Battle of Fort Driant facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Battle of Fort Driant |
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| Part of the Battle of Metz, World War II | |||||||
 An American P-47 Thunderbolt dive bombing Fort Driant before the initial attack |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 United States |
 Germany |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| George S. Patton (Third Army) Walton Walker (XX Corps) Stafford LeRoy Irwin (5th Infantry Division) |
Otto von Knobelsdorff (1st Army) Heinrich Kittel (Metz garrison) |
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| Units involved | |||||||
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Third Army
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1st Army | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 10,000 | 1,300-3,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 64 killed 547 wounded 187 missing or captured Total: 798 |
unknown | ||||||
The Battle of Fort Driant was a tough fight during World War II. It happened in 1944 as part of the bigger Battle of Metz in France. This battle was between the United States Third Army, led by General George S. Patton, and the forces of Nazi Germany.
Contents
What was Fort Driant?
Fort Driant was a very strong fortress located about five miles southwest of Metz, near the Moselle River. It was built way back in 1902 by the Germans. Later, it was named after a French hero, Colonel Émile Driant.
The fort was made of super strong concrete reinforced with steel. It had a deep, dry ditch (moat) and lots of barbed wire around it. Inside, there were five big gun batteries with 150mm guns. It also had trenches for soldiers and armored machine gun posts. From its high position, the fort could fire heavily on the Moselle Valley. It could also shoot at American troops, causing many injuries.
Why was this battle important?
The American Third Army knew that the Germans planned to use the forts around Metz to defend the city. Metz was an old city, like a gateway, that many armies had tried to capture. It was a key part of Germany's defense plan. The city itself hadn't been directly captured since 1552.
When the U.S. Third Army reached Metz, they got stuck in a long fight with the German defenders. On September 27, 1944, an American attack on another fort, Fort Jeanne d'Arc, failed. This showed the Americans how strong these forts were. It became clear that Fort Driant had to be taken to control the area around Metz. So, on September 27, General Patton sent parts of the 5th Infantry Division to attack Fort Driant.
The Battle Begins
On September 27, 1944, at 2:15 PM, American P-47 Thunderbolt planes started bombing Fort Driant. They used powerful thousand-pound bombs and even napalm. After the bombing, American soldiers from the 11th Infantry Regiment began their attack.
As the troops moved forward, they faced heavy fire from German machine guns and mortars. Most of the fort was underground, which made it hard for American tank destroyers to hit the strong concrete bunkers called pillboxes. The first attack didn't go well, and the Americans pulled back by 6:30 PM.
The attack started again on September 29. This time, bulldozers were brought in to fill the fort's trenches. Tanks also pushed special explosive pipes called "snakes" to clear paths. But these tools didn't help much. The bulldozers broke down, and the snakes didn't work as planned. Even so, the attack continued.
Fighting Inside the Fort
One American unit, B Company, managed to break through the barbed wire on the fort's southwest side. They pushed past some pillboxes, planning to deal with them later. Under the cover of tanks, their engineers tried to blast their way into two concrete buildings, barracks 3 and 4. By 2:00 PM, B Company was fighting fiercely inside, using grenades and bayonets.
Meanwhile, E Company, facing heavy fire and broken bulldozers, couldn't get through the fort's outer defenses. They had to dig in outside the wire for four days and lost many soldiers.
Captain Anderson, the commander of B Company, found that German soldiers were escaping through underground tunnels. He used special grenades to force some Germans out of a concrete building, and they surrendered. An American soldier, Private Holmlund, bravely climbed onto barracks 3. He found ventilator shafts, kicked off their covers, and shoved bangalore torpedoes (long explosives) inside. This forced the Germans to flee through tunnels to barracks 4.
The fighting was intense. Neighboring German forts started firing on the American attackers. Artillery fire from hidden guns in the forest also caused many casualties. American self-propelled guns fired directly at barracks 4, blasting open its door. This allowed four surviving American soldiers to enter and clear the bunker. B Company set up its command post in the damaged barracks 3.
