Siege Warfare: The Battle for Metz in Patton 360 (S1, E8)

World War II’s brutal knock-down drag-out saw few sieges as intense as the fight for Metz. General Patton’s Third Army would soon learn that momentum alone could not win every siege.

The Context of Patton's Siege

In the autumn of 1944, General George S. Patton’s Third Army had raced across France in a “hell for leather” drive, but the Loraine region around Metz brought the offensive to a screeching halt. Endless rain turned roads into rivers of mud, gasoline shortages limited armored thrusts, and heavy German resistance transformed mobile warfare into a grueling siege. Metz, with its medieval walls and 19th-century forts, stood as a vital road junction. For Patton, stalled at the Moselle, capturing Metz was not just about taking a city—it was about preserving the momentum of the Third Army’s advance into Germany [verify].

Operation Thunderbolt: The Assault Begins

On September 27, 1944, Patton ordered Operation Thunderbolt to neutralize Fort Driant and clear the path to Metz. Under the command of Major General Walton H. Walker, the 20th Corps assembled a combined force of infantry, armor, engineers, and heavy artillery. American P-47 Thunderbolts under Jimmy Doolittle hammered the fort from the air, dropping hundreds of 500-lb bombs in a bid to crack its defenses. Meanwhile, ground units prepared for a coordinated assault, anticipating that the concrete bastion would collapse under the combined firepower of bombers, artillery, and tank guns.

The Challenge of Fort Driant

Fort Driant was more than a ruin—it was a subterranean monster. Built in the late 19th century, its reinforced concrete walls reached eight feet thick, and a deep, water-filled moat ringed the perimeter. Inside, a maze of tunnels linked gun turrets, barracks, and ammunition magazines. Some 1,500 German cadets and sailors under General Herman Balk manned heavy 100-mm and 150-mm artillery in armored domes. From within this steel-and-stone labyrinth, German defenders could bring withering fire to any assault, making Driant one of the toughest objectives the Third Army had ever faced.

The First Assault and the Harrowing Fight

At dawn on October 3, after a massive artillery barrage and a preliminary air strike, Patton’s infantry, supported by tanks of the 735th Tank Battalion, set out to storm Fort Driant. Engineers tried to breach barbed wire and minefields with explosive “snake” charges, only to find them ineffective against soaked ground. Shermans armed with 76 mm guns pounded the blockhouses, but the shells could not penetrate the reinforced concrete. As rifle squads advanced in pairs toward the German positions, casualties mounted rapidly. Under intense crossfire, men like squad leader Andy McGlin pressed forward only to be wounded and captured by defenders operating 30 ft underground. The assault was repelled with heavy losses, and by nightfall five American tanks were destroyed, hundreds of infantry had become casualties, and the Third Army stood back from the fort’s walls to lick its wounds.

"Tomorrow, son. The headlines will read, 'Patton took Metz,' which you know is a goddamn lie." — General George S. Patton

Reassessing the Strategy

Patton’s frustration mounted as the static siege at Metz contradicted his signature fast-paced doctrine. He realized that head-on assaults against fortified positions favored the defender. After two costly attempts that claimed nearly 500 American lives, Patton paused to reassess. Supply constraints, particularly dwindling artillery shells and repair parts, further complicated another direct attack. In a true siege, time can be as much an ally as artillery. By slowing operations and cutting off enemy supply routes, Patton hoped to force a German surrender without another bloody frontal assault.

The Final Showdown for Metz

By early November, Patton had shifted tactics to encirclement. On November 8, fresh infantry divisions—the 90th “Tough ‘Ombres” from the north, the 95th from the center, and the veteran 5th from the south—joined with armor support to close the ring around Metz. The all-African-American 761st Tank Battalion arrived to bolster armored strength, proving their prowess despite Patton’s initial doubts about black tank crews [verify]. As flanking columns severed road and rail links, German artillery from Driant and other forts became isolated. Street-to-street combat in Metz proper tested American infantry in brutal house-clearing actions. Snipers in church steeples were hunted by combined bazooka teams and tank fire. After weeks of bombardment and close-quarters fighting, organized German resistance began to crumble by November 22.

The Price of Victory

On November 25, 1944, after nearly two months of siege warfare, Metz fell to Patton’s Third Army. The fortress city’s capture opened the way to the Saar and the German border. Yet the victory came at a staggering cost: more than 55,000 men killed, wounded, or missing in action during the Lorraine campaign [verify]. The Fifth Infantry alone suffered over 800 casualties in failed Driant assaults. Survivors, including prisoner-of-war Andy McGlin, would carry the scars of siege warfare for the rest of their lives. Patton himself acknowledged the heroism of his soldiers: “Tomorrow, son...you and your buddies are the ones that actually took Metz.” This debt of valor underscored the grim reality that every fortress has a price.

Conclusion

• Boldly adapt tactics when brute force fails the mission.

The Battle for Metz illustrates how siege warfare demands patience, encirclement, and logistics as much as aggressive thrusts. Today’s leaders can learn from Patton’s shift from head-on assaults to methodical isolation. How might your team encircle challenges instead of charging them blindly? How can resilience and adaptability shape success against formidable obstacles?