Its like when the 82nd and 101st were left under British control following the failure of Market Garden. Left to secure the south bank of the Rhine while the British withdrew units to higher ground.
Already exhausted by the heavy fighting to hold the corridor open, now left in an area that the Germans were getting ready to flood, no armor support, their only artillery support aside from the 75mm pack hows of the division artillery was a regiment of worn out 5.5-inch guns and dependent upon all supply from the British.
Accounts from both divisions testify to the heavy artillery fire that they had to endure. It was only when Eisenhower demanded the release of his airborne divisions that Monty finally released them back to reserve...just in time to be thrown into the Battle of the Bulge.
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The reason that the American Army does so well in wartime, is that war is chaos, and the American Army practices chaos on a daily basis.
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