CHAPTER II
The Attack on GERMETER and VOSSENACK
The final effort of the 9th Division in the HURTGEN FOREST was the coordinated attack of the 39th and 60th Regiments on GERMETER and the road to the southwest of that town. The plan was to have the 39th take GERMETER and continue to VOSSENACK while the 60th concentrated on seizing the road and high ground southwest of GERMETER. The attack opened 6 October after being delayed a day by bad weather. The 39th used the 3d Battalion on the left and 1st Battalion on the right, with the 2d Battalion following the 3d and protecting the north flank of the regiment. The 60th used the 1st Battalion on the left and the 2d Battalion on the right with its third Battalion following the 2d.
After four days of stubborn opposition, the Americans succeeded in cutting the road both north and south of GERMETER on 9 October. The 3d Battalion, 39th Infantry, was astride the road at WITTSCHEIDT (FO28340) north of town, while the 1st Battalion, 60th Regiment, held RICHELSKAUL (F019324) just south of town. The 1st Battalion, 39th, cleared GERMETER the next day. VOSSENACK was the next objective for the 39th Infantry, so the 3d Battalion moved to the edge of the woods north of VOSSENACK by early morning of 11 October, but the 1st Battalion had little success moving out of GERMETER toward the west end of VOSSENACK on the same day. A coordinated attack by the two battalions planned for the next day was halted by a German counterattack from the north which penetrated the 2d Battalion positions. The 3d Battalion was called back to clear up this attack by KG WEGELEIN, a force approximately a battalion in strength. Thereafter, the 39th was ordered to hold, its position in GERMETER and vicinity until relieved on 28 October.
The 60th continued tough fighting until it captured its objectives along the road southwest of GERMETER. On 11 October, the 1st Battalion proceeded southwest of RICHELSKAUL to capture another road junction about a mile down the road. The 2d Battalion fought until 16 October to capture its final objective and clear the road from ROETGEN east through GERMETER.
Five weeks of unrelieved fighting had taken their toll of these two regiments, and with the fall of AACHEN First Army found it possible to relieve them with troops of the 28th Division. The bare description above does not fully describe the difficulties which beset the infantrymen of the 9th Division in their HURTGEN FOREST battle. But the main interest of this study is to determine what support armored units gave these infantrymen.
