18th volksgrenadier division 18th volksgrenadier division

The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. First Edition, Stackpole Books, 2005. Ardennes-Alsace Campaign 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 route terminated at several vital crossroads in the city of St. Vith. At about noon that day, the 62nd Volksgrenadier Divisions 190th Regiment had broken through north of the 424th Infantrys Cannon Company. 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. 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. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945.. Add to cart. Which specific Tiger II this was is unknown. The CCB command post was moved to Neubruck, a small group of farmhouses on Braunlauf Creek about two miles southwest of St. Vith. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. 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. VGD captured St. Vith, winning a great victory. So, rather than spill blood needlessly to take meaningless ground, Hoge called off the attack on Winterspelt. The closest primary German armored thrust route to the south ran through Burg Reuland, also about five miles from St. Vith. Ridgway knew Hoge to be calm, courageous, and imperturbable. 1940 194111. Zaloga, Steven. 18th Volksgrenadier Division - Wikiwand 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. They were sometimes misidentified as Tiger HIs. War Department Field Manual FM 2-20 Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop Mechanized. Gen. Bruce C. Clarke, commander of CCB, 7th Armored Division, arrived at General Joness command post in St. Vith at approximately 1030. They were repulsed by machine-gun fire. So its quite possible! That is correct, however, that was off the topic of this story. The last of the St. Vith defenders to come out were Task Force Jones and the 112th Infantry Regiment. War Department, 1944. Then there is the issue of the entrys ambiguity in regards to the Tiger tank that was knocked out. 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 . 1945. Panzertruppen Volume 2 The Complete Guide to the Creation & Combat Deployment of The German Tank Forces 1943-1945. 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. Heer - TracesOfWar.com On December 16th at 4:00 a.m., they took the twenty-two foot macadam road following the Our River valley towards Manderfield. Unteroffizier Helmus of the 26th Volksgrenadier Division painted the situation when the advance began. Tiger. Maurice Delaval Papers Collection of the Military History Institute in Carlisle, PA. 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. During the assault, B Company suffered about 40 casualties including its commanding officer, Captain Henry D. Wirsig. Your email address will not be published. The event that Lieutenant Olson recounts does bare a resemblance to the M8 Greyhound versus Tiger story, with both events taking place at or near St. Vith on the 18th of December 1944 and involving an American armored car from the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron knocking out a German tank by shooting it in the rear. Hoge and Ridgway had been on the West Point football team together when Ridgway had been the teams manager. While walking to avoid the traffic congestion, Manteuffel encountered his superior, Field Harshal Model. 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 reason for this comparative respite was due to the fact that the roads to the German rear were completely jammed. On top of the contradictions and ambiguity of Troop Es entry, there is also the curious fact that Troop A does not make any mention of this event in its morning report and record of events entry for the 18th of December, 1944. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. Combat Interviews of the 38th Armored Infantry Battalion, 7th Armored Division: The St. Vith Salient and Manhay, December 17-23, 1944. While a single troop of the 14th Cavalry Group continued to resist the German spearheads, the 106th's engineers dug in to block the crucial Schoenberg road 2 miles east of St. Vith, a last ditch defense, hoping . The armored infantrymen kept themselves well hidden until the column was directly in front of them and then opened fire. Volksgrenadier-Division. That cold snap that hit us has frozen the roads. Anderson, Thomas. Company B was stationed east of Galhausen and maintained contact with the nearest elements of the 7th Armored Division on 9th Armoreds left flank. 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. The 424th Infantry still blocked the road to the Our River and Steinebruck. Zaloga, Steven. Early on the 19th, the Germans made reconnaissance probes. It was to cross the Meuse on both sides of Liege before advancing on to Antwerp. Panzer Tracts No. American Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force Choose a Unit. Jentz, Thomas. What Jones did not tell Hoge was that in one of those regiments his own son was serving at regimental headquarters. Although the bridge over the Our was blown, the German presence kept growing. #WW2 . The surviving Volksgrenadiers fled in disarray. 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. Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating the 571st Volksgrenadier Division. And why would it not? Germanys Tiger Tanks VK45.02 to TIGER II. That eliminates this units Pzkw IV being the Tiger encountered by the Troop B M8 on Dec. 18th . Outnumbered and in danger of encirclement, the cannoneers and their rifle support from C Company made a platoon-by-platoon withdrawal toward Winterspelt. Jones wanted Clarke to counterattack immediately with his combat command and break that ring that these people have closed around the Schnee Eifel.. The 294th Volksgrenadier Regiment was a unit of the larger 18th Volksgrenadier Division. Panzertruppen Volume 2 The Complete Guide to the Creation & Combat Deployment of The German Tank Forces 1943-1945. 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) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. 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. The troop was to hold until relieved by the 27th Armored Infantry Battalion (AIB) and then reconnoiter farther down the road toward Winterspelt. 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 . The corps consisted of two infantry divisions. A second attempt on the bridge, made by about 40 men four hours later, was also thrown back by machine-gun fire. Slayden had been sent to Jones by Middleton as an adviser until the 106th Division could become acclimated. 