The supply trains led the way north on N27 to St. Vith. Inside the command post, General Hoge learned that the Germans had launched a heavy assault on Winterspelt against the men of the 424th Infantry. An M8 Greyhound armored car of Troop B, 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron was lying in a concealed position just northeast of the vitally important crossroads town of St. Vith, Belgium. Created as 22.Infanterie-Division in 1935, one regiment participated in the 1939 Invasion of Poland; the rest of the division stayed in garrison on the Siegfried Line in case of a French attack in defense of Poland. Pegov in March 1944 on a light tank T-70 destroyed two German Panthers aboard. The two commanders agreed that even without the mud to contend with the withdrawal would have to be delayed simply because of heavy enemy pressure. The mud had made the roads and open areas impassable for armored vehicles. Revised Edition, Arms and Armour Press, 1973. By 1300 on the 21st, the entire line was ablaze with German artillery, rockets, tanks, and infantry. 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. Thus, the job of rescuing the two trapped infantry regiments on the Schnee Eifel passed from the 9th to the 7th Armored Division. The reason for this comparative respite was due to the fact that the roads to the German rear were completely jammed. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. Gen. Hasbrouck, commander of the 7th Armored Division, sent a message to General Ridgway urging withdrawal, which in part read, P.S. At CCB, 9th Armored Divisions headquarters in Faymonville, General Hoge was just finishing up his briefing for his commands move to the Losheim Gap and Manderfeld when the call came through from General Jones informing him of 9th Armoreds new Winterspelt mission. One, the Sixth Panzer Army, was commanded by SS Obergruppenfhrer (brigadier general) Josef Sepp Dietrich, and the other, the Fifth Panzer Army, was commanded by General Hasso von Manteuffel. That night, infantry patrols found German medics removing their wounded. I wanted to focus on the M8 vs Tiger story, I already noticed the Ferdinand claim, but decided not to mention it. 2014. This article already explains ballistics and mentions that while Panther was vulnerable to lower-caliber AT guns, the Tigers were almost immune to them. 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. Also no Ferdinand/Elefant recorded to have seen combat on Western Front. Early on the 19th, the Germans made reconnaissance probes. 47. It appeared now that the fate of his two northern regiments was sealed. Lucht anticipated that the Americans would counterattack the next day, but that their reaction would be too late to avoid complete encirclement. 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 Operation Nordwind 1945 Hitlers last offensive in the West. 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. Established in 1941, the unit was deployed in German-occupied areas of the Soviet Union, in the Army Group North Rear Area. The ground was frozen solid. The Commands main body was led by the 27th AIB with B Company in front, followed by Headquarters and C Company. Despite nearly a foot of snow, the ground underneath was still soft, and with the passage of only a few heavy vehicles it was soon churned into a morass of mud. Infanterie-Division 193510 [1] 22 22. Within the Kloster, General Hoge found a division headquarters staff in a state of disarray and confusion. 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. At about 1330, three German self-propelled guns and 19 or 20 horse-drawn artillery pieces went into position on the high ground 800 yards to the southeast of Steinebruck. During the assault, B Company suffered about 40 casualties including its commanding officer, Captain Henry D. Wirsig. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945.. 1/18th Scale Cars; 1/24th Scale Assembly Kits; 1/24th Scale Cars; 1/43rd Scale Cars; . The troop was to hold until relieved by the 27th Armored Infantry Battalion (AIB) and then reconnoiter farther down the road toward Winterspelt. Penguin Books, 2016. Osprey Publishing, 2002. 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. 13th Flak Division 651 . Generals Manteuffel and Lucht had planned an all-out attack to take St. Vith starting at daylight with a three- pronged envelopment by the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division against 9th Armored positions in the south. The village of St. Vith lay approximately 12 miles behind the front lines on December 16, 1944, the day the offensive code-named Operation Watch on the Rhine began. The lumbering heavy tank continued moving towards the American line before turning north towards the town of Hunningen, Belgium, passing the armored car. What a fantastic real-life story or is it? The colonel ordered the troop east along the road to Schoenberg to delay a German tank and infantry team approaching St. Vith from that direction. This break appeared to be only a dream, however, as it seemed every outfit wanted a piece of CCB, 9th Armored to help shore up its positions. The division had lost four companies of armored infantry. Given the unreliability of the American accounts of this supposed event and the lack of any supporting documentation from the Germans, it is safe to say that neither a Tiger I nor a Tiger II was knocked out by an