As part of a counteroffensive against recent U.S. advances in France, the German 5th Panzer Army had as its objective the recapture of Lunéville and the elimination of the XII Corps bridgehead over the Moselle River at Dieulouard.

The need to quickly respond to the sudden advance of the 4th Armored Division and a fuel shortage left the crews with little time for training and little proficiency in tactical maneuvering in large, combined arms operations.

Earlier sorties by U.S. fighter bombers caused some German panzer units to fail to arrive in time for the battle, as they were damaged or destroyed in separate encounters with other Allied forces.

[7] On 18 September, amidst deteriorating weather and increasing fog, U.S. tactical air forces were unsuccessful in an attempt to locate and destroy advancing German armored units.

Poor visibility combined with a lack of motorized scouting and reconnaissance units in the new "Panzer Army" formations prevented German armored forces from properly coordinating their attack, which soon degenerated into a disjointed series of intermittent thrusts.

[4][page needed] The first German attack, mounted by the 111th Panzer Brigade, fell on the 2nd Mechanized Cavalry Group and the 4th Armored Division's Reserve Command at Lunéville on 18 September 1944.

[4][page needed] The Fifth Panzer Army, having failed to take Lunéville quickly, simply bypassed it and began moving north to strike at CCA's exposed position in and around Arracourt.

[4][page needed] Reinforced with additional tank, infantry and cavalry elements and aided by the Germans' persistence in repeating the same plan of attack, CCA was able to locate and prepare for battle on ground of its own choosing.

[9][10] Throughout the battle, Army observation pilot Major "Bazooka Charlie" Carpenter attacked the enemy with his bazooka-armed Piper L-4 Cub, USAAF serial number 43-30426 and nicknamed Rosie the Rocketer.

[9][10] Returning to base to reload, Carpenter flew two more sorties that afternoon, firing no fewer than sixteen bazooka rockets at German tanks and armored cars, several of which were hit.

[13][14] Carpenter's actions also forced the German tank formation to retreat to its starting position, in the process enabling a trapped 4th Armored water point support crew to escape capture and destruction.

[4][page needed] The Battle of Arracourt occurred near the end of Third Army's Lorraine campaign, a rapid advance through France which had been stopped short of entering Germany by the decision of the Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower's to divert fuel supplies to other forces.

"[19] While Third Army had succeeded in the early weeks of September in completing a limited advance toward Germany—despite orders to the contrary—the Battle of Arracourt signaled a temporary halt to the U.S. drive in north-eastern France.

If the Germans could mount at Arracourt the most formidable tank attacks since the battles against the British around Caen, their recovery had exceeded the expectations of even Patton's sober G-2 – and the West Wall still lay ahead everywhere, and unbroken.