The line companies were down to one officer apiece. Sell, buy or rent Panzers in Winter: Hitler's Army and the Battle of the Bulge (Praeger Security I 9780275971151 0275971155, we buy used or new for best buyback price with FREE shipping and offer great deals for buyers. The second task force consisted of B Company of the 811th Tank Destroyers. 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. Bergstrm, Christer. After Clarke and Hoge settled upon a mutually supportive command structure, Clarke noted that Hoges command was, for the most part, forward of a railroad track built on a high embankment. At approximately 0100 on December 18, a German force of about 30 men tried to cross the Our at Steinebruck after a brief artillery barrage. js.src = "//player.ex.co/player/710cf52d-720a-4250-8e95-fc85dcedab01"; Next came B Company, 9th Armored Engineers; the 16th Armored Field Artillery; B Company, 482nd Antiaircraft Artillery; and the 14th Tank Battalion. First Edition, Stackpole Books, 2005. Third Printing, US Army Armored School, 1966. Companies A and B held a line from Grufflingen to Hohenbusch with Company A, 14th Tank Battalion to their north. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating the 571st Volksgrenadier Division. Infanterie-Division 19398 . 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. Seventh Armored Division Association 2517 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington 8, D.C., 1947. To this end, General Hoge was in the town of Monschau to check on the possibility of getting his command across in that area. 18th Volksgrenadier Division (Wehrmacht) - Unionpedia, the concept map That cold snap that hit us has frozen the roads. Unable to advance, it pulled back to the nearest high ground and dug in. Just kept to the main story. By the end of the day, the 27th AIB had withdrawn through Steinebruck without casualties despite enemy shelling of the village. Mastering all the usages of 'poor shape' from sentence examples published by news publications. The division fought in the Ardennes, inflicting on the 106th US Infantry Division the worst defeat suffered by U.S. forces in the ETO, when over 8,000 US soldiers surrendered to the volksgrenadiers. The sector now defended by CCB, 9th Armored extended across five miles of rugged terrain that was primarily held by the three infantry companies making up the 27th AIB. This means that 50% of shots fired will penetrate this amount of armor. 1945. 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. VGD captured St. Vith, winning a great victory. General Clarke again called on the 9th Armored for assistance to help stiffen his line, and Hoge responded by sending the 3rd Battalion, 424th Regimental Combat Team. Company B was stationed east of Galhausen and maintained contact with the nearest elements of the 7th Armored Division on 9th Armoreds left flank. Osprey Publishing, 2013. The silhouettes of the Panzer IV and the Tiger I are quite similar, especially due to their rectangular shapes and rounded turret (rounded through the later use of a curved armor plate around the otherwise angular turret). By that time the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division should have the bridge at Steinebruck rebuilt, at least two regiments of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division should be forward, and the Fhrer Escort Brigade should be ready to make the principal thrust down the Ambleve highway into St. Vith. If Hoge told him that the situation was bad, then without a doubt the situation was worse than he thought. Out of the 1,467 tanks the Germans brought with them to the Battle of the Bulge on the 16th of December, 1944, 52 of them were Tiger IIs and 14 of them were Tiger Is. The closest primary German armored thrust route to the south ran through Burg Reuland, also about five miles from St. Vith. EN. During the rest of the day and on into the evening of December 17, CCB, 7th Armored moved into St. Vith and began a buildup that resembled a large horseshoe on the high ground to the east of the village. The earliest known mention can be found in the December 18th, 1944 morning report and record of events entry of Troop E, 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron which briefly states that an M-8 atchd [attached] to A Tr [Troop A] knocked out one Tiger tank. The unit attacking Troop B, the 294th Volksgrenadier Regiment, had StuG IIIs and had been using StuG IIIs the previous day in small probing attacks east of St. Vith where Troop B would end up being positioned. Aside from the cold and mud, there was also the enemy to contend with. This was no place to conduct a mobile defense with armor-heavy forces. Gen. William Hoges Combat Command B (CCB) of the 9th was attached to V Corps to support the 2nd Infantry Division in its planned attack through the Monschau Forest as part of the U.S. Armys strategy to capture or destroy the Roer River dams. Gen. Herbert T. Perrin, assistant commander of the 106th Infantry Division, drove up carrying a message from General Jones. Since speed was the key to success of the German plan, two panzer armies would spearhead the offensive. Comment * document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "aefa00eeca3d30bd3e762fcc54816f6d" );document.getElementById("f87928873f").