18th volksgrenadier division 18th volksgrenadier division

Germanys Tiger Tanks D.W. to Tiger I: Design, Production & Modifications. I mention it for the sake of completeness as I suspect that the whole thing is a myth. However, the monumental traffic jams in the Losheim Gap and at Schoenberg continued to delay both the 18th Volksgrenadier Division and the Fhrer Escort Brigade, and not until after daylight on the 20th would a bridge be ready at Steinebruck for the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division. Ninth Armored sent out billeting parties as it reached its new area. Despite nearly a foot of snow, the ground underneath was still soft, and with the passage of only a few heavy vehicles it was soon churned into a morass of mud. This was no place to conduct a mobile defense with armor-heavy forces. The reason for this comparative respite was due to the fact that the roads to the German rear were completely jammed. 45 mm. Each attack was preceded by an intense artillery barrage lasting from 15 to 35 minutes. The Battle at St. Vith, Belgium 17-23 December 1944 An Historical Example of Armor in the Defense. 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. Company B of the 9th Engineers and D Company of the 89th Recon joined the line to supplement the armored infantry. Late on the 20th, patrols of the 82nd Airborne Division, on the other side of the Salm River, established contact with patrols of the 7th Armored Division. Darlington Productions Inc., 2000. Could a Panther be a possibility? General Lucht hurried to Winterspelt to get the 62nd Volksgrenadier moving to the Our. Operation Nordwind 1945 Hitlers last offensive in the West. The M8 was used mostly as a reconnaissance vehicle for scouting. 324 324. The entire division was to follow shortly thereafter. VGD) was a volksgrenadierdivision of the German Army(Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. Encyclopedia of German tanks of World War Two. Combat Interviews of the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, 7th Armored Division: The St. Vith Salient, December 17-23, 1944. The new sector assigned to CCB was on the fringe of territory the Sixth Panzer Army had mapped out for its further maneuvers. Schiffer Publishing, 1997. 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. What he claimed was that the fight wasnt as easy as it is presented here. The formations started to peel backward in succession from opposite Neubruck to Maldingen. Situated next to B Company were Company A, 27th AIB and Company D, 14th Tank Battalion. A second attempt on the bridge, made by about 40 men four hours later, was also thrown back by machine-gun fire. Infanterie-Division . Germanys Tiger Tanks VK45.02 to TIGER II. The 62nd, like the 18th, included three regiments of two battalions each. Jentz, Thomas. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division(18. The 18. They were sometimes misidentified as Tiger HIs. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division would use these assault guns in small probing attacks on the American lines east of St. Vith that same day. It contained the 293., 294. and 295. grenadier regiments, Panzerjger-Bataillon 1818, Pionier-Bataillon 1818, Fsilier-Bataillon 1818 and Artillerie-Regiment 1818.[1]. Division 3. Communications with division headquarters in St. Vith were limited to liaison officers running along a road now being shelled by the Germans. Infanterie-Division . 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. 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. On top of attacking the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (minus Troop B), a Panzer IV can be easily misidentified as a Tiger I. 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. A platoon of medium tanks counterattacked, and the enemy retreated. 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 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 . This is puzzling, to say the least. The CCB command post was moved to Neubruck, a small group of farmhouses on Braunlauf Creek about two miles southwest of St. Vith. 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. Add to cart. On December 16th at 4:00 a.m., they took the twenty-two foot macadam road following the Our River valley towards Manderfield. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. 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. The division, which was under the command of Gnther Hoffmann-Schnborn, absorbed . 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. The town was also in Fifth Panzer Armys area of advance. Zaloga, Steven. 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. By 1245, the original line was restored, and the antitank guns of Company A, 811th Tank Destroyers were recovered. 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. Our preliminary briefings had told us that there would be no armor in our path. Volksgrenadier-Division. This left General Clarke with only one full company of armored infantrymen. 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. CCBs new position blocked the main Winterspelt-St. Vith highway and the valley of the Braunlauf Creek, a second natural corridor leading to St. Vith. On December 21, 18. Seventh Armored Division Association 2517 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington 8, D.C., 1947. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18th VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. 