First Edition, Stackpole Books, 2005. 12th Volksgrenadier Division 89; 197; 487; 557; 650; 727. 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 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. During the 27th AIBs assault, a call went out for the 14th Tank Battalion to join the action. Possibly such events took place in reality. 223 223. At about midday, the field marshal sent a message to General Hasbrouck: You have accomplished your missiona mission well done. Osprey Publishing, 2010. Between these units, a place was found for the provisional company composed of the 424th Infantry stragglers. He could not believe it. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. After listening to the information provided by General Clarkes staff officer, General Hoge decided to go to St. Vith himself to assess the situation. To execute this maneuver, Hoges entire command would have to move all the way up to St. Vith and back down again. The new sector assigned to CCB was on the fringe of territory the Sixth Panzer Army had mapped out for its further maneuvers. 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. The route terminated at several vital crossroads in the city of St. Vith. 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. 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. 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. Engeman set out with two task forces to meet the enemy. At 0100 the 23rd, D Troop, 89th Recon lost an armored car and a jeep to antitank guns. 3. Lucht anticipated that the Americans would counterattack the next day, but that their reaction would be too late to avoid complete encirclement. Such was not the case, however, and by the evening of the December 20, the Germans were feeling the growing negative effects of the St. Vith salient. The Sherman tanks of B Company repulsed the enemy with fire from their 76mm guns. 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. General Luchts plan for December 17 was simple. The division, which was under the command of Gnther Hoffmann-Schnborn, absorbed . Chamberlain, Peter, et al. Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. 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. There are a few notable issues raised by this morning report and record of events entry, the most obvious one being that the M8 Greyhound is reported as being from Troop A of the 87th, not Troop B of the 87th, as it is in the contemporary story. 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. Sometime later that Monday morning, General Hoge sent his liaison officer to St. Vith to learn the dispositions of CCB, 7th Armored Division. 13th Flak Division 651 . 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. Airfix J6017 Volkswagen Camper Van (Quick Build) R 405.00. Johnston, W. Wesley. What he claimed was that the fight wasnt as easy as it is presented here. M8 Greyhound Light Armored Car 1941-91. 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. Hoge could not see much sense in making an attack, taking ground, and then turning right around and coming back, especially if the attack was successful. The corps consisted of two infantry divisions. 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. Gen. Herbert T. Perrin, assistant commander of the 106th Infantry Division, drove up carrying a message from General Jones. Volksgrenadier-Division. I think we can make it now. Schiffer Publishing, 1997. 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)! Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. 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. 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. . How about a Tiger II? 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. This information came from the division's senior headquarters, the VIII Corps, First U.S. Army. Close. Manteuffel had hoped for considerably more on the 19th. Company B was stationed east of Galhausen and maintained contact with the nearest elements of the 7th Armored Division on 9th Armoreds left flank. 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. German 18th Volksgrenadier Div. 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. Infanterie-Division . Thus, there are four different versions of this story circulating: Troop Es version with a Tiger I, Troop Es version with a Tiger II, Captain Ansteys version with a Tiger I, and Captain Ansteys version with a Tiger II. 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. 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. The stubborn defenders of St. Vith played a major role in defeating the final German offensive of World War II in Western Europe. 2014 Close. The M8 was used mostly as a reconnaissance vehicle for scouting. For example, when G.I. 'poor shape' in a sentence. 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. 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. VGD. 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. 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. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. 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). We made several probing attacks, and every time we went into your position, we encountered armor. . 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. This initial thrust carried the enemy approximately 400 yards into the battalions sector. Back in the 1970s I worked with a man who told this story, he claimed he was the driver. 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 M5 got within a yard of the Tiger and knocked it out with 5 rounds. 1940 194111. Hoge immediately got on the phone and ordered Engeman to move out. School of Tank Technology, April 1944. Volksgrenadier-Division. So, rather than spill blood needlessly to take meaningless ground, Hoge called off the attack on Winterspelt. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division(18th VGD) was a volksgrenadierdivision of the German Army(Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. 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. 1945) English PDF (18 MB) Jan B-627 Volkssturm (Oct. 1944-Apr. On this day, CCB of the 9th Armored Division was still in its assembly area in the vicinity of Faymonville. It is possible (if unlikely) that this event was completely unrelated to the M8 Greyhound versus Tiger story. Infanterie-Division Hamburg 19453 . 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. Volksgrenadier-Division. 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. (1944) 111 111. 2014. 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. Schiffer Publishing, 1996. 4 Grosstraktor to Panzerbefehlswagen IV. First Edition, Presidio Press, 2002. Ten tanks, numerous supply vehicles, armored cars, and jeeps were lost to enemy action. 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. The only known witness to the supposed event, Captain Walter Henry Anstey, died on 26th October 2003 at the age of 90, taking the truth of the events that day to his grave. 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. Eventually retreating through Germany until the end of the war, when it surrendered. 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. As each unit joined the rear of the column, it took its turn being the rear guard. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. Early on the 19th, the Germans made reconnaissance probes. By the end of the day, the 27th AIB had withdrawn through Steinebruck without casualties despite enemy shelling of the village. The formations started to peel backward in succession from opposite Neubruck to Maldingen. Zaloga, Steven. Clarke, Bruce. The column came upon stragglers from the 424th Infantry retreating in disarray toward St. Vith. This article already explains ballistics and mentions that while Panther was vulnerable to lower-caliber AT guns, the Tigers were almost immune to them. Yeah but Panthers rear and side armor is very weak, so its completely different story. The town was also in Fifth Panzer Armys area of advance. Division 4. Both task forces reached St. Vith shortly before noon on the 18th to find not one, but two German attacks moving against the town. The German plan for the attack through the Ardennes, an offensive that would forever be known as the Battle of the Bulge, was to be accomplished in the conventional manner. The closest primary German armored thrust route to the south ran through Burg Reuland, also about five miles from St. Vith. var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; I have come to believe is that this type of fight happened more than once. Its population in 1944 was about 2,000, and its citizens were very much pro-German. At approximately 0930 on December 17, B Company was the first 9th Armored Division unit to cross the Our River. After conferring with Clarke, Ridgway wanted to talk to one more man in whom he had supreme confidenceBrigadier General Hoge. 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. Griffin, Marcus S. After Action Report, Month of December 1944. Hoge and Clarke agreed that Hoges entire command should be withdrawn west of the railroad tracks. The situation on Reids left flank was unclear, and the Germans were attacking in considerable force against his right flank. CCB, 9th Armored was linked on its left with CCB, 7th Armored and what was left of the 424th Infantry Regiment on its right. 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. The second task force consisted of B Company of the 811th Tank Destroyers. Design, Production & Modifications. A two-day rest was planned for everyone. According to Hugh M. Cole, an American historian and army officer. 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. 281st Security Division (281. Those men were a scrappy bunch. Panzertruppen Volume 2 The Complete Guide to the Creation & Combat Deployment of The German Tank Forces 1943-1945. Battle of the Bulge 1944 (1): St Vith and the Northern Shoulder. As the offensive steam came to an end in the Ardennes, the division went on the defensive, and there they would stay. of the Army, 1965. Johnston, W. Wesley. It appeared now that the fate of his two northern regiments was sealed.