commanding First Army
The third battle for Troyes, dated April 15th 1944
I had ample of time to dig in along the river line, anchoring my left on a large lake and my right on some wooded ground protected by minefields. Unfortunately my request for reinforcements had been denied so I was lacking armour, having only the 2nd Panzer Division with a reduced battalion of Panthers and some companies of StugIVs. The Jagd Panthers have been reallocated to another sector.
The Americans attacked initially on the right against the wooded ground with an armoured division. Leading the attack were some new Pershing heavy tanks. Fortunately they were stopped by the minefields in front of the concealed Panthers who made short work of them. This attack having been halted, the Americans then attacked the village in the centre with a second armoured division, the village was protected by a battalion of the 352nd Infantry division. This battalion held out for some time, delaying this attack.
The Americans attacked initially on the right against the wooded ground with an armoured division. Leading the attack were some new Pershing heavy tanks. Fortunately they were stopped by the minefields in front of the concealed Panthers who made short work of them. This attack having been halted, the Americans then attacked the village in the centre with a second armoured division, the village was protected by a battalion of the 352nd Infantry division. This battalion held out for some time, delaying this attack.
The Americans then launched two attacks, an infantry division attacked on the left, driving back the 352nd Infantry from the river and a third armoured division attacked on the right, supported by intense airpower. Eventually this assault took its toll on the few remaining tanks of 2nd Panzer and it was forced to retire.
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The view from behind the German positions. The 2nd Pz Divn has retired on the right, the Americans have yet to exploit this. The 352nd Inf Divn is holding out on the high ground and left of the road but they are soon to retreat. Some units of the 272nd Volksgren Divn can be seen in the centre.
With our forces retiring, it was left to the 272nd Volksgrenadier division to hold the line which they did gallantly. However the American armour had now crossed the river and the 272nd were unable to prevent them overrunning the Corps command centre.
Realising that the position was compromised, I ordered the withdrawal of the army towards Metz.
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