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Luftwaffe-Feld-Division. In addition, elements of the 116th Panzer Division and the 560th Volksgrenadier Division were moving against the weakly held southern flank of St. Vith defended by remnants of the 424th Infantry Regiment of the 106th Infantry Division and the 112th Infantry Regiment of the 28th Infantry Division. 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. 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. Troy Middletons VIII Corps. 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. The attacks made east of St. Vith on 18 December were carried by a part of the 294th Infantry [German], whose patrols had been checked by the 168th Engineers [US] the previous day. Farther to the west, the 82nd Airborne, trying to keep a corridor open for the St. Vith defenders, was coming under intense pressure from the 2nd SS Panzer Division. I am weighing toward a stray Panzer IV or maybe a SP gun like the one you described. The greatest danger existed in the 424ths position because the regiments flank lay vulnerable to attacks by the 116th Panzer Division to the south. He also hoped the 3rd Armored Division soon might attack to remove all threat of encirclement. That eliminates this units Pzkw IV being the Tiger encountered by the Troop B M8 on Dec. 18th . Another attack hit the left flank of 7th Armored. First Edition, Stackpole Books, 2005. Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. First Edition, Presidio Press, 2002. By 1300 on the 21st, the entire line was ablaze with German artillery, rockets, tanks, and infantry. Double-talking his identification over the radio with allusions to West Point football days, Ridgway gave Hoge a location at which to meet him. [1] On March 6, 1945, when Botsch was ordered to take command of the LIIIrd Army Corps, the 18. 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. During the assault, B Company suffered about 40 casualties including its commanding officer, Captain Henry D. Wirsig. 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. Those men were a scrappy bunch. The circuitous march up one road and down another led to a new line just a few hundred yards to the west of the old one and was miraculously carried out while under attack without the loss of any men or equipment. They were repulsed by machine-gun fire. Division C E R T I F I C A T E 24 June 1945 I certify that I am S-3 The distance from Burg Reuland on the southeast to Poteau on the northwest was about 10 miles with only a single secondary road as a line of retreat for thousands of men defending the horseshoe against attack from three directions. The Battle at St. Vith, Belgium 17-23 December 1944 An Historical Example of Armor in the Defense. A strong attack has just developed against Clarke again. It contained the 293., 294. and 295. grenadier regiments, Panzerjger-Bataillon 1818, Pionier-Bataillon 1818, Fsilier-Bataillon 1818 and Artillerie-Regiment 1818.[1]. However, this version of Captain Ansteys account has one key difference: it was not a Tiger I that was knocked out, but rather a Tiger II, almost analogous to the fisherman whose fish gets bigger each time he tells the tale of his catch. Volksgrenadier-Division. Farther to the north, in the 7th Armored sector, the pressure exerted by the enemy was also intense. Tigers In Combat II. 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. It contained the 293., 294. and 295. grenadier regiments, Panzerjger-Bataillon 1818, Pionier-Bataillon 1818, Fsilier-Bataillon 1818 and Artillerie-Regiment 1818.[1]. 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. Division 4. Panzer Tracts, 2001. VGD led by Heinz Kokott, Heinrich Himmler's brother-in-law. 223 223. Cole, Hugh M. The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge. 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. A second attempt on the bridge, made by about 40 men four hours later, was also thrown back by machine-gun fire. Three of these Tiger IIs belonged to Schwere SS Panzer Abteilung 501 (Heavy SS Tank Battalion 501); Tiger 105 was abandoned in the town of Stavelot, Belgium after getting itself stuck in a building, Tiger 332 was abandoned near Coo, Belgium as a result of mechanical damage, and Tiger 008 was abandoned at a farmhouse near Trois Ponts, Belgium. Manteuffels operation in the St. Vith area was already three days behind schedule. 1964. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. At 0200 on December 22, the Fhrer Escort Brigade launched its attack against the town of Rodt, a small village west of St. Vith. On its way to the new position, C Company came under a sudden artillery and rocket barrage in the village of Lommersweiler. What Jones did not tell Hoge was that in one of those regiments his own son was serving at regimental headquarters. 