of the Army, 1965. Under the command of Gnther Hoffmann-Schnborn, the new division absorbed elements of the 18th Luftwaffe Field Division. Seventh Armored Division Association 2517 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington 8, D.C., 1947. 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. However, he kept these misgivings to himself. Yeah but Panthers rear and side armor is very weak, so its completely different story. Company A of the 27th AIB had been assigned to the 99th Infantry Division and was in the process of being retrieved when the march to St. Vith began. 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. Additionally, the M8s 37 mm M6 gun is more than capable of penetrating the rear hull and rear casemate armor of the StuG III. The Battle at St. Vith, Belgium 17-23 December 1944 An Historical Example of Armor in the Defense. 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. In minutes, a platoon of medium tanks from A Company of the 14th rolled across the bridge at Steinebruck and placed high explosive and heavy machine-gun fire on the enemys position in the woods and along the draw. Osprey Publishing, 2002. 1945. Overall operational command for the offensive fell to Field Marshal Walther Model. Cole, Hugh M. The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge. 6731 Whittier Avenue, Suite C-100 McLean, VA 22101, Stay up to date with all of our latest news, What he claimed was that the fight wasnt as easy as it is presented here. Johnston, W. Wesley. It is time to withdraw.. Could an M8 Greyhounds 37 mm M6 gun even penetrate the rear hull armor of a Tiger I? Although it was beaten off, the attacking Germans were identified as new to the area, soldiers of the 9th SS Panzer Division, a cause for considerable concern at this point in the battle. First-time contributor Charles Gutierrez is the son of a 9th Armored Division veteran. Required fields are marked *. Orders for CCB, 9th Armored to move to a new defensive position were issued at 1600. 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. 13th Flak Division 651 . . Osprey Publishing, 2010. VGD division was absorbed into the 26. Attack on Panther PzKw V and Tiger PzKw VI. By 1300 on the 21st, the entire line was ablaze with German artillery, rockets, tanks, and infantry. It was at full strength and supplied with the latest equipment. He said that the fight took about ninety minutes and that they used almost all their ammunition. 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 fight ended when he slammed the M8 (he called it a Greyhound) into the rear of Tiger and the gun crew fired three rapid fire rounds into the engine compartment. The division had lost four companies of armored infantry. 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 18th Volksgrenadier Division completed its southern swing, encircling the two regiments of the 106th Division on the Schnee Eifel. 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. So, rather than spill blood needlessly to take meaningless ground, Hoge called off the attack on Winterspelt. Its population in 1944 was about 2,000, and its citizens were very much pro-German. Schiffer Publishing, 1997. Ridgways 82nd Airborne was building a fairly firm line west of the St. Vith defenders that should prevent the Germans from cutting off the salient from the rear. What Jones did not tell Hoge was that in one of those regiments his own son was serving at regimental headquarters. Ten tanks, numerous supply vehicles, armored cars, and jeeps were lost to enemy action. 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. 47. 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. Zaloga, Steven. I am a huge M8 Greyhound fan, having built a model at age 13 and I now own a 1:6 scale one with 4-man crew. Operation Nordwind 1945 Hitlers last offensive in the West. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. It contained the 293., 294. and 295. grenadier regiments, Panzerjger-Bataillon 1818, Pionier-Bataillon 1818, Fsilier-Bataillon 1818 and Artillerie-Regiment 1818.[1]. On its way to the new position, C Company came under a sudden artillery and rocket barrage in the village of Lommersweiler. Soon after its crossing, B Company ran into German infantry dug in along the high ground overlooking the village of Elcherath. CCB, 9th Armored was linked on its left with CCB, 7th Armored and what was left of the 424th Infantry Regiment on its right. Stackpole Books, 2015. The heroic defense of St. Vith, though costly in men and materil, disrupted the German timetable extensively. 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. Approximately three hours later a German company marched out of Neidingen and along the road leading straight into C Companys position, apparently totally unaware of 9th Armoreds recent change of position. 1941622 . Operation Nordwind 1945 Hitlers last offensive in the West. The Germans were now on the high ground north of Eigelscheid overlooking the road to Winterspelt. Although the Germans were facing stiff resistance all along the American defensive line, they were determined to take St. Vith. Penguin Books, 2016. 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. Also no Ferdinand/Elefant recorded to have seen combat on Western Front. Jentz, Thomas. Seventh Armored Division Association 2517 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington 8, D.C., 1947. September 18th, 1944: Kdr. Late in the day, the Germans launched three major attacks, each directed along a main road leading into the town. Once in St. Vith, Jones explained that only the leading elements of the 7th Armored Division had arrived thus far and that St. Viths northern approach was under attack. Hoge and Ridgway had been on the West Point football team together when Ridgway had been the teams manager. (1944) 111 111. 