After visiting my Thorspecken cousins in Wiesbaden Germany, I had hundreds of miles to drive to get to back to Paris France before my flight to the States. My three months in Europe were quickly drawing to a close. I divided the drive in half and decided to stop on the first night in Trier Germany. The drive to Trier was 100 miles. Trier is a historic old Roman city on the border of Germany and Luxembourg. It was a long day of driving on winding mountain roads and quick sprints on the autobahn where there is no speed limit.
In Trier I stayed at a quaint historic hotel on a hill overlooking the city. There was a walking trail down into the city which would have been lovely but it started to rain. In the morning I decided to sketch the glorious panoramic view from my hotel window.
Prior to the Allied advance, the Jewish community in Trier was harassed, with roughly 600 people deported between 1941 and 1943. In September 1944 Trier was subjected to almost daily bombardment by American artillery. Allied forces carried out three large-scale aerial attacks on the city later in the same year. On December 19 at 3:30 pm, 30 British Lancaster Bombers dropped 136 tonnes of high-explosive bombs over Trier. Two days later, on December 21 at 2:35 pm, 94 Lancasters and 47 American fighter-bombers dropped 427 tonnes of ordnance (high-explosive, and incendiary bombs). Another two days after that, 700 tonnes of bombs were released over the city. At least 420 people were killed in the December 1944 attacks on Trier. Numerous buildings were damaged. During the entire war, 1,600 houses in the city were completely destroyed.
Trier Germany was captured and liberated by American forces, specifically Task Force Richardson of the 10th Armored Division (Combat Command B) of the U.S. Third Army on March 1-2, 1945. The troops secured the city and it’s historic Roman Bridge during the Allied offensive to clear the Rhineland before crossing the Rhine River. The capture was highly significant with General George S. Patton and Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force Dwight D. Eisenhower visiting to honor the success. The quick capture of the historic bridge lead to the quick fall of the city. Around 3000 Wehrmacht soldiers surrendered when Trier was captured.
The 75th Infantry Division was not involved in the capture of Trier. On March 1, 1945 they were liberating Venlo Netherlands from the Nazis as part of Operation Grenade which pushed the Nazi troops back across the Rhine River into Germany.