Metz 1944: Patton’s fortified nemesis (Campaign, 242)

This is another great campaign book by Steven Zaloga. He covers it in a very readable and concise fashion. The illustrations are outstanding. Besides the usual black & white photos from the period, the color maps/illustrations give the reader a better appreciation for the terrain faced by the combatants.

Fixed fortifications, of the kind seen in WWI, were generally thought to have gone the way of the dinosaurs after the failure of the Maginot line at the start of WWII. The Metz Campaign, however, proved that concrete fortifications still had their uses.Manned by second-rate lower quality German troops the Metz fortifications were in many ways obsolete having been built decades before WWII. But they were still able to hold up the American Third Army for weeks and inflicted thousands of casualties on Allied troops.Like all of Osprey's work this is a short but informative overview of a topic not widely known even among history buffs.

The author did a pretty good job outlining what took place. I was hoping for more of getting into Patton's thinking on why he went with a frontal attack. His army was much smaller than it had been during the race across France. What was he thinking? But for what the book did cover it was well done.

Excellent follow up piece to the campaign in Lorraine. The Germans made the most out of pre war fortifications to hold down Patton 's advance. The heavy forts that France and Germany had built in the Metz area stood up to an enormous pounding from everything 3rd Army could throw. And the US forces tossed all they had including 155mm howitzers in direct fire close support. Along with the rest of the Lorraine campaign, it's where those millions of tons of supplies went that landed in Normandy. Finally an answer to what happened in much of France in '44. Needs a follow up piece on the excellent 2nd French Armored Div.

My Dad served under Patton during the Metz campaign. He died in Aug 2014, and this book helped me understand what went on while he was in the War.

some informational and graphic representation in a clear and concise package ! These books are an excellent series! I recommend them all.

Zaloga has done an excellent job at bringing the battle of Metz to life. He has already written a good account of the Lorraine battles in September 1944: Lorraine 1944 : Patton Vs Manteuffel (Campaign Series, 75) and the battles of Metz are a good follow up on this.Patton was a remarkable man and left a standing legacy, one of his less famous quotes is:"Fixed fortifications are a monument to the stupidity of man." - PattonHow he was to be proved wrong at Metz with their pre- World War I fortifications and second rate troops. Even worse when handled by stornger formations such as Eastern Front Veterans from a NCO school.All of this Zaloga presents in a proffessional manner and even if I liked his book on the Lorraine Campaign a little better it is still a good book.Promblem is that it is a bad Kindle book. Face it, with Osprey you get a tight overview in less than 90 pages (96 total but plenty of index and blank pages) and this is partly made up with clear and well done maps and pictures and it is with these extras that the Kindle goes wrong.No colour to start but that would be ok if the maps weren't broken up into 6 sections to bring the detail. So you have no overview at all and it becomes tedious in the extreme trying to follow anything on a map and in this book there are several.The strength of the Osprey books (at least the good ones) is they get an idea through in a short space. For this you need clear maps and such and this Kindle fails to provide. I confess I had my doubts when buying an Osprey book for my Kindle and decided to try it as a trial run and it was an unsatisfactory experience.Pictures are small and overall this is not a book you would want in this form.Summary:A good book best avoided in Kindle form.

The U S ARMY Operations around Metz was very difficult, this study illustrates the difficulty that the U S Army had to overcome.

excellent

Falla principalmente en la parte visual. Los distintos asaltos sobre la posición de Metz estan descritos correctamente pero a mi parecer la parte visual es floja: los mapas son poco claros y difíciles de leer.

Folge 242 aus der "Campaign"-Reihe des renommierten englischen Militärverlags Osprey Publishing. 96 Seiten, wie immer hervorragend illustriert und mit interessanten Aufnahmen versehen. Dazu kommen einige sehr detaillierte und gut gemachte Gefechtskarten.Behandelt wird Pattons Vorstoß mit seiner dritten US-Armee im Spätherbst 1944 gegen die schwachen Sicherungen des AOK1 (der Heeresgruppe G unterstellt). Allerdings war auch die 3. US geschwächt und verfügte nur noch über 2 Korps (XII, XX). Trotzdem war die Überlegenheit der Amerikaner überwältigend - obere Zahl US-Truppen, untere Zahl Wehrmacht:Panzer 570 60Truppen 24.000 5318Artillerie 378 177MG 4270 1570Dazu kam die totale Luftüberlegenheit der Westalliierten. Es gab nur einen Bonus auf deutscher Seite - die ehemaligen französischen Grenzbefestigungen und der sogenannte "Westwall". Unter großen Anstrengungen wurden von deutscher Seite verschiedenste Höhen- und Riegelstellungen ausgebaut. Und tatsächlich gelang das eigentlich Unmögliche - die 3. US-Armee wurde, noch vor der alten Reichsgrenze, gestoppt.Dieses Buch behandelt die schweren Kämpfe von 25. September 1944 - 19. Dezember 1944. Danach galt sämtliche Aufmerksamkeit beider Seiten der Ardennenoffensive.Das besonders interessante und bemerkenswerte an dieser Kampagne war der Versuch eines vollkommenen unterlegenen Verteidigers, mittels eigentlich als obsolet geltender, veralteter Befestigungsanlagen eine moderne und voll bewegliche Panzerarmee aufzuhalten. Und dies tatsächlich zu schaffen. Es war Pattons größter Misserfolg im Rahmen seiner französischen Kampagne und ein hervorragendes Beispiel der deutschen Zähigkeit und taktischen Wendigkeit.Mein einziger Kritikpunkt ist, dass zwar die blutigen Kämpfe um Fort Driant sehr kenntnis- und detailreich beschrieben sind, die eigentlichen Kämpfe um Metz dagegen aber zu kurz kommen. Ansonsten ist dieses Werk hervorragend und für alle militärhistorisch Interessierten unbedingt zu empfehlen.

Osprey's campaign series is beginning to enter a new era as far as its coverage of the Second World War is concerned. With most of the big well known battles already covered its authors can now embark into new territory safe in the knowledge that World War Two remains a popular cash-cow for the business. Many of these battles are only referred to as footnotes in general histories of the campaigns or biographies of the Generals who fought them. Here at last is a chance to shine the light of popular history into the forgotten corners of World War Two.The Metz campaign certainly fits into this category. Falling between US Third Army's lighting dash across France and the Battle of the Bulge, Patton's two months stuck in Loraine are one of the neglected parts of the NW Europe campaign. Steven Zaloga's work picks up from the point his earlier Campaign title (Lorraine 1944) dealing with the tank battles around Arracourt in September 1944 left off. There are two phases to the Metz battles, firstly an attempt to take the fortress town on-the-run in late September and the second more deliberate assault in early November. Both are well covered and generally the scope and scale of this battle fits pretty neatly into the Osprey format.This is certainly one of the better Campaign titles in recent years. It doesn't attempt to cram too much into its 96 pages and a good selection of photos, maps and artwork. The original colour plates by Steve Noon are excellent, although I wonder why the railway gun was considered as a suitable subject when there are plenty of photos of these already. Whilst this is no criticism of the book, perhaps the only problem is the nature of the campaign which is a rather static slugging match against the fortresses. Whilst very much welcoming this title it is easy to see why this will always be one of those `footnote' battles of Patton's career.

very good read