This information came from the division's senior headquarters, the VIII Corps, First U.S. Army. Volksgrenadier-Division. The provisional company of 424th stragglers disappeared during the night. These troops were hit by the Fhrer Escort Brigade and driven from Rogery to Cierreux in some disarray. 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. 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. The mobile battalion consisted of three platoons of assault guns, a company of engineers, and another of fusiliers. In blinding snow and on slippery roads the tanks and infantry of CCB, 9th Armored headed for Bauvenn. 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. Office of the Chief of Military History, Dept. This leads to a second candidate, the StuG III. 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. 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. There was a bitter struggle to the south of Grufflingen, and the Germans were again active in the Neubruck area. 18th Volksgrenadier Division (Germany) (Paperback) 12th Volksgrenadier Division 89; 197; 487; 557; 650; 727. That cold snap that hit us has frozen the roads. First Edition, Stackpole Books, 2005. War Department Field Manual FM 2-20 Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop Mechanized. The time was approximately 1800 on Saturday, December 16, when Combat Command B of the 9th Armored Division began its move to St. Vith. This was no place to conduct a mobile defense with armor-heavy forces. The Battle at St. Vith, Belgium 17-23 December 1944 An Historical Example of Armor in the Defense. 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. On 18 January 1945, the final alignment became (XVIII Corps, U. S. First Army, 12th Army Group) -- the alignment in the hierarchy given here. Tigers In Combat I. St. Vith is built on a low hill surrounded on all sides by slightly higher rises. Josef Theissen, the fifteen-year-old who had seen the Germans arrive on Sunday, December 17, watched the soldiers every move with the fascination for things military . What he claimed was that the fight wasnt as easy as it is presented here. Gen. Herbert T. Perrin, assistant commander of the 106th Infantry Division, drove up carrying a message from General Jones. 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. Anderson, Thomas. Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. After listening to the information provided by General Clarkes staff officer, General Hoge decided to go to St. Vith himself to assess the situation. Cole, Hugh M. The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge. German 18th Volksgrenadier Div. Volksgrenadier-Division. However, he kept these misgivings to himself. First Edition, Presidio Press, 2002. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18th VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. The supply trains led the way north on N27 to St. Vith. 1/18th Scale Cars; 1/24th Scale Assembly Kits; 1/24th Scale Cars; 1/43rd Scale Cars; . General Frederich Kittel, the division commander, ordered his mobile battalion up from his 164th Regiment reserve at Pronsfeld and into the attack along the Winterspelt road. Approximately three hours later a German company marched out of Neidingen and along the road leading straight into C Companys position, apparently totally unaware of 9th Armoreds recent change of position. 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 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. Panzer Tracts, 2001. However, it cannot be definitively stated that this is another version of the M8 Greyhound versus Tiger story due to its ambiguity. I think we can make it now. Aside from the cold and mud, there was also the enemy to contend with. Volksgrenadier-Division. However, it cannot be safely assumed that the tank killed in this engagement was a Tiger I or a Tiger II. Tough Stand of the Golden Lions - Warfare History Network Good Tank, Poor Deployment | T-34-76 and T-34-85 in Yugoslav Partisan Service. 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. The silhouettes of the Panzer IV and the Tiger I are quite similar, especially due to their rectangular shapes and rounded turret (rounded through the later use of a curved armor plate around the otherwise angular turret). The Seventh Armored Division in the Battle of St. Vith. Clarke pulled back his left flank to protect Hinderhausen, a key position on the emergency exit route to Commanster and Vielsalm. Third Printing, US Army Armored School, 1966. Lever het aan! The move would also have to be done under the cover of darkness in severe wintry conditions. Cole, Hugh M. The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge. Battle of the Bulge 1944 (1): St Vith and the Northern Shoulder. 18th Volksgrenadier Division (Wehrmacht) - Alchetron, the free social 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. On the morning of the December 20, three tank destroyers were placed in support of Company C, 27th AIB. After that mornings enemy assaults, the line of the 27th AIB was reestablished west of Neubruck. This initial thrust carried the enemy approximately 400 yards into the battalions sector. The closest of the northern German armored thrust routes ran through Recht, about five miles northwest of St. Vith. 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. Ridgway knew Hoge to be calm, courageous, and imperturbable. The route terminated at several vital crossroads in the city of St. Vith. 1940. VGD division was absorbed into the 26. 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. Sicherungs-Division) was a rear-security division in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany. The column came upon stragglers from the 424th Infantry retreating in disarray toward St. Vith. Excellent deductive research! Volksgrenadier Division 2. 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? Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force | World War II by Day The unit was converted to an infantry division in 1945, while stationed in Courland. Griffin, Marcus S. After Action Report, Month of December 1944. fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); While no Tiger Is were lost on the 18th of December, 1944, four Tiger IIs were lost that day. That evening General Clarke also put his command into Commanster. At least 900 soldiers who had stood in front of the town were either dead or captured. PDF German 18th Volksgrenadier Div. December, 1944 Under the chain of the northern sector command, only General Ridgway was unsure of Field Marshal Montgomerys decision to withdraw from the defense. In addition, the massive road jam caused by the inability to pass through St. Vith was creating acute shortages of gasoline and ammunition well to the west of St. Vith. 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. Attack on Panther PzKw V and Tiger PzKw VI. A two-day rest was planned for everyone. English translation for " 18e volksgrenadier division 301 sentences with 'poor shape'. Zaloga, Steven. Each attack was preceded by an intense artillery barrage lasting from 15 to 35 minutes. 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. WWII German Military Units (1) - WWII History Center Battle of Losheim Gap - Wikipedia With the enemy inside Steinebruck and excellent direct fire by the German artillery, what was left of 2nd Platoon, 89th Recon withdrew along the St. Vith road. Wikizero - 18th Volksgrenadier Division M8 Greyhound Light Armored Car 1941-91. The 16th Field Artillery also pitched in, as did a battalion of 155mm howitzers sited around Commanster. General Hoge set up his command post in the Belgian village of Faymonville, approximately 12 miles north of the town of St. Vith, unaware of the pivotal role his command was to play in a very different battle. When Model released the Fhrer Escort Brigade to General Manteuffel, he thought that he would be able to gain quick access to the St. Vith road network. One task force was made up of A and B Companies of the 14th Tank Battalion, B Company of the 482nd Antiaircraft Artillery, and another platoon of the 14th. The U.S. 9th Armored Division arrived in the European Theater of Operations in late October 1944 as a reserve for Maj. Gen. Darlington Productions Inc., 2000. The heroic defense of St. Vith, though costly in men and materil, disrupted the German timetable extensively. 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. Add to cart. }(document, 'script', 'exco-player')); The M8 Greyhound was a small, 7.9 tonne American armored car with 6.4 mm to 25.4 mm of armor, only enough to protect against rifle caliber bullets, and armed with a 37 mm M6 main gun, a peashooter at this point in the war. 22 22. Its mission was to break through to the south of the 18th Volksgrenadier in the Grosslangenfeld-Heckhuschied sector, advance northwest on a broad front, and seize the Our River crossing at Steinebruck, five miles southeast of St. Vith. 1941622 . 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 Contents 1 Allied Forces 1.1 12th Army Group 1.1.1 U.S. First Army 1.1.1.1 V Corps 1.1.1.2 VII Corps 1.1.1.3 XVIII Airborne Corps 1.1.2 U.S. Third Army 1.1.2.1 III Corps 1.1.2.2 VIII Corps 1.1.2.3 XII Corps At about noon that day, the 62nd Volksgrenadier Divisions 190th Regiment had broken through north of the 424th Infantrys Cannon Company. 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. Join historians and history buffs alike with our Unlimited Digital Access pass to every military history article ever published (over 3,000 articles) in Sovereigns military history magazines. Zaloga, Steven. Panzertruppen Volume 2 The Complete Guide to the Creation & Combat Deployment of The German Tank Forces 1943-1945. Both American units were able to drive forward, and the Shermans knocked out six German armored vehicles. Although the bridge over the Our was blown, the German presence kept growing. Encyclopedia of German tanks of World War Two. On this day, CCB of the 9th Armored Division was still in its assembly area in the vicinity of Faymonville. It consisted of the 136th 138th and 139th Mountain Replacement Regiments and the 112th Artillery Ten tanks, numerous supply vehicles, armored cars, and jeeps were lost to enemy action. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. 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. 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. General Luchts 66th Corps was shifted from General Manteuffels Fifth Panzer Army to the Sixth Panzer. Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. Volksgrenadier-Division 5 [ ] By mid-afternoon, General Hoge ordered his infantry to halt and dig in. 13 relations. Plastic Models - Page 8 - Esswex Hobbies English PDF (33 MB) Jan B-700 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. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18.Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. 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. Under the command of Gnther Hoffmann-Schnborn, the new division absorbed elements of the 18th Luftwaffe Field Division. The commanders were at the center of the Foret Domaniale du Grand Bois. 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 . 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. Roadblocks were set up and manned. Amazing discounts for bundles. Hoge immediately got on the phone and ordered Engeman to move out. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. By noon, the 27th AIB, with the help of Company A, 14th Tank Battalion, had retaken that first stretch of high ground. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. Both task forces reached St. Vith shortly before noon on the 18th to find not one, but two German attacks moving against the town. It contained the 293., 294. and 295. grenadier regiments, Panzerjger-Bataillon 1818, Pionier-Bataillon 1818, Fsilier-Bataillon 1818 and Artillerie-Regiment 1818.[1]. Hoge and Ridgway had been on the West Point football team together when Ridgway had been the teams manager. Orders for CCB, 9th Armored to move to a new defensive position were issued at 1600. 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. 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. Those factors dictated that at least another 24 hours would be needed before a major assault on St. Vith could begin. VGD division was absorbed into the 26. 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 mud had made the roads and open areas impassable for armored vehicles. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Because the Our had ceased to be a barrier anywhere else, General Hoge felt that there was little to gain in continuing to overextend his command to hold the low ground along the river. Since the move from Faymonville to Winterspelt involved a greater distance, Hoge decided to get his command on the road immediately. Unable to advance, it pulled back to the nearest high ground and dug in. 18th Flak Division 651 . 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. A mobile battalion of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division was already moving on Andler to seize the Schoenberg bridge and the road to St. Vith. WWII Pictures on Twitter: "Soldiers of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division Name already in use - Github However, just as the Americans began their pursuit, the Germans noticed them and began traversing their turret to face them. 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. Schiffer Publishing, 2000. 18th Volksgrenadier Division | Detailed Pedia 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. Andrews, Frank L. The Defense of St. Vith in the Battle of the Ardennes December, 1944. However, by noon on December 18 it was quite apparent to Hoge that the Germans infiltrating across the river were converging on the bridge in such numbers that it had to be blown. The guns of two platoons of Company A, 811th Tank Destroyers were overrun. That eliminates this units Pzkw IV being the Tiger encountered by the Troop B M8 on Dec. 18th . Eisernes Kreuz 2.Klasse (1914) Period: First World War (1914-1918) Awarded on: October 30th, 1917. Osprey Publishing, 2013. One German tank was seen going up in flames. Troop D, 89th Recon had positioned its troop headquarters and first platoon to cover the bridge over the Our. The job of capturing St. Vith went to the Fifth Panzer Armys 66th Corps, commanded by General Walther Lucht. Those men were a scrappy bunch. The guns from a platoon of Shermans, the antiaircraft company, and a mortar platoon supplied a covering barrage, which broke up the German assault and inflicted heavy casualties. . 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. Dragon 1629 1/16th Feldwebel 352nd Volksgrenadier Division R 275.00. 18th Volksgrenadier Division (Wehrmacht) - Military Wiki 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 next move was up to General Lucht and his corps. The Tiger I was a 57 tonne German heavy tank that has become one of the most famous tanks in history. 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. 16 Dec 2022 08:28:00 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. 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. First-time contributor Charles Gutierrez is the son of a 9th Armored Division veteran. 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. Volksgrenadier-Division was formed from the partially formed 571.Volksgrenadier-Division in Denmark in September 1944, it also included excess Kriegsmarine personnel and surviving elements from 18. 223 223. The entire division was to follow shortly thereafter. Therefore, Montgomery ordered Ridgway to attack to the southeast until Vielsalm could be reached, ensuring an escape corridor for those trapped within the defense. However, Company B, 27th AIB was sent to help ease the situation, covering the cavalrys left flank. 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. 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. School of Tank Technology, April 1944. On February 5, 1945 General Walter Botsch took over command of the division. And why would it not? VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945.. Greyhound vs. Tiger at St. Vith - Tank Encyclopedia The Pontiac, Michigan, resident also served 10 years in the U.S. Army. . 1964. 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. Since 7th Armoreds withdrawal meant that 9th Armoreds left flank would be in danger, the two generals agreed that Hoge would have to readjust part of his line to maintain contact with Clarkes new rearward position. Your email address will not be published. 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. Hunnicutt, R. P. Armored Car A History of American Wheeled Combat Vehicles. Yeah but Panthers rear and side armor is very weak, so its completely different story. 4 Grosstraktor to Panzerbefehlswagen IV. Panzer Tracts No. 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. About: 18th Volksgrenadier Division - dbpedia.org 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?. It is possible (if unlikely) that this event was completely unrelated to the M8 Greyhound versus Tiger story. A platoon of medium tanks counterattacked, and the enemy retreated. The southernmost battle group of the 18th Volksgrenadier would also undertake a mobile thrust and, finally, the 62nd Volksgrenadier would break loose at Heckhuscheid and drive for the Our River Valley. Slayden had been sent to Jones by Middleton as an adviser until the 106th Division could become acclimated. Germanys Tiger Tanks D.W. to Tiger I: Design, Production & Modifications. Chamberlain, Peter, et al. Inside the command post, General Hoge learned that the Germans had launched a heavy assault on Winterspelt against the men of the 424th Infantry. 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. 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. 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. German reports are also far from subtlety. Thus, the Fifth Panzer Army commander ordered that St. Vith be taken no later than the second day of the offensive. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division was to attack along the two roads from Schoenberg, with the Fhrer Escort Brigade assaulting from the north. 1945) English PDF (18 MB) Jan B-627 Volkssturm (Oct. 1944-Apr. General Jones and his staff had pulled out of St. Vith on the morning of the 18th for Vielsalm. . Maurice Delaval Papers Collection of the Military History Institute in Carlisle, PA. Volksgrenadier-Division. While 9th Armored was thus engaged in the Winterspelt area during the morning hours of December 17, Brig. 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. Tigers In Combat I. 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.
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