Battle of Kassel

The Battle of Kassel was a World War II military engagement between the US 80th Infantry Division (3rd Army), commanded by General Horace L McBride, and the German forces, led by Johannes Erxleben. It took place in and near the city of Kassel, west-central Germany, from April 1 to April 4, 1945. The result of this battle was an American victory. This city lying in Hesse, had been severely bombed by Allied air raids, with 95% of buildings and houses being razed. Thus, by the time the US troops moved in, it was a pile of rubble.

Summary

The Battle of Kassel began on April 1, 1945, when the US 3rd Army advanced in a southwest-northeast direction from Frankfurt am Main. As the US 80th Infantry Division approached Kassel from the south, its advance ground to a halt due to heavy gun fire from German RAD anti-aircraft battery positioned on the Dönche training ground, which was a relatively flat area that allowed the German 88mm guns to engage in long range fire. Nevertheless, on April 2, the US forces responded with heavy artillery fire, destroying the RAD AA battery. Then, the US 318th Infantry Regiment moved a battalion into the wooded high ground (Habichtswald) west of Kassel, while the US 319th Infantry Regiment crossed the Fulda River and moved north along its east bank.

On April 3, the US 318th Infantry Regiment (80th Inf Div) was able to make their way into Kassel after ferocious fighting against a Wehrmacht unit composed of 500 men deployed on the outskirts of the city. Then, as the Americans entered Kassel, fierce house-to-house fighting broke out against other German elements that had set up machine gun nests, barricades, and sniper positions in the town. The battle had raged through that night, when at 09:00 hours, on April 4, 1945, the American forces that had pushed through the city, closed in on the command bunker of General Erxleben, who surrendered to the Americans.

Below, a medic and a US GI take cover from lethal German machine gun fire on the outskirt of Kassel