It is a classic David versus Goliath tale straight out of World War II that features American heroism. 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? The leading vehicles of General Hoges command entered St. Vith on Sunday morning just as dawn was breaking and halted close to the 106th Divisions command post at the St. Joseph Kloster. 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. That evening General Clarke also put his command into Commanster. Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force | World War II by Day The provisional company of 424th stragglers disappeared during the night. No one knew what was happening. 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. The ground was frozen solid. On its way to the new position, C Company came under a sudden artillery and rocket barrage in the village of Lommersweiler. Orders for CCB, 9th Armored to move to a new defensive position were issued at 1600. Battle of the Bulge 1944 (1): St Vith and the Northern Shoulder. That cold snap that hit us has frozen the roads. Revised Edition, Arms and Armour Press, 1973. 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. 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. . 18th Volksgrenadier Division - Wikipedia 18th Volksgrenadier Division (Wehrmacht) - Alchetron, the free social Ten tanks, numerous supply vehicles, armored cars, and jeeps were lost to enemy action. Rapidly, the M8 advanced to within 25 yards (23 meters) of the Tiger I and quickly pumped three rounds into its rear. 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. He also hoped the 3rd Armored Division soon might attack to remove all threat of encirclement. 194311 The stubborn defenders of St. Vith played a major role in defeating the final German offensive of World War II in Western Europe. The fight lasted for more than three hours before the Germans withdrew, leaving one burning tank and approximately 150 dead. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945.. 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. Should 7th Armored lose St. Vith, 9th Armored would be unable to withdraw on its own axis. 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. Please click for detailed translation, meaning, pronunciation and example sentences for 18e volksgrenadier division in English 6 Schwere Panzerkampfwagen DW to E-100. 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. 18th Volksgrenadier Division Wikipedia Republished // WIKI 2 Under the command of Gnther Hoffmann-Schnborn, the new division absorbed elements of the 18th Luftwaffe Field Division. Company A of the 27th AIB had been assigned to the 99th Infantry Division and was in the process of being retrieved when the march to St. Vith began. 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. Tigers In Combat I. 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. 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. General Lucht hurried to Winterspelt to get the 62nd Volksgrenadier moving to the Our. Both B and C Companies pulled back to the vicinity of Neidingen, near the battalion command post, while the 14th Tank Battalion established a perimeter defense around its assembly area near Breitfeld about halfway between the Our and St. Vith. At about 0930, the enemy attacked St. Vith from Hunningen to the north, apparently in an effort to envelop Clarkes left flank. Late in the day, the Germans launched three major attacks, each directed along a main road leading into the town. Soon after General Hoge left 106th Division headquarters for the drive back to Faymonville, Jones received a call from Middleton informing him that a combat command of Brig. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating the 571st Volksgrenadier Division. 2014 CCB, 9th Armored was linked on its left with CCB, 7th Armored and what was left of the 424th Infantry Regiment on its right. 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. So its quite possible! The story begins on the 18th of December 1944, two days after the start of the German offensive. All but five troopers of 2nd Platoon were lost to enemy action. Bergstrm, Christer. There are two likely candidates, the first being a Panzer IV. The men of the 2nd SS Panzer Corps had expected to be on the Meuse by December 19, but on the night of December 20 the Americans still denied them access to St. Vith. Since St. Vith should have been taken on December 16 or the 17th at the latest, he decided to leave his command post at Waxweiler and spend the night with the 18th Volksgrenadier Division at Schoenberg. Ridgways 82nd Airborne was building a fairly firm line west of the St. Vith defenders that should prevent the Germans from cutting off the salient from the rear. Boylan, Vincent L. Letter to Robert W. Hasbrouck. Within the Kloster, General Hoge found a division headquarters staff in a state of disarray and confusion. VGD. EN RU CN DE ES. Were any of these Tiger Is and or Tiger IIs knocked out on the 18th of December, 1944? Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. 1945) English PDF (18 MB) Jan B-627 Volkssturm (Oct. 1944-Apr. Initially, General Jones wanted Hoge to move his command into the Losheim Gap at Maderfeld and arrive there at dawn on December 17 to counterattack and erase the enemy penetrations that were threatening 106th Division positions on the Schnee Eifel. South of Sixth Panzer Army was General Manteuffels Fifth Panzer Army, with the Seventh Army on its left. Early on the 19th, the Germans made reconnaissance probes. English translation for " 18e volksgrenadier division Fortunately, a tank destroyer from Vielsalm turned up and hit the leading two German panzers, which drove the rest for cover. Two hits were scored on the enemy tank in the rear, and its crew evacuated. Hoge departed Faymonville at approximately 1800, arriving at General Joness headquarters in the St. Josephs Kloster about a half hour later. 