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The Moselle itself, as it winds through the Dieulouard sector, is no serious military barrier to any modern army.  The average width of the river here is 150 feet, with a depth from 6 to 8 feet.  Several fords are available for crossing infantry, but the river bottom is too muddy for tank going.  East of Dieulouard the Moselle River and the Obrion Canal form two arms that wind around a flat bare island, a little less than 2,000 yards across.  A macadam road runs across this island and the approaches to fords and bridging sites, via the island, are good.  Parallel to the western bank of the Moselle at this point is a barge canal, 50 feet wide and 5 feet deep, separated from the river by an 8 foot dike that rises abruptly between the two.

Captured German Photo

North and south of the island, the Moselle meanders through a wide flood plain covered by marsh grass and dotted by a few scattered trees.  But once off the river flats, infantry and armor advancing toward the east are faced with a series of abrupt ascents leading to the hills that crop out of the Moselle Plateau-Mousson Hill to the north, Hill 382 in the center, and the Falaise to the south.  Numerous draws, gullies and low ridge lines lead back to the heights, but all of these avenues of approach are dominated by neighboring hills and afford excellent corridors for counterattacks directed down toward the river. 

This terrain limits tank maneuver, since the roads are often bounded by deep ditches on one side and cliffs or steep cuts on the other.  Beyond the hill chain, the ground to the northeast slopes gently into the Seille River basin, but any advance toward the southeast-that is, toward Chateau-Salins-must follow roads dominated by a second hill curtain at Mount St. Jean and Mount Toulon.  In effect, the enemy held ground ahead of the 80th Infantry Division presented a tactical problem as difficult as any the Third Army would encounter in the course of the Lorraine Campaign. 

As a preliminary to the 80th Infantry Division attack, the IX Bomber Command sent fifty eight medium bombers on 10 September to cut the bridge at Custines, that spanned the Mauchere River and provided a quick route over which reinforcements might be moved from Nancy into the Dieulouard sector.  The American bombers damaged the bridge, but it is problematical whether this hindered subsequent troop movement by the enemy.  On the afternoon of 11 September, other planes came over and began a feint at the Pont-a-Mousson area, calculated to divert German attention from the intended crossing site.  An air strike at Mousson Hill was successful and an artillery observer reported that "it looks like the top of the hill has been blown off"-an overly optimistic view as later events showed.  The American artillery joined in this demonstration and continued to shell the Pont-a-Mousson sector during the night.

At midnight on 11 September, the two assault battalions of the 317th Infantry moved through the trees covering the approaches to the Moselle, and fell into line along the west bank of the barge canal.  By 4:00am, H Hour for the crossing, the 3rd Battalion had traversed the island and was at the Obrion Canal, where a ford had been marked by the engineers.  On the left, at a crossing site about 500 yards north of the island, the 2nd Battalion was hit by mortar fire and briefly disorganized while crossing the barge canal, but at H Hour the first wave was at the Moselle. 

Now nine battalions of field artillery opened fire on the road south of Loisy, and fifty machine guns emplaced on the Bois de Cuite during the previous nights and manned by engineers, put a curtain of fire over the heads of the assault waves.  Thirty rounds of white phosphorus set the town of Bezaumont ablaze and provided a marker to guide the infantry advance through the darkness.  The 3rd Battalion forded the Obrion Canal and by 5:30am, had possession of it's first objective, la Cote Pelee, south of Bezaumont.  The 2nd Battalion waded across the Moselle, or crossed in plywood boats, and at 8:00am was in position on the heights at St. Genevieve.