), under Colonel Clarke, consisted primarily of the 37th Tank Battalion, 53rd Armored Infantry Battalion, two armored field artillery battalions (the 66th and 94th), and a towed 155-mm howitzer field artillery battalion, the 191st. Also present were elements of the 35th Tank Battalion, the 10th Armored Infantry Battalion, the 704th Tank Destroyer Battalion, the 25th Cavalry Squadron, as well as the 24th Armored Engineer Battalion and the 166th Engineer Combat Battalion. CCA formed part of the 4th Armored Division under General John S. Wood, who was in turn under the command of General Manton S. Eddy of the U.S. XII Corps.

In addition to a numerical advantage against CCA, the 5th Panzer Army's Panther tank was superior in both armor protection and main gun range to the U.S. M4 Sherman tank. Only in terms of close air support did U.S. forces enjoy a significant advantage. Earlier sorties by U.S. fighter-bomber aircraft caused some German panzer units to fail to arrive in time for the battle, as they were preemptively damaged or destroyed in separate encounters with other Allied forces.

The battle
As the weather began to deteriorate on 18 September and heavy fog settled in, U.S. tactical air forces were unable to locate and destroy advancing German armored units. However, while shielding the German advance from air observation and attack, the weather also handicapped the 5th Panzer Army. Poor visibility combined with a lack of motorized scouting and reconnaissance forces in the new "Panzer Army" formations prevented German armored forces from properly coordinating their attack, which soon degenerated into a disjointed series of intermittent advances. Operational proficiency of the newly formed Panther equipped brigades had additionally been hampered by lack of time for training, partly due to the need to quickly respond to the sudden advance of the 4th Armored and partly due to inadequate fuel supplies owing to the loss of oil production in Romania.

The first German attack mounted by the 111th Panzer Brigade, fell on the 4th Armored Division's Reserve Command and the XII Corps' reconnaissance group at Lunéville on 18 September 1944. In sharp fighting, the understrength U.S. forces, augmented by reinforcements from both the U.S. 4th and 6th Armored Divisions, managed to beat back the attack. Generals Wood and Eddy, believing the Lunéville engagement to be only a local counterattack, initially decided to proceed with plan for a corps offensive. However, reports of increased German activity throughout the night of 18–19 September, forced the U.S. attack to be postponed. In reality, the Fifth Panzer Army had simply bypassed Lunéville and was moving north to strike at CCA's exposed position in and around Arracourt. The battle that resulted was one of the largest armored engagements ever fought on the Western Front.

CCA's dispositions around Arracourt consisted of a thinly-held salient, using an extended outpost line of armored infantry and engineers supported by tanks, tank destroyers, and artillery. At 0800 on 19 September, company-sized elements of the 113th Panzer Brigade penetrated CCA outposts on the east and south faces of CCA's salient. Two tank destroyer platoons and a medium tank company engaged the panzers in a running fight that extended into the vicinity of CCA's headquarters, where a battalion of self-propelled M7 105-mm howitzers took the panzers under direct (point-blank) fire.

Poor tactical deployment of the German tanks soon exposed them to fire from American tanks, tank destroyers, antitank forces, and artillery (mainly M4 Sherman medium tanks, a handful of M5A1 Stuart light tanks, M18 Hellcat tank destroyers, and 105 mm artillery units). As the 5th Panzer Army was not equipped with integral scouting forces, German panzer forces were forced to advance blindly against the American forces, whose positions were shrouded by thick morning fog. Reinforced with additional tank, infantry, and cavalry elements, and aided by the Germans' persistence in repeating the same plan of attack, CCA was able to locate and prepare for battle on ground of its own choosing. A combination of concealed defensive positions, command of local terrain elevations, and fire-and-maneuver tactics allowed the 4th's CCA to negate the superior armor and firepower of the German AFVs. While the advancing Germans were exposed to American fire, U.S. armor was able to maneuver into favorable defensive positions, staying hidden until the German AFVs (the majority of which were Panther tanks) had closed within range. The fog that had allowed German forces tactical surprise and protection from U.S. air attack also negated the superior range of their tank guns. From 20 to 25 September, the Fifth Panzer Army fed the 111th Panzer Brigade and the understrength 11th Panzer Division into a series of disjointed attacks against the Arracourt position. On September 20, German Panther tanks moved towards the headquarters component of the 4th Armored Division's Combat Command A, several 4th AD support units were pinned down or trapped by the German advance. An Army observation pilot, Major "Bazooka Charlie" Carpenter took to the air with his bazooka-armed L-4 Cub, nicknamed Rosie the Rocketeer, to attack the enemy. At first, Carpenter was unable to spot the enemy due to low clouds and heavy fog, which finally lifted around noon. Spotting a company of German Panther tanks advancing towards Arracourt, Carpenter dived through a barrage of German ground fire in a continuing series of attacks against the German panzers, firing all of his bazooka rockets in repeated passes. Returning to base to reload, Carpenter flew two more sorties that afternoon, firing no fewer than sixteen bazooka rockets at German Panther tanks and armored cars, several of which were hit. Carpenter's actions that day were later credited and verified by ground troops with knocking out two German tanks and several armored cars, while killing or wounding a dozen or more enemy soldiers. Carpenter's actions also forced the German tank formation to retreat to its starting position, in the process enabling a trapped 4th Armored water point support crew to escape capture and destruction.

