World History

"Advance elements of the Third Army reached Bastogne’s tenacious defenders on December 26, and additional reinforcements followed over subsequent days. Patton’s forces continued to push the Germans back, and by the end of January 1945, the Third Army had reached the German frontier. On March 1 those forces took Trier, precipitating one of the most famous exchanges of the war. When Patton received a message instructing him to bypass the city because it would take four divisions to capture it, Patton replied, “Have taken Trier with two divisions. Do you want me to give it back?” Over the next 10 days, they cleared the entire region north of the Moselle River, trapping thousands of Germans. They then joined the Seventh Army in sweeping the Saar and the Palatinate, where they took 100,000 prisoners."