 "Armee"′s "General" Foertsch authorized withdrawal by stages of his westernmost troops, those of "General" Knieß′ LXXXV "Korps".Over a period of three days, units of the corps were to peel back from west to east, redeploying to block the main highway leading northeast through the Kaiserslautern Gap.Unfortunately for Foertsch's plan, the principal threat to the Kaiserslautern Gap came not from west or southwest but from northwest where Walker's XX Corps was pouring unchecked through General Walther Hahm's LXXXII Korps.