100th ID - German Tanks


	On the Division's left flank, the 397th threw back successive waves of attacking SS-Panzer Grenadiers from the Götz von Berlichingen Division, which was supported by the assault guns such as this Sturmgeschütz III (above), Panther tanks, and a battalion of mammoth Jagdtiger ("Hunting Tiger") tank destroyers, including this one, destroyed near Rimling (below).

After a nearly static two-month interlude of patrolling and shelling in the freezing weather of the most severe winter of the 20th century to that point, the 100th surged forward as part of the Seventh Army's final offensive across the Rhine and into southeastern Germany. After breaching the thinly-defended Westwall (Siegfried Line), the Division crossed the Rhine at Mannheim/Ludwigshafen, and quickly drove to the southwest against crumbling German resistance. One great task remained for the Division, however.