2014 Furthermore, General Clarke had no idea when his command would arrive. Staff officers were casualties. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18. The surviving Volksgrenadiers fled in disarray. 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. 13th Company, 28th Jager Regiment, 8th Jager Division 286. VGD) was a volksgrenadierdivision of the German Army(Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. September 18th, 1944: Kdr. By the end of the day, the 27th AIB had withdrawn through Steinebruck without casualties despite enemy shelling of the village. History. I have come to believe is that this type of fight happened more than once. This leads to a second candidate, the StuG III. Schneider, Wolfgang. However, this platoon never completed its mission. A mobile battalion of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division was already moving on Andler to seize the Schoenberg bridge and the road to St. Vith. Design, Production & Modifications. The M8 was used mostly as a reconnaissance vehicle for scouting. 13 relations. Lucht anticipated that the Americans would counterattack the next day, but that their reaction would be too late to avoid complete encirclement. School of Tank Technology, April 1944. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. Anderson, Thomas. The division, which was under the command of Gnther Hoffmann-Schnborn, absorbed . Germanys Tiger Tanks D.W. to Tiger I: Design, Production & Modifications. There is no comparison to Tiger. 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. Hoge has just reported an attack. Two regiments of the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division attacked 9th Armored positions early that morning, their goal to gain the Salm River at Salmchateau. By 2300 enemy patrols tested 27th AIBs new position and a night attack was thrown back with the help of D Troop, 89th Recon. Zaloga, Steven. At 0100 the 23rd, D Troop, 89th Recon lost an armored car and a jeep to antitank guns. St. Vith is built on a low hill surrounded on all sides by slightly higher rises. The entire division was to follow shortly thereafter. 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. The mobile battalion consisted of three platoons of assault guns, a company of engineers, and another of fusiliers. 2014. Infanterie-Division 19398 . Its supporting field artillery battalion was at Kalterherberg, two miles south of Monschau, engaged in firing missions for the 2nd and 99th Infantry Divisions. Resistance by service company personnel in Rodt was fierce with every possible mandrivers, cooks, radio operatorsemployed in the defense; however, after nine hours of battle against the much superior German force, Rodt fell. 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. 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. The fact that there were Panzer IVs attacking the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (minus Troop B) and the similarity in appearance between the Tiger I and Panzer IV would account for both Troop Es account and Troop Ds potential account of this event. Both American units were able to drive forward, and the Shermans knocked out six German armored vehicles. Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. EN. One German tank was seen going up in flames. 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. December, 1944 By Greg Moore gregpanzerblitz.com December, 2008 Battalion I x 5 x 4 x 1 x 2 x 12 293rd Volks- . 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. Late on December 17, General Manteuffel was concerned with the lack of progress in his attack beyond the Schnee Eifel toward St. Vith. Amazing discounts for bundles. Another attack hit the left flank of 7th Armored. 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. Together they broke up the attack. 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. 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. 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. 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. The move would also have to be done under the cover of darkness in severe wintry conditions. This left General Clarke with only one full company of armored infantrymen. 4 Grosstraktor to Panzerbefehlswagen IV. This moment marked the beginning of the famous Battle of the Bulge, Germany's last major offensive on the Western Front in World War II. Perhaps the most unlikely performer of the entire battle was the 18th Volksgrenadier Division. 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. One task force encountered reconnaissance probes on N27 conducted by units of the 1st SS Panzer Division approximately 1,000 yards north of St. Vith. 18th Artillery Division 651. They were repulsed by machine-gun fire. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division(18. Dragon 1625 1/16th Obersturmfuhrer Totenkopf Division Budapest 1945 R 275.00. After that mornings enemy assaults, the line of the 27th AIB was reestablished west of Neubruck. 120th Infantry Regiment (30th Infantry Division) 307th Airborne Engineer Battalion 319th Field Artillery Glider Battalion 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment German Units 3d Parachute Division 12th SS Panzer Division 18th Volksgrenadier Division 246th Volsgrenadier Division 884th March Battalion 905th Assault Gun Brigade The Sixth Panzer Army, with the 15th Army on its right, was to launch the main attack between Monschau in the north and Prum in the south. 