CCBs new position blocked the main Winterspelt-St. Vith highway and the valley of the Braunlauf Creek, a second natural corridor leading to St. Vith. . Beevor, Antony. 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 M5 got within a yard of the Tiger and knocked it out with 5 rounds. There are no German records or histories which indicate that, on 18th December 1944, a Tiger I or a Tiger II was knocked out in or around St. Vith. Heer - TracesOfWar.com They were followed in order by the half-tracks and other vehicles of the 27th AIB, the tank companies, the antiaircraft company, and the engineers. At 0600 Im going to start to move.. Infanterie-Division 19398 . At St. Vith, Lt. Col. William H. Slayden was with Jones when Jones received the call from Middleton concerning 7th Armored Division support. Johnston, W. Wesley. The move had scarcely begun when an enemy attack hit the junction between Company B, 27th AIB and Company D, 14th Tank Battalion. A second attempt on the bridge, made by about 40 men four hours later, was also thrown back by machine-gun fire. That evening General Clarke also put his command into Commanster. Troy Middletons VIII Corps. His troops remained in place, and the pullout to the west side of the Our River began at dusk. Operation Nordwind 1945 Hitlers last offensive in the West. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. Instead of the M8 Greyhound firing three shots into the Tigers rear, the M8 Greyhound in Lieutenant Olsons version of events fired two shots. 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. The losses in men and equipment for CCB, 9th Armored, as with the rest of the American units defending St. Vith, had been severe. It can be safely assumed that the armored car that Lieutenant Olson is talking about in his story is an M8 Greyhound due to the fact that the only armored cars that the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron fielded were M8 Greyhounds. It was a new and inexperienced division made up of Luftwaffe personnel, former Kriegsmariners out of a 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. By 1300 on the 21st, the entire line was ablaze with German artillery, rockets, tanks, and infantry. Schneider, Wolfgang. Operation Nordwind 1945 Hitlers last offensive in the West. Zaloga, Steven. Late in the day, the Germans launched three major attacks, each directed along a main road leading into the town. Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. Elements of D Company, 89th Recon screened the flanks. Fifth Panzer was to attack from Prum in the north down to Bitburg and Bastogne in the south. WAR DEPARTMENT - Indiana Military 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. While walking to avoid the traffic congestion, Manteuffel encountered his superior, Field Harshal Model. 4 Grosstraktor to Panzerbefehlswagen IV. Eisernes Kreuz 2.Klasse (1914) Periode: Eerste Wereldoorlog (1914-1918) Toegekend op: 30 oktober 1917. Lieutenant Olsons version of the story would be the most contradicting version yet. Zaloga, Steven. During the 27th AIBs assault, a call went out for the 14th Tank Battalion to join the action. 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. This German World War II article is a stub. 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. He said that the fight took about ninety minutes and that they used almost all their ammunition. 18th Volksgrenadier Division - Wikiwand Both task forces reached St. Vith shortly before noon on the 18th to find not one, but two German attacks moving against the town. Ninth Armored and its attachments traveled southwest on N26 to the junction with N33 west of Beho, then turned north on N33 to Salmchateau, and finally west on N183 through Lierneux to Malempre-Jevigne, southeast of Manhay. 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. Not only does Troop Es version of the story involve a different unit than the original story, it also takes place in a different location, note the following map. js.className = n; Gen. Bruce C. Clarke, commander of CCB, 7th Armored Division, arrived at General Joness command post in St. Vith at approximately 1030. 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. 13th Company, 28th Jager Regiment, 8th Jager Division 286. Encyclopedia of German tanks of World War Two. Armament T-70 gun cal. 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. All but five troopers of 2nd Platoon were lost to enemy action. 18th Volksgrenadier Division (Wehrmacht) - Military Wiki Clarke pulled back his left flank to protect Hinderhausen, a key position on the emergency exit route to Commanster and Vielsalm. Double-talking his identification over the radio with allusions to West Point football days, Ridgway gave Hoge a location at which to meet him. 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. There is no comparison to Tiger. 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. South of St. Vith, even as Lt. Col. Engemans task forces were responding to the 7th Armoreds cry for help, Germans of the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division were trying to get across the Our River at Steinebruck and hit St. Vith from that direction. When B Company pulled back to refuel and rearm, A Company passed through to take up the fight. Tigers In Combat I. 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. 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 division, which was under the command of Gnther Hoffmann-Schnborn, absorbed . Manteuffel met near Wallerode with Model and Lucht that day. Battle of Losheim Gap - Wikipedia The 9th Armored Divisions position at the Our was no longer tenable. Ridgway answered, Bill, we can and we will. The withdrawal plan called for a general pullback west of the Salm River to an assembly area in the zone controlled by the 82nd Airborne Division in the vicinity of Lierneux. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division ( 18. 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. After learning of the attack by the Fhrer Escort Brigade, Brig. Volksgrenadier-Division. 