Aside from the cold and mud, there was also the enemy to contend with. Personally I have not believed this event at all. The southern prong was defended by General Hoges CCB, 9th Armored with the weakened 424th Infantry Regiment tied in and bent back protecting Burg Reuland. English PDF (15 MB) Jan B-603 352d Volks Grenadier Division (19 Freb.-21 Mar. Troop D, 89th Recon held the sector from Steinebruck to Weppeler while A Company, 27th AIB put up a defensive line anchored on the high ground east of Maspelt. 1940. Therefore, he decided to use the 9th Armored at Winterspelt, since capture of that area by the Germans would open to the enemy a direct route to St. Vith, a route even shorter than that leading from the Schnee Eifel. I mention it for the sake of completeness as I suspect that the whole thing is a myth. What he claimed was that the fight wasnt as easy as it is presented here. The 7th Armored had taken a beating in defending St. Vith. Lieutenant Colonel Boylan also makes no mention of this event in a 1946 letter he wrote to Major General Robert W. Hasbrouck, the former commanding general of the 7th Armored Division, which details the actions of the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron at the Battle of St. Vith. Add to cart. Zaloga, Steven. A mobile battalion of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division was already moving on Andler to seize the Schoenberg bridge and the road to St. Vith. . VGD. The 27th AIB was ordered to establish a defensive position south, east, west, and southeast of Malempre. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. The armored infantrymen kept themselves well hidden until the column was directly in front of them and then opened fire. Although the 7th Armored Division was finally arriving, General Jones had been led to believe that the whole division would arrive in St. Vith starting at 0700. The division had lost four companies of armored infantry. Armored Champion, The Top Tanks of World War II. School of Tank Technology, April 1944. According to two combat interviews given by men of the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadrons After Action Report for the month of December 1944, and Lieutenant Colonel Boylans 1946 letter, on 18th December 1944, the Germans attacked the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (minus Troop B) with infantry and tanks. When Model released the Fhrer Escort Brigade to General Manteuffel, he thought that he would be able to gain quick access to the St. Vith road network. The northern prong of the horseshoe was composed of CCB, 7th Armored Division from Poteau and Vielsalm. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945.. VGD led by Heinz Kokott, Heinrich Himmler's brother-in-law. General Frederich Kittel, the division commander, ordered his mobile battalion up from his 164th Regiment reserve at Pronsfeld and into the attack along the Winterspelt road. Rejection & Neglect available to buy on Payhip! These German tanks would later be specified to be Panzer IVs or Mark IVs. Unteroffizier Helmus of the 26th Volksgrenadier Division painted the situation when the advance began. Operation Nordwind 1945 Hitlers last offensive in the West. This story has gained a good deal of attention in recent years, especially on the internet thanks to videos such as The Tank Duel at St. Vith, Belgium by Lance Geiger The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered, which has garnered hundreds of thousands of views. A mobile battalion of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division was already moving on Andler to seize the Schoenberg bridge and the road to St. Vith. The column came upon stragglers from the 424th Infantry retreating in disarray toward St. Vith. 223 223. The brigade had 9,000 men, Mark IV tanks, assault guns, 104mm and 105mm artillery, 88mm antiaircraft guns, and a number of heavy automatic weapons batteries. Osprey Publishing, 2002. Schiffer Publishing, 1996. Situated next to B Company were Company A, 27th AIB and Company D, 14th Tank Battalion. Osprey Publishing, 2010. Panzertruppen Volume 2 The Complete Guide to the Creation & Combat Deployment of The German Tank Forces 1943-1945. Ridgway knew Hoge to be calm, courageous, and imperturbable. Osprey Publishing, 2010. Volksgrenadier-Division. Both assault groups suffered heavy casualties. Division C E R T I F I C A T E 24 June 1945 I certify that I am S-3 In this version the M8 is replaced by an M5 Stuart from the 17th Tank Battalion of the 7th Armored during the retreat from St. Vith, that somehow miraculously ended up behind a Tiger when they thought they were following a Sherman. The mud had made the roads and open areas impassable for armored vehicles. The 424th Infantry had its back to the Our River, and if the Germans seized the bridge at Steinebruck and spread along the far bank his regiment would be hard pressed to effectively withdraw. Close. Because Ridgway was not in total agreement with the withdrawal and to get a feel for the real situation on the ground, he and Hasbrouck made their way to General Clarke at Commanster. Infanterie-Division Hamburg 19453 . Add to cart. