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. 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. 12th Volksgrenadier Division 89; 197; 487; 557; 650; 727. The Battle of the Bulge & The Defense of St. Vith Penguin Books, 2016. Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. The guns of two platoons of Company A, 811th Tank Destroyers were overrun. At 0100 the 23rd, D Troop, 89th Recon lost an armored car and a jeep to antitank guns. Not long after Rodt fell to the Fhrer Escort Brigade, an attack came against the 7th Armored from the direction of Recht. . Dragon 1625 1/16th Obersturmfuhrer Totenkopf Division Budapest 1945 R 275.00. After listening to the information provided by General Clarkes staff officer, General Hoge decided to go to St. Vith himself to assess the situation. 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. 223 223. Lieutenant Olsons version of the story would be the most contradicting version yet. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division would use these assault guns in small probing attacks on the American lines east of St. Vith that same day. 194311 The 18. At least 900 soldiers who had stood in front of the town were either dead or captured. 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. It was at full strength and supplied with the latest equipment. Between these units, a place was found for the provisional company composed of the 424th Infantry stragglers. Possibly such events took place in reality. The ground was frozen solid. The sector now defended by CCB, 9th Armored extended across five miles of rugged terrain that was primarily held by the three infantry companies making up the 27th AIB. To this end, General Hoge was in the town of Monschau to check on the possibility of getting his command across in that area. That is correct, however, that was off the topic of this story. The Tiger I was a 57 tonne German heavy tank that has become one of the most famous tanks in history. The M5 got within a yard of the Tiger and knocked it out with 5 rounds. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating the 571st Volksgrenadier Division. [1] On March 6, 1945, when Botsch was ordered to take command of the LIIIrd Army Corps, the 18. Staff officers were casualties. English Edition, Casemate Publishers, 2014. Armament T-70 gun cal. The Seventh Armored Division in the Battle of St. Vith. The fall of Rodt effectively split 7th Armoreds CCA from General Clarkes CCB. 47. Lever het aan! The 62nd, like the 18th, included three regiments of two battalions each. Johnston, W. Wesley. Osprey Publishing, 2003. 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. Within the Kloster, General Hoge found a division headquarters staff in a state of disarray and confusion. General Lucht hurried to Winterspelt to get the 62nd Volksgrenadier moving to the Our. 111 () - Yes in theory. September 18th, 1944: Kdr. 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. The story begins on the 18th of December 1944, two days after the start of the German offensive. The unit attacking Troop B, the 294th Volksgrenadier Regiment, had StuG IIIs and had been using StuG IIIs the previous day in small probing attacks east of St. Vith where Troop B would end up being positioned. Office of the Chief of Military History, Dept. Zaloga, Steven, and Tony Bryan. 2014. 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. First Edition, Presidio Press, 2002. 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. Fifth Panzer was to attack from Prum in the north down to Bitburg and Bastogne in the south. An assault on Thommen forced out the troops holding the town, and efforts to retake it failed. General Jones and his staff had pulled out of St. Vith on the morning of the 18th for Vielsalm. The Seventh Armored Division in the Battle of St. Vith. Hunnicutt, R. P. Armored Car A History of American Wheeled Combat Vehicles. On December 21, 18. Seventh Armored Division Association 2517 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington 8, D.C., 1947. Ministry of Supply, 1945. Our preliminary briefings had told us that there would be no armor in our path. List of German divisions in World War II (wikipdia) / List of Foreign The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18.Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. The move had scarcely begun when an enemy attack hit the junction between Company B, 27th AIB and Company D, 14th Tank Battalion. Schiffer Publishing, 1996. Clarke, Bruce. 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. Farther to the west, the 82nd Airborne, trying to keep a corridor open for the St. Vith defenders, was coming under intense pressure from the 2nd SS Panzer Division. Darlington Productions Inc., 2000. 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. Eisernes Kreuz 2.Klasse (1914) Periode: Eerste Wereldoorlog (1914-1918) Toegekend op: 30 oktober 1917. M8 Greyhound Light Armored Car 1941-91. On his way to St. Vith, General Hoge stopped in Faymonville to alert his command to be prepared to move immediately. At about 0930, the enemy attacked St. Vith from Hunningen to the north, apparently in an effort to envelop Clarkes left flank. EN. For this mission, CCB consisted of the 14th Tank Battalion, the 27th Armored Infantry Battalion, the 16th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, and miscellaneous smaller units vital to any major command. 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. . General Hoge received his order to pull CCB, 9th Armored out at 0605 on December 23. 