Big Pigeon - Pottawattamie County, Iowa
  • Home
    • Usage Hints
    • Acknowledgments
    • Resources Overview >
      • Search Engines
      • Land Records
    • Resources - Free Sites
    • Resources - Pay Sites
    • Resources - WW II >
      • WW II Free Sites
      • WW II Pay Sites
      • WW II Personnel Lists
    • Resources - Print
    • Resources - Denmark >
      • Finding Danish Ancestors
    • Project Mgt - Public >
      • Website Overview
      • Website Log
      • Project Overview
      • Mac Computer Use
      • Weebly Use
      • Reunion Use
      • Project History
      • Image Provenance
    • Project Mgt - Private >
      • Site Management
      • Site Plan
      • Contact List
      • Backup Info & Log
      • System Info & Log
      • Image Storage
      • E-Mail Log
      • Asset Organization
      • History Index
      • Binders & Photos
      • Upon My Death
      • Donations & Dispersal
  • Pott. Co.
    • Early History >
      • Missouri River
      • Native Americans
      • Colonial Period
    • Big Pigeon Area >
      • Area Towns >
        • Beebeetown
        • Crescent
        • Honey Creeek
        • Loveland
        • Neola
        • Persia
        • Underwood
        • Weston
        • Lost Locales
      • Danes from Dronninglund
      • Maps & Plats
      • Big Pigeon Galleries >
        • Gallery 1 - Area Historic Structures
        • Gallery 2 - Grange Sunday School
    • Avoca >
      • Gold Star Avoca
      • Cuppy's Grove
    • Pott. Co. Addendum
    • LDS History >
      • LDS Links
      • Gallery 1 - Mormon Maps
    • A House Divided >
      • Endnotes
      • Niels Peder Pedersen
      • Ane Katrine Pedersen
      • Kirsten Pedersen
      • Kirsten's Story >
        • Kirsten's LDS Daughters
        • Kirsten's Daughter, Karen Bondo
        • Kirsten's Son, Anders Johnson
        • Kirsten's Niece, Christine Mortensen
        • Kirsten's Niece, Anne Marie Larsen
    • More History >
      • Iowa History
      • American History
  • WW II Dead
    • The Roster >
      • Roster-AB
      • Roster-C
      • Roster-DEF
      • Roster-GHI
      • Roster-JKL
      • Roster-M
      • Roster-NO
      • Roster-PQR
      • Roster-S
      • Roster-TUV
      • Roster-WXYZ
    • Members' Homes >
      • Council Bluffs
      • Rural Pott. Co.
      • Harrison Co.
      • Mills Co.
      • Shelby Co.
      • Other Iowa Counties
      • Other States
    • Member's Deaths >
      • War with Japan
      • The Atlantic
      • Mediterranean Theater
      • European Theater
      • Stateside Deaths
      • Post-Service Deaths
    • Roster Usage
    • Roster Background
    • Roster Links
    • Roster Photos
    • Roster Outliers
  • World Wars
    • WW II Outlines
    • WW I >
      • Iowa In WW I
    • WW II Data
    • WW II - Links
    • WW II - At Home
    • WW II - Civilian Victims
    • WW II - Strategic Bombing
    • The Cold War
  • WW II - Japan
    • Japan Ascendant
    • Naval War with Japan
    • Japan Lashes Out >
      • Pearl Harbor
      • Guam & Wake Island
      • Malaya & Singapore Lost
      • The Dutch Indies Lost
      • The Philippines Lost
      • New Guinea & Solomons
    • Japan Overreaches >
      • Coral Sea
      • Midway
    • South & SW Pacific >
      • Solomon Islands
      • Solomons Sea War
      • New Guinea
      • Bismarck & Admiralty Is.
