Seine River Crossing at Mantes-Gassicourt
Part ofOperation Overlord, Battle of Normandy
Map showing the breakout from the Normandy beachhead
Date 18–20 August 1944 Location Present DayMantes-la-Jolie,France 49°0′31″N1°41′12″E / 49.00861°N 1.68667°E /49.00861; 1.68667 Result Allied victory
Belligerents
United States	Germany
Commanders and leaders
George Patton Ira T. Wyche Joseph Bacon Fraser	Unknown
Casualties and losses
None	1 tank captured 19 vehicles captured 43 aircraft shot down

General George Patton'sThird Army'sSeine River Crossing at Mantes-Gassicourt was the first allied bridgehead across the Seine River in the aftermath ofOperation Overlord, which allowed the Allies to engage in theLiberation of Paris. During the two days of the bridge crossing, American anti-aircraft artillery shot down almost fifty German planes.

After the successful alliedinvasion of Normandy in June 1944, TheUnited States Third Army was formed in France to assist in the breakout from Normandy, code namedOperation Cobra. The drive to the Seine began on 3 August, whenGeneral Bradley instructed Lieutenant General George S. Patton, one of the U.S. Army's greatest exponents of armored warfare, to secure the north-south line of the riverMayenne, clear the area west of the Mayenne as far south as theLoire, and protect the12th Army Group south flank with minimum forces.^[1] Since the VIII Corps was driving southwest towardRennes and theXV Corps was about to move southeast toward Mayenne, Patton oriented theXX Corps south towardNantes andAngers. As the main American effort veered eastward in accordance with the modified OVERLORD plan and the XV Corps drove towardLaval andLe Mans, Patton ordered the XX Corps to cross the river Mayenne in a parallel drive to protect the XV Corps south flank.^[2]

The Third Army's XV Corp drove from Meyenne South to Le Mans and then North to Argentan by 12 August 1944 where theBattle of the Falaise Pocket was developing against theGerman Seventh Army . The next day, the5th U.S. Armored Division of XV U.S. Corps, advanced 35 mi (56 km) and reached positions overlooking Argentan.^[3] On 13 August, Bradley over-ruled orders by Patton, for a further push northwards towards Falaise, by the 5th U.S. Armored Division.^[3] Bradley ordered the XV U.S. Corps to "concentrate for operations in another direction".^[4] The U.S. troops near Argentan were ordered to withdraw, which ended the pincer movement by XV U.S. Corps.^[5] Patton objected but complied, which left an exit for the German forces in the Falaise Pocket.^[5]

While the XV Corps left part of its forces at Argentan and started the wider envelopment to the Seine on 15 August, other components of the Third Army farther to the south were also driving to the Seine, sweeping clear the vast area north of the river Loire. The advance to the Seine fulfilled a prophecy made a week earlier—that "the battle of Normandy is rapidly developing into the Battle of Western France."^[6]

Having decided to send part of Patton's force down the west bank of the Seine, the Allied commanders saw a coincident opportunity to seize a bridgehead on the east bank of the river as a springboard for future operations. The XV Corps thus drew a double mission—the5th Armored Division was to attack down the west bank while the79th Infantry Division established a bridgehead on the east bank.^[7] In his order issued on 20 August,General Montgomery cautioned: "This is no time to relax, or to sit back and congratulate ourselves. . . . Let us finish off the business in record time."^[8] By then, American troops were already across the Seine.

GeneralIra T. Wyche had received a telephone call at 2135, 19 August, fromGeneral Haislip, who ordered him to cross the Seine that night.^[9] The 79th was to get foot troops on the east bank at once, build a bridge for vehicles, tanks, and heavy equipment, and gain ground in sufficient depth (four to six miles) to protect the crossing sites at Mantes from medium artillery fire.

In a situation that was "too fluid to define an enemy front line," General Wyche anticipated little resistance. His 79th Division had that day engaged only scattered German groups in flight, had captured nineteen vehicles and a Panzer IV tank, and had received only sporadic machine gun fire from across the Seine. The river itself was the main problem, for near Mantes it varied in width from five hundred to eight hundred feet. Fortunately, a dam nearby offered a narrow footpath across it, and engineer assault boats and rafts could transport troops and light equipment. For the bridge he was to build, Wyche secured seven hundred feet of treadway from the 5th Armored Division.

While a torrential rain fell during the night of 19 August, men of the 313th Infantry walked across the dam in single file, each man touching the one ahead to keep from falling into the water. At daybreak on the 20 August, as the314th Infantry paddled across the river, the division engineers began to install the treadway. In the afternoon, as soon as the bridge was ready, the 315th Infantry crossed in trucks. By nightfall on 20 August, the bulk of the division and its attached units, including tanks, artillery, and tank destroyers, was on the east bank. The following day, battalions of the XV Corps Artillery crossed.

Under the command of ColonelJoseph Bacon Fraser, the 23rd Anti-Aircraft Artillery Group hurriedly emplaced their pieces around the bridge, arriving in time to shoot down about a dozen enemy planes on the first day and to amass a total of 43 German planes shot down in two days. The number of planes shot down in a day was a record for a World War II American antiaircraft artillery group.

To supplement the treadway bridge, engineers constructed aBailey bridge that was opened to traffic on 23 August. On the east bank, the 79th Infantry Division not only extended and improved thebridgehead, repelled counterattacks, and interdicted highways, ferry routes, and barge traffic lanes, but also dramatically pointed out to the Germans their critical situation by capturing theArmy Group B command post atla Roche-Guyon and sending the German headquarters troops fleeing eastward toSoissons.^[10] Once the Allies were on the east side of the Seine, the Free French 2nd Armored Division and US 4th Infantry Division were able toliberate Paris from Nazi occupation on 24–25 August.

• https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-E-Breakout/USA-E-Breakout-28.html

• Military history of France during World War II
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• 1944 in France
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