This posting continues with additional recommended reading on the Lorraine Campaign. Most include very helpful maps and orders of battle.
Unit Histories and Battles within the Lorraine Campaign
Don M. Fox’s Patton’s Vanguard: The United States Army Fourth Armored Division (Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., Inc., Publishers: 2003) follows “Patton’s Best” division from the Normandy breakout through the relief of Bastogne. Seven chapters in this extremely well-researched and written chapters cover the Lorraine campaign. Helpful maps and interesting photos make this one of the best division histories I’ve read. It is an essential reference for my wargaming and battlefield study. Especially appreciated are the detailed compositions of the combat commands at various points during the Lorraine campaign.
I have special interest in the assault waterway crossings of the Moselle, having visited all the bridgeheads established by the Third Army and war-gamed them in miniature. Army historian (and WWII combat veteran) Charles B. MacDonald and Matthew T. Sidney’s coverage of the Arnaville crossings in Three Battles: Arnaville, Altuzo, and Schmidt (Washington DC: Center of Military History, US Army; 1951) is the most informative work I have found on this complex type of operation. Their detailed narrative accompanied by excellent maps is great military history for the serious student of the campaign, the battlefield visitor, and the miniature wargamer.
Probably the best known battle within the Lorraine campaign is Arracourt, where the outnumbered 4th Armored Division decisively defeated a series of the strongest panzer counterattacks encountered during the advance across France. Steven Zaloga’s Patton versus the Panzers: The Battle of Arracourt, September 1944 (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books; 2016) is filled with details, very helpful maps, orders of battle, detailed listings of armored strengths over time for both sides, and short biographies of the commanders. A similar but less detailed book dealing with the battle is Mike Guardia’s Arracourt 1944 — Triumph of American Armor (published in 2022 by Casemate).
Battlefield Visits
I’ve yet to find a self-guided battlefield tour book for Lorraine and developed my own tour routes for our visit. Especially helpful was “After the Battle” Magazine — “was” because it is no longer being published after being purchased by Pen & Sword. However, copies may still be found at conventions or sources on-line. Issue No. 161 has an article and superb terrain map on the Moselle crossings and the Battle of Metz. Another well-known Lorraine battle, that at the village of Singling, is well covered in Issue No. 167. The Moselle crossings are covered in Issue No. 171, which has an aerial photograph showing how the paths of the river and canal at Dieulouard have changed since the war. There is an interesting article on the shelling of the Third Army headquarters in Nancy in No. 176. The Maginot Line, including Fort Hackenburg north of Metz, is the subject of Issue No. 60. This massive fortification is well worth a visit!
Tactics and the Operational Art in the Lorraine Campaign
As noted in Part I of this case study, many military analysts and historians have been highly critical of Patton’s performance in the Lorraine campaign. To reach your own conclusion on this, several readings are recommended. Patton’s memoir, War As I Knew It, first published in 1947 after his death, offers the Third Army commanding general’s perspective of the campaign. In his Patton: A Genius for War (New York: Harper; 1995) noted military historian Carlo d’Este offers is less critical view, but left me with the impression that Patton struggled during the campaign to adjust his concept of war to the actual situation. Martin Blumenson’s The Patton Papers: 1940-1945 (Boston, MA: De Capo Press; 1974) also reveals the frustration Patton experienced in Lorraine.
Michael D. Doubler’s Closing with the Enemy: How GIs Fought the War in Europe, 1944-1945 (Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Press; 1994) has two chapters covering aspects of the Lorraine campaign. “Struggles against Steel and Concrete” covers the great difficulty in reducing the Metz fortifications and “In Spite of Hell and Highwater” covers the 80th Infantry Division’s crossings of the Moselle.
German General F.W. Mellinthin’s Panzer Battles (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press; 1956) has a short chapter that provides the German perspective of the fighting in Lorraine.
Roman Jarymowycz’s Tank Tactics from Normandy to Lorraine (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books; 2001) provides tactical diagrams on engagements around Arracourt and does a good job describing a successful mobile defensive battle.
Some of the older students in the audience may have a collection of the late Gene McCoy’s “Military Digest — The Journal of Mobile Warfare.” In my opinion, this is the all time best military history and wargaming journal ever published. The March 1998 Volume 16. No. 7 issue includes a tutorial on assault waterway crossings entitled “Forcing a River Crossing against Enemy Position” written by McCoy. Two Osprey Books by Gordon L. Rottman, World War II River Assault Tactics (2013) and US Combat Engineer 1941-45 (2010) are also good sources of information on this type of operation.
US Army Professional Military Education Studies
Over the years I’ve collected studies from the US Army Combat Studies Institute, Combined Arms Center and the Army Command and General Staff College that I’ve repeatedly turned to for their assessments of the Third Army’s operations in Lorraine. These include Dr. Christopher R. Gable’s 1985 “The Lorraine Campaign: An Overview, September-December 1944; the Battle of Metz Battle Book 13-A; Dieulouard Bridgehead Battle Book 22-C; Forêt de Grémècy Battle Book 11-B; “Arracourt — September 1944” a thesis in partial requirement for the degree Master of Military Art and Science by Major Richard H. Barnes, Field Artillery, US Army, at Fort Leavenworth College 1982; and the Training and Doctrine Commanders Forum “The Crossing of the Moselle River, Virtual Staff Ride (France, 1944).” Some of these still available on line and hunting them down is worth the effort.
Coming Up Next
The Lorraine campaign case study continues with focus on miniature wargaming. Among the topics to be covered are the selection of scenarios, force composition, and creating the battlefield in miniature. Later postings will include essential information for several miniature wargame scenarios from the campaign.