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18. Late on the 20th, patrols of the 82nd Airborne Division, on the other side of the Salm River, established contact with patrols of the 7th Armored Division. Schneider, Wolfgang. Those factors dictated that at least another 24 hours would be needed before a major assault on St. Vith could begin. At about midday, the field marshal sent a message to General Hasbrouck: You have accomplished your missiona mission well done. 19454 Johnston, W. Wesley. Since General Hoge was supposed to be under Joness command and did not understand the overall situation around St. Vith, he decided to find out exactly what was going on. Panzer Tracts No. Engeman set out with two task forces to meet the enemy. This version is also attributed to Captain Anstey and is nearly the exact same as his original version of the story as well as being plagued by the exact same issues. Johnston, W. Wesley. Heeft u zelf meer informatie over deze persoon? Gen. Hasbrouck, commander of the 7th Armored Division, sent a message to General Ridgway urging withdrawal, which in part read, P.S. This initial thrust carried the enemy approximately 400 yards into the battalions sector. During the 27th AIBs assault, a call went out for the 14th Tank Battalion to join the action. In addition, the massive road jam caused by the inability to pass through St. Vith was creating acute shortages of gasoline and ammunition well to the west of St. Vith. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. I should also note that reconnaissance doctrine was to disengage if at all possible and in no way engage enemy armour beyond scout elements. At daybreak on December 21, the Germans launched their first assault of the day on CCB, 9th Armored. Although the American forces in the St. Vith area came under command of General Ridgways XVIII Airborne Corps, the Airborne Corps itself was under the command of Field Marshal Sir Bernard L. Montgomery, overall commander of the northern sector of the Bulge. First Edition, Stackpole Books, 2005. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating the 571st Volksgrenadier Division. The StuG III was a turretless assault gun based on the Panzer III. Eisernes Kreuz 2.Klasse (1914) Period: First World War (1914-1918) Awarded on: October 30th, 1917. Back in the 1970s I worked with a man who told this story, he claimed he was the driver. Division 4. The American armor of the 7th and 9th Armored Divisions plus supporting units were being pressed into an area in which motorized forcestanks, half-tracks, self-propelled artillery, tank destroyersoperated with great difficulty. [1] On March 6, 1945, when Botsch was ordered to take command of the LIIIrd Army Corps, the 18. Soldiers of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division infiltrated the American lines at the villages of Roth, Weckerath, Kobscheid, and Auw before the artillery barrage began. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571.Volksgrenadier-Division.Under the command of Gnther Hoffmann-Schnborn, the new division absorbed elements of the 18th Luftwaffe Field . Based upon this fairly optimistic view, Ridgway, shortly after midnight, ordered the entire St. Vith force to withdraw from its current positions and form a defensive ring west of St. Vith and east of the Salm River. Given that the American accounts do not give a consistent account of what happened that day at St. Vith, the other side of this story must also be investigated. Sicherungs-Division) was a rear-security division in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany. The German tank then stopped dead in its tracks and shuddered; there was a muffled explosion, followed by flames which billowed out of the turret and engine ports. As the offensive steam came to an end in the Ardennes, the division went on the defensive, and there they would stay. Fortunately for Colonel Reid, word came at about 1730 that his 424th Infantry Regiment was to withdraw immediately. A scratch force made up of one platoon of riflemen from Company A, 27th AIB and a platoon from Company B, 9th Engineers were sent to contain the Germans. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. This version of the story, which is paraphrased in the introduction, will be referred to as the original version of the story. On February 5, 1945 General Walter Botsch took over command of the division. The mobile battalion consisted of three platoons of assault guns, a company of engineers, and another of fusiliers. Two hits were scored on the enemy tank in the rear, and its crew evacuated. This moment marked the beginning of the famous Battle of the Bulge, Germanys last major offensive on the Western Front in World War II. Rapidly, the M8 advanced to within 25 yards (23 meters) of the Tiger I and quickly pumped three rounds into its rear. Darlington Productions Inc., 2000. Griffin, Marcus S. After Action Report, Month of December 1944. 10 Apr. It was a race between the Germans who were desperately trying to bring their 88 mm gun to bear and the Americans who were trying to get as close as possible to the Tiger Is rear. The resulting blast damaged the bridge to such an extent that the Germans would not be able to bring vehicles across for at least 24 hours. The surviving Volksgrenadiers fled in disarray. Armored Champion, The Top Tanks of World War II. js.src = "//player.ex.co/player/710cf52d-720a-4250-8e95-fc85dcedab01"; One gun, firing from the house that had been the 14th Tanks command post an hour earlier, disabled two of the Shermans, but the other tanks managed to knock out the four antitank guns plus three German command vehicles. Those men were a scrappy bunch. Tigers In Combat I. Once St. Vith was taken, Model intended to drive the brigade swiftly for the Meuse River or cut behind the opposition on the Elsenborn Ridge that was bottling up the Sixth Panzer Army. Germanys Tiger Tanks VK45.02 to TIGER II. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18th VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. Thus, the job of rescuing the two trapped infantry regiments on the Schnee Eifel passed from the 9th to the 7th Armored Division. That night, infantry patrols found German medics removing their wounded. Staff officers were casualties. Much like the Panzer IV, the StuG III was a mainstay of the German army as well as Germanys most produced armored fighting vehicle of the war with over 9,400 produced. After putting down a heavy concentration of artillery fire, the Germans moved their infantry across the river east of the position held by the 2nd platoon of D Troop, 89th Recon. Chamberlain, Peter, et al. Shortly thereafter, Hasbrouck called and asked, Bruce, do you think you can get out? Clarke answered, A miracle has happened, General! The troops request for armored support was denied by General Hoge because his tank companies sent north to help the 7th Armored had not yet returned and no reserve was on hand. The Tiger I was a 57 tonne German heavy tank that has become one of the most famous tanks in history. There is no comparison to Tiger. On top of attacking the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (minus Troop B), a Panzer IV can be easily misidentified as a Tiger I. A platoon of tank destroyers had vanished. Elements of D Company, 89th Recon screened the flanks. At 0200 on December 22, the Fhrer Escort Brigade launched its attack against the town of Rodt, a small village west of St. Vith. Im going to guess that they just created this all up in their head. While a single troop of the 14th Cavalry Group continued to resist the German spearheads, the 106th's engineers dug in to block the crucial Schoenberg road 2 miles east of St. Vith, a last ditch defense, hoping . Collins, Joshua, and Erik Albertson. Germanys Tiger Tanks VK45.02 to TIGER II. At the close of the first day of battle, General Lucht could look with some satisfaction at the days events, although his 62nd Volksgrenadier Division had yet to break through the American line. Join historians and history buffs alike with our Unlimited Digital Access pass to every military history article ever published (over 3,000 articles) in Sovereigns military history magazines. The guns from a platoon of Shermans, the antiaircraft company, and a mortar platoon supplied a covering barrage, which broke up the German assault and inflicted heavy casualties. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. That is correct, however, that was off the topic of this story. Darlington Productions Inc., 2000. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18.Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. According to the British, 37 mm M6 guns APC M51 can only penetrate around a maximum of 65mm of rolled homogeneous armor plate (RHA) at 30 degrees under V50 ballistic standards. At 0400 hours on 16th December, 1944, men of the German 18th Volksgrenadier Division began to leave their positions and make their way towards the American lines. Volksgrenadier-Division. En route, the officer was approached by a member of General Clarkes staff who told him that German tanks were approaching St. Vith along the road from the north. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. Cole, Hugh M. The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge. Therefore, Montgomery ordered Ridgway to attack to the southeast until Vielsalm could be reached, ensuring an escape corridor for those trapped within the defense. Schiffer Publishing, 1997. Home News Random Article Install Wikiwand Send a suggestion Uninstall Wikiwand Upgrade to Wikiwand 2.0 Counter to the plan laid out earlier by General Jones, Hoge had decided to launch his attack on Winterspelt with the entire 14th Tank Battalion as the lead element rather than with the more vulnerable infantry of the 27th AIB. Volksgrenadier Division 2. 16 Dec 2022 08:28:00 One, the 18th Volksgrenadier Division, was holding the northern reaches of the Schnee Eifel. VGD. However, I am not so emotionally attached to my favorite LAV that I cant see the improbabilities. On December 16th at 4:00 a.m., they took the twenty-two foot macadam road following the Our River valley towards Manderfield. By this time the Germans had essentially closed the trap on the two infantry regiments on the Schnee Eifel. The division, which was under the command of Gnther Hoffmann-Schnborn, absorbed . He was also told that all that stood in their way were two troops of the 87th Recon Squadron, 7th Armoreds 87th, and a few antiaircraft half-tracks. Seventh Armored Division Association 2517 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington 8, D.C., 1947. Six paved or macadam roads converged at St. Vith, but none of these was considered by the Germans to be a major military trunk line. By midnight on the 19th, the horseshoe- shaped defense of St. Vith had taken form. One would think that Lieutenant Colonel Boylan, or at the very least Troop A, would make some sort of mention of this fairly notable engagement. The fight lasted for more than three hours before the Germans withdrew, leaving one burning tank and approximately 150 dead. Both task forces reached St. Vith shortly before noon on the 18th to find not one, but two German attacks moving against the town. English Edition, Casemate Publishers, 2014. The rounded portion of the horseshoe was composed of Colonel Dwight Rosebaums CCA, 7th Armored between Poteau and Rodt and General Clarkes CCB, 7th Armored in the very center protecting St. Vith. General Hoge set up his command post in the Belgian village of Faymonville, approximately 12 miles north of the town of St. Vith, unaware of the pivotal role his command was to play in a very different battle. The Fifth and Sixth Panzer Armies were to advance abreast, cross the Meuse River, and then drive for the Belgian port city of Antwerp, a major staging and supply center for the Allied armies in western Europe. The tanks of the 14th Tank Battalion and the half-tracks of the 27th AIB paused to pick up the foot elements of the 424th RCT, 106th Infantry Division. Although the Germans were quick to build up beyond the Our River after the American withdrawal, they made no immediate moves against the new American line. Task Force Jones and the 112th Infantry eventually found their way into 82nd Airborne Division lines during the night of the 24th, but not before the units suffered heavy losses. 'poor shape' in a sentence. Boyer, Donald P. St. Vith The 7th Armored Division in the Battle of the Bulge 17-23 December 1944 A Narrative After Action Report. Clad in armor between 25 mm and 180 mm thick and armed with deadly 88mm KwK 43 L/71 gun, the Tiger II was one of the deadliest tanks of the Second World War. Now with a new armored combat command due to arrive at 0700 hours the next day, and with the rest of the division to follow, Jones believed he would soon have the potential to deal with both the Schnee Eifel and Winterspelt emergencies. Eisernes Kreuz 2.Klasse (1914) Periode: Eerste Wereldoorlog (1914-1918) Toegekend op: 30 oktober 1917. Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz (1918) Period: First World War (1914-1918) Awarded on: . The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18th VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. The most startling difference however is the range at which this engagement occurred, with Lieutenant Olsons version having the engagement take place at 800 yards (732 meters), compared to the original storys 25 yards (23 meters)! After learning of the attack by the Fhrer Escort Brigade, Brig. At 0100 the 23rd, D Troop, 89th Recon lost an armored car and a jeep to antitank guns. Beevor, Antony. 3. By dark, just as General Hoges command was getting underway from Faymonville, Kittels mobile battalion and infantry from the 190th Regiment were closing in on Winterspelt. Manteuffel answered, We estimated that we were up against a division, and perhaps against an entire corps. War Department, 1944. VGD) was a volksgrenadierdivision of the German Army(Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. 1945. General Jones wanted Hoge to use the infantry of his 27th AIB to seize the series of hills near Winterspelt while the 14th Tank Battalion was to remain west of the Our River for use as the situation developed. With the unexplained disappearance of D Troop from the 89th Reconnaissance Platoon, Company B, 27th AIB became the leading element. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating the 571st Volksgrenadier Division.The division, which was under the command of Gnther Hoffmann-Schnborn, absorbed elements of the 18th Luftwaffe Field Division. The hardest hit, though, were the armored infantrymen of the 27th AIB with nearly 300 battle casualties. Combat Interviews of the 38th Armored Infantry Battalion, 7th Armored Division: The St. Vith Salient and Manhay, December 17-23, 1944. As each unit joined the rear of the column, it took its turn being the rear guard. On December 21, 18. 2014. On December 21, 18. August 18th, 1989 Kalb, Herbert Kalbhenn, Heinrich * February 3rd, 1915 more Kaldeway, x Kalesse, Gerhard (Grenadier-Regiment 689) * July 15th, 1918 October 23rd, 2011 Kaletsch, Georg * October 16th, 1914 March 6th, 1944 Kaletsch, Wilhelm Kalinowski, Josef (Panzergrenadier-Regiment "GD") * January 23rd, 1916 April 5th, 1944 Grave: UNK The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18.Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. js = d.createElement(s); The supply trains led the way north on N27 to St. Vith. Rebuilding the blown bridge to get their assault guns across was their first priority. At approximately 0930 on December 17, B Company was the first 9th Armored Division unit to cross the Our River. 560th Volks Grenadier Division (15-29 Dec. 1944) and 12th VGD (1-28 Jan. 1945). It is a classic David versus Goliath tale straight out of World War II that features American heroism. The story begins on the 18th of December 1944, two days after the start of the German offensive. Both American units were able to drive forward, and the Shermans knocked out six German armored vehicles. However, the monumental traffic jams in the Losheim Gap and at Schoenberg continued to delay both the 18th Volksgrenadier Division and the Fhrer Escort Brigade, and not until after daylight on the 20th would a bridge be ready at Steinebruck for the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division. Tigers In Combat I. It appeared now that the fate of his two northern regiments was sealed. These troops were hit by the Fhrer Escort Brigade and driven from Rogery to Cierreux in some disarray. By the end of the day, the 27th AIB had withdrawn through Steinebruck without casualties despite enemy shelling of the village. Protected by armor between 25 mm to 145 mm thick and armed with a fearsome 88mm KwK 36 L/56 main gun, the Tiger I was arguably the most feared tank of World War II by Allied soldiers. 18th Artillery Division 651. The capture of St. Vith was, however, important for three other reasons: to ensure the complete isolation of Allied troops that might be trapped on a nearby ridge called the Schnee Eifel; to cover the German supply lines unraveling behind the armored corps to the north and south; and to feed reinforcements laterally into the main thrusts by using the St. Vith road net. The job of capturing St. Vith went to the Fifth Panzer Armys 66th Corps, commanded by General Walther Lucht. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. By noon, the 27th AIB, with the help of Company A, 14th Tank Battalion, had retaken that first stretch of high ground. At St. Vith, Lt. Col. William H. Slayden was with Jones when Jones received the call from Middleton concerning 7th Armored Division support. The 62nd, like the 18th, included three regiments of two battalions each. He could not believe it. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18. 13th Flak Division 651 .
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