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Although General Jones was deeply worried about his two regiments on the Schnee Eifel, he was also highly concerned about the German advances in the Winterspelt area where his 424th Infantry Regiment was defending. Those men were a scrappy bunch. VGD. 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. Osprey Publishing, 2010. 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. English PDF (15 MB) Jan B-603 352d Volks Grenadier Division (19 Freb.-21 Mar. The next move was up to General Lucht and his corps. The 62nd, like the 18th, included three regiments of two battalions each. Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. 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. To execute this maneuver, Hoges entire command would have to move all the way up to St. Vith and back down again. 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. An assault on Thommen forced out the troops holding the town, and efforts to retake it failed. Jones had been counting on this when he sent Hoges 9th Armored Command to Winterspelt rather than Schoenberg. The M8 was used mostly as a reconnaissance vehicle for scouting. What Jones did not tell Hoge was that in one of those regiments his own son was serving at regimental headquarters. Griffin, Marcus S. After Action Report, Month of December 1944. 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. The American armor of the 7th and 9th Armored Divisions plus supporting units were being pressed into an area in which motorized forcestanks, half-tracks, self-propelled artillery, tank destroyersoperated with great difficulty. First Edition, Presidio Press, 2002. 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 1300 on the 21st, the entire line was ablaze with German artillery, rockets, tanks, and infantry. Johnston, W. Wesley. The next notable version of this tale comes from a 1966 book by the US Army Armor School titled The Battle at St. Vith, Belgium 17-23 December 1944: A Historical Example of Armor in the Defense. 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. M8 Greyhound Light Armored Car 1941-91. Zaloga, Steven. Johnston, W. Wesley. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945.. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army ( Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. The other, the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division, bore the number of an infantry division destroyed on the Eastern Front, which had been reconstituted. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. 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. Combat Interviews of the 38th Armored Infantry Battalion, 7th Armored Division: The St. Vith Salient and Manhay, December 17-23, 1944. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18. The guns of two platoons of Company A, 811th Tank Destroyers were overrun. However, this platoon never completed its mission. Zaloga, Steven. 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. 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. 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. Schneider, Wolfgang. 4 Grosstraktor to Panzerbefehlswagen IV. 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. Additionally, the M8s 37 mm M6 gun is more than capable of penetrating the rear hull and rear casemate armor of the StuG III. Then there is the issue of the entrys ambiguity in regards to the Tiger tank that was knocked out. Office of the Chief of Military History, Dept. This leads to a second candidate, the StuG III. Communications with division headquarters in St. Vith were limited to liaison officers running along a road now being shelled by the Germans. The hardest hit, though, were the armored infantrymen of the 27th AIB with nearly 300 battle casualties. Because the Our had ceased to be a barrier anywhere else, General Hoge felt that there was little to gain in continuing to overextend his command to hold the low ground along the river. However, by noon on December 18 it was quite apparent to Hoge that the Germans infiltrating across the river were converging on the bridge in such numbers that it had to be blown. As the offensive steam came to an end in the Ardennes, the division went on the defensive, and there they would stay. Add to cart. All in all, the only things that the American claims concerning the famed M8 Greyhound versus Tiger engagement can agree on are that on the 18th of December 1944 an M8 Greyhound from some unit of the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron killed some sort of German tank in or around the town of St. Vith. . A two-day rest was planned for everyone. 1940. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Stackpole Books, 2015. The troops were exhausted and spread out. Eventually retreating through Germany until the end of the war, when it surrendered. 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. 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. The 294th Volksgrenadier Regiment was a unit of the larger 18th Volksgrenadier Division. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. 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. Established in 1941, the unit was deployed in German-occupied areas of the Soviet Union, in the Army Group North Rear Area. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division completed its southern swing, encircling the two regiments of the 106th Division on the Schnee Eifel. 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. 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 . You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz (1918) Period: First World War (1914-1918) Awarded on: . Perrin told General Hoge, You can continue this attack on towards this back country, but you must be back on this side of the river by nightfall.. The second task force consisted of B Company of the 811th Tank Destroyers. 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. When you get surprised like this, you become cautious.Undoubtedly much, if not most, of the armor encountered by Manteuffels probing actions during the early days of the German offensive belonged to CCB, 9th Armored Division. 