[Illustration: FRANCE LIGHT ARMORED CAR M8 of a reconnaissance unit stops during its drive through Belgium toward the border of the Netherlands (top). Advancing infantrymen ride on a 3-inch gun motor carriage M10 (bottom). By 14 September 1944 the sustained drive of the First Army had stopped and the Germans were fighting on their own soil for the first time in many years.] [Illustration] [Illustration: FRANCE INFANTRYMEN MOVING AN ASSAULT BOAT down to the banks of the Moselle River at Dornot (top); crossing the Moselle (bottom). Efforts to obtain enough gasoline were generally unavailing and most of the units of the Third Army were halted at the Moselle. On 5 September a crossing was made north of Nancy while on 8 September another was made below Metz. The Germans made numerous counterattacks and occupied the forts around Metz, determined to hold the line in this area.] [Illustration] [Illustration: GERMANY BOEING B-17 FLYING THROUGH HEAVY FLAK over Germany en route to a target (top). The Heinkel aircraft factory during an air attack (bottom).] [Illustration] [Illustration: GERMANY MARTIN B-26’S RETURNING FROM A MISSION along the German border in support of the Third Army’s ground attack. The medium bomber in the upper foreground of the above picture had operated in the ETO for some time, as is shown by the dark-painted fuselage. The plane in the lower foreground has an unpainted fuselage which enabled it to attain higher speeds.] [Illustration: FRANCE INFANTRY MEN CROSS THE MOSELLE as a ¼-ton truck carries wounded men to the rear (top). M4A1 medium tank fording a canal (bottom). On 10 September an attack was launched to secure bridgeheads over the Moselle below Epinal, which was reached on 14 September. The city of Nancy fell on 15 September.] [Illustration] [Illustration: FRANCE INFANTRYMEN ADVANCING in the outskirts of Brest. While the Third Army was battling a determined enemy on the Moselle, U. S. forces were still trying to reduce the fortress of Brest. On 5 September the Ninth U. S. Army became operational in France and assumed the task of eliminating the remaining fortresses on the Brittany Peninsula.] [Illustration: FRANCE AN 8-INCH GUN M1 FIRING ON GERMAN INSTALLATIONS in Brest. Artillery units attacking Brest were reinforced, mostly with medium and heavy caliber guns and, after sufficient ammunition had been accumulated, a strong attack was launched on 8 September by three infantry divisions.] [Illustration: FRANCE 90-MM. GUN MOTOR CARRIAGE M36 firing at an enemy pillbox in Brest (top). 76-mm. gun motor carriage M18 guarding a street intersection in Brest (bottom). On 14 September the fortress of Brest was still for the most part in German hands, despite all efforts to reduce the strongly fortified positions.] [Illustration] [Illustration: FRANCE