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. Osprey Publishing, 2003. 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. 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. 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. During his meeting with Hoge, General Ridgway became convinced that defending this area any further would be futile. . 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. 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. The Americans knew that their only hope in doing any sort of damage to this beast was to get as close as possible to it and shoot its weaker rear armor. 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. General Luchts plan for December 17 was simple. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. All but five troopers of 2nd Platoon were lost to enemy action. Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. It was at full strength and supplied with the latest equipment. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating the 571st Volksgrenadier Division. 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 Model released the Fhrer Escort Brigade to General Manteuffel, he thought that he would be able to gain quick access to the St. Vith road network. There was little they could do other than vow to get the attack moving early on the 20th. 2014 Late in the day, the Germans launched three major attacks, each directed along a main road leading into the town. The Pontiac, Michigan, resident also served 10 years in the U.S. Army. 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. With this contact, all units in the vicinity of St. Vith, including 9th Armored Division forces, passed to the command of Maj. Gen. Matthew B. Ridgways XVIII Airborne Corps. 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. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army ( Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. On the road to Winterspelt, General Hoge soon learned that the situation there was worse than General Jones had described. He said that the fight took about ninety minutes and that they used almost all their ammunition. Ridgway knew Hoge to be calm, courageous, and imperturbable. English Edition, Casemate Publishers, 2014. The village of Bauvenn was designated the linkage point for the two combat commands. 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. Lever het aan! 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? 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. The event simply was not that notable. Schiffer Publishing, 1997. 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. 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. 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. However, there is one major issue with this explanation, Panzer IVs were not attacking Troop B. Schiffer Publishing, 1996. 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. Combat Interviews of the 38th Armored Infantry Battalion, 7th Armored Division: The St. Vith Salient and Manhay, December 17-23, 1944. Such events might have taken place in reality, true. Then, four German antitank guns covering the Grufflingen-Maldange road were encountered. 1945. 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. 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 unit was converted to an infantry division in 1945, while stationed in Courland. 3. Under the chain of the northern sector command, only General Ridgway was unsure of Field Marshal Montgomerys decision to withdraw from the defense. 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. Under the command of Gnther Hoffmann-Schnborn, the new division absorbed elements of the 18th Luftwaffe Field Division. German reports are also far from subtlety. Clarke, Bruce. Its population in 1944 was about 2,000, and its citizens were very much pro-German. Your email address will not be published. Manteuffel answered, We estimated that we were up against a division, and perhaps against an entire corps. Our preliminary briefings had told us that there would be no armor in our path. 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. There is no comparison to Tiger. Tigers In Combat II. 6 Schwere Panzerkampfwagen DW to E-100. 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. Revised Edition, Arms and Armour Press, 1973. Clarke asked, Why in the world when I had only 2,500 men available to my command on December 17, did you not just execute a powerful frontal assault and overrun me?. 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. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945.. While making his reconnaissance at Monschau he received an urgent message to call V Corps headquarters. 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. 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 . However, the monumental traffic jams in the Losheim Gap and at Schoenberg continued to delay both the 18th Volksgrenadier Division and the Fhrer Escort Brigade, and not until after daylight on the 20th would a bridge be ready at Steinebruck for the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division. Having first conferred with General Jones, Hoge ordered a withdrawal from the river to begin after nightfall. Thus, the Fifth Panzer Army commander ordered that St. Vith be taken no later than the second day of the offensive. Could a Panther be a possibility? Besides the previously mentioned absence of any recountings of this event in several notable documents that should have contained it, and most peculiarly, Captain Anstey himself makes no mention of the engagement when he discusses and documents the events of the 18th of December 1944 in a combat interview he gave on the 2nd of January 1945, just over two weeks after the event supposedly took place. Company C, 27th AIB withdrew under heavy artillery and sniper fire but managed to destroy a number of German vehicles. Operation Nordwind 1945 Hitlers last offensive in the West. 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. To execute this maneuver, Hoges entire command would have to move all the way up to St. Vith and back down again. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. As far as Im aware no Ferdinands (all upgraded to Elefants at the stage of Ardennes Offensive) were used in the Ardennes and better yet all Elefants were in Eastern Front with the 614.sPzJgK (formerly 2./653.sPzJgAbt) after August 1944. 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 capture of St. Vith was, however, important for three other reasons: to ensure the complete isolation of Allied troops that might be trapped on a nearby ridge called the Schnee Eifel; to cover the German supply lines unraveling behind the armored corps to the north and south; and to feed reinforcements laterally into the main thrusts by using the St. Vith road net. 1945) English PDF (18 MB) Jan B-627 Volkssturm (Oct. 1944-Apr. The ultimate objective was to open an escape route for the soldiers of the 424th. After learning of the attack by the Fhrer Escort Brigade, Brig. 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. Although the 62nd Volksgrenadier captured Winterspelt, its losses were high and its left regiment had made little headway in the Heckhuschied sector. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division was to attack along the two roads from Schoenberg, with the Fhrer Escort Brigade assaulting from the north. As stated above, a 37mm cant penetrate the armor of an Tiger tank. As the offensive steam came to an end in the Ardennes, the division went on the defensive, and there they would stay. One German tank was seen going up in flames. Aside from the cold and mud, there was also the enemy to contend with. 