The fall of Rodt effectively split 7th Armoreds CCA from General Clarkes CCB. After learning of the attack by the Fhrer Escort Brigade, Brig. Design, Production & Modifications. Johnston, W. Wesley. Were any of these Tiger Is and or Tiger IIs knocked out on the 18th of December, 1944? 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. At 0100 the 23rd, D Troop, 89th Recon lost an armored car and a jeep to antitank guns. 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. Armour Plate Porforation [sic: Perforation] of Tank and Anti Tank Guns. Zaloga, Steven. . The Tiger II, also known as the King Tiger, Royal Tiger, Knigstiger, and Tiger Ausf.B, was an enormous, 69.8 tonne German heavy tank. Our preliminary briefings had told us that there would be no armor in our path. Thus, the Fifth Panzer Army commander ordered that St. Vith be taken no later than the second day of the offensive. 1940 194111. The commanders were at the center of the Foret Domaniale du Grand Bois. 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. Gen. Herbert T. Perrin, assistant commander of the 106th Infantry Division, drove up carrying a message from General Jones. 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. Division 3. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. After listening to the information provided by General Clarkes staff officer, General Hoge decided to go to St. Vith himself to assess the situation. American Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force Choose a Unit. Jones had been counting on this when he sent Hoges 9th Armored Command to Winterspelt rather than Schoenberg. At 0130 the 27th AIB was hit hard and the sector held by Company B, 9th Engineers was deeply penetrated, causing the armored infantry to fall back under the protective guns of Company A, 14th Tank Battalion. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18. Ninth Armored sent out billeting parties as it reached its new area. 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. This was no place to conduct a mobile defense with armor-heavy forces. VGD division was absorbed into the 26. 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. It is possible (if unlikely) that this event was completely unrelated to the M8 Greyhound versus Tiger story. 223 223. The tanks of the 14th Tank Battalion and the half-tracks of the 27th AIB paused to pick up the foot elements of the 424th RCT, 106th Infantry Division. 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. Third Printing, US Army Armored School, 1966. The formations started to peel backward in succession from opposite Neubruck to Maldingen. So its quite possible! Generals Manteuffel and Lucht had planned an all-out attack to take St. Vith starting at daylight with a three- pronged envelopment by the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division against 9th Armored positions in the south. So many soldiers of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division converged on Wallerode for the final push against St. Vith that the villagers themselves threatened to be squeezed out. First Edition, Stackpole Books, 2005. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. 1945. The division had lost four companies of armored infantry. 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. Johnston, W. Wesley. 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. 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. While 9th Armored was thus engaged in the Winterspelt area during the morning hours of December 17, Brig. 1941622 . At about 0115 on December 17, a platoon from 9th Armoreds D Troop, 89th Recon was detailed to proceed through St. Vith in a southeasterly direction and seize the high ground along Highway N27 south of Steinebruck. The Battle at St. Vith, Belgium 17-23 December 1944 An Historical Example of Armor in the Defense. 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. 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. 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. 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. An attack to the east by the 7th Armored Division could then relieve the two surrounded regiments of the 106th. Two hits were scored on the enemy tank in the rear, and its crew evacuated. Osprey Publishing, 2013. Moreover, it was expected that General Luchts two infantry divisions would be forwarded to the Salm River sector as right-wing cover for two panzer corps. 47. 2014. At about midday, the field marshal sent a message to General Hasbrouck: You have accomplished your missiona mission well done. 18th Artillery Division 651. Since the move from Faymonville to Winterspelt involved a greater distance, Hoge decided to get his command on the road immediately. The reason for this comparative respite was due to the fact that the roads to the German rear were completely jammed. As stated above, a 37mm cant penetrate the armor of an Tiger tank. General Jones and his staff had pulled out of St. Vith on the morning of the 18th for Vielsalm. The platoon lost four men missing and two wounded in the ensuing engagement. 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. Lever het aan! Each attack was preceded by an intense artillery barrage lasting from 15 to 35 minutes. Volksgrenadier-Division. General Hoge received his order to pull CCB, 9th Armored out at 0605 on December 23. Therefore, Montgomery ordered Ridgway to attack to the southeast until Vielsalm could be reached, ensuring an escape corridor for those trapped within the defense. In blinding snow and on slippery roads the tanks and infantry of CCB, 9th Armored headed for Bauvenn. The ultimate objective was to open an escape route for the soldiers of the 424th. One, the 18th Volksgrenadier Division, was holding the northern reaches of the Schnee Eifel. By noon, the 27th AIB, with the help of Company A, 14th Tank Battalion, had retaken that first stretch of high ground. Another attack hit the left flank of 7th Armored. General Luchts 66th Corps was shifted from General Manteuffels Fifth Panzer Army to the Sixth Panzer. Jones wanted Clarke to counterattack immediately with his combat command and break that ring that these people have closed around the Schnee Eifel.. events, and resources, The Battle of the Bulge & The Defense of St. Vith. 560th Volks Grenadier Division (15-29 Dec. 1944) and 12th VGD (1-28 Jan. 1945). Anderson, Thomas. Before the day ended, renewed fighting broke out along the entire front. 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. 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. While making his reconnaissance at Monschau he received an urgent message to call V Corps headquarters. 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. Should 7th Armored lose St. Vith, 9th Armored would be unable to withdraw on its own axis. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945.. 6731 Whittier Avenue, Suite C-100 McLean, VA 22101, Stay up to date with all of our latest news, Infanterie-Division . After Action Report, Month of December, 1944. War Department, 1944. One Day at Stavelot, a Tale of Two Archives The Tiger II vs US Tank Destroyers in the Ardennes. The Seventh Armored Division in the Battle of St. Vith. The line companies were down to one officer apiece. 