As the Metz campaign drew to a close, with the city rapidly being drained of stragglers and snipers, the 379th continued cleaning up the area east of Fort Driant, Jeanne d’Arc, St. Quentin and Plappeville. By November 21, the fall of Metz was something to write home about. The 95th Reconnaissance Troop had made contact with elements of the 5th Division which had driven up from the south to complete the squeeze play on the fortress city.
Only two small pockets of resistance remained, and these were being mopped up by the 377th. Garrisons in the four big forts across the river were completely cut off. The task of maintaining a death watch on these diehards was transferred to units of the 5th Division.
The frosting on the Metz cake was the capture of Lt. Gen. Heinrich kittel, Commander of the 462nd Volksgrenadier Division and of the Metz Fortress. He was captured by Company K, 377th, which had fought its way up to the southern part of the lie Chambiere.
After capturing the Forts in front of its advance, the Division linked up with the 5th Division on the outskirts of Vallierres, a few miles east of Metz, at 11 o’clock on 18 November 1944. Tanks and Infantry of the two Divisions charged into the streets of Metz the next morning to remove the "die hard" resistors.
One group of 300 Germans made a last ditch stand on the river islands of Chamberieres and Sauley where they held out until the afternoon of the 21st. They surrendered only after a fierce hand to-hand battle with the men of the 95th.
At 1435 on the afternoon of 22 November 1 944, Maj. Gen. Walton H. Walker reported to Lt. Gen. Patton that Metz was completely secured. It was during the battle for Metz that war correspondents nicknamed the men of the 95th "The Bravest of the Brave". The German defenders gave them another name that the Division carries proudly: "The Iron Men of Metz."
On 25 November, the "Iron Men" and the rest of the 20th Corps moved swiftly eastward, driving the Nazis across the Saar River and out of France. Three days later they were in Germany. They seized a Saar River bridge on 3 December 1944 and engaged in bitter house-to-house fighting for Saarlautern.
Suburbs of the city fell, and although the enemy resisted fiercely, the bridgehead was firmly established by 19 December. At this point, news of Von Rundstedt’s attack into Belgium and Luxembourg halted the advance. The battle of the Bulge had begun. Part of the Division moved into an assembly area for possible deployment to the Bulge area, while the rest held Saarlautern against strong German attacks.