A PORTION OF THE CITY OF AACHEN. During the bitter fighting the Allies found it necessary to use all types of artillery weapons, from the 155-mm. gun to the smaller guns of tank destroyers, at point blank range to reduce the heavily fortified buildings occupied by enemy troops.] [Illustration: FRANCE BRIDGEHEAD ACROSS THE MOSELLE south of Metz near Arnaville. While the U. S. First Army was driving toward the Rhine in the vicinity of Bonn and Cologne, the Third Army was holding its positions pending the improvement of the supply situation. The Ninth Army moved up from Brittany and took its position between the First and Third Armies in the Ardennes sector. The battle of Brest ended on 18 September 1944, and except for enemy resistance in the Atlantic coast port cities of Lorient and Saint-Nazaire, the Brittany Peninsula was completely in Allied hands.] [Illustration: FRANCE M4 MEDIUM TANKS on a street in Lunéville (top). U. S. troops firing a captured German 88-mm. gun in the vicinity of Metz (bottom). The period from 25 September to 7 November 1944 was the most unproductive phase of the U. S. Third Army’s operations on the Continent. Troops closed in on the Moselle north of Thionville and consolidated their positions east of Nancy. On 18 September the Germans launched a counterattack near Lunéville but were stopped in their tracks. Two other attacks on 22 and 24 September were also stopped and the Germans began to retreat on the night of 1–2 October.] [Illustration] [Illustration: GERMANY FIVE-GALLON WATER CANS loaded in a quarter-ton trailer being filled at an Engineer water point. The Engineers were responsible for the purification of drinking water and set up water points from which all units located in the area drew their daily supply.] [Illustration: BELGIUM BREAD BEING PLACED ON COOLING RACKS in a Quartermaster bakery after being removed from the ovens.] [Illustration: FRANCE INFANTRY MEN FIRING a .30-caliber Browning machine gun M1917A1 on the outskirts of Metz (top). Infantry patrol entering Metz (bottom). For two months the U. S. Third Army was stalled in the vicinity of Metz, the fortress which would have to be captured before any substantial advance eastward could be made. Metz dominated three invasion routes into Germany from France: the valley of the Moselle through Trier and Coblenz; the Kaiserslautern Pass through Saarbruecken to Mainz and Worms; and the route through the Saverne Gap from Sarrebourg to Strasbourg and the Rhine. Only once in modern times had the fortress of Metz fallen to an attacking army--in 1871 the defending French troops surrendered to the Prussians.] [Illustration] [Illustration: FRANCE