The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating the 571st Volksgrenadier Division. At St. Vith, Lt. Col. William H. Slayden was with Jones when Jones received the call from Middleton concerning 7th Armored Division support. The German 20th Infantry Division was an infantry division of Nazi Germany.HistoryThe was established in 1934 under the cover name. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. By 1245, the original line was restored, and the antitank guns of Company A, 811th Tank Destroyers were recovered. Add to cart. 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. To execute this maneuver, Hoges entire command would have to move all the way up to St. Vith and back down again. In the early afternoon of the 22nd, he arrived at General Hasbroucks headquarters in Vielsalm to plan the withdrawal. After listening to the information provided by General Clarkes staff officer, General Hoge decided to go to St. Vith himself to assess the situation. 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. When you get surprised like this, you become cautious.Undoubtedly much, if not most, of the armor encountered by Manteuffels probing actions during the early days of the German offensive belonged to CCB, 9th Armored Division. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division(18th VGD) was a volksgrenadierdivision of the German Army(Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. At 0200 on December 22, the Fhrer Escort Brigade launched its attack against the town of Rodt, a small village west of St. Vith. 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. Company C, 27th AIB withdrew under heavy artillery and sniper fire but managed to destroy a number of German vehicles. The M8 was used mostly as a reconnaissance vehicle for scouting. 'poor shape' in a sentence. Panzertruppen Volume 2 The Complete Guide to the Creation & Combat Deployment of The German Tank Forces 1943-1945. Please click for detailed translation, meaning, pronunciation and example sentences for 18e volksgrenadier division in English Close. It is a classic David versus Goliath tale straight out of World War II that features American heroism. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18. 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. Hoge immediately got on the phone and ordered Engeman to move out. 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. VGD captured St. Vith, winning a great victory. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating the 571st Volksgrenadier Division. By the end of the day, the 27th AIB had withdrawn through Steinebruck without casualties despite enemy shelling of the village. 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. [1] On March 6, 1945, when Botsch was ordered to take command of the LIIIrd Army Corps, the 18. 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. M8 Greyhound Light Armored Car 1941-91. Gen. Herbert T. Perrin, assistant commander of the 106th Infantry Division, drove up carrying a message from General Jones. 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. Hoge and Ridgway had been on the West Point football team together when Ridgway had been the teams manager. The 14th Tank Battalion was on its way to the Steinebruck bridge when Brig. Clarke asked, Why in the world when I had only 2,500 men available to my command on December 17, did you not just execute a powerful frontal assault and overrun me?. However, this version of Captain Ansteys account has one key difference: it was not a Tiger I that was knocked out, but rather a Tiger II, almost analogous to the fisherman whose fish gets bigger each time he tells the tale of his catch. 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 45 mm. Volksgrenadier-Division. Sicherungs-Division) was a rear-security division in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany. EN. Hunnicutt, R. P. Armored Car A History of American Wheeled Combat Vehicles. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18.Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. This left General Clarke with only one full company of armored infantrymen. Also no Ferdinand/Elefant recorded to have seen combat on Western Front. Zaloga, Steven. After putting down a heavy concentration of artillery fire, the Germans moved their infantry across the river east of the position held by the 2nd platoon of D Troop, 89th Recon. There is no comparison to Tiger. It is possible (if unlikely) that this event was completely unrelated to the M8 Greyhound versus Tiger story. Your email address will not be published. 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. 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. 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. 6731 Whittier Avenue, Suite C-100 McLean, VA 22101, Stay up to date with all of our latest news, 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. Therefore, Montgomery ordered Ridgway to attack to the southeast until Vielsalm could be reached, ensuring an escape corridor for those trapped within the defense. After that mornings enemy assaults, the line of the 27th AIB was reestablished west of Neubruck. The second task force hit another probe by the 1st SS Panzer and pushed it out of Hunningen. Add to cart. 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. Rejection & Neglect available to buy on Payhip! So, rather than spill blood needlessly to take meaningless ground, Hoge called off the attack on Winterspelt. Close. Penguin Books, 2016. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. 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. Rather than reaching the Meuse and driving on to Antwerp, the offensive stalled and eventually was turned back. On top of attacking the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (minus Troop B), a Panzer IV can be easily misidentified as a Tiger I. Osprey Publishing, 2010. Jones had been counting on this when he sent Hoges 9th Armored Command to Winterspelt rather than Schoenberg. 