M8 Greyhound on 18th December 1944 in or around the town of St. Vith. Having failed to find a soft spot to the north, the Germans then moved against Hoges 9th Armored command in the south; however, even before this attack got going three German tanks were knocked out and the rest of the probing force withdrew. [1] On March 6, 1945, when Botsch was ordered to take command of the LIIIrd Army Corps, the 18. Captain Ansteys version lacks supporting documentation. The failure to capture St. Vith was preventing the linkup of the Fifth and the Sixth Panzer Armies. The 62nd, like the 18th, included three regiments of two battalions each. This is puzzling, to say the least. Contents 1 Allied Forces 1.1 12th Army Group 1.1.1 U.S. First Army 1.1.1.1 V Corps 1.1.1.2 VII Corps 1.1.1.3 XVIII Airborne Corps 1.1.2 U.S. Third Army 1.1.2.1 III Corps 1.1.2.2 VIII Corps 1.1.2.3 XII Corps Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. 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 move would also have to be done under the cover of darkness in severe wintry conditions. How about a Tiger II? Josef Theissen, the fifteen-year-old who had seen the Germans arrive on Sunday, December 17, watched the soldiers every move with the fascination for things military . VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. For faster navigation, this Iframe is preloading the Wikiwand page for 18th Volksgrenadier Division. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. events, and resources, The Battle of the Bulge & The Defense of St. Vith. To this end, General Hoge was in the town of Monschau to check on the possibility of getting his command across in that area. 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. Zaloga, Steven, and Tony Bryan. 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. Add to cart. During the night, the troopers experienced harassing fire from light and medium artillery and could observe enemy infantry and at least four tanks moving along high ground to the south of the river. So, rather than spill blood needlessly to take meaningless ground, Hoge called off the attack on Winterspelt. According to Hugh M. Cole, an American historian and army officer. It contained the 293., 294. and 295. grenadier regiments, Panzerjger-Bataillon 1818, Pionier-Bataillon 1818, Fsilier-Bataillon 1818 and Artillerie-Regiment 1818.[1]. Volksgrenadier-Division 5 [ ] 13 relations. 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 second task force consisted of B Company of the 811th Tank Destroyers. The ultimate objective was to open an escape route for the soldiers of the 424th. After listening to the information provided by General Clarkes staff officer, General Hoge decided to go to St. Vith himself to assess the situation. At 0200 on December 22, the Fhrer Escort Brigade launched its attack against the town of Rodt, a small village west of St. Vith. South of Sixth Panzer Army was General Manteuffels Fifth Panzer Army, with the Seventh Army on its left. Both task forces reached St. Vith shortly before noon on the 18th to find not one, but two German attacks moving against the town. General Luchts plan for December 17 was simple. 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. The 27th AIB was ordered to establish a defensive position south, east, west, and southeast of Malempre. }(document, 'script', 'exco-player')); The M8 Greyhound was a small, 7.9 tonne American armored car with 6.4 mm to 25.4 mm of armor, only enough to protect against rifle caliber bullets, and armed with a 37 mm M6 main gun, a peashooter at this point in the war. Hoge managed to stop the stragglers, and soon a provisional company of men from the 424th was formed to reinforce the 27th AIB on its march toward the Our. However, it cannot be definitively stated that this is another version of the M8 Greyhound versus Tiger story due to its ambiguity. English Edition, Casemate Publishers, 2014. As each unit joined the rear of the column, it took its turn being the rear guard. On February 5, 1945 General Walter Botsch took over command of the division. At about midday, the field marshal sent a message to General Hasbrouck: You have accomplished your missiona mission well done. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18. 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. 4 Grosstraktor to Panzerbefehlswagen IV. General Luchts 66th Corps was shifted from General Manteuffels Fifth Panzer Army to the Sixth Panzer. Roadblocks were set up and manned. The German 20th Infantry Division was an infantry division of Nazi Germany.HistoryThe was established in 1934 under the cover name. 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. The provisional company of 424th stragglers disappeared during the night. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. 18e volksgrenadier division English translation: 18th volksgrenadier division (wehrmacht).. Although both men agreed that a withdrawal at this stage was the wiser decision, Hoge was skeptical that, given the weather and ground conditions, the defenders would be able to get out. General Lucht hurried to Winterspelt to get the 62nd Volksgrenadier moving to the Our. Your email address will not be published. Despite the loss of St. Vith, General Ridgway believed that the American armored and infantry forces defending St. Vith since December 16 could still hold. 