Its supporting field artillery battalion was at Kalterherberg, two miles south of Monschau, engaged in firing missions for the 2nd and 99th Infantry Divisions. 18th Flak Division 651 . December 20 was a day of disappointment for the Germans around St. Vith. The unit was converted to an infantry division in 1945, while stationed in Courland. The Ardennes 1944-1945: Hitlers Winter Offensive. Moreover, it was expected that General Luchts two infantry divisions would be forwarded to the Salm River sector as right-wing cover for two panzer corps. 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. Yes in theory. 18th Artillery Division 651. The Battle at St. Vith, Belgium 17-23 December 1944 An Historical Example of Armor in the Defense. On the morning of the December 20, three tank destroyers were placed in support of Company C, 27th AIB. During the early hours of December 17, the Germans laid heavy mortar and artillery fire on the front-line positions of his regiment. 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. After listening to the information provided by General Clarkes staff officer, General Hoge decided to go to St. Vith himself to assess the situation. There was a bitter struggle to the south of Grufflingen, and the Germans were again active in the Neubruck area. 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. However, this version of Captain Ansteys account has one key difference: it was not a Tiger I that was knocked out, but rather a Tiger II, almost analogous to the fisherman whose fish gets bigger each time he tells the tale of his catch. The fight ended when he slammed the M8 (he called it a Greyhound) into the rear of Tiger and the gun crew fired three rapid fire rounds into the engine compartment. 1945) English PDF (18 MB) Jan B-627 Volkssturm (Oct. 1944-Apr. Collins, Joshua, and Erik Albertson. Amazing discounts for bundles. 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. Ministry of Supply, 1945. Zaloga, Steven. The story begins on the 18th of December 1944, two days after the start of the German offensive. 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. Infanterie-Division . Schneider, Wolfgang. Manteuffel met near Wallerode with Model and Lucht that day. 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 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. During the assault, B Company suffered about 40 casualties including its commanding officer, Captain Henry D. Wirsig. 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. 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. 18th Panzer Division (later 18th Artillery Division) 19th Panzer Division (previously 19th Infantry Division) 20th Panzer Division 21st Panzer Division (previously 5th Light Division) 22nd Panzer Division 23rd Panzer Division 24th Panzer Division (previously 1st Cavalry Division) 25th Panzer Division Clarke pulled back his left flank to protect Hinderhausen, a key position on the emergency exit route to Commanster and Vielsalm. By that time the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division should have the bridge at Steinebruck rebuilt, at least two regiments of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division should be forward, and the Fhrer Escort Brigade should be ready to make the principal thrust down the Ambleve highway into St. Vith. Another attack hit the left flank of 7th Armored. They were repulsed by machine-gun fire. These German tanks would later be specified to be Panzer IVs or Mark IVs. The most startling difference however is the range at which this engagement occurred, with Lieutenant Olsons version having the engagement take place at 800 yards (732 meters), compared to the original storys 25 yards (23 meters)! The armored infantrymen kept themselves well hidden until the column was directly in front of them and then opened fire. Slayden, knowing that the nearest units of the 7th Armored Division were at least 60 miles away in the Netherlands, had serious doubts that a whole combat command could reach St. Vith on the 17th, much less by 0700 hours. Schiffer Publishing, 2000. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division completed its southern swing, encircling the two regiments of the 106th Division on the Schnee Eifel. Rapidly, the M8 advanced to within 25 yards (23 meters) of the Tiger I and quickly pumped three rounds into its rear. Gen. Herbert T. Perrin, assistant commander of the 106th Infantry Division, drove up carrying a message from General Jones. Clarke, Bruce. 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. Dragon 1625 1/16th Obersturmfuhrer Totenkopf Division Budapest 1945 R 275.00. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. 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 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. 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. A mobile battalion of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division was already moving on Andler to seize the Schoenberg bridge and the road to St. Vith. August 18th, 1989 Kalb, Herbert Kalbhenn, Heinrich * February 3rd, 1915 more Kaldeway, x Kalesse, Gerhard (Grenadier-Regiment 689) * July 15th, 1918 October 23rd, 2011 Kaletsch, Georg * October 16th, 1914 March 6th, 1944 Kaletsch, Wilhelm Kalinowski, Josef (Panzergrenadier-Regiment "GD") * January 23rd, 1916 April 5th, 1944 Grave: UNK 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. 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. Rejection & Neglect available to buy on Payhip! Your email address will not be published. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. Mastering all the usages of 'poor shape' from sentence examples published by news publications. The platoon lost four men missing and two wounded in the ensuing engagement. Once St. Vith was taken, Model intended to drive the brigade swiftly for the Meuse River or cut behind the opposition on the Elsenborn Ridge that was bottling up the Sixth Panzer Army. 10 Apr. . Chamberlain, Peter, et al. Schneider, Wolfgang. Staff officers were casualties. The Germans attacked the center of the 27th AIB. Panzer Tracts, 2001. Each attack was preceded by an intense artillery barrage lasting from 15 to 35 minutes. 