18th volksgrenadier division

The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. Volksgrenadier-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. It was a clear disappointment to Jones when Clarke told him that he, his operations officer, his aide, and his driver were the only representatives of the 7th Armored Division to have reached St. Vith at that time. 223 223. A platoon of medium tanks counterattacked, and the enemy retreated. 16 Dec 2022 08:28:00 Volksgrenadier-Division. Zaloga, Steven. Although the Germans were facing stiff resistance all along the American defensive line, they were determined to take St. Vith. The CCB command post was moved to Neubruck, a small group of farmhouses on Braunlauf Creek about two miles southwest of St. Vith. Division 4. Maurice Delaval Papers Collection of the Military History Institute in Carlisle, PA. Next came B Company, 9th Armored Engineers; the 16th Armored Field Artillery; B Company, 482nd Antiaircraft Artillery; and the 14th Tank Battalion. War Department, 1944. A strong attack has just developed against Clarke again. Instead of the M8 Greyhound firing three shots into the Tigers rear, the M8 Greyhound in Lieutenant Olsons version of events fired two shots. However, Company B, 27th AIB was sent to help ease the situation, covering the cavalrys left flank. The area being defended was beginning to take the form of a large horseshoe, its axis running approximately northeast to southeast. After 1200 hours on 17th December 1944, the 18th Volksgrenadier Division was reinforced by a mobile battalion. The stubborn defenders of St. Vith played a major role in defeating the final German offensive of World War II in Western Europe. It consisted of the 136th 138th and 139th Mountain Replacement Regiments and the 112th Artillery 223 223. Still quite a feat for a little Greyhound, though well probably never know conclusively. 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. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18. 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. 1940. Schiffer Publishing, 2000. The circuitous march up one road and down another led to a new line just a few hundred yards to the west of the old one and was miraculously carried out while under attack without the loss of any men or equipment. This battalion hit the 424ths Cannon Company at the Weissenhof crossroads. Chamberlain, Peter, et al. Furthermore, the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadrons After Action Report (AAR) for the month of December 1944, written by Lieutenant Colonel Vincent Laurence Boylan, the commanding officer of the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron at the time, makes no mention of this event either. Hoge and Clarke agreed that Hoges entire command should be withdrawn west of the railroad tracks. Rodt was garrisoned by the service company of the 48th AIB and some drivers belonging to the battalion whose vehicles were parked there. 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. An assault on Thommen forced out the troops holding the town, and efforts to retake it failed. War Department, 1944. It is possible that it was really a Tiger tank. Osprey Publishing, 2003. VGD division was absorbed into the 26. 2014 Eisernes Kreuz 2.Klasse (1914) Periode: Eerste Wereldoorlog (1914-1918) Toegekend op: 30 oktober 1917. 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. Both assault groups suffered heavy casualties. Furthermore, General Clarke had no idea when his command would arrive. 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. Andrews, Frank L. The Defense of St. Vith in the Battle of the Ardennes December, 1944. War Department Technical Manual TM 9-1904 Ammunition Inspection Guide. 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. Jones wanted Clarke to counterattack immediately with his combat command and break that ring that these people have closed around the Schnee Eifel.. Hoge and Ridgway had been on the West Point football team together when Ridgway had been the teams manager. 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. 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. When B Company pulled back to refuel and rearm, A Company passed through to take up the fight. The 18. Jentz, Thomas. On December 21, 18. 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. The job of capturing St. Vith went to the Fifth Panzer Armys 66th Corps, commanded by General Walther Lucht. On February 5, 1945 General Walter Botsch took over command of the division. 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 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. 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. Infanterie-Division 19398 . Schiffer Publishing, 1997. How about a Tiger II? Situated next to B Company were Company A, 27th AIB and Company D, 14th Tank Battalion. 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. He is being outflanked and is retiring west another 2,000 yards refusing both flanks. Johnston, W. Wesley. As stated above, a 37mm cant penetrate the armor of an Tiger tank. 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. Combat Interviews of the 38th Armored Infantry Battalion, 7th Armored Division: The St. Vith Salient and Manhay, December 17-23, 1944. 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. Volksgrenadier Division 5. Aside from the cold and mud, there was also the enemy to contend with. While 9th Armored was thus engaged in the Winterspelt area during the morning hours of December 17, Brig. 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. First Edition, Stackpole Books, 2004. 2014. By dark, Lt. Col. Engeman and his two task forces were back in their assembly area in the vicinity of Breitfeld. Office of the Chief of Military History, Dept. Outnumbered and in danger of encirclement, the cannoneers and their rifle support from C Company made a platoon-by-platoon withdrawal toward Winterspelt. The Commands main body was led by the 27th AIB with B Company in front, followed by Headquarters and C Company. 