The Battle of Heartbreak Crossroads, part of the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, in turn part of the attempt to capture the Roer River dams, was fought at a crossroads near the Siegfried Line that ran along the Hoefen-Alzen and Dreiborn ridges, about north of Krinkelt-Rocherath. In early December, the experienced 2nd Infantry Division was tasked with capturing the crossroads. After attacking for two days without result, on 14 December two squads found a way through the well-emplaced German guns on the south side of the road. They cut the barbed wire and forged a path between the German defenses. They penetrated a trench line behind the pill boxes and held off German patrols for five hours, but when darkness fell they returned to the American lines. On 15 December, an American patrol advanced once more through the breach in the barbed wire and captured a portion of the trench line. They alerted the regimental command post, and Colonel Higgens, commanding officer of 2nd Battalion, led two companies into the trenches behind the pill boxes. By the early morning of 16 December, 9th Infantry Regiment pressed the attack another against stubborn resistance, capturing the crossroads and the road network around it. They had insufficient TNT to destroy the pillboxes.