All Soul`s Day 1944
Cota finally got the tools from Eisenhower to carry out the breakthrough to Schmidt. The pressure on him and the troop was immense. A heavy artillery blow opened the All Souls Day battle at 08.00. Far more than 11 000 shells wailed in the direction of the German positions. At 09.00, the 109. U.S. Regiment lined up in the direction of Hürtgen and the 112. Regiment began to move on both sides of the main street of Vossenack with the aim to reach the north eastern end of the village. Further parts of the 112. Regiment did intend to reach the Kallgrund via Richelskaul and then further on the hills of Kommerscheid and Schmidt. They did not go far and were back again in their initial positions by the evening. The 110. Regiment went ahead at the right wing against the chain of bunkers at the Ochsenkopf to move back in the evening also decimated strongly again.
Fortunately for the German defenders a war game, initiated by Feldmarshall Model and managed by General Hasso von Manteuffel, took place at the farm "Schlenderhahn" near the city of Bergheim. Purpose of the exercise is to react on possible attacks of the Americans on the reservoirs. And exactly at this meeting the report of the heavy attack burst. The reaction came fast and precisely. The 116. Panzer Division, also known as a "Windhund Divison" (Greyhound Division) is immediately put into march and arrived with mass in the area of Hürtgen in the night of November 3/4. The relief of the 89. Infantry Division is stopped and the 272. Volksgrenadier Division (People Grenadier Division) moved forward as reinforcement. Furthermore assault guns and artillery are ordered to the battlefield.
The next day, the 112. U.S. Regiment continues the push at fog and rain and fortunately for the Germans without U.S. air support, on Vossenack. But no raiding party had cleared up the ground and later some Shermans rolled on mines buried on the meadow between village and the woods entrances to the Kall valley. These were, however, the only resistance which had to overcome by the troop. They succeeded in reaching the woods and the path, which later would become famous as Kall Trail. Over this steep path, hardly broad enough to fit a tank, the GIs made it to the bottom of the valley and reached without any major resistance Kommerscheid at 11.00. Schmidt is in American hand at 14.00. Only three tanks, however, managed to reach Kommerscheid by dawn.
Meanwhile, the U.S. soldiers at Vossenack were exposed to a permanent bombardment of assault guns and Panzers firing from the ridge of Brandenberg-Bergstein. This made American commanders experience events hey had never faced before. Their troops were demoralized by fire, rain and cold so that they refused orders and eating, left their positions and could not be persuaded to fight any longer. The battalion commander suffered from a nervous breakdown in his command post.
Nevertheless, General Cota's staff was happy , as it had been successful to take Schmidt within 48 hours anyway. But the problem was the lack of tanks. There were neither enough tanks nor armour-piercing weapons in Schmidt and a German counterattack was expected soon. Immediately, the only three available Weasel in the division were put into march of to provide the troops with the most necessary in Kommerscheid and Schmidt. Finally, they even carried anti-tank mines and bazookas at night to the US positions. The 110. Regiment took Simonskall in a surprise coup in the meantime.
