105-MM. HOWITZER M3 shelling enemy positions. After the capture of Aachen the First and Ninth Armies prepared for a new offensive. The initial objectives were to capture bridgeheads over the Roer River in the vicinity of Dueren and make advances toward Juelich. At the same time the defensive positions in the Ardennes area were held. After a four-day delay the weather cleared and planes of the Allied air forces began the attack. Several towns including Dueren and Juelich were reduced to rubble.] [Illustration: GERMANY MEDIUM TANKS FIRING during the assault toward the Roer River (top). 155-mm. gun motor carriage M12 firing on enemy held positions (bottom). In spite of the elaborate preparations made for the attack and the great concentration of combat power, progress was extremely slow. Each of the towns was woven into a network in which each house had to be reduced, and each foot of the muddy ground was defended to the last by the enemy troops. The attack plowed on determinedly in the mud and cold and on 3 December 1944 the Ninth Army came to the Roer. The First Army also attacked until the river was reached. (Note the newer type track with cleats on the treads to give better traction.)] [Illustration] [Illustration: GERMANY 3-INCH GUN MOTOR CARRIAGES M10 move up in the Huertgen Forest area. Troops of the First and Ninth Armies had been fighting their way toward Schmidt since September in one of the most bitterly contested actions of the war. One of the major obstacles in the advance was the Huertgen Forest which covered roughly the triangle of Aachen-Dueren-Monschau. In the vicinity of Schmidt were dams which controlled the level of the Roer River, and while these were still in enemy hands water could be released flooding the valley of the Roer. It was therefore considered necessary to take this area and the dams before the river was crossed by the attacking U. S. forces.] [Illustration: GERMANY INFANTRYMEN pushing through the Huertgen Forest near Vossenack, Germany (top). Vehicles moving up a muddy road through the forest (bottom). The Germans had strengthened this natural barrier by the clever use of wire, pillboxes, and mines, and the U. S. infantrymen, restricted by the rough wooded terrain, were forced to fight for the most part without the aid of artillery or air support. On 13 December the attack on the dams was renewed but the going was still slow. Casualties to the two armies advancing in this area were high.] [Illustration] [Illustration: GERMANY KALL RIVER OUTSKIRTS OF VOSSENACK KALL RIVER KOMMERSCHEIDT AND THE SURROUNDING AREA. The terrain of the Schmidt and Vossenack areas, like that of the Huertgen Forest, was hilly and wooded. The Roer River dams in this area were important objectives for the Allies during this part of the campaign.] [Illustration: GERMANY