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. By dark, Lt. Col. Engeman and his two task forces were back in their assembly area in the vicinity of Breitfeld. Panzer Tracts No. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18. Osprey Publishing, 2010. The entry only states that a Tiger tank was knocked out. 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. The second task force hit another probe by the 1st SS Panzer and pushed it out of Hunningen. This means that 50% of shots fired will penetrate this amount of armor. Beevor, Antony. Soon after its crossing, B Company ran into German infantry dug in along the high ground overlooking the village of Elcherath. They were sometimes misidentified as Tiger HIs. The Seventh Armored Division in the Battle of St. Vith. After that mornings enemy assaults, the line of the 27th AIB was reestablished west of Neubruck. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18.Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. Volksgrenadier Division 2. With the unexplained disappearance of D Troop from the 89th Reconnaissance Platoon, Company B, 27th AIB became the leading element. The town was also in Fifth Panzer Armys area of advance. He could not believe it. Volksgrenadier-Division. The Battle at St. Vith, Belgium 17-23 December 1944 An Historical Example of Armor in the Defense. At about 0115 on December 17, a platoon from 9th Armoreds D Troop, 89th Recon was detailed to proceed through St. Vith in a southeasterly direction and seize the high ground along Highway N27 south of Steinebruck. He is being outflanked and is retiring west another 2,000 yards refusing both flanks. Under cover of automatic weapons fire from a platoon of light tanks, Sergeant Eugene Dorland and two other men from the engineers went into the cold, bullet-splattered water carrying three cases of TNT and placed their charges on the south abutment of the bridge. Accordingly, that evening Sixth Panzer Army commander Dietrich issued orders to the 2nd SS Panzer Corps to move to the south so that parts of that corps could assist Manteuffel in taking St. Vith. It is stated as being reported to Major Boyer by one Captain Walter Henry Anstey of Company A of the 38th Armored Infantry Battalion, who is said to have been a witness to the event. 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. The Sherman tanks of B Company repulsed the enemy with fire from their 76mm guns. At 0100 the 23rd, D Troop, 89th Recon lost an armored car and a jeep to antitank guns. Anderson, Thomas. The village of Bauvenn was designated the linkage point for the two combat commands. 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. It is a classic David versus Goliath tale straight out of World War II that features American heroism. Tiger. A platoon of tank destroyers had vanished. A strong attack has just developed against Clarke again. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. So many soldiers of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division converged on Wallerode for the final push against St. Vith that the villagers themselves threatened to be squeezed out. Manteuffels operation in the St. Vith area was already three days behind schedule. js.src = "//player.ex.co/player/710cf52d-720a-4250-8e95-fc85dcedab01"; Division C E R T I F I C A T E 24 June 1945 I certify that I am S-3 German Division Nr. Moreover, at least a regiment from the 1st SS Panzer Division was in sporadic conflict with the American defenders in the Recht-Poteau area and, in the south, elements of the 560th Volksgrenadier Division, part of General Walter Kruegers 58th Panzer Corps, were also identified as pushing against American forces in the St. Vith salient. 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. No reinforcements were expected. For this mission, CCB consisted of the 14th Tank Battalion, the 27th Armored Infantry Battalion, the 16th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, and miscellaneous smaller units vital to any major command. The greatest danger existed in the 424ths position because the regiments flank lay vulnerable to attacks by the 116th Panzer Division to the south. However, just as the Americans began their pursuit, the Germans noticed them and began traversing their turret to face them. . English PDF (15 MB) Jan B-603 352d Volks Grenadier Division (19 Freb.-21 Mar. With the enemy inside Steinebruck and excellent direct fire by the German artillery, what was left of 2nd Platoon, 89th Recon withdrew along the St. Vith road. Airfix J6017 Volkswagen Camper Van (Quick Build) R 405.00. The troops were exhausted and spread out. As stated above, a 37mm cant penetrate the armor of an Tiger tank. The fight lasted for more than three hours before the Germans withdrew, leaving one burning tank and approximately 150 dead. Zaloga, Steven. The corps consisted of two infantry divisions. Sometime later that Monday morning, General Hoge sent his liaison officer to St. Vith to learn the dispositions of CCB, 7th Armored Division. This moment marked the beginning of the famous Battle of the Bulge, Germanys last major offensive on the Western Front in World War II. By midnight on the 19th, the horseshoe- shaped defense of St. Vith had taken form. Mines were laid. Fortunately for Colonel Reid, word came at about 1730 that his 424th Infantry Regiment was to withdraw immediately. This is an issue because there were two distinct types of German Tiger tanks, both of which took part in the Battle of the Bulge: The Tiger I and the Tiger II. 1940 194111. 