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Thus far, the Germans had reacted only with occasional fire.  Apparently the river line had been very weakly outposted and the high ground, seized by the 317th, was not occupied at all.  A drizzling rain reduced visibility in front of the enemy observation posts, and the moving barrage laid ahead of the attacking infantry probably knocked out the German communications net and dispersed local reserves.  However, when the reserve battalion began to cross by a footbridge put in behind the 2nd Battalion, the German gunners were on target, and succeeded in damaging the bridge.  The engineers made repairs under fire and the 1st Battalion moved over the river to it's objective, Hill 382, northeast of Bezaumont on the Ste. Genevieve Ridge. 

The arrival of the 1st Battalion between the 2nd and 3rd, placed the 317th on it's first objective, with a semi-organized front of some 3,000 yards.  Just before noon, the 318th Infantry(-), began crossing into the center of the bridgehead and took up positions on the reverse slope of Ste. Genevieve Ridge and west of Bezaumont.  Later in the day the 318th Infantry tightened up the perimeter defenses of the bridgehead by roadblocks near Ville-au-Val, Loisy, and Autreville-sur-Moselle.  As night drew on the five American battalions dug in to await the inevitable counterattack.  [Author's note; Col. Cole is speaking after the fact.  All 80th Division people that I have talked to, agree that the five battalions were not "dug-in", but holding tenuous positions scattered among the hills, and effectively cut off from one another by the terrain.  A sense of "no one knowing where each other was prevailed".  While opposition was expected, no one anticipated a strong, well organized counterattack.  If they did, no countermeasures were taken to prevent it.] 

All during the day, the engineers had worked furiously to throw heavy bridging across the river and canals.  The original engineer plan provided that heavy bridge construction should be postponed until late on 12 September, when, it was expected, the German guns would be pulled back from direct ranging on the bridge sites.  However, the speed and ease of the infantry advance during the morning led General McBride to order the heavy pontoon companies immediately to work-a decision that had important bearing on the events of the next day.  By midnight of 12 September, two companies of the 702nd Tank Battalion ["A" and "B"], the 313th Field Artillery Battalion (105 Howitzer), some anti-tank guns, and a few towed tank destroyers were in the bridgehead, the heavy weapons and vehicles being assembled in the dark-close to the exit from the main pontoon bridge-near a small cluster of houses known as le Pont de Mons.

Captured German Photo

Little sign of enemy activity had been seen during the day.  As darkness settled, the German guns to the east began a sustained fire on the bridgehead, while enemy mortars methodically searched the reverse slopes on which the American infantry reserves lay. The 80th Infantry Division attack had struck a thinly manned sector of the First Army line.  In front of the 80th extended the southern wing of the 3rd Panzer Grenadier Division, rated by OKW as being capable of limited offensive operations (Kampfwert II), a rating usually given only the best German divisions on the Western Front, since virtually none could be graded at this time as capable of sustaining an all out attack (Kampfwert I).

The rifle strength of the 3rd Panzer Grenadier Division was still nearly complete, it's artillery was good, and in addition it now had a complement of thirty three assault guns-an unusual number for any German division at this stage of the war.  [Author's note; According to 702nd Red Devils at the scene, the Germans also had both Tiger and Panther tanks.]  Somewhat south of Bezaumont the sector of the 3rd Panzer Grenadier Division joined that of the 553rd Volks Grenadier Division.  On 12 September, there was something of a gap between these two German divisions, covered only by an outpost line. 

The greater part of the 553rd Volks Grenadier Division was concentrated in and around Nancy, about ten airline miles to the south of the 80th Division bridgehead.  The left wing of the 3rd Panzer Grenadier Division had been stripped to send reinforcements northward, where other elements of the 3rd were engaged alongside the 17th SS Panzer Grenadier Division in the attempt to erase the XX Corps bridgehead.  Lacking local reserves in the Dieulouard sector, the enemy had been unable to launch a prompt counterattack.  But about 1:00am, on 13 September the Germans dealt the first blow at the 80th Infantry Division perimeter defenses.  The initial counterattack was made by a battalion of 29th Panzer Grenadier Regiment, reinforced by at least ten assault guns, which drove in on the road block north of Loisy held by "F" Company (Captain Frank A. Williams), of the 318th.