18th Volksgrenadier Division (Germany) (Paperback) The troop was to hold until relieved by the 27th Armored Infantry Battalion (AIB) and then reconnoiter farther down the road toward Winterspelt. While 9th Armored was thus engaged in the Winterspelt area during the morning hours of December 17, Brig. If Hoge told him that the situation was bad, then without a doubt the situation was worse than he thought. I should also note that reconnaissance doctrine was to disengage if at all possible and in no way engage enemy armour beyond scout elements. Tough Stand of the Golden Lions - Warfare History Network 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. Under the chain of the northern sector command, only General Ridgway was unsure of Field Marshal Montgomerys decision to withdraw from the defense. 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. These German tanks would later be specified to be Panzer IVs or Mark IVs. VGD division was absorbed into the 26. Both task forces reached St. Vith shortly before noon on the 18th to find not one, but two German attacks moving against the town. Ardennes 1944: Hitlers Last Gamble. The Germans were now on the high ground north of Eigelscheid overlooking the road to Winterspelt. The 424th Infantry still blocked the road to the Our River and Steinebruck. 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. General Luchts 66th Corps was shifted from General Manteuffels Fifth Panzer Army to the Sixth Panzer. Hunnicutt, R. P. Armored Car A History of American Wheeled Combat Vehicles. In this version the M8 is replaced by an M5 Stuart from the 17th Tank Battalion of the 7th Armored during the retreat from St. Vith, that somehow miraculously ended up behind a Tiger when they thought they were following a Sherman. I mention it for the sake of completeness as I suspect that the whole thing is a myth. The greatest danger existed in the 424ths position because the regiments flank lay vulnerable to attacks by the 116th Panzer Division to the south. 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 division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating the 571st Volksgrenadier Division. Armored Champion, The Top Tanks of World War II. The entry only states that a Tiger tank was knocked out. Communications with division headquarters in St. Vith were limited to liaison officers running along a road now being shelled by the Germans. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. WAR DEPARTMENT - Indiana Military #WW2 . He also hoped the 3rd Armored Division soon might attack to remove all threat of encirclement. Sometime later that Monday morning, General Hoge sent his liaison officer to St. Vith to learn the dispositions of CCB, 7th Armored Division. The southern prong was defended by General Hoges CCB, 9th Armored with the weakened 424th Infantry Regiment tied in and bent back protecting Burg Reuland. 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. 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. Cole, Hugh M. The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge. 1940 194111. Volksgrenadier-Division. Confusion, darkness, and mud slowed the move, but by morning a medium tank company and a platoon of riflemen had reached the village. The surviving Volksgrenadiers fled in disarray. 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. 18th Flak Division 651 . Beevor, Antony. Double-talking his identification over the radio with allusions to West Point football days, Ridgway gave Hoge a location at which to meet him. Soon after its crossing, B Company ran into German infantry dug in along the high ground overlooking the village of Elcherath. It was a race between the Germans who were desperately trying to bring their 88 mm gun to bear and the Americans who were trying to get as close as possible to the Tiger Is rear. Furthermore, late-war Panzer IVs equipped with Schrzen additional armor would look bigger, even closer to the size of a Tiger and this is before consideration is made on the stress of war, camouflaging materials applied to vehicles, the weather, and level of knowledge of the crews. However, Company B, 27th AIB was sent to help ease the situation, covering the cavalrys left flank. 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 . The 27th AIB was ordered to establish a defensive position south, east, west, and southeast of Malempre. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. 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. Volksgrenadier Division 5. And why would it not? Tiger. 18th Volksgrenadier Division - Wikipedia 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. General Hoge moved his command post to Commanster. 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. Looking at German records The Fhrerbegleit Brigade with one Panzerabteilung of four companies of Pzkw IV and a Sturmgeschutzabteilung with four batteries of StuG III were in reserve assembled in the area around Daun on the 17th and not yet in action only beginning to move up at 1600H on the 18th. After 1200 hours on 17th December 1944, the 18th Volksgrenadier Division was reinforced by a mobile battalion. 18th Volksgrenadier Division - Wikiwand History. However, there is one major issue with this explanation, Panzer IVs were not attacking Troop B. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. Germanys Tiger Tanks VK45.02 to TIGER II. 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. Stackpole Books, 2015. Penguin Books, 2016. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. 223 () - Wikiwand Beevor, Antony. 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. 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. Although the bridge over the Our was blown, the German presence kept growing. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=18th_Volksgrenadier_Division&oldid=1127007404, Military units and formations established in 1944, Military units and formations disestablished in 1945, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 12 December 2022, at 11:24. This leads to a second candidate, the StuG III. 560th Volks Grenadier Division (15-29 Dec. 1944) and 12th VGD (1-28 Jan. 1945). By 1245, the original line was restored, and the antitank guns of Company A, 811th Tank Destroyers were recovered. By 1300 on the 21st, the entire line was ablaze with German artillery, rockets, tanks, and infantry. Could an M8 Greyhounds 37 mm M6 gun even penetrate the rear hull armor of a Tiger I? 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. The U.S. 9th Armored Division contested the German advance around St. Vith during the Battle of the Bulge, and won precious time in the process. Infanterie-Division 19398 . 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. Two hits were scored on the enemy tank in the rear, and its crew evacuated. During the 27th AIBs assault, a call went out for the 14th Tank Battalion to join the action. First Edition, Stackpole Books, 2005. M8 Greyhound Light Armored Car 1941-91. 194311 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. Developed in the 1930s, the Panzer IV was one of the mainstay German armored fighting vehicles of the Second World War as well as Germanys most-produced tank of the war, with over 8,500 produced. It is interesting to note that the U.S 7th Armored Division suffered a moderate 425 Battle Casualties, on page 465 of Hitlers Last Gamble by Trevor N. Dupuy, for December 17-23, 1944 in the Battle of Saint Vith including the 1st day of the Battle of Manhay, out of the 3,397 Battle and Non-Battle Casualties suffered during the Battle by the U.S 112th Infantry Regiment of the U.S 28th Infantry Division, the U.S 424th Infantry Regiment of the U.S 106th Infantry Division, Combat Command B of the U.S 9th Armored Division and ofcourse the U.S 14th Cavalry Group. 18th Volksgrenadier Division (Wehrmacht), the Glossary 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. () - It was to cross the Meuse on both sides of Liege before advancing on to Antwerp. 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 . Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. Shortly thereafter, Hasbrouck called and asked, Bruce, do you think you can get out? Clarke answered, A miracle has happened, General! The northern prong of the horseshoe was composed of CCB, 7th Armored Division from Poteau and Vielsalm. The 424th Infantry had its back to the Our River, and if the Germans seized the bridge at Steinebruck and spread along the far bank his regiment would be hard pressed to effectively withdraw. The ultimate objective was to open an escape route for the soldiers of the 424th. Schiffer Publishing, 1997. Osprey Publishing, 2002. By midnight on the 19th, the horseshoe- shaped defense of St. Vith had taken form. 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. 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 distance from Burg Reuland on the southeast to Poteau on the northwest was about 10 miles with only a single secondary road as a line of retreat for thousands of men defending the horseshoe against attack from three directions. 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. January 1945 World War II Combat Interviews of the 7th Armored Division Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. Pegov in March 1944 on a light tank T-70 destroyed two German Panthers aboard. Still quite a feat for a little Greyhound, though well probably never know conclusively. Overall operational command for the offensive fell to Field Marshal Walther Model. Cole, Hugh M. The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge. The formations started to peel backward in succession from opposite Neubruck to Maldingen. Inform us! With all of these contradictions, ambiguity, and lack of supporting documentation and evidence surrounding Troop Es entry in mind, it is safe to conclude that this is not the most reliable account of what really happened on the 18th of December, 1944 at St. Vith. Battle of the Bulge order of battle | Military Wiki | Fandom Volksgrenadier-Division 5 [ ] The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18. fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); As each unit joined the rear of the column, it took its turn being the rear guard. Such events might have taken place in reality, true. This article already explains ballistics and mentions that while Panther was vulnerable to lower-caliber AT guns, the Tigers were almost immune to them. Manteuffel answered, We estimated that we were up against a division, and perhaps against an entire corps. The move would also have to be done under the cover of darkness in severe wintry conditions. 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. Rejection & Neglect available to buy on Payhip! 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. Due to the lack of detail in Troop Es entry, it is impossible to tell which Tiger tank is the one being referred to in the account.

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