MASTERS OF DISGUISE
By the middle of September 1944 the Allied drive east across France towards the German border had almost reached the end of its tether. The American XX Corps had as its objective the French city of Metz, 20 miles west of the border, but they were thinly stretched against a desperate enemy fighting to defend the Third Reich.
Two US divisions were assigned to the assault on Metz, but the problem facing HQ was the lack of troops at their disposal to guard the 50 miles that lay between the city and the Luxembourg border to the north. This was needed to ensure that the Germans didn’t launch a sweeping counteroffensive.
Nevertheless, late in the afternoon of Saturday 15 September, the advance element of the 6th Armored Division began arriving in the wooded land on the outskirts of Bettembourg, a town one mile inside the Luxembourg border.
During the night the sound of armoured vehicles was heard moving into the woods, and when dawn broke on the Sunday, a dozen M4 tanks were visible among the trees. As Lieutenant Dick Syracuse and his platoon manned their positions, they heard from their