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 . Chamberlain, Peter, et al. To this end, General Hoge was in the town of Monschau to check on the possibility of getting his command across in that area. Collins, Joshua, and Erik Albertson. 18e volksgrenadier division English translation: 18th volksgrenadier division (wehrmacht).. Osprey Publishing, 2010. Division 3. 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 At about 1700, the enemy attacked along the Schoenberg road from the east; at 1830, they came down the Malmedy road from the north, and at 2000, an attack started from the southeast along the Prum road. M8 Greyhound Light Armored Car 1941-91. General Hoge moved his command post to Commanster. It is a classic David versus Goliath tale straight out of World War II that features American heroism. As the offensive steam came to an end in the Ardennes, the division went on the defensive, and there they would stay. In blinding snow and on slippery roads the tanks and infantry of CCB, 9th Armored headed for Bauvenn. 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. Darlington Productions Inc., 2000. Encyclopedia of German tanks of World War Two. On the morning of the December 20, three tank destroyers were placed in support of Company C, 27th AIB. It consisted of the 136th 138th and 139th Mountain Replacement Regiments and the 112th Artillery At about noon that day, the 62nd Volksgrenadier Divisions 190th Regiment had broken through north of the 424th Infantrys Cannon Company. Manteuffels operation in the St. Vith area was already three days behind schedule. The mud had made the roads and open areas impassable for armored vehicles. That cold snap that hit us has frozen the roads. Volksgrenadier-Division. 2014. 'poor shape' in a sentence. Eisernes Kreuz 2.Klasse (1914) Periode: Eerste Wereldoorlog (1914-1918) Toegekend op: 30 oktober 1917. Thus, the job of rescuing the two trapped infantry regiments on the Schnee Eifel passed from the 9th to the 7th Armored Division. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division was to attack along the two roads from Schoenberg, with the Fhrer Escort Brigade assaulting from the north. Schneider, Wolfgang. At approximately 0530 on December 16, eight German armored divisions and 13 infantry divisions launched their all-out attack on five divisions of the U.S. First Army. United States 106th Infantry Division on the 16th and 17th of December 1944 (the first two days of the battle of the Ardennes were as follows: 1. 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. 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 time was approximately 1800 on Saturday, December 16, when Combat Command B of the 9th Armored Division began its move to St. Vith. Infanterie-Division . This was no place to conduct a mobile defense with armor-heavy forces. The unit was converted to an infantry division in 1945, while stationed in Courland. However, it cannot be safely assumed that the tank killed in this engagement was a Tiger I or a Tiger II. At daybreak on December 21, the Germans launched their first assault of the day on CCB, 9th Armored. Hunnicutt, R. P. Armored Car A History of American Wheeled Combat Vehicles. On 18 January 1945, the final alignment became (XVIII Corps, U. S. First Army, 12th Army Group) -- the alignment in the hierarchy given here. 3. 1945. 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. events, and resources, The Battle of the Bulge & The Defense of St. Vith. Between these units, a place was found for the provisional company composed of the 424th Infantry stragglers. In light of these circumstances, General Hasbrouck felt compelled to write to Clarke that unless the withdrawal began soon the opportunity will be gone., During the night of December 22, a cold wind had begun to blow out of the east bringing what weathermen call a Russian high. Although both Clarke and Hoge noted it, they saw little hope that the ground might freeze in time to aid their withdrawal, but after receiving Hasbroucks message Clarke stepped out and tested the ground. Ministry of Supply, 1945. By mid-afternoon, General Hoge ordered his infantry to halt and dig in. Fortunately, a tank destroyer from Vielsalm turned up and hit the leading two German panzers, which drove the rest for cover. Anderson, Thomas. 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. The failure to capture St. Vith was preventing the linkup of the Fifth and the Sixth Panzer Armies. 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. Could a Panther be a possibility? Zaloga, Steven, and Tony Bryan. which, in principle, is comparable to the 37 mm American gun. Infanterie-Division 193510 [1] 22 22. The 18. 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. Farther to the north, in the 7th Armored sector, the pressure exerted by the enemy was also intense. It is certainly possible that the tank destroyed in this engagement was a Panzer IV or a StuG III but in the absence of new evidence coming to light it can only be concluded that either the Greyhound crew knocked out a completely different tank or were otherwise exaggerating some action. 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. 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. 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. Zaloga, Steven. 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 supply trains led the way north on N27 to St. Vith. Germanys Tiger Tanks VK45.02 to TIGER II. Jones explained to Hoge that his division was being attacked along its entire front and that two of his three regiments, the 422nd and the 423rd, had been partly surrounded in the Schnee Eifel area just east of Schoenberg. 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.
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