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Battle of Fort Driant | |||||||
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Part of the Battle of Metz, World War II | |||||||
An American P-47 Thunderbolt dive bombing Fort Driant before the initial attack | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
United States | Germany | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
George S. Patton (Third Army) Walton Walker (XX Corps) Stafford LeRoy Irwin (5th Infantry Division) |
Otto von Knobelsdorff (1st Army) Heinrich Kittel (Metz garrison) | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
1st Army | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
10,000 | 1,300-3,000 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
64 killed 547 wounded 187 missing or captured Total: 798 | unknown |
The Battle of Fort Driant was a constituent battle in the 1944 Battle of Metz, during the Lorraine Campaign and the greater Siegfried Line Campaign. The battle was on occupied French territory between the forces of the United States Third Army under the command of General George S. Patton and the forces of Nazi Germany under General Otto von Knobelsdorff and was given the code name Operation thunderbolt.[1]