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 . Schneider, Wolfgang. Daniel P. Kneeland, Grafton, Ma. Communications with division headquarters in St. Vith were limited to liaison officers running along a road now being shelled by the Germans. 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. German 18th Volksgrenadier Div. However, this platoon never completed its mission. To cover this dangerous gap in the line C Company, 27th AIB was ordered to the Our between Troop D, 89th Recon and Company A, 27th AIB. (function (d, s, n) { Furthermore, late-war Panzer IVs equipped with Schrzen additional armor would look bigger, even closer to the size of a Tiger and this is before consideration is made on the stress of war, camouflaging materials applied to vehicles, the weather, and level of knowledge of the crews. The Ardennes 1944-1945: Hitlers Winter Offensive. 13th Company, 28th Jager Regiment, 8th Jager Division 286. After learning of the attack by the Fhrer Escort Brigade, Brig. At 0600 Im going to start to move.. The American plan was that once the 2nd Infantry Division reduced the German defenses at the Wahlerscheid crossroads, CCB was to spearhead a drive to the reservoirs north of Gemund and Schleiden. The division's intelligence officer, Lieutenant Colonel Robert P. Stout, noted that the division faced two known enemy divisions, the 18th Volksgrenadier Division and the 26th Volksgrenadier Division. The losses in men and equipment for CCB, 9th Armored, as with the rest of the American units defending St. Vith, had been severe. 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 northern prong of the horseshoe was composed of CCB, 7th Armored Division from Poteau and Vielsalm. Volksgrenadier-Division was formed from the partially formed 571.Volksgrenadier-Division in Denmark in September 1944, it also included excess Kriegsmarine personnel and surviving elements from 18. Slayden, knowing that the nearest units of the 7th Armored Division were at least 60 miles away in the Netherlands, had serious doubts that a whole combat command could reach St. Vith on the 17th, much less by 0700 hours. Infanterie-Division 19398 . The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18.Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. 223 223. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating the 571st Volksgrenadier Division. 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. This is before you take into account that the manufacturing process for German armor allowed for a tolerance in plates which often left plates 2 to 5 mm thicker than ordered. General Hoge received his order to pull CCB, 9th Armored out at 0605 on December 23. Combat Interviews of the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, 7th Armored Division: The St. Vith Salient, December 17-23, 1944. Fortunately, a tank destroyer from Vielsalm turned up and hit the leading two German panzers, which drove the rest for cover. VGD led by Heinz Kokott, Heinrich Himmler's brother-in-law. A two-day rest was planned for everyone. It was to cross the Meuse on both sides of Liege before advancing on to Antwerp. Although the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division drove the American defenders from Winterspelt, all was not going well for the Germans. Such events might have taken place in reality, true. Ridgways plan was premised on the assumption that that the American forces in this goose egg-shaped defense could be supplied by air; however, whoever drew up the plan was thinking in terms of supply requirements for the lighter airborne divisions, not for fuel-hungry and shell-reliant armored forces. 12th Volksgrenadier Division 89; 197; 487; 557; 650; 727. Late on December 17, General Manteuffel was concerned with the lack of progress in his attack beyond the Schnee Eifel toward St. Vith. Darlington Productions Inc., 2000. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. However, I am not so emotionally attached to my favorite LAV that I cant see the improbabilities. He also said that they got a new Greyhound. Initially, General Jones wanted Hoge to move his command into the Losheim Gap at Maderfeld and arrive there at dawn on December 17 to counterattack and erase the enemy penetrations that were threatening 106th Division positions on the Schnee Eifel. Out of this grand battle would come a too-good-to-be-true story symbolic of the stiff American resistance put up against the German offensive, that of how an M8 Greyhound armored car destroyed a Tiger I heavy tank. The defense of St. Vith was now achieving some kind of order in contrast to the chaos that had reigned during the previous three days. The next version of this story can be found in a 1947 book by Major Donald P. Boyer of the 38th Armored Infantry Battalion titled St. Vith, The 7th Armored Division in the Battle of the Bulge, 17-23 December 1944: A Narrative After Action Report. One German tank was seen going up in flames. Encyclopedia of German tanks of World War Two. 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. Those men were a scrappy bunch. On top of the contradictions and ambiguity of Troop Es entry, there is also the curious fact that Troop A does not make any mention of this event in its morning report and record of events entry for the 18th of December, 1944.