1940 194111. Ministry of Supply, 1945. Anderson, Thomas. Osprey Publishing, 2002. No one knew what was happening. Early on the 19th, the Germans made reconnaissance probes. VGD. The mobile battalion consisted of three platoons of assault guns, a company of engineers, and another of fusiliers. American Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force Choose a Unit. Luftlande-Division 19416 19421944 19453 22 22. Gen. Hasbrouck, commander of the 7th Armored Division, sent a message to General Ridgway urging withdrawal, which in part read, P.S. Since General Hoge was supposed to be under Joness command and did not understand the overall situation around St. Vith, he decided to find out exactly what was going on. This story has gained a good deal of attention in recent years, especially on the internet thanks to videos such as The Tank Duel at St. Vith, Belgium by Lance Geiger The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered, which has garnered hundreds of thousands of views. 2014. Good Tank, Poor Deployment | T-34-76 and T-34-85 in Yugoslav Partisan Service. The other, the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division, bore the number of an infantry division destroyed on the Eastern Front, which had been reconstituted. That evening General Clarke also put his command into Commanster. The Battle at St. Vith, Belgium 17-23 December 1944 An Historical Example of Armor in the Defense. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. First Edition, Stackpole Books, 2005. Beevor, Antony. 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. Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. 47. The village of Bauvenn was designated the linkage point for the two combat commands. 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. 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. All but five troopers of 2nd Platoon were lost to enemy action. 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. At approximately 0930 on December 17, B Company was the first 9th Armored Division unit to cross the Our River. An appropriate start for the investigation of this action is to identify contemporary American accounts. 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 moment marked the beginning of the famous Battle of the Bulge, Germanys last major offensive on the Western Front in World War II. Hoge departed Faymonville at approximately 1800, arriving at General Joness headquarters in the St. Josephs Kloster about a half hour later. Design, Production & Modifications. The Sixth Panzer Army, with the 15th Army on its right, was to launch the main attack between Monschau in the north and Prum in the south. The greatest danger existed in the 424ths position because the regiments flank lay vulnerable to attacks by the 116th Panzer Division to the south. 194311 Jones wanted Clarke to counterattack immediately with his combat command and break that ring that these people have closed around the Schnee Eifel.. However, by noon on December 18 it was quite apparent to Hoge that the Germans infiltrating across the river were converging on the bridge in such numbers that it had to be blown. What Jones did not tell Hoge was that in one of those regiments his own son was serving at regimental headquarters. Companies A and B held a line from Grufflingen to Hohenbusch with Company A, 14th Tank Battalion to their north. 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. Another attack hit the left flank of 7th Armored. Fire from the 16th Field Artillery broke up other enemy formations trying to assemble on the high ground to the south. At 0100 the 23rd, D Troop, 89th Recon lost an armored car and a jeep to antitank guns. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. A second attempt on the bridge, made by about 40 men four hours later, was also thrown back by machine-gun fire. Outnumbered and in danger of encirclement, the cannoneers and their rifle support from C Company made a platoon-by-platoon withdrawal toward Winterspelt. 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. Tigers In Combat I. 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. After Action Report, Month of December, 1944. Tiger. Staff officers were casualties. Situation reports suggested that the Germans were intent on crossing the Our River at Steinebruck. The most startling difference however is the range at which this engagement occurred, with Lieutenant Olsons version having the engagement take place at 800 yards (732 meters), compared to the original storys 25 yards (23 meters)! The southern prong was defended by General Hoges CCB, 9th Armored with the weakened 424th Infantry Regiment tied in and bent back protecting Burg Reuland. 13th Company, 28th Jager Regiment, 8th Jager Division 286. 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. Mines were laid. Tiger. Osprey Publishing, 2013. They were sometimes misidentified as Tiger HIs. Combat Interviews of the 38th Armored Infantry Battalion, 7th Armored Division: The St. Vith Salient and Manhay, December 17-23, 1944. 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. The column came upon stragglers from the 424th Infantry retreating in disarray toward St. Vith. Johnston, W. Wesley. 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. What he claimed was that the fight wasnt as easy as it is presented here. 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. During the 27th AIBs assault, a call went out for the 14th Tank Battalion to join the action. 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. 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. For faster navigation, this Iframe is preloading the Wikiwand page for 18th Volksgrenadier Division. The reason for this comparative respite was due to the fact that the roads to the German rear were completely jammed. At approximately 0530 on December 16, eight German armored divisions and 13 infantry divisions launched their all-out attack on five divisions of the U.S. First Army. He also hoped the 3rd Armored Division soon might attack to remove all threat of encirclement. Ninth Armored sent out billeting parties as it reached its new area. Soon after General Hoge left 106th Division headquarters for the drive back to Faymonville, Jones received a call from Middleton informing him that a combat command of Brig. The circuitous march up one road and down another led to a new line just a few hundred yards to the west of the old one and was miraculously carried out while under attack without the loss of any men or equipment. 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. In the 27th AIBs move to take the high ground, B Company advanced along the center of the road. It is possible that it was really a Tiger tank. They were repulsed by machine-gun fire. 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. 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. js = d.createElement(s);