Ten tanks, numerous supply vehicles, armored cars, and jeeps were lost to enemy action. Zaloga, Steven. It is certainly possible that the tank destroyed in this engagement was a Panzer IV or a StuG III but in the absence of new evidence coming to light it can only be concluded that either the Greyhound crew knocked out a completely different tank or were otherwise exaggerating some action. 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? Company C, 27th AIB withdrew under heavy artillery and sniper fire but managed to destroy a number of German vehicles. Ninth Armored and its attachments traveled southwest on N26 to the junction with N33 west of Beho, then turned north on N33 to Salmchateau, and finally west on N183 through Lierneux to Malempre-Jevigne, southeast of Manhay. Zaloga, Steven. The division had lost four companies of armored infantry. Design, Production & Modifications. 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. Johnston, W. Wesley. (function (d, s, n) { 19454 The route terminated at several vital crossroads in the city of St. Vith. of the Army, 1965. Fortunately, a tank destroyer from Vielsalm turned up and hit the leading two German panzers, which drove the rest for cover. 47. The ultimate objective was to open an escape route for the soldiers of the 424th. Im going to guess that they just created this all up in their head. 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. Such events might have taken place in reality, true. Darlington Productions Inc., 2000. VGD captured St. Vith, winning a great victory. German 18th Volksgrenadier Div. Volksgrenadier-Division. 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. This forest was criss-crossed only by trails. German Division Nr. Cole, Hugh M. The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge. Tigers In Combat I. On February 5, 1945 General Walter Botsch took over command of the division. The town was also in Fifth Panzer Armys area of advance. The fight lasted for more than three hours before the Germans withdrew, leaving one burning tank and approximately 150 dead. Schneider, Wolfgang. 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. Eventually retreating through Germany until the end of the war, when it surrendered. Our preliminary briefings had told us that there would be no armor in our path. However, I am not so emotionally attached to my favorite LAV that I cant see the improbabilities. Close. All in all, the only things that the American claims concerning the famed M8 Greyhound versus Tiger engagement can agree on are that on the 18th of December 1944 an M8 Greyhound from some unit of the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron killed some sort of German tank in or around the town of St. Vith. With the unexplained disappearance of D Troop from the 89th Reconnaissance Platoon, Company B, 27th AIB became the leading element. The 294th Volksgrenadier Regiment was a unit of the larger 18th Volksgrenadier Division. One Day at Stavelot, a Tale of Two Archives The Tiger II vs US Tank Destroyers in the Ardennes. 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. 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. Tigers In Combat II. Add to cart. 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. 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 . Developed in the 1930s, the Panzer IV was one of the mainstay German armored fighting vehicles of the Second World War as well as Germanys most-produced tank of the war, with over 8,500 produced. Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz (1918) Periode: Eerste Wereldoorlog (1914-1918) . Johnston, W. Wesley. 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. 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. 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 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. 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. The unit was converted to an infantry division in 1945, while stationed in Courland. At least 900 soldiers who had stood in front of the town were either dead or captured. The sector now defended by CCB, 9th Armored extended across five miles of rugged terrain that was primarily held by the three infantry companies making up the 27th AIB. 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. 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. The other, the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division, bore the number of an infantry division destroyed on the Eastern Front, which had been reconstituted. js.src = "//player.ex.co/player/710cf52d-720a-4250-8e95-fc85dcedab01"; Two hits were scored on the enemy tank in the rear, and its crew evacuated. As each unit joined the rear of the column, it took its turn being the rear guard. Zaloga, Steven. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. It contained the 293., 294. and 295. grenadier regiments, Panzerjger-Bataillon 1818, Pionier-Bataillon 1818, Fsilier-Bataillon 1818 and Artillerie-Regiment 1818.[1]. What Jones did not tell Hoge was that in one of those regiments his own son was serving at regimental headquarters. With all of these contradictions, ambiguity, and lack of supporting documentation and evidence surrounding Troop Es entry in mind, it is safe to conclude that this is not the most reliable account of what really happened on the 18th of December, 1944 at St. Vith. Resistance by service company personnel in Rodt was fierce with every possible mandrivers, cooks, radio operatorsemployed in the defense; however, after nine hours of battle against the much superior German force, Rodt fell. Volksgrenadier Division 5. 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. 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. A second attempt on the bridge, made by about 40 men four hours later, was also thrown back by machine-gun fire. Heeft u zelf meer informatie over deze persoon? 18th Flak Division 651 . The same story is retold in A Colonel in the Armored Divisions A Memoir, 19411945 by William S. Triplet, and like a game of telephone it gets even more distorted. Battle of the Bulge 1944 (1): St Vith and the Northern Shoulder. Both task forces reached St. Vith shortly before noon on the 18th to find not one, but two German attacks moving against the town. First Edition, Stackpole Books, 2004. Field Marshal Montgomery, believing that Ridgways Corps could not attack successfully toward Vielsalm and that the American forces within the goose egg could better be used in support of other forces committed to the northern shoulder defense, decided upon a general withdrawal. There was little they could do other than vow to get the attack moving early on the 20th. The original story, if there even was one, was told and retold and distorted until everyone and their brother claimed to know the guys that did it. VGD division was absorbed into the 26. It consisted of the 136th 138th and 139th Mountain Replacement Regiments and the 112th Artillery 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. Accordingly, that evening Sixth Panzer Army commander Dietrich issued orders to the 2nd SS Panzer Corps to move to the south so that parts of that corps could assist Manteuffel in taking St. Vith. Outnumbered and in danger of encirclement, the cannoneers and their rifle support from C Company made a platoon-by-platoon withdrawal toward Winterspelt. On its way to the new position, C Company came under a sudden artillery and rocket barrage in the village of Lommersweiler. 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. He also said that they got a new Greyhound. The lumbering heavy tank continued moving towards the American line before turning north towards the town of Hunningen, Belgium, passing the armored car. 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. The reason for this comparative respite was due to the fact that the roads to the German rear were completely jammed. The supply trains led the way north on N27 to St. Vith. Excellent deductive research! 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.. js = d.createElement(s); The 16th Field Artillery also pitched in, as did a battalion of 155mm howitzers sited around Commanster. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. 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.

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