The town of Lohr suffered the effects of heavy fighting on 2-3 April 1945. The defenders, including SS sharpshooters, Sturmgeschütz self-propelled guns, and teenage Hitler Jugend boys armed with panzerfausts, knocked out eight Sherman tanks of Combat Command B, 14th U.S. Armored Division (47th Medium Tank Battalion), seen here on the Hauptstraße (Main Street). The infantry seen here were from the 19th Armored Infantry Battalion.  (National Archives, RG 111-SC)

A closer view of the knocked-out M4A3 Sherman tank that can be seen in the center distance in the previous photo. This tank was shot by a 15-year-old Hitler Jugend member with a panzerfaust, wounding the driver, who lost control. The tank made an abrupt turn and crashed into the store front of Hauptstraße 43, the butcher shop of Franz Mayer. Notice the sandbags placed around the hull and turret as extra armor (unsuccessful in this case). Another knocked-out Sherman can be seen behind it to the left. Amazingly, this store is still the Metzgerei Franz Mayer, hardly changed at all, allowing a perfect modern match.  (National Archives, RG 111-SC 203655)  Click here to see a Third Reich Forsthaus in Lohr.  (MapQuest Map Link)

Tanks of the 14th Armored Division advancing into the village of Langenprozelten along the Main River, on 4 April 1945. Waffen-SS defenders destroyed one of the M5 light tanks in the advance with a panzerfaust, and the village was then bombarded by American artillery and fighter-bombers. (The knocked-out tank was from D Company, 47th Tank Battalion, tank commander Sgt. Virgil Bardwell. Two of Bardwell's crew were killed in this action and Bardwell himself was severely burned.) Post-war housing appears in the foreground, but the two buildings next down the street remain the same.  (Information on the actions of the 14th Armored Division on this page are from "The History of the 14th Armored Division," by Capt. Joseph Carter; Atlanta, Albert Love Enterprises, 1945; and "Combat History of 19th Armored Infantry Battalion," by Lt. Walter R. Dickson, Munich, 1945.)

A short distance upriver is the picturesque town of Gemünden, famous for its three rivers and the ruins of Schereburg fortress. During fighting on 4-5 April 1945, Gemünden was practically destroyed. The bridge over the Fränkische Saale River had been blown a week earlier, during the abortive American attempt to liberate the Hammelburg POW camp (Task Force Baum). One would not realize this destruction today - even the ruins of the castle were cleverly rebuilt. Note the Sherman tank at the left of the photo - this is the same tank seen in the photo below.  (National Archives, RG 111-SC)
(MapQuest Map Link)

The part of town on the west bank of the Sinn River is known as Kleingemünden. This part of town suffered particularly heavily, as it was fought over twice, the first time being when Task Force Baum was diverted here by blown bridges. The M4A3E8 tank in this photo is one of TF Baum's tanks that was immobilized near the western side of the Saale River bridge (LT Raymond Keil, C Co., 37th Tank Battalion). The infantrymen seen here were from the 19th Armored Infantry Battalion, Combat Command B, 14th Armored Division. This part of town was greatly changed during the post-war reconstruction.

A graphic look at the destruction that many fought-over German towns suffered. This is Gemünden in April 1945. American artillery, tank fire, and fighter-bomber attacks left the town in rubble. In the 1945 view, taken from the ruins of the Schereburg fortress, the remains of the spire of the St. Peter and Paul Church can be seen at the lower left corner. The ornate 16th century Rathaus (town hall) is part of the rubble at the lower right. One of the towers of the medieval town wall appears as a lonely sentinel overlooking the railroad bridge beyond, which had been blown by the defenders. The modern view from the same area shows the wonders of post-war rebuilding. Only the Rathaus was not rebuilt.  (Stadtarchiv Gemünden am Main)

Karlstadt is the next town upriver from Gemünden. The town was bombarded with artillery from 3-6 April 1945, and troops of the U.S. 42nd Infantry Division entered the town on 7 April. The bridge over the Main River had been blown on 27 March. A new bridge was built on the old piers, but the ruins of the Karlsburg fortress still overwatch the town from the hill beyond.  (MapQuest Map Link)

Adjacent to the town of Hammelburg was a German military training area. This area was best known for its POW camp, which the Americans tried to liberate in an ill-conceived raid on 26-28 March 1945. The raid failed, and most of the participants ended up as POWs themselves. Hammelburg was finally liberated by the 14th Armored Division on 6 April. This picture shows Sherman tanks of the 47th Medium Tank Battalion breaking through the wire of the POW camp during the final liberation.  (National Archives, RG 111-SC)
(Click here to visit Peter Domes' excellent page on the Task Force Baum raid)
(Scroll down to see more photos of Hammelburg in the 1930s and 1940s)

Two memorials between Hammelburg and Schweinfurt commemorate casualties that occurred when the U.S. Army moved through the area in early April 1945. The marker on the left, on the road between Wülfershausen and Schwemmelsbach (west of Schweinfurt), shows the location of an action on this site on 7 April 1945, in which three Wehrmacht soldiers of the 36th Volksgrenadierdivision were killed during the advance of U.S. forces, parts of either the 42nd Infantry Division or the 14th Armored Division. (One local story says these soldiers were actually executed by the SS, for desertion. This photo was taken on the 60th anniversary of this action, 7 April 2005.)

The plaque on the right is in the village of Greßthal (also west of Schweinfurt), which was part of a defensive line set up by an SS officer on 6 April 1945. It marks an action in which German soldiers fired on the American advance, reportedly killing a U.S. Army Major. Much of the village was destroyed during the ensuing action, which took place the same day as the action in the photo to the left. The plaque honors a local citizen who was killed. The U.S. troops who fought through here were from the 19th and 62nd Armored Infantry Battalions and the 25th Tank Battalion, all of the 14th Armored Division, but I have been unable to verify the story of the Major who was killed here. Unit records mention fighting in Greßthal, and heavier fighting just to the northeast in Wasserlosen, but none mention any U.S. casualties. The fighting in Wasserlosen involved a Sherman tank with German markings, apparently one of those that had been captured earlier from Task Force Baum (this tank was knocked out by the 47th Tank Battalion; the 25th Tank Battalion apparently captured another Balkenkreuz-marked Sherman intact).

The Hammelburg Rathaus (town hall) decorated for the first Nazi Tag der Arbeit (Labor Day) in May 1933. Postwar changes to the charming Hammelburg Marktplatz have been minimal.  (period photo from a private collection)  (MapQuest Map Link)

The Hammelburg Training Area was the scene of intense field training for Hitler's bodyguard unit, the Leibstandarte-SS, in June 1935. This group photo of the 1st Kompanie was taken in front of one of the older barracks buildings. This particular building apparently no longer exists, but there is a similar building among those that remain, that were later used to house POWs during the war.  (Hans Quassowski, ed., "Zwölf Jahre: 1.Kompanie Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler," Rosenheim, Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft, 1989)

The 1.Kompanie of the Leibstandarte arrives at the Hammelburg rail station in June 1935. This was also the arrival point for the Hetzer tank destroyers that helped defeat Task Force Baum in March 1945.  (Hans Quassowski, ed., "Zwölf Jahre: 1.Kompanie Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler," Rosenheim, Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft, 1989)