    • North & Central Pacific >
      • Alaska - North Pacific
      • Gilbert & Marshall Islands
      • Mariana Islands
      • Towards the Philippines
      • Pacific Communications Zone
    • Philippines Liberated >
      • Leyte
      • Battle of Leyte Gulf
      • Philippines Naval War
      • Luzon
      • Southern Philippines
      • SW Pacific Finale
    • Iwo Jima & Okinawa >
      • Iwo Jima
      • Okinawa
    • China-Burma-India >
      • Flying the Hump
      • Burma - 1941-45
      • China - 1941-45
    • Japan Overpowered >
      • Japan Under Attack
      • Japan Vanquished
  • WW II - Germany
    • Battle of the Atlantic
    • The MTO >
      • North Africa & Sicily >
        • Morocco & Algeria
        • Tunisia
        • Sicily
      • Italian Mainland >
        • Salerno-Naples-Foggia
        • To the Gustav Line
        • Battle of Anzio
        • Cassino - the Gustav Line
        • Cassino to Rome
        • Rome To Florence
        • Northern Apennines
        • The Po Valley
      • The MTO Sea War
      • The MTO Air War
      • MTO Comm. Zone
    • The ETO >
      • Normandy Campaign >
        • D-Day
        • Normandy after D-Day
      • France Liberated >
        • Normandy Breakout
        • Northern France
        • Southern France
        • The Allies Stall
      • Arnhem & Antwerp >
        • Arnhem - Market Garden
        • Antwerp
      • Rhineland 1944
      • Lorraine & Alsace >
        • Lorraine Campaign
        • Alsace Campaign
      • Ardennes/Bulge Overview >
        • Ardennes/Bulge Details
      • Rhineland 1945 >
        • Ninth & First Armies
        • Third & Seventh Armies
        • North Rhineland 1945
        • Mid-Rhineland Feb 1945
        • Mid-Rhineland - Mar 1945
        • South Rhineland 1945
      • Central Europe >
        • Crossing the Rhine
        • Central Germany
      • The ETO Air War
      • The ETO Sea War
      • ETO Comm. Zone
    • The Eastern Front
  • St. Paul's
    • Early Families >
      • Early Families Help
      • Early Families More Lists
    • St. Paul's Roots
    • St. Paul's Timeline
    • St. Paul's Resources
  • Family
    • Christiansen
    • Rasmussen
    • Christiansen/Rasmussen News
    • Larsen/Larson
    • Hansen
    • Larsen/Hansen News
    • Allied Families
    • Wall of Honor
Picture
Picture
The ETO
France Liberated
bigpigeon.us webpage WW II - Germany > ETO > France Liberated > The Allies Stall, updated by RAC 4 Oct 2020.
After the precipitate withdrawal of German forces from most of France and Belgium in the late summer of 1944, some expected an early end to World War II in Europe. Unfortunately, this was not the case. 
  • Allied  supply needs outstripped supply line capabilities.​
  • The German Army reorganized behind the Siegfried Line, also known as the West Wall, a line of fortifications and obstacles shown in red on the accompanying map.
  • German surrender was impossible due to the degree of control exercised by Adolph Hitler.​

Thus the Western Front in the fall of 1944 became a war of attrition, with heavy casualties and with gains far less than during the late summer.
The ETO - 15 Sep 1944
The ETO - 15 Sep 1944
Shown in red on the map on the right are the Allied gains from September 15 to December 15 of 1944. 

In the northern sector, gains were primarily due to:
  • The September Market Garden offensive.
  • The October offensive by the Canadian First Army to clear the sea approaches to Antwerp.
In the middle sector, the First Army's partial penetration of the Siegfried Line resulted in:
  • The capture of Aachen
  • The horrendous battles in the nearby Hürtgen Forest.
  • The bloody advance to the west bank of the Roer River east of Aachen.
Further to the south, Patton's Third Army:
  • Finally captured the fortress complex of Metz.
  • Liberated the remainder of Lorraine.
  • Began attacking the Siegfried Line, which ran in a northwesterly direction along the Saar River in this area.
Still further south, the US Seventh and French First Armies, advancing from southern France,  liberated all of Alsace, except for a German salient called the Colmar Pocket.
ETO Gains - Fall 1944
ETO Gains - Fall 1944
Unlike the Battle of Normandy in June and July of 1944 which ended with the liberation of France, the autumn of 1944 ended badly for the Allies as the German army staged massive counteroffensives. To add to the misery, many US troops had not been issued suitable winter clothing.
Sources for the The Allies Stall webpage:
  • The ETO - 15 Sep 1944 map is taken from page 227 of Riviera to the Rhine, which is on-line at https://history.army.mil/html/books/007/7-10-1/CMH_Pub_7-10-1.pdf​
Proudly powered by Weebly