Finally, on 21 September, Republic P-47 Thunderbolts of the 405th Fighter Group, 84th Fighter Wing of the U.S. XIX Tactical Air Command were able to begin a relentless series of attacks on German ground forces. In addition to missions of opportunity flown by XIX TAC fighter-bombers, CCA was able to call in tactical air strikes against German panzer concentrations. The 4th Armored's close relationship with the USAAF's XIX TAC and mastery of ground-air tactical coordination was a significant factor in destroying the offensive capability of the German armored formations.

By 24 September most of the fighting had moved to Château-Salins, where a fierce attack by the 559th Volksgrenadier Division of the German First Army nearly overwhelmed 4th Armored's Combat Command B until U.S. fighter-bombers routed the attackers. The next day, Third Army received orders to suspend all offensive operations and to consolidate gains. In compliance with corps orders, the entire 4th Armored Division reverted to a positional defense on 26 September. CCA withdrew five miles to more defensible ground, and CCB, relieved at Château-Salins by the 35th Division, linked up with the right flank of CCA. The Fifth Panzer Army, by now reduced to only twenty-five Panther tanks, pressed its attacks unsuccessfully for three more days until clearing weather and increased American air activity forced the Germans to suspend their counteroffensive altogether, and to commence a retreat towards the German frontier.

Aftermath
The final tally for the battle was as follows:

""Of the 262 tanks and assault guns deployed by the German units in the week of fighting near Arracourt, 86 were destroyed, 114 were damaged or broken down, and only 62 were operational at the end of the month. The 4th Armored Division's Combat Command A, which had borne the brunt of the 5th Panzer Army's counteroffensive at Arracourt, lost 25 tanks and 7 tank destroyers. As a division, the 4th AD lost some 41 M4 medium tanks and 7 M5A1 light tanks during the whole month of September, with casualties of 225 killed and 648 wounded." Zaloga (2008)"

While Patton′s 3rd Army had succeeded in the early weeks of September in completing a limited advance toward Germany - despite orders to the contrary - the Battle of Arracourt signaled a temporary halt to the U.S. in southeastern France. On 22 September, Patton was informed that his fuel supplies were being restricted and he would have to shift to a defensive posture. The fuel was required for other U.S. forces and for Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery′s Operation Market Garden, a mostly British attack intended to create a bridgehead over the Rhine river at Arnhem outflanking the German defensive line and encircle the key industrial area of the Ruhr.

Perceptions of the battle
An irony of the Battle of Arracourt is that the Germans believed, despite their heavy losses, that they had succeeded in their objective of stopping the advance of General George Patton′s 3rd Army, as the 3rd Army had stopped advancing. Generalmajor Friedrich von Mellenthin—Chief of Staff of the 5th Panzer Army—summarized the situation:

Robert S. Allen′s 1947 work "Lucky Forward", a volume full of praise for General Patton and the Third Army's campaigns in 1944-45, does not mention the Battle of Arracourt at all. In the face of the initial German attacks, the Third Army was little troubled by them and concentrated on its own advance on Sarreguemines. Subsequently, Patton and his staff had to concentrate on reorganization to comply with Eisenhower′s order to stop advancing. But the actions at Arracourt, among others fought by the Third Army in September 1944, contributed to a shift in U.S. perceptions of the campaign:

Summary
The Battle of Arracourt occurred during the time that the rapid advance of Patton′s 3rd Army through France was stopped short of entering Germany by Eisenhower′s decision to divert Allied fuel supplies to other Allied forces north of Patton′s 3rd Army. The delay allowed the German Army to regroup for their defense of the German border at the Siegfried Line.

However, Adolf Hitler was less than pleased with the results of the German offensive and relieved the commander of Army Group G, Johannes Blaskowitz. Since the U.S. victory at Arracourt proved to have no strategic value for the Allies, the tank-to-tank action there had long been ignored by historians or simply lumped together with the rest of Patton′s campaign in the Lorraine and was not even generally known as a named battle until recent debates on the relative merits of Allied tanks versus German tanks in World War II resurrected interest in this action. The Battle of Arracourt was the largest tank battle involving U.S. forces in the Western Front until the Battle of the Bulge and has been used as an example of how the tactical situation and quality of the tank crews were far more important factors in determining the outcome of a tank battle than the technical merits of the tanks involved, provided there is an air superiority.