A mobile battalion of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division was already moving on Andler to seize the Schoenberg bridge and the road to St. Vith. Despite the loss of St. Vith, General Ridgway believed that the American armored and infantry forces defending St. Vith since December 16 could still hold. This leads to a second candidate, the StuG III. Inside the command post, General Hoge learned that the Germans had launched a heavy assault on Winterspelt against the men of the 424th Infantry. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18. During the 27th AIBs assault, a call went out for the 14th Tank Battalion to join the action. Division C E R T I F I C A T E 24 June 1945 I certify that I am S-3 No reinforcements were expected. The job of capturing St. Vith went to the Fifth Panzer Armys 66th Corps, commanded by General Walther Lucht. 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. 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. The 14th Tank Battalion was on its way to the Steinebruck bridge when Brig. That eliminates this units Pzkw IV being the Tiger encountered by the Troop B M8 on Dec. 18th . However, it cannot be definitively stated that this is another version of the M8 Greyhound versus Tiger story due to its ambiguity. How about a Tiger II? 47. The second task force hit another probe by the 1st SS Panzer and pushed it out of Hunningen. 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. Johnston, W. Wesley. Shortly thereafter, Hasbrouck called and asked, Bruce, do you think you can get out? Clarke answered, A miracle has happened, General! js.className = n; Stackpole Books, 2015. Engeman set out with two task forces to meet the enemy. That cold snap that hit us has frozen the roads. Zaloga, Steven. Both American units were able to drive forward, and the Shermans knocked out six German armored vehicles. 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. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. 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. South of St. Vith, even as Lt. Col. Engemans task forces were responding to the 7th Armoreds cry for help, Germans of the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division were trying to get across the Our River at Steinebruck and hit St. Vith from that direction. Excellent deductive research! Should 7th Armored lose St. Vith, 9th Armored would be unable to withdraw on its own axis. 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. Add to cart. 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 Commands main body was led by the 27th AIB with B Company in front, followed by Headquarters and C Company. Encyclopedia of German tanks of World War Two. Little offtopic here but another misidentification might be the 1 destroyed 88mm assault gun (Ferdinand). General Luchts plan for December 17 was simple. So its quite possible! At St. Vith, Lt. Col. William H. Slayden was with Jones when Jones received the call from Middleton concerning 7th Armored Division support. The village of Bauvenn was designated the linkage point for the two combat commands. 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. The 16th Field Artillery also pitched in, as did a battalion of 155mm howitzers sited around Commanster. By 1300 on the 21st, the entire line was ablaze with German artillery, rockets, tanks, and infantry. Osprey Publishing, 2002. 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 closest primary German armored thrust route to the south ran through Burg Reuland, also about five miles from St. Vith. Revised Edition, Arms and Armour Press, 1973. 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. First Edition, Presidio Press, 2002. In the 27th AIBs move to take the high ground, B Company advanced along the center of the road. As the offensive steam came to an end in the Ardennes, the division went on the defensive, and there they would stay. 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. 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 men were a scrappy bunch. 1945) English PDF (18 MB) Jan B-627 Volkssturm (Oct. 1944-Apr. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating the 571st Volksgrenadier Division.The division, which was under the command of Gnther Hoffmann-Schnborn, absorbed elements of the 18th Luftwaffe Field Division. Battle of the Bulge 1944 (1): St Vith and the Northern Shoulder. Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. 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. 4 Grosstraktor to Panzerbefehlswagen IV. He said that the fight took about ninety minutes and that they used almost all their ammunition. The Battle at St. Vith, Belgium 17-23 December 1944 An Historical Example of Armor in the Defense. The last of the St. Vith defenders to come out were Task Force Jones and the 112th Infantry Regiment. 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 . Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. Hoge departed Faymonville at approximately 1800, arriving at General Joness headquarters in the St. Josephs Kloster about a half hour later. Volksgrenadier-Division. However, Company B, 27th AIB was sent to help ease the situation, covering the cavalrys left flank. Boylan, Vincent L. Letter to Robert W. Hasbrouck. Lieutenant Olsons version of the story would be the most contradicting version yet. While no Tiger Is were lost on the 18th of December, 1944, four Tiger IIs were lost that day. Manteuffel had hoped for considerably more on the 19th. Rodt was garrisoned by the service company of the 48th AIB and some drivers belonging to the battalion whose vehicles were parked there. The lumbering heavy tank continued moving towards the American line before turning north towards the town of Hunningen, Belgium, passing the armored car. War Department, 1944. Armored Champion, The Top Tanks of World War II. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18.Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. 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. 12th Volksgrenadier Division 89; 197; 487; 557; 650; 727. 223 223. The next notable version of this tale comes from a 1966 book by the US Army Armor School titled The Battle at St. Vith, Belgium 17-23 December 1944: A Historical Example of Armor in the Defense. 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 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. After Action Report, Month of December, 1944. It is a classic David versus Goliath tale straight out of World War II that features American heroism. On February 5, 1945 General Walter Botsch took over command of the division. The entry only states that a Tiger tank was knocked out. Then, four German antitank guns covering the Grufflingen-Maldange road were encountered. 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. . 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. The other, the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division, bore the number of an infantry division destroyed on the Eastern Front, which had been reconstituted. Rapidly, the M8 advanced to within 25 yards (23 meters) of the Tiger I and quickly pumped three rounds into its rear. The 7th Armored had taken a beating in defending St. Vith. After that mornings enemy assaults, the line of the 27th AIB was reestablished west of Neubruck. The guns of two platoons of Company A, 811th Tank Destroyers were overrun. Comment * document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "aefa00eeca3d30bd3e762fcc54816f6d" );document.getElementById("f87928873f").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Gen. Robert Hasbroucks 7th Armored Division would be arriving at St. Vith at 0700 on the 17th. 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. A second attempt on the bridge, made by about 40 men four hours later, was also thrown back by machine-gun fire. 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. Office of the Chief of Military History, Dept. 2014. One, the 18th Volksgrenadier Division, was holding the northern reaches of the Schnee Eifel. Back in the 1970s I worked with a man who told this story, he claimed he was the driver. However, he kept these misgivings to himself. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division was to attack along the two roads from Schoenberg, with the Fhrer Escort Brigade assaulting from the north. 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. Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz (1918) Periode: Eerste Wereldoorlog (1914-1918) . September 18th, 1944: Kdr. This article already explains ballistics and mentions that while Panther was vulnerable to lower-caliber AT guns, the Tigers were almost immune to them. Clarke, Bruce. Darlington Productions Inc., 2000. Within the Kloster, General Hoge found a division headquarters staff in a state of disarray and confusion. During the assault, B Company suffered about 40 casualties including its commanding officer, Captain Henry D. Wirsig. Darlington Productions Inc., 2000. Osprey Publishing, 2010. Tigers In Combat II. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. 194311 It is possible (if unlikely) that this event was completely unrelated to the M8 Greyhound versus Tiger story. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. Clad in armor between 25 mm and 180 mm thick and armed with deadly 88mm KwK 43 L/71 gun, the Tiger II was one of the deadliest tanks of the Second World War. The attacks made east of St. Vith on 18 December were carried by a part of the 294th Infantry [German], whose patrols had been checked by the 168th Engineers [US] the previous day. The surviving Volksgrenadiers fled in disarray. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945.. Company C, 27th AIB withdrew under heavy artillery and sniper fire but managed to destroy a number of German vehicles. Fortunately for Colonel Reid, word came at about 1730 that his 424th Infantry Regiment was to withdraw immediately. Zaloga, Steven. War Department, 1944. General Jones and his staff had pulled out of St. Vith on the morning of the 18th for Vielsalm. 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. During the afternoon of December 19, Hoge visited Clarkes command post in St. Vith and expressed his frustration with the current chain of command. 18th Flak Division 651 . 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. 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. The Germans attacked the center of the 27th AIB. Close. After listening to the information provided by General Clarkes staff officer, General Hoge decided to go to St. Vith himself to assess the situation. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division completed its southern swing, encircling the two regiments of the 106th Division on the Schnee Eifel. Company B of the 9th Engineers and D Company of the 89th Recon joined the line to supplement the armored infantry. Aside from the cold and mud, there was also the enemy to contend with. 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. 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 . Were any of these Tiger Is and or Tiger IIs knocked out on the 18th of December, 1944? 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, 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. [1] On March 6, 1945, when Botsch was ordered to take command of the LIIIrd Army Corps, the 18. 1945. Once in St. Vith, Jones explained that only the leading elements of the 7th Armored Division had arrived thus far and that St. Viths northern approach was under attack. VGD captured St. Vith, winning a great victory. This German World War II article is a stub. Division 4. Lever het aan! This left General Clarke with only one full company of armored infantrymen. Yes in theory. Luftlande-Division 19416 19421944 19453 22 22. Schiffer Publishing, 1996. Combat Interviews of the 38th Armored Infantry Battalion, 7th Armored Division: The St. Vith Salient and Manhay, December 17-23, 1944. I wanted to focus on the M8 vs Tiger story, I already noticed the Ferdinand claim, but decided not to mention it. This battalion hit the 424ths Cannon Company at the Weissenhof crossroads. Osprey Publishing, 2002. 