During the Rhineland Campaign in January 1945, the 78th Division remained resilient after the Battle of the Bulge, holding the northern shoulder of the German salient as the Allies stopped the German offensive and drove it back behind the Siegfried Line. With the Allies again preparing to carry the war into the German heartland and seeking control of the Schwammanauel Dam, the first obstacle to regaining the initiative was finishing the capture of Kesternich, terrain still vital to U.S. objectives. German infantry and anti-tank bunkers filled the area, and after an extra month the town had been heavily mined and booby-trapped, forcing combat house by house, floor by floor, and room by room. After a large snowfall on the day orders were given, the offensive was set to resume on January 30th with the 310th and 311th attacking and the 309th in reserve. The 310th gained an unintended advantage when a reduced five-minute artillery preparation, ordered by Division Commander General Parker to conserve ammunition for the coming offensive, left German defenders waiting in their pillboxes for more shelling until men of the 310th had surrounded them near the town next to Kesternich. The 311th Regiment, including SSG Kelley's unit, faced harsher fighting in Kesternich itself, where an order from Adolf Hitler demanded that the town be held at all costs.