On 5 March 1945 the 37th's M4 tanks attacked through the 5th Infantry Division's bridgehead over the Kyll River and immediately cut across German combat zones to a distance of . On 16 March 1945, LT Joe Liese, the commanding officer of Company B, 37th Tank Battalion, captured General von Rothkirch, commanding general of the German 53rd Army Corps (LIII.Armeekorps). General von Rothkirch was driving his car on an inspection tour near Potzberg, where he stumbled on Company B. By the afternoon of that day, the 37th was even past German artillery positions. Prisoners from the German 10th Woodchopping Battalion surrendered to the advancing tankers. The 37th sped on to Ochtendung, and captured a billeting party from the German Seventh Army rear command post. When almost to the Rhine, LT Liese's tank company overtook a German wheel column and, with assistance from artillery and light aircraft, shot it up badly. Then the 37th moved to the Rhine and took up positions over watching the river.