That night, infantry patrols found German medics removing their wounded. Although the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division drove the American defenders from Winterspelt, all was not going well for the Germans. Division 3. Griffin, Marcus S. After Action Report, Month of December 1944. Division 4. Zaloga, Steven, and Tony Bryan. Companies A and B held a line from Grufflingen to Hohenbusch with Company A, 14th Tank Battalion to their north. One German tank was seen going up in flames. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. The Tiger I was a 57 tonne German heavy tank that has become one of the most famous tanks in history. Tigers In Combat I. Such events might have taken place in reality, true. 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.. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division(18. This left General Clarke with only one full company of armored infantrymen. It would be unable to turn its full strength on St. Vith until the American surrender in that area. Office of the Chief of Military History, Dept. Could a Panther be a possibility? 1940 194111. At approximately 0100 on December 18, a German force of about 30 men tried to cross the Our at Steinebruck after a brief artillery barrage. One gun, firing from the house that had been the 14th Tanks command post an hour earlier, disabled two of the Shermans, but the other tanks managed to knock out the four antitank guns plus three German command vehicles. By noon, the 27th AIB, with the help of Company A, 14th Tank Battalion, had retaken that first stretch of high ground. Late in the day, the Germans launched three major attacks, each directed along a main road leading into the town. This battalion hit the 424ths Cannon Company at the Weissenhof crossroads. These troops were hit by the Fhrer Escort Brigade and driven from Rogery to Cierreux in some disarray. Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. Im going to guess that they just created this all up in their head. Luftlande-Division 19416 19421944 19453 22 22. The hardest hit, though, were the armored infantrymen of the 27th AIB with nearly 300 battle casualties. VGD captured St. Vith, winning a great victory. 324 324. VGD. 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. On December 21, 18. The 27th AIB was ordered to establish a defensive position south, east, west, and southeast of Malempre. While no Tiger Is were lost on the 18th of December, 1944, four Tiger IIs were lost that day. 281st Security Division (281. Division C E R T I F I C A T E 24 June 1945 I certify that I am S-3 Outnumbered and in danger of encirclement, the cannoneers and their rifle support from C Company made a platoon-by-platoon withdrawal toward Winterspelt. Inform us! When a particularly heavy onslaught was launched against 7th Armored, near 9th Armoreds left flank, Company A, 14th Tank Battalion shifted its mediums to fire directly on Breitfield in support of its armored neighbor to the north. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. 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. 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. 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. Volksgrenadier-Division. By dark, Lt. Col. Engeman and his two task forces were back in their assembly area in the vicinity of Breitfeld. of the Army, 1965. 1940 194111. It is possible that it was really a Tiger tank. The resulting blast damaged the bridge to such an extent that the Germans would not be able to bring vehicles across for at least 24 hours. Those factors dictated that at least another 24 hours would be needed before a major assault on St. Vith could begin. The Battle at St. Vith, Belgium 17-23 December 1944 An Historical Example of Armor in the Defense. Olson states that, on the 18th of December 1944, one of the armored cars opened fire with its 37 mm gun on a German tank at range of 800 yards [732 meters]. 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. Sometime later that Monday morning, General Hoge sent his liaison officer to St. Vith to learn the dispositions of CCB, 7th Armored Division. Clarke, Bruce. One Day at Stavelot, a Tale of Two Archives The Tiger II vs US Tank Destroyers in the Ardennes. 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? Shortly thereafter, Hasbrouck called and asked, Bruce, do you think you can get out? Clarke answered, A miracle has happened, General! While on its way, the platoon was commandeered by a colonel from the 106th Division. 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. There are no German records or histories which indicate that, on 18th December 1944, a Tiger I or a Tiger II was knocked out in or around St. Vith. 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. 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. 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. Lieutenant Olsons version of the story would be the most contradicting version yet. Maurice Delaval Papers Collection of the Military History Institute in Carlisle, PA. Schneider, Wolfgang. I have come to believe is that this type of fight happened more than once. 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. 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. Infanterie-Division 193510 [1] 22 22. The two task forces held onto their respective positions on N23 and N27, deflecting all German armored attempts to penetrate St. Vith, until they were relieved late in the afternoon by CCB, 7th Armored Division. 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. He also said that they got a new Greyhound. 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. Together they broke up the attack. 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. What Jones did not tell Hoge was that in one of those regiments his own son was serving at regimental headquarters. The staff officer wanted to know if 9th Armored could spare some desperately needed help. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. September 18th, 1944: Kdr. 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. St. Vith is built on a low hill surrounded on all sides by slightly higher rises. December 20 was a day of disappointment for the Germans around St. Vith. var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; After Action Report, Month of December, 1944. Next came B Company, 9th Armored Engineers; the 16th Armored Field Artillery; B Company, 482nd Antiaircraft Artillery; and the 14th Tank Battalion. 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. The story begins on the 18th of December 1944, two days after the start of the German offensive. Gen. Herbert T. Perrin, assistant commander of the 106th Infantry Division, drove up carrying a message from General Jones. During his meeting with Hoge, General Ridgway became convinced that defending this area any further would be futile. Third Printing, US Army Armored School, 1966. An attack to the east by the 7th Armored Division could then relieve the two surrounded regiments of the 106th. 1945. The area being defended was beginning to take the form of a large horseshoe, its axis running approximately northeast to southeast. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. Office of the Chief of Military History, Dept. Germanys Tiger Tanks D.W. to Tiger I: Design, Production & Modifications. By 2300 enemy patrols tested 27th AIBs new position and a night attack was thrown back with the help of D Troop, 89th Recon. English PDF (15 MB) Jan B-603 352d Volks Grenadier Division (19 Freb.-21 Mar. 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. 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 18th Volksgrenadier Division under the command of Generalmajor Gnther Hoffmann-Schnborn patrolled the Schnee Eifel area. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. Ridgways plan was premised on the assumption that that the American forces in this goose egg-shaped defense could be supplied by air; however, whoever drew up the plan was thinking in terms of supply requirements for the lighter airborne divisions, not for fuel-hungry and shell-reliant armored forces. Fortunately, a tank destroyer from Vielsalm turned up and hit the leading two German panzers, which drove the rest for cover. He was also told that all that stood in their way were two troops of the 87th Recon Squadron, 7th Armoreds 87th, and a few antiaircraft half-tracks. Please click for detailed translation, meaning, pronunciation and example sentences for 18e volksgrenadier division in English 45 mm. 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. Schiffer Publishing, 1996. It was to cross the Meuse on both sides of Liege before advancing on to Antwerp. 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. Ninth Armored and its attachments traveled southwest on N26 to the junction with N33 west of Beho, then turned north on N33 to Salmchateau, and finally west on N183 through Lierneux to Malempre-Jevigne, southeast of Manhay. Add to cart. This one, however, most likely did not. Instead of the M8 Greyhound firing three shots into the Tigers rear, the M8 Greyhound in Lieutenant Olsons version of events fired two shots. The 7th Armored had taken a beating in defending St. Vith. After learning of the attack by the Fhrer Escort Brigade, Brig. . 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. Your email address will not be published. The move had scarcely begun when an enemy attack hit the junction between Company B, 27th AIB and Company D, 14th Tank Battalion. His troops remained in place, and the pullout to the west side of the Our River began at dusk. Then there is the issue of the entrys ambiguity in regards to the Tiger tank that was knocked out. While walking to avoid the traffic congestion, Manteuffel encountered his superior, Field Harshal Model. For example, when G.I. Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. 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. 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. 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. 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. The same story is retold in A Colonel in the Armored Divisions A Memoir, 19411945 by William S. Triplet, and like a game of telephone it gets even more distorted. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. The fact that there were Panzer IVs attacking the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (minus Troop B) and the similarity in appearance between the Tiger I and Panzer IV would account for both Troop Es account and Troop Ds potential account of this event. The Ardennes 1944-1945: Hitlers Winter Offensive. Manteuffel met near Wallerode with Model and Lucht that day. 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. Established in 1941, the unit was deployed in German-occupied areas of the Soviet Union, in the Army Group North Rear Area. A platoon of tank destroyers had vanished. 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.. Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz (1918) Periode: Eerste Wereldoorlog (1914-1918) . Boyer, Donald P. St. Vith The 7th Armored Division in the Battle of the Bulge 17-23 December 1944 A Narrative After Action Report. By 1300 on the 21st, the entire line was ablaze with German artillery, rockets, tanks, and infantry. And why would it not? of the Army, 1965. 13th Flak Division 651 . Osprey Publishing, 2003. Little offtopic here but another misidentification might be the 1 destroyed 88mm assault gun (Ferdinand). First Edition, Presidio Press, 2002. Although the Germans were facing stiff resistance all along the American defensive line, they were determined to take St. Vith. 18th Artillery Division 651. 1940. Zaloga, Steven. 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. 194311 Operation Nordwind 1945 Hitlers last offensive in the West. 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. 1/18th Scale Cars; 1/24th Scale Assembly Kits; 1/24th Scale Cars; 1/43rd Scale Cars; . 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. 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. Ardennes 1944: Hitlers Last Gamble. 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. Volksgrenadier-Division. Two of its tanks were mired in mud that had not frozen and had to be retrieved by a tank dozer. 1946. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army ( Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. 223 223. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. Captain Ansteys version lacks supporting documentation. Heeft u zelf meer informatie over deze persoon? Three times the grenadiers [German] tried to rush their way through the foxhole line held by the 38th Armored Infantry Battalion (Lt. Col. William H. G. Fuller) and B Troop of the 87th astride the Schnberg road. This story has gained a good deal of attention in recent years, especially on the internet thanks to videos such as The Tank Duel at St. Vith, Belgium by Lance Geiger The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered, which has garnered hundreds of thousands of views. 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. Volksgrenadier-Division. At approximately 0930 on December 17, B Company was the first 9th Armored Division unit to cross the Our River. On December 9, 1944, Brig. 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. 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. As a result of 7th Armoreds earlier regrouping, Rodt was the junction point between CCA of the 7th Armored under the command of Colonel Rosebaum and General Clarkes CCB. I mention it for the sake of completeness as I suspect that the whole thing is a myth. 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. . No reinforcements were expected. 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 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.

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