More Attacks and Challenges
Later that day, G Company was ordered to destroy two northern artillery batteries. But because of poor visibility and constant German fire, they couldn't reach their target. The Germans likely received more soldiers during the night. G Company struggled through the fort's maze of tunnels and trenches and was almost defeated by German counterattacks. They were saved when K Company arrived to help.
The American soldiers were suffering many casualties. General Patton refused to let the attack fail. He said he would use "every man" if needed. By the second day, B and E Companies had lost about half their soldiers.
In the following days, the Americans tried to enter the artillery batteries and main barracks again, but they failed. During the day, German artillery focused on defending the fort, making it impossible for the Americans to hold their positions. At night, the German artillery stopped, and German troops came out of the tunnels to attack the Americans. This cut off the American soldiers from any help.
On October 5, the commander of G Company sent a desperate message about the terrible situation. Because of these reports and the rising number of casualties, General Irwin decided to bring in fresh troops. The attack was planned to restart on October 7.
Heavy Guns and Tunnel Warfare
Before the new attack, the U.S. Army used its biggest guns, 240mm and 8-inch howitzers, to bombard the fort. But these huge guns couldn't damage the German artillery batteries, which were protected by strong steel domes. So, the Americans used 155mm self-propelled howitzers to fire directly at the batteries. This forced the German guns to hide, but it didn't destroy them.
The American commanders got detailed plans of the fort. They decided to attack underground through a tunnel that connected the barracks to the main fort. At the same time, they would attack on the surface to keep the Germans busy.
The combined efforts of the 10th and 2nd Infantry Regiments managed to retake most of the southern part of the fort. But they lost many soldiers, and one company commander was captured. After this, no more progress was made on the surface.
The underground attack continued, even though a French expert advised against it. An iron door blocked the American soldiers' way into a tunnel. Engineers blew a hole in it, but found it was blocked by 20 feet of scrap metal and concrete. They had to use welding equipment to cut through the debris. This was very difficult because of fumes and constant German digging sounds. The Americans feared a counterattack. They placed a large explosive charge against another iron door. When it exploded, it created dangerous fumes, forcing soldiers to evacuate the tunnel. After all this effort, only a small hole was made. The Germans then opened fire down the tunnel, forcing the Americans to build a sandbag wall.
On the surface, another attack on the southern artillery batteries failed. Between October 3 and 8, many American soldiers were killed, wounded, or went missing.
The End of the Battle
On October 9, General Patton and his commanders met. They decided that the American soldiers were too tired from fighting. Other operations around Metz were going much better. So, General Gay, representing Patton, gave the order to stop the attack on Fort Driant.
Around 4:50 PM, a huge explosion ripped through the tunnel, killing four American soldiers and injuring many more. It's not known if it was an accident or if the Germans caused it. The fight continued for three more days. On the night of October 12, the Americans began to leave the fort. The Germans hardly interfered. Six tanks were left behind to be destroyed by American artillery. Engineers placed over 6,000 pounds of explosives on any concrete defenses they could find. The last American troops left the fort at 11:30 PM, and the final explosions happened about an hour later.
The Germans lost about a quarter of the fort's area before the Americans pulled out. The Americans lost 734 soldiers in this battle.
What happened next?
Some people blamed Major General S. Leroy Irwin for the failure at Fort Driant, saying he was too slow. However, General Patton had told Irwin to let his troops rest and recover. Another general, Walker, thought there wasn't enough strong leadership. But Irwin pointed out that the Americans had never seen the fort's defenses up close before the attack. They didn't know about all the hidden pillboxes and barbed wire.
When Metz finally fell in December 1944, Fort Driant surrendered to the 5th Infantry Division on December 8. It was discovered that the fort's defenders included tough German units, which explained their strong resistance.
General Omar Bradley, Patton's boss, was frustrated that Patton kept attacking Fort Driant. He told Patton to "lay off" and wait to take Metz from behind later. But Patton replied that they were using Metz to "blood the new divisions," meaning to give new troops battle experience. Bradley didn't make a big issue of it.