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. Accordingly, that evening Sixth Panzer Army commander Dietrich issued orders to the 2nd SS Panzer Corps to move to the south so that parts of that corps could assist Manteuffel in taking St. Vith. At about midday, the field marshal sent a message to General Hasbrouck: You have accomplished your missiona mission well done. 1945) English PDF (18 MB) Jan B-627 Volkssturm (Oct. 1944-Apr. 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 . The fight lasted for more than three hours before the Germans withdrew, leaving one burning tank and approximately 150 dead. Although the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division drove the American defenders from Winterspelt, all was not going well for the Germans. 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. 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. 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. 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. Your email address will not be published. Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. December, 1944 By Greg Moore gregpanzerblitz.com December, 2008 Battalion I x 5 x 4 x 1 x 2 x 12 293rd Volks- . 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. 120th Infantry Regiment (30th Infantry Division) 307th Airborne Engineer Battalion 319th Field Artillery Glider Battalion 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment German Units 3d Parachute Division 12th SS Panzer Division 18th Volksgrenadier Division 246th Volsgrenadier Division 884th March Battalion 905th Assault Gun Brigade 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. 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. Zaloga, Steven. 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. 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. Therefore, Montgomery ordered Ridgway to attack to the southeast until Vielsalm could be reached, ensuring an escape corridor for those trapped within the defense. 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. which, in principle, is comparable to the 37 mm American gun. Infanterie-Division Hamburg 19453 . Johnston, W. Wesley. Out of this grand battle would come a too-good-to-be-true story symbolic of the stiff American resistance put up against the German offensive, that of how an M8 Greyhound armored car destroyed a Tiger I heavy tank. During the assault, B Company suffered about 40 casualties including its commanding officer, Captain Henry D. Wirsig. The guns of two platoons of Company A, 811th Tank Destroyers were overrun. 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. An appropriate start for the investigation of this action is to identify contemporary American accounts. It is stated as being reported to Major Boyer by one Captain Walter Henry Anstey of Company A of the 38th Armored Infantry Battalion, who is said to have been a witness to the event. 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. 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. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division(18. Add to cart. Under the command of Gnther Hoffmann-Schnborn, the new division absorbed elements of the 18th Luftwaffe Field Division. Armament T-70 gun cal. I mention it for the sake of completeness as I suspect that the whole thing is a myth. 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. Osprey Publishing, 2010. Mines were laid. It would be unable to turn its full strength on St. Vith until the American surrender in that area. 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 . Germanys Tiger Tanks D.W. to Tiger I: Design, Production & Modifications. The failure to capture St. Vith was preventing the linkup of the Fifth and the Sixth Panzer Armies. Inform us! By midnight on the 19th, the horseshoe- shaped defense of St. Vith had taken form. 2014. Confusion, darkness, and mud slowed the move, but by morning a medium tank company and a platoon of riflemen had reached the village. 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. Daniel P. Kneeland, Grafton, Ma. Division C E R T I F I C A T E 24 June 1945 I certify that I am S-3 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. 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. Slayden had been sent to Jones by Middleton as an adviser until the 106th Division could become acclimated. EN. Not to mention that the M8s 37 mm M6 gun is more than capable of penetrating the rear hull armor of the Panzer IV, which was only 20 mm thick angled at 10 degrees. 18th Volksgrenadier Division (Wehrmacht) - Unionpedia, the concept map General Lucht hurried to Winterspelt to get the 62nd Volksgrenadier moving to the Our. This information came from the division's senior headquarters, the VIII Corps, First U.S. Army. At 0100 the 23rd, D Troop, 89th Recon lost an armored car and a jeep to antitank guns. M8 Greyhound Light Armored Car 1941-91. This version of the story, which is paraphrased in the introduction, will be referred to as the original version of the story. Volksgrenadier Division 2. 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. This German World War II article is a stub. 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. Similar events have happened more than once, though on the Eastern Front. On top of attacking the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (minus Troop B), a Panzer IV can be easily misidentified as a Tiger I. Zaloga, Steven. General Luchts 66th Corps was shifted from General Manteuffels Fifth Panzer Army to the Sixth Panzer. 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. Yeah but Panthers rear and side armor is very weak, so its completely different story. This one, however, most likely did not. They were repulsed by machine-gun fire. That eliminates this units Pzkw IV being the Tiger encountered by the Troop B M8 on Dec. 18th . 18e volksgrenadier division English translation: 18th volksgrenadier division (wehrmacht).. Under the command of Gnther Hoffmann-Schnborn, the new division absorbed elements of the 18th Luftwaffe Field Division. We made several probing attacks, and every time we went into your position, we encountered armor. Zaloga, Steven, and Tony Bryan. 