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.. 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 The 18th Volksgrenadier Division(18. 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 northern prong of the horseshoe was composed of CCB, 7th Armored Division from Poteau and Vielsalm. General Clarke again called on the 9th Armored for assistance to help stiffen his line, and Hoge responded by sending the 3rd Battalion, 424th Regimental Combat Team. 194311 Troy Middletons VIII Corps. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. This one, however, most likely did not. A second attempt on the bridge, made by about 40 men four hours later, was also thrown back by machine-gun fire. Chamberlain, Peter, et al. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. 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. This break appeared to be only a dream, however, as it seemed every outfit wanted a piece of CCB, 9th Armored to help shore up its positions. Late on December 17, General Manteuffel was concerned with the lack of progress in his attack beyond the Schnee Eifel toward St. Vith. As the offensive steam came to an end in the Ardennes, the division went on the defensive, and there they would stay. 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 . On December 21, 18. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. 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. 13th Company, 28th Jager Regiment, 8th Jager Division 286. German reports are also far from subtlety. The U.S. 9th Armored Division arrived in the European Theater of Operations in late October 1944 as a reserve for Maj. Gen. A strong attack has just developed against Clarke again. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18.Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. One German tank was seen going up in flames. Bergstrm, Christer. Captain Ansteys version lacks supporting documentation. 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. Osprey Publishing, 2003. Cole, Hugh M. The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge. 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. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. 194311 Given that the rear hull armor of a Tiger II is 80 mm of RHA angled at 30 degrees, it is essentially impossible for the M8 Greyhounds 37 mm M6 gun to penetrate the rear hull armor of the Tiger II. 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. Battle of the Bulge 1944 (1): St Vith and the Northern Shoulder. Germanys Tiger Tanks VK45.02 to TIGER II. 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. Confusion, darkness, and mud slowed the move, but by morning a medium tank company and a platoon of riflemen had reached the village. }(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. 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. By midnight on the 19th, the horseshoe- shaped defense of St. Vith had taken form. Seventh Armored Division Association 2517 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington 8, D.C., 1947. 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. 18e volksgrenadier division English translation: 18th volksgrenadier division (wehrmacht).. 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. 13th Flak Division 651 . As far as Im aware no Ferdinands (all upgraded to Elefants at the stage of Ardennes Offensive) were used in the Ardennes and better yet all Elefants were in Eastern Front with the 614.sPzJgK (formerly 2./653.sPzJgAbt) after August 1944. It is possible that it was really a Tiger tank. General Luchts plan for December 17 was simple. Those factors dictated that at least another 24 hours would be needed before a major assault on St. Vith could begin. 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. 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. 18th Panzer Division (later 18th Artillery Division) 19th Panzer Division (previously 19th Infantry Division) 20th Panzer Division 21st Panzer Division (previously 5th Light Division) 22nd Panzer Division 23rd Panzer Division 24th Panzer Division (previously 1st Cavalry Division) 25th Panzer Division Just kept to the main story. Under cover of automatic weapons fire from a platoon of light tanks, Sergeant Eugene Dorland and two other men from the engineers went into the cold, bullet-splattered water carrying three cases of TNT and placed their charges on the south abutment of the bridge. To cover this dangerous gap in the line C Company, 27th AIB was ordered to the Our between Troop D, 89th Recon and Company A, 27th AIB. After that mornings enemy assaults, the line of the 27th AIB was reestablished west of Neubruck. 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. VGD captured St. Vith, winning a great victory. Clerks were running everywhere and junior staff officers were arguing among themselves; upstairs, however, Hoge found General Jones remarkably composed. The failure to capture St. Vith was preventing the linkup of the Fifth and the Sixth Panzer Armies. Tigers In Combat II. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division was to attack along the two roads from Schoenberg, with the Fhrer Escort Brigade assaulting from the north. Dragon 1629 1/16th Feldwebel 352nd Volksgrenadier Division R 275.00. His troops remained in place, and the pullout to the west side of the Our River began at dusk. 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. Darlington Productions Inc., 2000. None of these Tiger IIs were lost at St. Vith and from photographic evidence at least three are recorded to have no burn damage and/or holes in the rear. 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. 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. The 7th Armored had taken a beating in defending St. Vith. Office of the Chief of Military History, Dept. Manteuffel answered, We estimated that we were up against a division, and perhaps against an entire corps. Third Printing, US Army Armored School, 1966. 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. When B Company pulled back to refuel and rearm, A Company passed through to take up the fight. As the offensive steam came to an end in the Ardennes, the division went on the defensive, and there they would stay. The mobile battalion consisted of three platoons of assault guns, a company of engineers, and another of fusiliers. Zaloga, Steven. December, 1944 By Greg Moore gregpanzerblitz.com December, 2008 Battalion I x 5 x 4 x 1 x 2 x 12 293rd Volks- . Griffin, Marcus S. After Action Report, Month of December 1944. [1] On March 6, 1945, when Botsch was ordered to take command of the LIIIrd Army Corps, the 18. Perhaps the most unlikely performer of the entire battle was the 18th Volksgrenadier Division. 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. Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. 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. All but five troopers of 2nd Platoon were lost to enemy action. Also no Ferdinand/Elefant recorded to have seen combat on Western Front. 223 223. These German tanks would later be specified to be Panzer IVs or Mark IVs.