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. Tough Stand of the Golden Lions - Warfare History Network Airfix J6017 Volkswagen Camper Van (Quick Build) R 405.00. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division was to attack along the two roads from Schoenberg, with the Fhrer Escort Brigade assaulting from the north. Eventually retreating through Germany until the end of the war, when it surrendered. [1] On March 6, 1945, when Botsch was ordered to take command of the LIIIrd Army Corps, the 18. 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. Manteuffel had hoped for considerably more on the 19th. Then, four German antitank guns covering the Grufflingen-Maldange road were encountered. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18.Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. 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. Sicherungs-Division) was a rear-security division in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany. The Sherman tanks of B Company repulsed the enemy with fire from their 76mm guns. One, the Sixth Panzer Army, was commanded by SS Obergruppenfhrer (brigadier general) Josef Sepp Dietrich, and the other, the Fifth Panzer Army, was commanded by General Hasso von Manteuffel. Before the day ended, renewed fighting broke out along the entire front. A two-day rest was planned for everyone. Zaloga, Steven. Overall operational command for the offensive fell to Field Marshal Walther Model. Boylan, Vincent L. After Action Report, Month of December, 1944. Situated next to B Company were Company A, 27th AIB and Company D, 14th Tank Battalion. At least 900 soldiers who had stood in front of the town were either dead or captured. The ultimate objective was to open an escape route for the soldiers of the 424th. Soon after its crossing, B Company ran into German infantry dug in along the high ground overlooking the village of Elcherath. 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. The commanders were at the center of the Foret Domaniale du Grand Bois. Osprey Publishing, 2003. 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 original story, if there even was one, was told and retold and distorted until everyone and their brother claimed to know the guys that did it. 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. Tigers In Combat 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. General Lucht hurried to Winterspelt to get the 62nd Volksgrenadier moving to the Our. The next move was up to General Lucht and his corps. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945.. Required fields are marked *. The division's intelligence officer, Lieutenant Colonel Robert P. Stout, noted that the division faced two known enemy divisions, the 18th Volksgrenadier Division and the 26th Volksgrenadier Division. I wanted to focus on the M8 vs Tiger story, I already noticed the Ferdinand claim, but decided not to mention it. There are two likely candidates, the first being a Panzer IV. 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. 188th Division (Nazi Germany) - Atozwiki.com The area being defended was beginning to take the form of a large horseshoe, its axis running approximately northeast to southeast. Johnston, W. Wesley. 18th Volksgrenadier Division | Detailed Pedia WAR DEPARTMENT - Indiana Military Therefore, Montgomery ordered Ridgway to attack to the southeast until Vielsalm could be reached, ensuring an escape corridor for those trapped within the defense. VGD captured St. Vith, winning a great victory. A platoon of medium tanks counterattacked, and the enemy retreated. This initial thrust carried the enemy approximately 400 yards into the battalions sector. After conferring with Clarke, Ridgway wanted to talk to one more man in whom he had supreme confidenceBrigadier General Hoge. The U.S. 9th Armored Division arrived in the European Theater of Operations in late October 1944 as a reserve for Maj. Gen. After that mornings enemy assaults, the line of the 27th AIB was reestablished west of Neubruck. Hoge and Clarke agreed that Hoges entire command should be withdrawn west of the railroad tracks. 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. Im going to guess that they just created this all up in their head. 45 mm. Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz (1918) Periode: Eerste Wereldoorlog (1914-1918) . Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. Ridgway answered, Bill, we can and we will. The withdrawal plan called for a general pullback west of the Salm River to an assembly area in the zone controlled by the 82nd Airborne Division in the vicinity of Lierneux. The Seventh Armored Division in the Battle of St. Vith. 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. Once the bridge at Steinebruck was seized, the 62nd was to support the 18th Volksgrenadier Divisions drive on St. Vith by blocking the western and southern routes in and out of the town. 18th Volksgrenadier Division Wikipedia Republished // WIKI 2 Since speed was the key to success of the German plan, two panzer armies would spearhead the offensive. Lever het aan! Hunnicutt, R. P. Armored Car A History of American Wheeled Combat Vehicles. The closest of the northern German armored thrust routes ran through Recht, about five miles northwest of St. Vith. WWII German Military Units (1) - WWII History Center The second task force hit another probe by the 1st SS Panzer and pushed it out of Hunningen. At 0100 the 23rd, D Troop, 89th Recon lost an armored car and a jeep to antitank guns. 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. Also no Ferdinand/Elefant recorded to have seen combat on Western Front. Osprey Publishing, 2002. English PDF (33 MB) Jan B-700 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. Amazing discounts for bundles. 18th Volksgrenadier Division - Wikipedia According to British penetration diagrams from 1944, the 37 mm M6 gun firing its standard round, the 37 mm APC M51, could, under ideal conditions, penetrate the 80 mm thick rear hull armor angled at 9 degrees when firing at an angle of 0 degrees, albeit just barely. Soldiers of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division infiltrated the American lines at the villages of Roth, Weckerath, Kobscheid, and Auw before the artillery barrage began.