Captain Ansteys version lacks supporting documentation. It consisted of the 136th 138th and 139th Mountain Replacement Regiments and the 112th Artillery 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. They were repulsed by machine-gun fire. This German World War II article is a stub. Hoge and Clarke agreed that Hoges entire command should be withdrawn west of the railroad tracks. Under the command of Gnther Hoffmann-Schnborn, the new division absorbed elements of the 18th Luftwaffe Field Division. They were sometimes misidentified as Tiger HIs. 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. It is possible (if unlikely) that this event was completely unrelated to the M8 Greyhound versus Tiger story. 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. These troops were hit by the Fhrer Escort Brigade and driven from Rogery to Cierreux in some disarray. 1946. Germanys Tiger Tanks VK45.02 to TIGER II. Lever het aan! 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. Between these units, a place was found for the provisional company composed of the 424th Infantry stragglers. The route terminated at several vital crossroads in the city of St. Vith. 10 Apr. They were followed in order by the half-tracks and other vehicles of the 27th AIB, the tank companies, the antiaircraft company, and the engineers. Division C E R T I F I C A T E 24 June 1945 I certify that I am S-3 On the morning of the December 20, three tank destroyers were placed in support of Company C, 27th AIB. Company A of the 14th Tank Battalion had some trouble disengaging. At St. Vith, Lt. Col. William H. Slayden was with Jones when Jones received the call from Middleton concerning 7th Armored Division support. The 27th AIB was ordered to establish a defensive position south, east, west, and southeast of Malempre. His troops remained in place, and the pullout to the west side of the Our River began at dusk. . He is being outflanked and is retiring west another 2,000 yards refusing both flanks. For this mission, CCB consisted of the 14th Tank Battalion, the 27th Armored Infantry Battalion, the 16th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, and miscellaneous smaller units vital to any major command. There are two likely candidates, the first being a Panzer IV. And why would it not? 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. 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. 'poor shape' in a sentence. 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. Six paved or macadam roads converged at St. Vith, but none of these was considered by the Germans to be a major military trunk line. Sometime later that Monday morning, General Hoge sent his liaison officer to St. Vith to learn the dispositions of CCB, 7th Armored Division. General Jones and his staff had pulled out of St. Vith on the morning of the 18th for Vielsalm. He was also told that all that stood in their way were two troops of the 87th Recon Squadron, 7th Armoreds 87th, and a few antiaircraft half-tracks. Revised Edition, Arms and Armour Press, 1973. The hardest hit, though, were the armored infantrymen of the 27th AIB with nearly 300 battle casualties. Zaloga, Steven. By the end of the day, the 27th AIB had withdrawn through Steinebruck without casualties despite enemy shelling of the village. The entry only states that a Tiger tank was knocked out. EN. Fortunately, a tank destroyer from Vielsalm turned up and hit the leading two German panzers, which drove the rest for cover. Much like the Panzer IV, the StuG III was a mainstay of the German army as well as Germanys most produced armored fighting vehicle of the war with over 9,400 produced. Rejection & Neglect available to buy on Payhip! This is puzzling, to say the least. Add to cart. September 18th, 1944: Kdr. 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 second task force hit another probe by the 1st SS Panzer and pushed it out of Hunningen. The troops were exhausted and spread out. Yes in theory. First Edition, Stackpole Books, 2004. 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. Germanys Tiger Tanks D.W. to Tiger I: Design, Production & Modifications. What he claimed was that the fight wasnt as easy as it is presented here. Perhaps the most unlikely performer of the entire battle was the 18th Volksgrenadier Division. 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 . Jones had been counting on this when he sent Hoges 9th Armored Command to Winterspelt rather than Schoenberg. Stackpole Books, 2015. As the offensive steam came to an end in the Ardennes, the division went on the defensive, and there they would stay. Were any of these Tiger Is and or Tiger IIs knocked out on the 18th of December, 1944? Manteuffel had hoped for considerably more on the 19th. The 7th Armored had taken a beating in defending St. Vith. A platoon of medium tanks counterattacked, and the enemy retreated. This moment marked the beginning of the famous Battle of the Bulge, Germanys last major offensive on the Western Front in World War II. 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 entire division was to follow shortly thereafter. South of Sixth Panzer Army was General Manteuffels Fifth Panzer Army, with the Seventh Army on its left. Those factors dictated that at least another 24 hours would be needed before a major assault on St. Vith could begin. Such events might have taken place in reality, true. Ridgway knew Hoge to be calm, courageous, and imperturbable. Based upon this fairly optimistic view, Ridgway, shortly after midnight, ordered the entire St. Vith force to withdraw from its current positions and form a defensive ring west of St. Vith and east of the Salm River. 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. The town was also in Fifth Panzer Armys area of advance. 4 Grosstraktor to Panzerbefehlswagen IV. Ardennes 1944: Hitlers Last Gamble. 120th Infantry Regiment (30th Infantry Division) 307th Airborne Engineer Battalion 319th Field Artillery Glider Battalion 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment German Units 3d Parachute Division 12th SS Panzer Division 18th Volksgrenadier Division 246th Volsgrenadier Division 884th March Battalion 905th Assault Gun Brigade At 0200 on December 22, the Fhrer Escort Brigade launched its attack against the town of Rodt, a small village west of St. Vith. Under the chain of the northern sector command, only General Ridgway was unsure of Field Marshal Montgomerys decision to withdraw from the defense. 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. 