194311 Gen. Robert Hasbroucks 7th Armored Division would be arriving at St. Vith at 0700 on the 17th. His troops remained in place, and the pullout to the west side of the Our River began at dusk. 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. I think we can make it now. 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. The commanders were at the center of the Foret Domaniale du Grand Bois. 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. 47. 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 18th Volksgrenadier Division(18. 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 assault, B Company suffered about 40 casualties including its commanding officer, Captain Henry D. Wirsig. Should 7th Armored lose St. Vith, 9th Armored would be unable to withdraw on its own axis. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18.Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. First-time contributor Charles Gutierrez is the son of a 9th Armored Division veteran. Not only does this change Captain Ansteys version of the story, but this also confirms the possibility that Troop Es entry could have been talking about a Tiger II. So its quite possible! 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 division retrained as 22.Luftlande-Division (Air Landing Division) for rapid tactical deployment to capture enemy airbases and performed in that role during the . GitHub export from English Wikipedia. var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; Just kept to the main story. }(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. 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. 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. In the early afternoon of the 22nd, he arrived at General Hasbroucks headquarters in Vielsalm to plan the withdrawal. 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. Manteuffel answered, We estimated that we were up against a division, and perhaps against an entire corps. The mud had made the roads and open areas impassable for armored vehicles. None of these Tiger IIs were lost at St. Vith and from photographic evidence at least three are recorded to have no burn damage and/or holes in the rear. Boylan, Vincent L. After Action Report, Month of December, 1944. 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 14th Tank Battalion was on its way to the Steinebruck bridge when Brig. Early on the 19th, the Germans made reconnaissance probes. 45 mm. Tigers In Combat II. What a fantastic real-life story or is it? The bridge at Steinebruck was intentionally left intact by General Hoge on the outside chance that some of the American troops trapped in the vicinity of the Schnee Eifel might be able to maneuver their way there. There is no comparison to Tiger. 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 immediately got on the phone and ordered Engeman to move out. Osprey Publishing, 2003. 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. 18e volksgrenadier division English translation: 18th volksgrenadier division (wehrmacht).. Not to mention that the M8s 37 mm M6 gun is more than capable of penetrating the rear hull armor of the Panzer IV, which was only 20 mm thick angled at 10 degrees. Furthermore, General Clarke had no idea when his command would arrive. The surviving Volksgrenadiers fled in disarray. The message was that his command was now back with VIII Corps and that he was to go to St. Vith and report to Maj. Gen. Alan W. Jones, commander of the newly arrived 106th Infantry Division. Design, Production & Modifications. While on its way, the platoon was commandeered by a colonel from the 106th Division. This information came from the division's senior headquarters, the VIII Corps, First U.S. Army. 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. Encyclopedia of German tanks of World War Two. 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). Panzer Tracts No. It saw action in France before taking part in the fighting in the Ardennes where it suffered heavy losses, it continued fighting on the western front until the end . 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. Field Marshal Montgomery, believing that Ridgways Corps could not attack successfully toward Vielsalm and that the American forces within the goose egg could better be used in support of other forces committed to the northern shoulder defense, decided upon a general withdrawal. Could a Panther be a possibility? The Germans attacked the center of the 27th AIB. This means that 50% of shots fired will penetrate this amount of armor. 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. On February 5, 1945 General Walter Botsch took over command of the division. Infanterie-Division 19398 . Rather than reaching the Meuse and driving on to Antwerp, the offensive stalled and eventually was turned back. Osprey Publishing, 2010. American Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force Choose a Unit. 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. Schneider, Wolfgang. Troop D, 89th Recon and Company D, 14th Tank Battalion formed a line from Grufflingen to Thommen, and Companies B and C of the 14th Tank Battalion took up positions between Thommen and Maldange. Infanterie-Division Hamburg 19453 . Late in the day, the Germans launched three major attacks, each directed along a main road leading into the town. Germanys Tiger Tanks VK45.02 to TIGER II. Troop D, 89th Recon held the sector from Steinebruck to Weppeler while A Company, 27th AIB put up a defensive line anchored on the high ground east of Maspelt. At about 0930, the enemy attacked St. Vith from Hunningen to the north, apparently in an effort to envelop Clarkes left flank. Fire from the 16th Field Artillery broke up other enemy formations trying to assemble on the high ground to the south. 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. To this end, General Hoge was in the town of Monschau to check on the possibility of getting his command across in that area. 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 VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945.. He said that the fight took about ninety minutes and that they used almost all their ammunition. 223 223. The time was approximately 1800 on Saturday, December 16, when Combat Command B of the 9th Armored Division began its move to St. Vith. Seventh Armored Division Association 2517 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington 8, D.C., 1947. 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. St. Vith is built on a low hill surrounded on all sides by slightly higher rises. Gen. Hasbrouck, commander of the 7th Armored Division, sent a message to General Ridgway urging withdrawal, which in part read, P.S. Your email address will not be published. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18. According to the British, 37 mm M6 guns APC M51 can only penetrate around a maximum of 65mm of rolled homogeneous armor plate (RHA) at 30 degrees under V50 ballistic standards. Outnumbered and in danger of encirclement, the cannoneers and their rifle support from C Company made a platoon-by-platoon withdrawal toward Winterspelt. Volksgrenadier-Division. 8 Sturmgeschuetz s.Pak to Sturmmoerser. Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. However, there is one major issue with this explanation, Panzer IVs were not attacking Troop B. Thus, the job of rescuing the two trapped infantry regiments on the Schnee Eifel passed from the 9th to the 7th Armored Division. At 0130 the 27th AIB was hit hard and the sector held by Company B, 9th Engineers was deeply penetrated, causing the armored infantry to fall back under the protective guns of Company A, 14th Tank Battalion. Osprey Publishing, 2003. By 2300 enemy patrols tested 27th AIBs new position and a night attack was thrown back with the help of D Troop, 89th Recon. 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. js.src = "//player.ex.co/player/710cf52d-720a-4250-8e95-fc85dcedab01"; It would be unable to turn its full strength on St. Vith until the American surrender in that area. Staff officers were casualties. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. By 1245, the original line was restored, and the antitank guns of Company A, 811th Tank Destroyers were recovered. Manteuffels operation in the St. Vith area was already three days behind schedule. The 16th Field Artillery also pitched in, as did a battalion of 155mm howitzers sited around Commanster. EN RU CN DE ES. The new sector assigned to CCB was on the fringe of territory the Sixth Panzer Army had mapped out for its further maneuvers. Between these units, a place was found for the provisional company composed of the 424th Infantry stragglers. Battle of the Bulge 1944 (1): St Vith and the Northern Shoulder. 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. Company B of the 9th Engineers and D Company of the 89th Recon joined the line to supplement the armored infantry. Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. 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. . Aside from the cold and mud, there was also the enemy to contend with. 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 . events, and resources, The Battle of the Bulge & The Defense of St. Vith. 301 sentences with 'poor shape'. The German 20th Infantry Division was an infantry division of Nazi Germany.HistoryThe was established in 1934 under the cover name. Operation Nordwind 1945 Hitlers last offensive in the West. This article already explains ballistics and mentions that while Panther was vulnerable to lower-caliber AT guns, the Tigers were almost immune to them. He also said that they got a new Greyhound. (function (d, s, n) { Staff Sergeant Frank Mykalo knocked out a German machine-gun position, enabling the men in the lead half-tracks to dismount and deploy along the side of the road. 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. Heeft u zelf meer informatie over deze persoon? 'poor shape' in a sentence. Late on the 20th, patrols of the 82nd Airborne Division, on the other side of the Salm River, established contact with patrols of the 7th Armored Division. The Seventh Armored Division in the Battle of St. Vith. At 0200 on December 22, the Fhrer Escort Brigade launched its attack against the town of Rodt, a small village west of St. Vith. 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. 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. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945.. The column came upon stragglers from the 424th Infantry retreating in disarray toward St. Vith. Ninth Armored sent out billeting parties as it reached its new area. The job of capturing St. Vith went to the Fifth Panzer Armys 66th Corps, commanded by General Walther Lucht. For faster navigation, this Iframe is preloading the Wikiwand page for 18th Volksgrenadier Division. 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? Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. Yeah but Panthers rear and side armor is very weak, so its completely different story. The U.S. 9th Armored Division arrived in the European Theater of Operations in late October 1944 as a reserve for Maj. Gen. . Eisernes Kreuz 2.Klasse (1914) Period: First World War (1914-1918) Awarded on: October 30th, 1917. Soon after its crossing, B Company ran into German infantry dug in along the high ground overlooking the village of Elcherath. 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 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. Germanys Tiger Tanks D.W. to Tiger I: Design, Production & Modifications. Penguin Books, 2016. The Seventh Armored Division in the Battle of St. Vith. Were any of these Tiger Is and or Tiger IIs knocked out on the 18th of December, 1944? The last Tiger II belonged to Schwere Panzer Abteilung 506 (Heavy Tank Battalion 506) and was lost to enemy fire on the Lentzweiler road in Luxemburg. 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. Panzer Tracts No. With the unexplained disappearance of D Troop from the 89th Reconnaissance Platoon, Company B, 27th AIB became the leading element. Perhaps the most unlikely performer of the entire battle was the 18th Volksgrenadier Division. Armored Champion, The Top Tanks of World War II. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. In blinding snow and on slippery roads the tanks and infantry of CCB, 9th Armored headed for Bauvenn. Pegov in March 1944 on a light tank T-70 destroyed two German Panthers aboard. 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.