Design, Production & Modifications. 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. 18th Artillery Division 651. Dragon 1625 1/16th Obersturmfuhrer Totenkopf Division Budapest 1945 R 275.00. 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. 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. Lieutenant Olsons version of the story would be the most contradicting version yet. Zaloga, Steven. Stackpole Books, 2015. Dragon 1629 1/16th Feldwebel 352nd Volksgrenadier Division R 275.00. However, I am not so emotionally attached to my favorite LAV that I cant see the improbabilities. 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. This moment marked the beginning of the famous Battle of the Bulge, Germany's last major offensive on the Western Front in World War II. Roadblocks were set up and manned. 6731 Whittier Avenue, Suite C-100 McLean, VA 22101, Stay up to date with all of our latest news, . EN. Tough Stand of the Golden Lions - Warfare History Network Hoge managed to stop the stragglers, and soon a provisional company of men from the 424th was formed to reinforce the 27th AIB on its march toward the Our. VGD led by Heinz Kokott, Heinrich Himmler's brother-in-law. Not long after Rodt fell to the Fhrer Escort Brigade, an attack came against the 7th Armored from the direction of Recht. Since the move from Faymonville to Winterspelt involved a greater distance, Hoge decided to get his command on the road immediately. Infanterie-Division 193510 [1] 22 22. 1940 194111. Perhaps the most unlikely performer of the entire battle was the 18th Volksgrenadier Division. Johnston, W. Wesley. Greyhound vs. Tiger at St. Vith - Tank Encyclopedia VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945.. 47. He is being outflanked and is retiring west another 2,000 yards refusing both flanks. 2014. Fortunately, a tank destroyer from Vielsalm turned up and hit the leading two German panzers, which drove the rest for cover. Before departing, however, Hoge gave orders to Lt. Col. Leonard E. Engeman, commander of the 14th Tank Battalion, to get a strong force ready to move out to assist 7th Armored should it become necessary. 18th Volksgrenadier Division (Wehrmacht), the Glossary In the early afternoon of the 22nd, he arrived at General Hasbroucks headquarters in Vielsalm to plan the withdrawal. Schiffer Publishing, 1997. At St. Vith, Lt. Col. William H. Slayden was with Jones when Jones received the call from Middleton concerning 7th Armored Division support. The Seventh Armored Division in the Battle of St. Vith. Gen. Hasbrouck, commander of the 7th Armored Division, sent a message to General Ridgway urging withdrawal, which in part read, P.S. 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. 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. Rebuilding the blown bridge to get their assault guns across was their first priority. 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. Schiffer Publishing, 1996. 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. WAR DEPARTMENT - Indiana Military This leads to a second candidate, the StuG III. Ardennes 1944: Hitlers Last Gamble. 18th Flak Division 651 . It appeared now that the fate of his two northern regiments was sealed. which, in principle, is comparable to the 37 mm American gun. Established in 1941, the unit was deployed in German-occupied areas of the Soviet Union, in the Army Group North Rear Area. 18th Volksgrenadier Division (Wehrmacht) Wiki It is possible that it was really a Tiger tank. The next version of this story can be found in a 1947 book by Major Donald P. Boyer of the 38th Armored Infantry Battalion titled St. Vith, The 7th Armored Division in the Battle of the Bulge, 17-23 December 1944: A Narrative After Action Report. Revised Edition, Arms and Armour Press, 1973. The Americans knew that their only hope in doing any sort of damage to this beast was to get as close as possible to it and shoot its weaker rear armor. 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. 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. Within the Kloster, General Hoge found a division headquarters staff in a state of disarray and confusion. General Luchts plan for December 17 was simple. 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. This forest was criss-crossed only by trails. Plastic Models - Page 8 - Esswex Hobbies Since speed was the key to success of the German plan, two panzer armies would spearhead the offensive. On February 5, 1945 General Walter Botsch took over command of the division. 1945) English PDF (18 MB) Jan B-627 Volkssturm (Oct. 1944-Apr. 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. 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. I mention it for the sake of completeness as I suspect that the whole thing is a myth. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. While no Tiger Is were lost on the 18th of December, 1944, four Tiger IIs were lost that day. Airfix J6017 Volkswagen Camper Van (Quick Build) R 405.00. The column came upon stragglers from the 424th Infantry retreating in disarray toward St. Vith. 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. Chamberlain, Peter, et al. Ardennes 1944: Hitlers Last Gamble. js.className = n; The 424th Infantry still blocked the road to the Our River and Steinebruck. 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. 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. They were repulsed by machine-gun fire. Jones had been counting on this when he sent Hoges 9th Armored Command to Winterspelt rather than Schoenberg. The American plan was that once the 2nd Infantry Division reduced the German defenses at the Wahlerscheid crossroads, CCB was to spearhead a drive to the reservoirs north of Gemund and Schleiden. Clerks were running everywhere and junior staff officers were arguing among themselves; upstairs, however, Hoge found General Jones remarkably composed. During the early hours of December 17, the Germans laid heavy mortar and artillery fire on the front-line positions of his regiment. 