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. 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. of the Army, 1965. Hoge pointedly asked Ridgway how it could be done. Slayden had been sent to Jones by Middleton as an adviser until the 106th Division could become acclimated. Zaloga, Steven. Hunnicutt, R. P. Armored Car A History of American Wheeled Combat Vehicles. English PDF (15 MB) Jan B-603 352d Volks Grenadier Division (19 Freb.-21 Mar. I mention it for the sake of completeness as I suspect that the whole thing is a myth. 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. 16 Dec 2022 08:28:00 Elements of D Company, 89th Recon screened the flanks. That cold snap that hit us has frozen the roads. On December 16th at 4:00 a.m., they took the twenty-two foot macadam road following the Our River valley towards Manderfield. The StuG III explanation also accounts for why Troop B makes no mention of it in their morning report and record of events entry for 18th December 1944 and why Lieutenant Colonel Boylan makes no mention of it his 1946 letter or in the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadrons After Action Report for the month of December 1944. On December 21, 18. VGD) was a volksgrenadierdivision of the German Army(Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. 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 . 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 Ardennes 1944-1945: Hitlers Winter Offensive. Do you have more information about this person? 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. Jones had been counting on this when he sent Hoges 9th Armored Command to Winterspelt rather than Schoenberg. Penguin Books, 2016. 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. Both assault groups suffered heavy casualties. The division had lost four companies of armored infantry. 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. 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. Osprey Publishing, 2013. 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. 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. This information came from the division's senior headquarters, the VIII Corps, First U.S. Army. Between these units, a place was found for the provisional company composed of the 424th Infantry stragglers. 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. VGD. 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. Another attack hit the left flank of 7th Armored. 18th Volksgrenadier Division (Wehrmacht) - Unionpedia, the concept map Unteroffizier Helmus of the 26th Volksgrenadier Division painted the situation when the advance began. Eventually retreating through Germany until the end of the war, when it surrendered. The 7th Armored had taken a beating in defending St. Vith. There are two likely candidates, the first being a Panzer IV. 18th Flak Division 651 . It contained the 293., 294. and 295. grenadier regiments, Panzerjger-Bataillon 1818, Pionier-Bataillon 1818, Fsilier-Bataillon 1818 and Artillerie-Regiment 1818.[1]. How to use 'poor shape' in a sentence? Yeah but Panthers rear and side armor is very weak, so its completely different story. 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. Therefore, Montgomery ordered Ridgway to attack to the southeast until Vielsalm could be reached, ensuring an escape corridor for those trapped within the defense. Please click for detailed translation, meaning, pronunciation and example sentences for 18e volksgrenadier division in English 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 62nd, like the 18th, included three regiments of two battalions each. Shortly thereafter, Hasbrouck called and asked, Bruce, do you think you can get out? Clarke answered, A miracle has happened, General! The column came upon stragglers from the 424th Infantry retreating in disarray toward St. Vith. Armored Champion, The Top Tanks of World War II. Maurice Delaval Papers Collection of the Military History Institute in Carlisle, PA. Germanys Tiger Tanks VK45.02 to TIGER II. One, the 18th Volksgrenadier Division, was holding the northern reaches of the Schnee Eifel. Back in the 1970s I worked with a man who told this story, he claimed he was the driver. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. 18th Artillery Division 651. Osprey Publishing, 2003. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18. Jentz, Thomas. Both American units were able to drive forward, and the Shermans knocked out six German armored vehicles. (1944) 111 111. Both task forces reached St. Vith shortly before noon on the 18th to find not one, but two German attacks moving against the town. EN. Protected by armor between 25 mm to 145 mm thick and armed with a fearsome 88mm KwK 36 L/56 main gun, the Tiger I was arguably the most feared tank of World War II by Allied soldiers. German 18th Volksgrenadier Div. Revised Edition, Arms and Armour Press, 1973. This is puzzling, to say the least. 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. General Jones and his staff had pulled out of St. Vith on the morning of the 18th for Vielsalm. Germanys Tiger Tanks VK45.02 to TIGER II. 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. 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. In the 27th AIBs move to take the high ground, B Company advanced along the center of the road. The fight lasted for more than three hours before the Germans withdrew, leaving one burning tank and approximately 150 dead. The tanks of the 14th Tank Battalion and the half-tracks of the 27th AIB paused to pick up the foot elements of the 424th RCT, 106th Infantry Division. 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. 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. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. 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. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division under the command of Generalmajor Gnther Hoffmann-Schnborn patrolled the Schnee Eifel area. Fortunately for Colonel Reid, word came at about 1730 that his 424th Infantry Regiment was to withdraw immediately. 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. Darlington Productions Inc., 2000. 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 Division 3. Although the Germans were facing stiff resistance all along the American defensive line, they were determined to take St. Vith. The M8 was used mostly as a reconnaissance vehicle for scouting. 188 was raised in late 1939. Before departing, however, Hoge gave orders to Lt. Col. Leonard E. Engeman, commander of the 14th Tank Battalion, to get a strong force ready to move out to assist 7th Armored should it become necessary. The other, the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division, bore the number of an infantry division destroyed on the Eastern Front, which had been reconstituted. The Battle at St. Vith, Belgium 17-23 December 1944 An Historical Example of Armor in the Defense. 281st Security Division (281. Boylan, Vincent L. After Action Report, Month of December, 1944. With the unexplained disappearance of D Troop from the 89th Reconnaissance Platoon, Company B, 27th AIB became the leading element. Office of the Chief of Military History, Dept. Design, Production & Modifications. The supply trains led the way north on N27 to St. Vith. 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. 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. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating the 571st Volksgrenadier Division. 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. Armour Plate Porforation [sic: Perforation] of Tank and Anti Tank Guns. Tiger. 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. 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.