APPENDIX III
GERMAN ORDER OF BATTLE
The First US Army, in whose zone lay the HURTGEN FOREST area, was opposed by the Seventh German Army. The German Army boundaries coincided with those of the First Army.
Although the rearward action which the German Army had put up in FRANCE had been haphazard and costly in combat troops, most of the corps and division staffs had been kept intact. As the retreating Germans reached the West Wall these headquarters were used to command a hidden reserve which now made its appearance in the form of independent "fortress battalions". These battalions relieved battered elements of the division on the front while the latter were sent further to the rear in order to reform and refit. Later, many of those fortress battalions were permanently incorporated into the divisions under whose staffs they served. The divisions so formed were lacking in training and equipment and were about one-third T/O strength.
Of the four corps in the Seventh German Army only one, the LXXIV Corps with 526 Reserve Division and 347 Infantry Division subordinated, was defending the HURTGEN FOREST sector in September and early October.
During October and November the German Seventh Army strove to reinforce its heavily engaged right flank and to withdraw from the line those units earmarked for the ARDENNES Offensive. This shift to the north was effected by periodically requiring the 272nd and 277th Volksgrenadier Divisions (on the south) to leap-frog their right flank battalions during the night to occupy the positions of their neighbor on the north. For example, the right boundary of the 277th VG Division initially was just north of MONSCHAU and ultimately was edged up to ZWEIFALLSHAMMER.
The job of withdrawing units for refitting prior to the ARDENNES Offensive was given a high priority by the German High Command and necessitated frequent changes in the Seventh Army's order of battle.
For the Seventh Army the HURTGEN area was always an open wound and was a very disturbing factor in the planning for the ARDENNES Offensive. Because of the continued fighting, Seventh Army was always forced to attempt to bring forward reserve troops for the battle in the HURTGEN. Those VG- divisions that were in the area we were forbidden to utilize because they had been earmarked for the ARDENNES. Panzer and SS units were already under control of the armies that were going to fight in the ARDENNES. These divisions had to finish their reorganization and instructions behind the front or in inactive sectors, the only sectors we were permitted to commit them.
By mid November the German order of battle had lined up as shown in Fig. 13. The LXXIV Corps was the corps primarily responsible for the HURTGEN AREA, and the Panzer and SS units constituted a counterattacking reserve.
On 10 December the Seventh Army was relieved by elements of the Fifteenth Army and the Fifth Panzer Army.
In reserve to the west:
