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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. Although General Jones was deeply worried about his two regiments on the Schnee Eifel, he was also highly concerned about the German advances in the Winterspelt area where his 424th Infantry Regiment was defending. War Department Technical Manual TM 9-1904 Ammunition Inspection Guide. This is puzzling, to say the least. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18. 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. 18th Volksgrenadier Division (Wehrmacht), the Glossary 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. 1941622 . 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. The troops request for armored support was denied by General Hoge because his tank companies sent north to help the 7th Armored had not yet returned and no reserve was on hand. During the assault, B Company suffered about 40 casualties including its commanding officer, Captain Henry D. Wirsig. 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. As the offensive steam came to an end in the Ardennes, the division went on the defensive, and there they would stay. Clerks were running everywhere and junior staff officers were arguing among themselves; upstairs, however, Hoge found General Jones remarkably composed. 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. Office of the Chief of Military History, Dept. Colonel Alexander D. Reid, commander of the 424th Infantry Regiment, had reason to fear encirclement. 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. () - Company A of the 14th Tank Battalion had some trouble disengaging. Division C E R T I F I C A T E 24 June 1945 I certify that I am S-3 English Edition, Casemate Publishers, 2014. Hoge pointedly asked Ridgway how it could be done. Infanterie-Division Hamburg 19453 . VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. 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. of the Army, 1965. At CCB, 9th Armored Divisions headquarters in Faymonville, General Hoge was just finishing up his briefing for his commands move to the Losheim Gap and Manderfeld when the call came through from General Jones informing him of 9th Armoreds new Winterspelt mission. 47. 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. 194311 The last of the St. Vith defenders to come out were Task Force Jones and the 112th Infantry Regiment. 10 Apr. 18th Volksgrenadier Division - Wikipedia It is stated as being reported to Major Boyer by one Captain Walter Henry Anstey of Company A of the 38th Armored Infantry Battalion, who is said to have been a witness to the event. Infanterie-Division 19398 . Rapidly, the M8 advanced to within 25 yards (23 meters) of the Tiger I and quickly pumped three rounds into its rear. According to Hugh M. Cole, an American historian and army officer. (1944) 111 111. The division, which was under the command of Gnther Hoffmann-Schnborn, absorbed . It was to cross the Meuse on both sides of Liege before advancing on to Antwerp. The provisional company of 424th stragglers disappeared during the night. 281st Security Division (281. 47. 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 7th Armored had taken a beating in defending St. Vith. Tough Stand of the Golden Lions - Warfare History Network The platoon lost four men missing and two wounded in the ensuing engagement. Fortunately, a tank destroyer from Vielsalm turned up and hit the leading two German panzers, which drove the rest for cover. Clarke pulled back his left flank to protect Hinderhausen, a key position on the emergency exit route to Commanster and Vielsalm. Revised Edition, Arms and Armour Press, 1973. Battle of the Bulge 1944 (1): St Vith and the Northern Shoulder. Your email address will not be published. Osprey Publishing, 2013. He also said that they got a new Greyhound. Osprey Publishing, 2010. Sicherungs-Division) was a rear-security division in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany. There are a few notable issues raised by this morning report and record of events entry, the most obvious one being that the M8 Greyhound is reported as being from Troop A of the 87th, not Troop B of the 87th, as it is in the contemporary story. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. Overall operational command for the offensive fell to Field Marshal Walther Model. The 16th Field Artillery also pitched in, as did a battalion of 155mm howitzers sited around Commanster. (function (d, s, n) { Company B of the 9th Engineers and D Company of the 89th Recon joined the line to supplement the armored infantry. 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. Panzertruppen Volume 2 The Complete Guide to the Creation & Combat Deployment of The German Tank Forces 1943-1945. This was no place to conduct a mobile defense with armor-heavy forces. This article already explains ballistics and mentions that while Panther was vulnerable to lower-caliber AT guns, the Tigers were almost immune to them. However, after careful analysis, it can be said with certainty that neither a Tiger I nor a Tiger II was killed by an M8 Greyhound from any troop of the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron on 18th December 1944 near St. Vith. 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 the 571st Volksgrenadier Division. The time was approximately 1800 on Saturday, December 16, when Combat Command B of the 9th Armored Division began its move to St. Vith. 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. of the Army, 1965. Aside from the cold and mud, there was also the enemy to contend with. Inform us! 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. St. Vith is built on a low hill surrounded on all sides by slightly higher rises. This information came from the division's senior headquarters, the VIII Corps, First U.S. Army. Infanterie-Division 19398 . 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 . Andrews, Frank L. The Defense of St. Vith in the Battle of the Ardennes December, 1944. Communications with division headquarters in St. Vith were limited to liaison officers running along a road now being shelled by the Germans. Armament T-70 gun cal. A mobile battalion of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division was already moving on Andler to seize the Schoenberg bridge and the road to St. Vith. 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. PDF German 18th Volksgrenadier Div. December, 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. About: 18th Volksgrenadier Division - dbpedia.org For example, when G.I. Operation Nordwind 1945 Hitlers last offensive in the West. 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. However, there is one major issue with this explanation, Panzer IVs were not attacking Troop B. The 62nd, like the 18th, included three regiments of two battalions each. During the early hours of December 17, the Germans laid heavy mortar and artillery fire on the front-line positions of his regiment. It contained the 293., 294. and 295. grenadier regiments, Panzerjger-Bataillon 1818, Pionier-Bataillon 1818, Fsilier-Bataillon 1818 and Artillerie-Regiment 1818.[1]. Osprey Publishing, 2002. Little offtopic here but another misidentification might be the 1 destroyed 88mm assault gun (Ferdinand). Infanterie-Division . The next notable version of this tale comes from a 1966 book by the US Army Armor School titled The Battle at St. Vith, Belgium 17-23 December 1944: A Historical Example of Armor in the Defense. Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz (1918) Periode: Eerste Wereldoorlog (1914-1918) . Its mission was to break through to the south of the 18th Volksgrenadier in the Grosslangenfeld-Heckhuschied sector, advance northwest on a broad front, and seize the Our River crossing at Steinebruck, five miles southeast of St. Vith. However, just as the Americans began their pursuit, the Germans noticed them and began traversing their turret to face them. VGD. Such events might have taken place in reality, true. 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. 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. 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 troops were exhausted and spread out. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18. 20th Panzergrenadier Division (Wehrmacht) - Atozwiki.com Both American units were able to drive forward, and the Shermans knocked out six German armored vehicles. Office of the Chief of Military History, Dept. 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. Im going to guess that they just created this all up in their head. Eventually retreating through Germany until the end of the war, when it surrendered. It was a new and inexperienced division made up of Luftwaffe personnel, former Kriegsmariners out of a By noon, the 27th AIB, with the help of Company A, 14th Tank Battalion, had retaken that first stretch of high ground. The line companies were down to one officer apiece. 18th Volksgrenadier Division | Detailed Pedia Engeman set out with two task forces to meet the enemy. The Commands main body was led by the 27th AIB with B Company in front, followed by Headquarters and C Company. 6731 Whittier Avenue, Suite C-100 McLean, VA 22101, Stay up to date with all of our latest news, 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.