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. 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. Aside from the cold and mud, there was also the enemy to contend with. This initial thrust carried the enemy approximately 400 yards into the battalions sector. 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. 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. 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 similarity in appearance between the Panzer IV and Tiger I is often cited as a reason to why there are so many claims made by soldiers during World War II of battling Tiger Is, despite Tiger Is being a fairly rare encounter. As stated above, a 37mm cant penetrate the armor of an Tiger tank. Tigers In Combat II. Hoge pointedly asked Ridgway how it could be done. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. The formations started to peel backward in succession from opposite Neubruck to Maldingen. events, and resources, The Battle of the Bulge & The Defense of St. Vith. 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. Pegov in March 1944 on a light tank T-70 destroyed two German Panthers aboard. South of Sixth Panzer Army was General Manteuffels Fifth Panzer Army, with the Seventh Army on its left. 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. What he claimed was that the fight wasnt as easy as it is presented here. It is time to withdraw.. Still quite a feat for a little Greyhound, though well probably never know conclusively. 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. Dragon 1629 1/16th Feldwebel 352nd Volksgrenadier Division R 275.00. A strong attack has just developed against Clarke again. Model informed Manteuffel that he would be given the Fhrer Escort Brigade, which was nearly equal in strength to an American light armored division, for the upcoming assault on St. Vith. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division ( 18. A platoon of medium tanks counterattacked, and the enemy retreated. That evening General Clarke also put his command into Commanster. General Jones and his staff had pulled out of St. Vith on the morning of the 18th for Vielsalm. Heeft u zelf meer informatie over deze persoon? Armour Plate Porforation [sic: Perforation] of Tank and Anti Tank Guns. Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. By the end of the day, the 27th AIB had withdrawn through Steinebruck without casualties despite enemy shelling of the village. A platoon of tank destroyers had vanished. Back in the 1970s I worked with a man who told this story, he claimed he was the driver. Volksgrenadier-Division. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Tigers In Combat I. Then, four German antitank guns covering the Grufflingen-Maldange road were encountered. I am weighing toward a stray Panzer IV or maybe a SP gun like the one you described. Infanterie-Division 193510 [1] 22 22. Cole, Hugh M. The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge. 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. 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? Im going to guess that they just created this all up in their head. VGD captured St. Vith, winning a great victory. Late in the day, the Germans launched three major attacks, each directed along a main road leading into the town. 2014. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. js.className = n; The brigade had 9,000 men, Mark IV tanks, assault guns, 104mm and 105mm artillery, 88mm antiaircraft guns, and a number of heavy automatic weapons batteries. Daniel P. Kneeland, Grafton, Ma. Schiffer Publishing, 1997. English Edition, Casemate Publishers, 2014. 194311 . Slayden had been sent to Jones by Middleton as an adviser until the 106th Division could become acclimated. . Tiger. In the early afternoon of the 22nd, he arrived at General Hasbroucks headquarters in Vielsalm to plan the withdrawal. Volksgrenadier-Division. Chamberlain, Peter, et al. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945.. Six paved or macadam roads converged at St. Vith, but none of these was considered by the Germans to be a major military trunk line. . 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. Although the American forces in the St. Vith area came under command of General Ridgways XVIII Airborne Corps, the Airborne Corps itself was under the command of Field Marshal Sir Bernard L. Montgomery, overall commander of the northern sector of the Bulge. Attack on Panther PzKw V and Tiger PzKw VI. The Germans were now on the high ground north of Eigelscheid overlooking the road to Winterspelt. However, there is one major issue with this explanation, Panzer IVs were not attacking Troop B. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18. First-time contributor Charles Gutierrez is the son of a 9th Armored Division veteran. The mobile battalion consisted of three platoons of assault guns, a company of engineers, and another of fusiliers. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. Zaloga, Steven. The division had lost four companies of armored infantry. Encyclopedia of German tanks of World War Two. 19454 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. 3. 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. By midnight on the 19th, the horseshoe- shaped defense of St. Vith had taken form. Farther to the north, in the 7th Armored sector, the pressure exerted by the enemy was also intense. Seventh Armored Division Association 2517 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington 8, D.C., 1947. Soldiers of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division infiltrated the American lines at the villages of Roth, Weckerath, Kobscheid, and Auw before the artillery barrage began. Clerks were running everywhere and junior staff officers were arguing among themselves; upstairs, however, Hoge found General Jones remarkably composed.