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. 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. The Ardennes 1944-1945: Hitlers Winter Offensive. The division, which was under the command of Gnther Hoffmann-Schnborn, absorbed . A mobile battalion of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division was already moving on Andler to seize the Schoenberg bridge and the road to St. Vith. 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. Confusion, darkness, and mud slowed the move, but by morning a medium tank company and a platoon of riflemen had reached the village. 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. Beevor, Antony. Cole, Hugh M. The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge. Osprey Publishing, 2003. 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 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. Infanterie-Division . Which specific Tiger II this was is unknown. 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. 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. 2014. Zaloga, Steven, and Tony Bryan. Penguin Books, 2016. English Edition, Casemate Publishers, 2014. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. Ardennes 1944: Hitlers Last Gamble. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division(18. 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. Office of the Chief of Military History, Dept. Cole, Hugh M. The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge. Perhaps the most unlikely performer of the entire battle was the 18th Volksgrenadier Division. . The greatest danger existed in the 424ths position because the regiments flank lay vulnerable to attacks by the 116th Panzer Division to the south. On the morning of the December 20, three tank destroyers were placed in support of Company C, 27th AIB. . Farther to the north, in the 7th Armored sector, the pressure exerted by the enemy was also intense. Captain Ansteys version lacks supporting documentation. The Ardennes 1944-1945: Hitlers Winter Offensive. Infanterie-Division . At 0600 Im going to start to move.. 1/18th Scale Cars; 1/24th Scale Assembly Kits; 1/24th Scale Cars; 1/43rd Scale Cars; . Although the 62nd Volksgrenadier captured Winterspelt, its losses were high and its left regiment had made little headway in the Heckhuschied sector. The division had lost four companies of armored infantry. On its way to the new position, C Company came under a sudden artillery and rocket barrage in the village of Lommersweiler. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating the 571st Volksgrenadier Division. 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 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18. General Lucht hurried to Winterspelt to get the 62nd Volksgrenadier moving to the Our. At 0100 the 23rd, D Troop, 89th Recon lost an armored car and a jeep to antitank guns. 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. Although the bridge over the Our was blown, the German presence kept growing. While walking to avoid the traffic congestion, Manteuffel encountered his superior, Field Harshal Model. Armored Champion, The Top Tanks of World War II. VGD) was a volksgrenadierdivision of the German Army(Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. Eventually retreating through Germany until the end of the war, when it surrendered. This information came from the division's senior headquarters, the VIII Corps, First U.S. Army. By 1245, the original line was restored, and the antitank guns of Company A, 811th Tank Destroyers were recovered. It was at full strength and supplied with the latest equipment. 6 Schwere Panzerkampfwagen DW to E-100. 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. Both assault groups suffered heavy casualties. Volksgrenadier-Division. Combat Interviews of the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, 7th Armored Division: The St. Vith Salient, December 17-23, 1944. Three of these Tiger IIs belonged to Schwere SS Panzer Abteilung 501 (Heavy SS Tank Battalion 501); Tiger 105 was abandoned in the town of Stavelot, Belgium after getting itself stuck in a building, Tiger 332 was abandoned near Coo, Belgium as a result of mechanical damage, and Tiger 008 was abandoned at a farmhouse near Trois Ponts, Belgium. 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? Yeah but Panthers rear and side armor is very weak, so its completely different story. Please click for detailed translation, meaning, pronunciation and example sentences for 18e volksgrenadier division in English Although the 7th Armored Division was finally arriving, General Jones had been led to believe that the whole division would arrive in St. Vith starting at 0700. The mud had made the roads and open areas impassable for armored vehicles. Protected by armor between 25 mm to 145 mm thick and armed with a fearsome 88mm KwK 36 L/56 main gun, the Tiger I was arguably the most feared tank of World War II by Allied soldiers. Elements of D Company, 89th Recon screened the flanks. Companies A and B held a line from Grufflingen to Hohenbusch with Company A, 14th Tank Battalion to their north. . 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. Boylan, Vincent L. After Action Report, Month of December, 1944. 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 . Unable to advance, it pulled back to the nearest high ground and dug in. General Hoge moved his command post to Commanster. He also hoped the 3rd Armored Division soon might attack to remove all threat of encirclement.

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