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 also said that they got a new Greyhound. Unteroffizier Helmus of the 26th Volksgrenadier Division painted the situation when the advance began. One task force was made up of A and B Companies of the 14th Tank Battalion, B Company of the 482nd Antiaircraft Artillery, and another platoon of the 14th. Infantry divisions would begin the attack along the entire length of a 50-mile front, forcing a rupture along the Allied line and giving the German panzer divisions freedom of movement in the unoccupied ground beyond the front. Ardennes-Alsace Campaign Armored Champion, The Top Tanks of World War II. 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. Boyer, Donald P. St. Vith The 7th Armored Division in the Battle of the Bulge 17-23 December 1944 A Narrative After Action Report. 18th Volksgrenadier Division Wikipedia Republished // WIKI 2 The corps consisted of two infantry divisions. Given that the rear hull armor of a Tiger II is 80 mm of RHA angled at 30 degrees, it is essentially impossible for the M8 Greyhounds 37 mm M6 gun to penetrate the rear hull armor of the Tiger II. What he claimed was that the fight wasnt as easy as it is presented here. This means that 50% of shots fired will penetrate this amount of armor. 13 relations. Osprey Publishing, 2003. of the Army, 1965. Add to cart. Third Printing, US Army Armored School, 1966. 22nd Air Landing Division (wehrmacht) - Encyclopedia Information Since 7th Armoreds withdrawal meant that 9th Armoreds left flank would be in danger, the two generals agreed that Hoge would have to readjust part of his line to maintain contact with Clarkes new rearward position. [1] On March 6, 1945, when Botsch was ordered to take command of the LIIIrd Army Corps, the 18. Were any of these Tiger Is and or Tiger IIs knocked out on the 18th of December, 1944? Our database is searchable by subject and updated continuously. 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. Andrews, Frank L. The Defense of St. Vith in the Battle of the Ardennes December, 1944. The closest of the northern German armored thrust routes ran through Recht, about five miles northwest of St. Vith. St. Vith is built on a low hill surrounded on all sides by slightly higher rises. 1947. Im going to guess that they just created this all up in their head. Soon after its crossing, B Company ran into German infantry dug in along the high ground overlooking the village of Elcherath. The provisional company of 424th stragglers disappeared during the night. Cole, Hugh M. The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge. Schiffer Publishing, 2000. The fight lasted for more than three hours before the Germans withdrew, leaving one burning tank and approximately 150 dead. 2014. 1945. Such events might have taken place in reality, true. . Similar events have happened more than once, though on the Eastern Front. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. Combat Interviews of the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, 7th Armored Division: The St. Vith Salient, December 17-23, 1944. Panzer Tracts No. Office of the Chief of Military History, Dept. Elements of the 62nd Volksgrenadier had taken the eastern half of Winterspelt during the night, and at daybreak reinforcements finally drove Colonel Reids 1st Battalion from the village. Companies A and B held a line from Grufflingen to Hohenbusch with Company A, 14th Tank Battalion to their north. The closest primary German armored thrust route to the south ran through Burg Reuland, also about five miles from St. Vith. However, it cannot be safely assumed that the tank killed in this engagement was a Tiger I or a Tiger II. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); The fortified goose egg ran nearly 10 miles in diameter, containing a mass of forest and only one decent road running northwest to southwest. By midnight on the 19th, the horseshoe- shaped defense of St. Vith had taken form. Volksgrenadier-Division. I mention it for the sake of completeness as I suspect that the whole thing is a myth. Zaloga, Steven. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945.. 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 town was also in Fifth Panzer Armys area of advance. German Division Nr. For faster navigation, this Iframe is preloading the Wikiwand page for 18th Volksgrenadier Division. Anderson, Thomas. The event simply was not that notable. The foot elements of the 27th AIB were then to move out with Company B, 482nd Antiaircraft Artillery and some light tanks from Company D, 14th Tank Battalion following behind Company B, 27th AIB. 6 Schwere Panzerkampfwagen DW to E-100. 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 . This battalion hit the 424ths Cannon Company at the Weissenhof crossroads. Darlington Productions Inc., 2000. 1941622 . On February 5, 1945 General Walter Botsch took over command of the division. 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 . Therefore, Montgomery ordered Ridgway to attack to the southeast until Vielsalm could be reached, ensuring an escape corridor for those trapped within the defense. This initial thrust carried the enemy approximately 400 yards into the battalions sector. The job of capturing St. Vith went to the Fifth Panzer Armys 66th Corps, commanded by General Walther Lucht. A Company moved south under the protection of the high river bank, while C Company deployed along the left side of the road as the enveloping company. Volksgrenadier Division 2. 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. Although the bridge over the Our was blown, the German presence kept growing. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army ( Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. The formations started to peel backward in succession from opposite Neubruck to Maldingen. Both American units were able to drive forward, and the Shermans knocked out six German armored vehicles. Schiffer Publishing, 2000. Model informed Manteuffel that he would be given the Fhrer Escort Brigade, which was nearly equal in strength to an American light armored division, for the upcoming assault on St. Vith. Those factors dictated that at least another 24 hours would be needed before a major assault on St. Vith could begin. Company A of the 14th Tank Battalion had some trouble disengaging. Volksgrenadier-Division 5 [ ] 12th Volksgrenadier Division 89; 197; 487; 557; 650; 727. 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 original story, if there even was one, was told and retold and distorted until everyone and their brother claimed to know the guys that did it. 223 () - Wikiwand 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. Its supporting field artillery battalion was at Kalterherberg, two miles south of Monschau, engaged in firing missions for the 2nd and 99th Infantry Divisions. It was around 1200 hours and all was quiet when suddenly a German heavy tank was spotted slowly approaching the American line, a Tiger I. The German armored and infantry attacks were preceded by the shelling of the American positions with at least 657 light, medium, and heavy guns and howitzers and 340 multiple rocket launchers. December 20 was a day of disappointment for the Germans around St. Vith. However, Company B, 27th AIB was sent to help ease the situation, covering the cavalrys left flank. Attacking the rear of a Tiger when you had no way of knowing if it was supported by one or more others is extremely unlikely. Gen. Herbert T. Perrin, assistant commander of the 106th Infantry Division, drove up carrying a message from General Jones. About: 18th Volksgrenadier Division - dbpedia.org The same story is retold in A Colonel in the Armored Divisions A Memoir, 19411945 by William S. Triplet, and like a game of telephone it gets even more distorted. 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. The 424th Infantry still blocked the road to the Our River and Steinebruck. If neither a Tiger I nor a Tiger II was killed on 18th December 1944 in or around the town of St. Vith by an M8 Greyhound, what was? 'poor shape' in a sentence. First Edition, Presidio Press, 2002. Your email address will not be published. First-time contributor Charles Gutierrez is the son of a 9th Armored Division veteran. Osprey Publishing, 2002. In the early afternoon of the 22nd, he arrived at General Hasbroucks headquarters in Vielsalm to plan the withdrawal. 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 ground was frozen solid. 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. 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. As a result of 7th Armoreds earlier regrouping, Rodt was the junction point between CCA of the 7th Armored under the command of Colonel Rosebaum and General Clarkes CCB. 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 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. If it was on a slope and firing down to the engine bay, then maybe but that would require it to be at such an angle that the M8 would topple and roll down. In my opinion, the only definite conclusion that can be made from all this is that some American vehicle engaged something at St. Vith on the night of the 18th. A mobile battalion of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division was already moving on Andler to seize the Schoenberg bridge and the road to St. Vith. Captain Ansteys version lacks supporting documentation. 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. 18th Volksgrenadier Division - Wikipedia Eventually retreating through Germany until the end of the war, when it surrendered. Adding to the slowdown of operations against St. Vith, the 18th Volksgrenadier Division was still using two of its three regiments and all but one of its artillery battalions against the two trapped 106th Infantry Division regiments on the Schnee Eifel. Since St. Vith should have been taken on December 16 or the 17th at the latest, he decided to leave his command post at Waxweiler and spend the night with the 18th Volksgrenadier Division at Schoenberg. During the assault, B Company suffered about 40 casualties including its commanding officer, Captain Henry D. Wirsig. 301 sentences with 'poor shape'. Thus, the Fifth Panzer Army commander ordered that St. Vith be taken no later than the second day of the offensive. After the Tiger I had passed, the armored car then slipped out of its concealed position and began accelerating towards the tank in an attempt to close the gap between the two. 1945. This left General Clarke with only one full company of armored infantrymen. Schneider, Wolfgang. Before the day ended, renewed fighting broke out along the entire front. The next move was up to General Lucht and his corps. Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz (1918) Periode: Eerste Wereldoorlog (1914-1918) . 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. 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 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. Penguin Books, 2016. Clerks were running everywhere and junior staff officers were arguing among themselves; upstairs, however, Hoge found General Jones remarkably composed. 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 Battle of the Bulge & The Defense of St. Vith 1946. Although the 62nd Volksgrenadier captured Winterspelt, its losses were high and its left regiment had made little headway in the Heckhuschied sector. So, rather than spill blood needlessly to take meaningless ground, Hoge called off the attack on Winterspelt. War Department Field Manual FM 2-20 Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop Mechanized. Farther to the north, in the 7th Armored sector, the pressure exerted by the enemy was also intense. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18th VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. 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. Jentz, Thomas. In blinding snow and on slippery roads the tanks and infantry of CCB, 9th Armored headed for Bauvenn. 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.
18th volksgrenadier division
