Battle Of Heilbronn Essay

The reason I choice the Battle of Heilbronn is because I have always loved history. First of all is the reason why the battle was fought. I have always been amazed tenacity of the human spirit when challenged. The equipment that was involved in the battle has always fascinated me since childhood. My Great Uncles Audley Brummett and Smith Mcneely were service members during WWII. They could have been involved in this battle, but I will never know. They use to tell me stories of the military service during the war but would not go into great detail of where they were. I do remember Uncle Audley mentioning the Battle of the Bulge. After reading The Battle of Heilbronn, I realized that he was in the general area of this battle. When I was old enough

The weather was spring time, after the winter had thawed the Neckar River; it had swelled with water from the melted snow which had made crossing the river impossible. Personal accounts of the 100th Infantry Division described the Neckar River, to be the equivalent or greater to the Mississippi and the Hudson River. (5) The Battle of Heilbronn started in the earlier hours 4 April 1945 and ended on 13 April 1945 units of the 100th Infantry Division crossed the river engaged the 17th Panzer Grenadiers in combat from door to door building to building fighting . There was constant contact from the 17th Panzer Grenadiers along with Hitler youth fighters to the Elderly militia members. The 100th Infantry Division personnel faced all types of attacks ranging from artillery barrage; German 88mm tank rounds and potato mashers (German Hand grenades). The German tanks were called the Hunting Tiger (Jagdtiger) tank which had 128mm main cannon. This tank was known to the U.S tank crews as the Tank Destroyer because of its cannon, plus the fact that the armor was 250mm thick which made it difficult to penetrate. The fact that it was a fixed turret made it vulnerable to side or attacks from the