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. Design, Production & Modifications. [1] On March 6, 1945, when Botsch was ordered to take command of the LIIIrd Army Corps, the 18. The Sherman tanks of B Company repulsed the enemy with fire from their 76mm guns. At about noon that day, the 62nd Volksgrenadier Divisions 190th Regiment had broken through north of the 424th Infantrys Cannon Company. The Seventh Armored Division in the Battle of St. Vith. It contained the 293., 294. and 295. grenadier regiments, Panzerjger-Bataillon 1818, Pionier-Bataillon 1818, Fsilier-Bataillon 1818 and Artillerie-Regiment 1818.[1]. 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 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. #WW2 . Olson states that, on the 18th of December 1944, one of the armored cars opened fire with its 37 mm gun on a German tank at range of 800 yards [732 meters]. Schneider, Wolfgang. St. Vith is built on a low hill surrounded on all sides by slightly higher rises. After the Tiger I had passed, the armored car then slipped out of its concealed position and began accelerating towards the tank in an attempt to close the gap between the two. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division was to attack along the two roads from Schoenberg, with the Fhrer Escort Brigade assaulting from the north. This initial thrust carried the enemy approximately 400 yards into the battalions sector. Good Tank, Poor Deployment | T-34-76 and T-34-85 in Yugoslav Partisan Service. Back in the 1970s I worked with a man who told this story, he claimed he was the driver. While walking to avoid the traffic congestion, Manteuffel encountered his superior, Field Harshal Model. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division completed its southern swing, encircling the two regiments of the 106th Division on the Schnee Eifel. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. 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. 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. VGD captured St. Vith, winning a great victory. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. 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. 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. 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. VGD captured St. Vith, winning a great victory. Instead of the M8 Greyhound firing three shots into the Tigers rear, the M8 Greyhound in Lieutenant Olsons version of events fired two shots. This left General Clarke with only one full company of armored infantrymen. 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. During the afternoon of December 19, Hoge visited Clarkes command post in St. Vith and expressed his frustration with the current chain of command. events, and resources, The Battle of the Bulge & The Defense of St. Vith. War Department, 1944. Johnston, W. Wesley. The Seventh Armored Division in the Battle of St. Vith. Tiger. Panzer Tracts No. Thus, there are four different versions of this story circulating: Troop Es version with a Tiger I, Troop Es version with a Tiger II, Captain Ansteys version with a Tiger I, and Captain Ansteys version with a Tiger II. CCB, 9th Armored was linked on its left with CCB, 7th Armored and what was left of the 424th Infantry Regiment on its right. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18. Darlington Productions Inc., 2000. 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. The 9th Armored Divisions position at the Our was no longer tenable. Mastering all the usages of 'poor shape' from sentence examples published by news publications. Pegov in March 1944 on a light tank T-70 destroyed two German Panthers aboard. 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. The reason for this comparative respite was due to the fact that the roads to the German rear were completely jammed. The event simply was not that notable. Schneider, Wolfgang. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division ( 18. 22 22. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division(18. 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. 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. 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. For example, when G.I. The Germans attacked the center of the 27th AIB. Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. 1940. The village of St. Vith lay approximately 12 miles behind the front lines on December 16, 1944, the day the offensive code-named Operation Watch on the Rhine began. 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. 194311 School of Tank Technology, April 1944. Rodt was garrisoned by the service company of the 48th AIB and some drivers belonging to the battalion whose vehicles were parked there. Fifth Panzer was to attack from Prum in the north down to Bitburg and Bastogne in the south. 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. An assault on Thommen forced out the troops holding the town, and efforts to retake it failed. While a single troop of the 14th Cavalry Group continued to resist the German spearheads, the 106th's engineers dug in to block the crucial Schoenberg road 2 miles east of St. Vith, a last ditch defense, hoping . The northern prong of the horseshoe was composed of CCB, 7th Armored Division from Poteau and Vielsalm. The German 20th Infantry Division was an infantry division of Nazi Germany.HistoryThe was established in 1934 under the cover name. 324 324. The colonel ordered the troop east along the road to Schoenberg to delay a German tank and infantry team approaching St. Vith from that direction. As a result of 7th Armoreds earlier regrouping, Rodt was the junction point between CCA of the 7th Armored under the command of Colonel Rosebaum and General Clarkes CCB. It was at full strength and supplied with the latest equipment. If Hoge told him that the situation was bad, then without a doubt the situation was worse than he thought. 2014. 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. 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. Jones wanted Clarke to counterattack immediately with his combat command and break that ring that these people have closed around the Schnee Eifel.. 18th Volksgrenadier Division (Wehrmacht) - Unionpedia, the concept map Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. Airfix J6017 Volkswagen Camper Van (Quick Build) R 405.00. of the Army, 1965. It was to cross the Meuse on both sides of Liege before advancing on to Antwerp.