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. Between these units, a place was found for the provisional company composed of the 424th Infantry stragglers. An appropriate start for the investigation of this action is to identify contemporary American accounts. His troops remained in place, and the pullout to the west side of the Our River began at dusk. Dragon 1625 1/16th Obersturmfuhrer Totenkopf Division Budapest 1945 R 275.00. var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; 8 Sturmgeschuetz s.Pak to Sturmmoerser. A mobile battalion of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division was already moving on Andler to seize the Schoenberg bridge and the road to St. Vith. To this end, General Hoge was in the town of Monschau to check on the possibility of getting his command across in that area. It is possible (if unlikely) that this event was completely unrelated to the M8 Greyhound versus Tiger story. Armament T-70 gun cal. Revised Edition, Arms and Armour Press, 1973. Furthermore, General Clarke had no idea when his command would arrive. Gen. Herbert T. Perrin, assistant commander of the 106th Infantry Division, drove up carrying a message from General Jones. 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. Ardennes 1944: Hitlers Last Gamble. 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. This German World War II article is a stub. . Infanterie-Division 19398 . 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. Ministry of Supply, 1945. Situation reports suggested that the Germans were intent on crossing the Our River at Steinebruck. Next came B Company, 9th Armored Engineers; the 16th Armored Field Artillery; B Company, 482nd Antiaircraft Artillery; and the 14th Tank Battalion. 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. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. M8 Greyhound Light Armored Car 1941-91. Manteuffel answered, We estimated that we were up against a division, and perhaps against an entire corps. The entry only states that a Tiger tank was knocked out. 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. 47. While 9th Armored was thus engaged in the Winterspelt area during the morning hours of December 17, Brig. 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. Once the bridge at Steinebruck was seized, the 62nd was to support the 18th Volksgrenadier Divisions drive on St. Vith by blocking the western and southern routes in and out of the town. 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. EN. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating the 571st Volksgrenadier Division. 1964. Stackpole Books, 2015. English PDF (15 MB) Jan B-603 352d Volks Grenadier Division (19 Freb.-21 Mar. After learning of the attack by the Fhrer Escort Brigade, Brig. Which specific Tiger II this was is unknown. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18. 13 relations. The staff officer wanted to know if 9th Armored could spare some desperately needed help. of the Army, 1965. During his meeting with Hoge, General Ridgway became convinced that defending this area any further would be futile. 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. Required fields are marked *. Volksgrenadier-Division 5 [ ] On his way to St. Vith, General Hoge stopped in Faymonville to alert his command to be prepared to move immediately. The closest primary German armored thrust route to the south ran through Burg Reuland, also about five miles from St. Vith. 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. 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. Should 7th Armored lose St. Vith, 9th Armored would be unable to withdraw on its own axis. 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. 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. 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. 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. No one knew what was happening. Ridgway answered, Bill, we can and we will. The withdrawal plan called for a general pullback west of the Salm River to an assembly area in the zone controlled by the 82nd Airborne Division in the vicinity of Lierneux. 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. Aside from the cold and mud, there was also the enemy to contend with. Armour Plate Porforation [sic: Perforation] of Tank and Anti Tank Guns. Then there is the issue of the entrys ambiguity in regards to the Tiger tank that was knocked out. 1947. 3. Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz (1918) Period: First World War (1914-1918) Awarded on: . 16 Dec 2022 08:28:00 It is possible that it was really a Tiger tank. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945.. 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? Third Printing, US Army Armored School, 1966. Hoge departed Faymonville at approximately 1800, arriving at General Joness headquarters in the St. Josephs Kloster about a half hour later. 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 . One gun, firing from the house that had been the 14th Tanks command post an hour earlier, disabled two of the Shermans, but the other tanks managed to knock out the four antitank guns plus three German command vehicles. Division C E R T I F I C A T E 24 June 1945 I certify that I am S-3 The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18. 6 Schwere Panzerkampfwagen DW to E-100. By this time the Germans had essentially closed the trap on the two infantry regiments on the Schnee Eifel. 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. The event simply was not that notable. The situation on Reids left flank was unclear, and the Germans were attacking in considerable force against his right flank. 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. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army ( Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. Soldiers of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division infiltrated the American lines at the villages of Roth, Weckerath, Kobscheid, and Auw before the artillery barrage began. 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. By mid-afternoon, General Hoge ordered his infantry to halt and dig in. 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. 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. Unable to advance, it pulled back to the nearest high ground and dug in. 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.