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. The losses in men and equipment for CCB, 9th Armored, as with the rest of the American units defending St. Vith, had been severe. School of Tank Technology, April 1944. 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. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. 13th Flak Division 651 . VGD led by Heinz Kokott, Heinrich Himmler's brother-in-law. However, after careful analysis, it can be said with certainty that neither a Tiger I nor a Tiger II was killed by an M8 Greyhound from any troop of the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron on 18th December 1944 near St. Vith. 194311 By the end of the day, the 27th AIB had withdrawn through Steinebruck without casualties despite enemy shelling of the village. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division was to attack along the two roads from Schoenberg, with the Fhrer Escort Brigade assaulting from the north. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. 2014. Overall operational command for the offensive fell to Field Marshal Walther Model. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. There was a bitter struggle to the south of Grufflingen, and the Germans were again active in the Neubruck area. The last Tiger II belonged to Schwere Panzer Abteilung 506 (Heavy Tank Battalion 506) and was lost to enemy fire on the Lentzweiler road in Luxemburg. One task force encountered reconnaissance probes on N27 conducted by units of the 1st SS Panzer Division approximately 1,000 yards north of St. Vith. There was little they could do other than vow to get the attack moving early on the 20th. So, rather than spill blood needlessly to take meaningless ground, Hoge called off the attack on Winterspelt. It consisted of the 136th 138th and 139th Mountain Replacement Regiments and the 112th Artillery It was at full strength and supplied with the latest equipment. 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. 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. One, the 18th Volksgrenadier Division, was holding the northern reaches of the Schnee Eifel. 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. Confusion, darkness, and mud slowed the move, but by morning a medium tank company and a platoon of riflemen had reached the village. The division, which was under the command of Gnther Hoffmann-Schnborn, absorbed . The line companies were down to one officer apiece. Aside from the cold and mud, there was also the enemy to contend with. Infanterie-Division Hamburg 19453 . [1] On March 6, 1945, when Botsch was ordered to take command of the LIIIrd Army Corps, the 18. Germanys Tiger Tanks D.W. to Tiger I: Design, Production & Modifications. Given that the American accounts do not give a consistent account of what happened that day at St. Vith, the other side of this story must also be investigated. The commanders were at the center of the Foret Domaniale du Grand Bois. 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. Panzer Tracts No. Lieutenant Olsons version of the story would be the most contradicting version yet. The two commanders agreed that even without the mud to contend with the withdrawal would have to be delayed simply because of heavy enemy pressure. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division under the command of Generalmajor Gnther Hoffmann-Schnborn patrolled the Schnee Eifel area. Daniel P. Kneeland, Grafton, Ma. English PDF (15 MB) Jan B-513 German General Staff Officers, Casualties. Its possible that the M8 took out an late production Panzer IV, but even that is unlikely due to the danger of more troops coming from behind with Panzerfausts or even a 20 millimeter. An appropriate start for the investigation of this action is to identify contemporary American accounts. Eventually retreating through Germany until the end of the war, when it surrendered. The last of the St. Vith defenders to come out were Task Force Jones and the 112th Infantry Regiment. A mobile battalion of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division was already moving on Andler to seize the Schoenberg bridge and the road to St. Vith. Instead of the M8 Greyhound firing three shots into the Tigers rear, the M8 Greyhound in Lieutenant Olsons version of events fired two shots. These troops were hit by the Fhrer Escort Brigade and driven from Rogery to Cierreux in some disarray. Those factors dictated that at least another 24 hours would be needed before a major assault on St. Vith could begin. 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. I wanted to focus on the M8 vs Tiger story, I already noticed the Ferdinand claim, but decided not to mention it. The time was approximately 1800 on Saturday, December 16, when Combat Command B of the 9th Armored Division began its move to St. Vith. During the rest of the day and on into the evening of December 17, CCB, 7th Armored moved into St. Vith and began a buildup that resembled a large horseshoe on the high ground to the east of the village. During his meeting with Hoge, General Ridgway became convinced that defending this area any further would be futile. VGD captured St. Vith, winning a great victory. Additionally, the M8s 37 mm M6 gun is more than capable of penetrating the rear hull and rear casemate armor of the StuG III. 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. Osprey Publishing, 2003. Therefore, Montgomery ordered Ridgway to attack to the southeast until Vielsalm could be reached, ensuring an escape corridor for those trapped within the defense. At St. Vith, Lt. Col. William H. Slayden was with Jones when Jones received the call from Middleton concerning 7th Armored Division support. Required fields are marked *. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. 4 Grosstraktor to Panzerbefehlswagen IV. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating the 571st Volksgrenadier Division. A platoon of tank destroyers had vanished. Hoge and Ridgway had been on the West Point football team together when Ridgway had been the teams manager. 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 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18.Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. 'poor shape' in a sentence. 22 () - https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=18th_Volksgrenadier_Division&oldid=1127007404, Military units and formations established in 1944, Military units and formations disestablished in 1945, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 12 December 2022, at 11:24. 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. 20th Panzergrenadier Division (Wehrmacht) - Atozwiki.com Such events might have taken place in reality, true. Airfix J6017 Volkswagen Camper Van (Quick Build) R 405.00. 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. 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 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. 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. Both assault groups suffered heavy casualties. 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. On February 5, 1945 General Walter Botsch took over command of the division. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18.Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. 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 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. During the early hours of December 17, the Germans laid heavy mortar and artillery fire on the front-line positions of his regiment. Our preliminary briefings had told us that there would be no armor in our path. The reason for this comparative respite was due to the fact that the roads to the German rear were completely jammed. He also said that they got a new Greyhound. At about noon that day, the 62nd Volksgrenadier Divisions 190th Regiment had broken through north of the 424th Infantrys Cannon Company. Combat Interviews of the 38th Armored Infantry Battalion, 7th Armored Division: The St. Vith Salient and Manhay, December 17-23, 1944. Operation Nordwind 1945 Hitlers last offensive in the West. What a fantastic real-life story or is it? 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. Hunnicutt, R. P. Armored Car A History of American Wheeled Combat Vehicles. 223 223. By 2300 enemy patrols tested 27th AIBs new position and a night attack was thrown back with the help of D Troop, 89th Recon. Hoge has just reported an attack. Two regiments of the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division attacked 9th Armored positions early that morning, their goal to gain the Salm River at Salmchateau. 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. The move had scarcely begun when an enemy attack hit the junction between Company B, 27th AIB and Company D, 14th Tank Battalion. This moment marked the beginning of the famous Battle of the Bulge, Germanys last major offensive on the Western Front in World War II. However, he kept these misgivings to himself. Name already in use - Github Under the command of Gnther Hoffmann-Schnborn, the new division absorbed elements of the 18th Luftwaffe Field Division. War Department Technical Manual TM 9-1904 Ammunition Inspection Guide. Also no Ferdinand/Elefant recorded to have seen combat on Western Front. Osprey Publishing, 2010. The 18. The StuG III was a turretless assault gun based on the Panzer III. His troops remained in place, and the pullout to the west side of the Our River began at dusk. 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. For example, when G.I. 18th Volksgrenadier Division (Wehrmacht) - Military Wiki Panzer Tracts No. Add to cart. js.src = "//player.ex.co/player/710cf52d-720a-4250-8e95-fc85dcedab01"; Ministry of Supply, 1945. 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. This forest was criss-crossed only by trails. The troops were exhausted and spread out. 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. Panzer Tracts No. Company B was stationed east of Galhausen and maintained contact with the nearest elements of the 7th Armored Division on 9th Armoreds left flank. Looking at German records The Fhrerbegleit Brigade with one Panzerabteilung of four companies of Pzkw IV and a Sturmgeschutzabteilung with four batteries of StuG III were in reserve assembled in the area around Daun on the 17th and not yet in action only beginning to move up at 1600H on the 18th. 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. The troop was to hold until relieved by the 27th Armored Infantry Battalion (AIB) and then reconnoiter farther down the road toward Winterspelt. As stated above, a 37mm cant penetrate the armor of an Tiger tank. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. Boyer, Donald P. St. Vith The 7th Armored Division in the Battle of the Bulge 17-23 December 1944 A Narrative After Action Report. After conferring with Clarke, Ridgway wanted to talk to one more man in whom he had supreme confidenceBrigadier General Hoge. Johnston, W. Wesley. Chamberlain, Peter, et al. It contained the 293., 294. and 295. grenadier regiments, Panzerjger-Bataillon 1818, Pionier-Bataillon 1818, Fsilier-Bataillon 1818 and Artillerie-Regiment 1818.[1]. 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. 18th Volksgrenadier Division (Wehrmacht) - Unionpedia, the concept map 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.
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