47. Johnston, W. Wesley. Its possible that the M8 took out an late production Panzer IV, but even that is unlikely due to the danger of more troops coming from behind with Panzerfausts or even a 20 millimeter. The failure to capture St. Vith was preventing the linkup of the Fifth and the Sixth Panzer Armies. Fire from the 16th Field Artillery broke up other enemy formations trying to assemble on the high ground to the south. Johnston, W. Wesley. Chamberlain, Peter, et al. 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. 281st Security Division (281. However, once a closer look is taken at this story, cracks begin to appear, and soon enough one begins to wonder whether or not this story really is too good to be true. Then, four German antitank guns covering the Grufflingen-Maldange road were encountered. Manteuffel met near Wallerode with Model and Lucht that day. The move had scarcely begun when an enemy attack hit the junction between Company B, 27th AIB and Company D, 14th Tank Battalion. Combat Interviews of the 38th Armored Infantry Battalion, 7th Armored Division: The St. Vith Salient and Manhay, December 17-23, 1944. A two-day rest was planned for everyone. Rebuilding the blown bridge to get their assault guns across was their first priority. The mobile battalion consisted of three platoons of assault guns, a company of engineers, and another of fusiliers. Back in the 1970s I worked with a man who told this story, he claimed he was the driver. The southernmost battle group of the 18th Volksgrenadier would also undertake a mobile thrust and, finally, the 62nd Volksgrenadier would break loose at Heckhuscheid and drive for the Our River Valley. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. Little offtopic here but another misidentification might be the 1 destroyed 88mm assault gun (Ferdinand). Developed in the 1930s, the Panzer IV was one of the mainstay German armored fighting vehicles of the Second World War as well as Germanys most-produced tank of the war, with over 8,500 produced. Such events might have taken place in reality, true. It is a classic David versus Goliath tale straight out of World War II that features American heroism. Unteroffizier Helmus of the 26th Volksgrenadier Division painted the situation when the advance began. Hoge and Ridgway had been on the West Point football team together when Ridgway had been the teams manager. However, I am not so emotionally attached to my favorite LAV that I cant see the improbabilities. That evening General Clarke also put his command into Commanster. It was a new and inexperienced division made up of Luftwaffe personnel, former Kriegsmariners out of a The M8 was used mostly as a reconnaissance vehicle for scouting. 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. Both B and C Companies pulled back to the vicinity of Neidingen, near the battalion command post, while the 14th Tank Battalion established a perimeter defense around its assembly area near Breitfeld about halfway between the Our and St. Vith. Osprey Publishing, 2002. The entry only states that a Tiger tank was knocked out. During his meeting with Hoge, General Ridgway became convinced that defending this area any further would be futile. At about 2130, General Clarke phoned General Hoge to tell him that the enemy was entering St. Vith from the north and that his forces were withdrawing to form a new line northwest of the city. It is possible that, as part of the attacks on the line held in part by Troop B of the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, a lone StuG III was used to probe out the American line, as had been done on the previous day, and was subsequently knocked out by an M8 Greyhound. He also said that they got a new Greyhound. 1945). But if four versions was not enough, there is potentially another version of this tale contained in a combat interview given by Lieutenant Arthur A. Olson of Troop D, 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron on the 8th of January, 1945. Add to cart. 12th Volksgrenadier Division 89; 197; 487; 557; 650; 727. 45 mm. The men of the 2nd SS Panzer Corps had expected to be on the Meuse by December 19, but on the night of December 20 the Americans still denied them access to St. Vith. 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. While 9th Armored was thus engaged in the Winterspelt area during the morning hours of December 17, Brig. The Tiger I was a 57 tonne German heavy tank that has become one of the most famous tanks in history. No reinforcements were expected. Andrews, Frank L. The Defense of St. Vith in the Battle of the Ardennes December, 1944. Staff officers were casualties. Seventh Armored Division Association 2517 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington 8, D.C., 1947.