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. While on its way, the platoon was commandeered by a colonel from the 106th Division. The platoon lost four men missing and two wounded in the ensuing engagement. The next move was up to General Lucht and his corps. At 0200 on December 22, the Fhrer Escort Brigade launched its attack against the town of Rodt, a small village west of St. Vith. The Ardennes 1944-1945: Hitlers Winter Offensive. Infanterie-Division Hamburg 19453 . Then, four German antitank guns covering the Grufflingen-Maldange road were encountered. The entire division was to follow shortly thereafter. Farther to the north, in the 7th Armored sector, the pressure exerted by the enemy was also intense. The German 20th Infantry Division was an infantry division of Nazi Germany.HistoryThe was established in 1934 under the cover name. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. Encyclopedia of German tanks of World War Two. Zaloga, Steven. 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. 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. Panzer Tracts No. }(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. 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. Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. Beevor, Antony. Add to cart. This is an issue because there were two distinct types of German Tiger tanks, both of which took part in the Battle of the Bulge: The Tiger I and the Tiger II. Gen. Herbert T. Perrin, assistant commander of the 106th Infantry Division, drove up carrying a message from General Jones. 18th Volksgrenadier Division | Detailed Pedia Osprey Publishing, 2010. 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. Battle of the Bulge 1944 (1): St Vith and the Northern Shoulder. One German tank was seen going up in flames. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division completed its southern swing, encircling the two regiments of the 106th Division on the Schnee Eifel. The division had lost four companies of armored infantry. 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. 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. Boylan, Vincent L. Letter to Robert W. Hasbrouck. Although the Germans were quick to build up beyond the Our River after the American withdrawal, they made no immediate moves against the new American line. 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. The two task forces held onto their respective positions on N23 and N27, deflecting all German armored attempts to penetrate St. Vith, until they were relieved late in the afternoon by CCB, 7th Armored Division. Which specific Tiger II this was is unknown. A mobile battalion of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division was already moving on Andler to seize the Schoenberg bridge and the road to St. Vith. 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. Captain Ansteys version lacks supporting documentation. The armored infantrymen kept themselves well hidden until the column was directly in front of them and then opened fire. Schiffer Publishing, 1997. 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 By mid-afternoon, General Hoge ordered his infantry to halt and dig in. Inform us! The surviving Volksgrenadiers fled in disarray. 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. Johnston, W. Wesley. This German World War II article is a stub. 18. Volksgrenadier-Division - Axis History 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. 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. On February 5, 1945 General Walter Botsch took over command of the division. 19454 The Seventh Armored Division in the Battle of St. Vith. 301 Sentences With "poor shape" | Random Sentence Generator The event simply was not that notable. Fifth Panzer was to attack from Prum in the north down to Bitburg and Bastogne in the south. VGD. Attack on Panther PzKw V and Tiger PzKw VI. English PDF (15 MB) Jan B-603 352d Volks Grenadier Division (19 Freb.-21 Mar. The story begins on the 18th of December 1944, two days after the start of the German offensive. Panzertruppen Volume 2 The Complete Guide to the Creation & Combat Deployment of The German Tank Forces 1943-1945. He also said that they got a new Greyhound. When a particularly heavy onslaught was launched against 7th Armored, near 9th Armoreds left flank, Company A, 14th Tank Battalion shifted its mediums to fire directly on Breitfield in support of its armored neighbor to the north. VGD led by Heinz Kokott, Heinrich Himmler's brother-in-law. 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. During ceremonies observing the 20th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, General Clarke was able to talk to General Manteuffel and discuss German operations against St. Vith. Shortly thereafter, Hasbrouck called and asked, Bruce, do you think you can get out? Clarke answered, A miracle has happened, General! Before the day ended, renewed fighting broke out along the entire front. Panzer Tracts No. 13 relations. It was around 1200 hours and all was quiet when suddenly a German heavy tank was spotted slowly approaching the American line, a Tiger I. 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. Unable to advance, it pulled back to the nearest high ground and dug in. 18e volksgrenadier division English translation: 18th volksgrenadier division (wehrmacht).. 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. General Jones and his staff had pulled out of St. Vith on the morning of the 18th for Vielsalm. Division 4. Volksgrenadier-Division. However, it cannot be definitively stated that this is another version of the M8 Greyhound versus Tiger story due to its ambiguity. Gen. William Hoges Combat Command B (CCB) of the 9th was attached to V Corps to support the 2nd Infantry Division in its planned attack through the Monschau Forest as part of the U.S. Armys strategy to capture or destroy the Roer River dams. 45 mm. The other, the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division, bore the number of an infantry division destroyed on the Eastern Front, which had been reconstituted. 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. 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.
