bigpigeon.us webpage WWII - Germany > ETO > Siegfried Line - 1945 > First US Effort, updated by RAC 11 Jul 2022.
Summarizing the US Rhineland operation launched in late January 1945.
In late January 1945, the last German troops were retreating to the positions held before the Battle of the Bulge, as shown on the accompanying map.

Referring to the map:
  • VIII Corps was transferred from Hodge's First Army to Patton's Third Army on 20 December.
  • 26 December 1944 was a high-water mark of Germany's Ardennes counteroffensive. Late that day the siege of Bastogne was lifted by Third Army forces from the south.
  • For the next month, the US First and Third Armies continued to squeeze German forces out of the Ardennes bulge.
  • On ~16 January, the British XXX Corps withdrew from the Ardennes line to return to the Netherlands.
  • On 18 January, the First Army was detached from General Bernard Montgomery's 21st Army Group and returned to the control of General Omar Bradley's 12th Army Group.​
Recovering from the German Ardennes counteroffensive
Battle of the Ardennes, 26 Dec 1944 - 28 Jan 1945 - Recovering from the German counteroffensive
The planned January offensive into the Rhineland
12th Army Group envisaged a drive by V Corps and XVIII Airborne Corps of Hodge's First Army northeast through the northern Eifel by V Corps and XXVIII Airborne Corps of Hodges' First Army. The road center of Schleiden would be the immediate objective with Euskirchen, on the northeast corner of the accompanying map, as a potential goal. Flank support would be provided by VIII Corps of Patton's Third Army on the right and elements of Simpson's Ninth Army on the left; the Ninth Army was still under British control.

In large measure this unnamed and little-documented offensive was a continuation of the January recapture of the St. Vith area of the Bulge shown on the previous map. 

Unfortunately heavy snow made progress was painfully slow. General Eisenhower, already committed to gathering resources in the north for the planned major Rhine crossing, communicated on 1 February his plans to shut down this offensive.

Thus the so-called Main Effort in the Eifel stalled in the First Army sector. However:
  • the advance continued on the left flank, with the seizure of the Roer River dams by the 78th and 9th Infantry divisions of V Corps, now assigned to the First Army.
  • on the right flank, the Third Army's VIII Corps continued its advance toward the Prüm area as the first of General Patton's euphemistic "probing attacks". At a heavy cost in men and misery, Patton's three February probing attacks would position the Third Army for its magnificent dashes to and across the Rhine River in March.

​
The Northern Eifel
The Northern Eifel in the Rhineland, Germany
The First Army's January Attempt
Main Effort in the Eifel, 27 Jan -3 Feb 1945 - The First Army's January Breakthrough Attempt
Sources for the WWII Siegfried Line - 1945 > First US Effort webpage:
Pottawattamie Area WW II Dead - Siegfried Line - 1945 > First US Effort: 04-05 - Siegfried Line - 1945 > First US Effort: (one dead, updated 4 Jul 2022)
† Patton, John A., SN 37-463-856, US Army, Page Co. & Los Angeles Co., CA
  • Co. F, 504th Parachute Inf. Regt., 82nd Airborne Div., attached to First Army; KIA 2 Feb 1945, Siegfried Line, near Udenbreth SE of Monshau, North Rhineland-Westphalia, Germany; Siegfried Line - 1945 > First US Effort.