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. Hoge pointedly asked Ridgway how it could be done. Such events might have taken place in reality, true. Its population in 1944 was about 2,000, and its citizens were very much pro-German. Encyclopedia of German tanks of World War Two. Schiffer Publishing, 2000. Gen. Robert Hasbroucks 7th Armored Division would be arriving at St. Vith at 0700 on the 17th. Tigers In Combat II. The story begins on the 18th of December 1944, two days after the start of the German offensive. In the early afternoon of the 22nd, he arrived at General Hasbroucks headquarters in Vielsalm to plan the withdrawal. Before the day ended, renewed fighting broke out along the entire front. Ridgway knew Hoge to be calm, courageous, and imperturbable. Volksgrenadier-Division. Elements of the 62nd Volksgrenadier had taken the eastern half of Winterspelt during the night, and at daybreak reinforcements finally drove Colonel Reids 1st Battalion from the village. It was at full strength and supplied with the latest equipment. Soldiers of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division infiltrated the American lines at the villages of Roth, Weckerath, Kobscheid, and Auw before the artillery barrage began. During the afternoon of December 19, Hoge visited Clarkes command post in St. Vith and expressed his frustration with the current chain of command. It is a classic David versus Goliath tale straight out of World War II that features American heroism. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. 301 sentences with 'poor shape'. The German 20th Infantry Division was an infantry division of Nazi Germany.HistoryThe was established in 1934 under the cover name. 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. 1945. One German tank was seen going up in flames. 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. The ground was frozen solid. Lieutenant Colonel Boylan also makes no mention of this event in a 1946 letter he wrote to Major General Robert W. Hasbrouck, the former commanding general of the 7th Armored Division, which details the actions of the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron at the Battle of St. Vith. Dragon 1625 1/16th Obersturmfuhrer Totenkopf Division Budapest 1945 R 275.00. 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. The other, the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division, bore the number of an infantry division destroyed on the Eastern Front, which had been reconstituted. The armored infantrymen kept themselves well hidden until the column was directly in front of them and then opened fire. The second task force hit another probe by the 1st SS Panzer and pushed it out of Hunningen. Add to cart. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18. CCB, 9th Armored was linked on its left with CCB, 7th Armored and what was left of the 424th Infantry Regiment on its right. 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. 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. Could a Panther be a possibility? 12th Volksgrenadier Division 89; 197; 487; 557; 650; 727. Combat Interviews of the 38th Armored Infantry Battalion, 7th Armored Division: The St. Vith Salient and Manhay, December 17-23, 1944. Pegov in March 1944 on a light tank T-70 destroyed two German Panthers aboard. It was a new and inexperienced division made up of Luftwaffe personnel, former Kriegsmariners out of a Beevor, Antony. 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. Situation reports suggested that the Germans were intent on crossing the Our River at Steinebruck. 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. 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. According to Hugh M. Cole, an American historian and army officer. Established in 1941, the unit was deployed in German-occupied areas of the Soviet Union, in the Army Group North Rear Area. 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. The division had lost four companies of armored infantry. A scratch force made up of one platoon of riflemen from Company A, 27th AIB and a platoon from Company B, 9th Engineers were sent to contain the Germans. Please click for detailed translation, meaning, pronunciation and example sentences for 18e volksgrenadier division in English 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. Airfix J6017 Volkswagen Camper Van (Quick Build) R 405.00. Operation Nordwind 1945 Hitlers last offensive in the West. Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz (1918) Period: First World War (1914-1918) Awarded on: . 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. Required fields are marked *. However, it cannot be safely assumed that the tank killed in this engagement was a Tiger I or a Tiger II. The line companies were down to one officer apiece. Two of its tanks were mired in mud that had not frozen and had to be retrieved by a tank dozer. Rapidly, the M8 advanced to within 25 yards (23 meters) of the Tiger I and quickly pumped three rounds into its rear. On December 21, 18. Boyer, Donald P. St. Vith The 7th Armored Division in the Battle of the Bulge 17-23 December 1944 A Narrative After Action Report. The surviving Volksgrenadiers fled in disarray. Clarke pulled back his left flank to protect Hinderhausen, a key position on the emergency exit route to Commanster and Vielsalm. The formations started to peel backward in succession from opposite Neubruck to Maldingen. First Edition, Presidio Press, 2002. 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. 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. Our database is searchable by subject and updated continuously. 4 Grosstraktor to Panzerbefehlswagen IV. Osprey Publishing, 2013. He could not believe it. The 7th Armored had taken a beating in defending St. Vith. Zaloga, Steven. 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. Fortunately for Colonel Reid, word came at about 1730 that his 424th Infantry Regiment was to withdraw immediately. 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. Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. Captain Ansteys version lacks supporting documentation. This moment marked the beginning of the famous Battle of the Bulge, Germanys last major offensive on the Western Front in World War II.

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