 The new Commander-in-Chief West—"Generalfeldmarschall" Albert Kesselring—remained as faithful as his predecessor to the Hitler-imposed maxim of no withdrawal anywhere unless forced.As events developed, no formal order to pull back into the fortifications ever emerged above corps level.Beginning the night of 16 March, commanders facing the U.S. XV Corps simply did the obvious, ordering their units to seek refuge in the Siegfried Line whenever American pressure grew so great that withdrawal or annihilation became the only alternatives.