While walking to avoid the traffic congestion, Manteuffel encountered his superior, Field Harshal Model. The fight ended when he slammed the M8 (he called it a Greyhound) into the rear of Tiger and the gun crew fired three rapid fire rounds into the engine compartment. This moment marked the beginning of the famous Battle of the Bulge, Germanys last major offensive on the Western Front in World War II. Manteuffel met near Wallerode with Model and Lucht that day. The fight lasted for more than three hours before the Germans withdrew, leaving one burning tank and approximately 150 dead. German reports are also far from subtlety. The ultimate objective was to open an escape route for the soldiers of the 424th. 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. After that mornings enemy assaults, the line of the 27th AIB was reestablished west of Neubruck. Yes in theory. 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. Gen. Hasbrouck, commander of the 7th Armored Division, sent a message to General Ridgway urging withdrawal, which in part read, P.S. 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. Model informed Manteuffel that he would be given the Fhrer Escort Brigade, which was nearly equal in strength to an American light armored division, for the upcoming assault on St. Vith. By this time the Germans had essentially closed the trap on the two infantry regiments on the Schnee Eifel. 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. Outnumbered and in danger of encirclement, the cannoneers and their rifle support from C Company made a platoon-by-platoon withdrawal toward Winterspelt. 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. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. The Americans knew that their only hope in doing any sort of damage to this beast was to get as close as possible to it and shoot its weaker rear armor. 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. One task force encountered reconnaissance probes on N27 conducted by units of the 1st SS Panzer Division approximately 1,000 yards north of St. Vith. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18.Volksgrenadier-Division; 18. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating the 571st Volksgrenadier Division. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating the 571st Volksgrenadier Division. 45 mm. After Action Report, Month of December, 1944. It is a classic David versus Goliath tale straight out of World War II that features American heroism. 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. August 18th, 1989 Kalb, Herbert Kalbhenn, Heinrich * February 3rd, 1915 more Kaldeway, x Kalesse, Gerhard (Grenadier-Regiment 689) * July 15th, 1918 October 23rd, 2011 Kaletsch, Georg * October 16th, 1914 March 6th, 1944 Kaletsch, Wilhelm Kalinowski, Josef (Panzergrenadier-Regiment "GD") * January 23rd, 1916 April 5th, 1944 Grave: UNK I am a huge M8 Greyhound fan, having built a model at age 13 and I now own a 1:6 scale one with 4-man crew. Situated next to B Company were Company A, 27th AIB and Company D, 14th Tank Battalion. 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. Hunnicutt, R. P. Armored Car A History of American Wheeled Combat Vehicles. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945.. Jones had been counting on this when he sent Hoges 9th Armored Command to Winterspelt rather than Schoenberg. The 14th Tank Battalion was on its way to the Steinebruck bridge when Brig. Counter to the plan laid out earlier by General Jones, Hoge had decided to launch his attack on Winterspelt with the entire 14th Tank Battalion as the lead element rather than with the more vulnerable infantry of the 27th AIB. Mines were laid. Under the command of Gnther Hoffmann-Schnborn, the new division absorbed elements of the 18th Luftwaffe Field Division. This article already explains ballistics and mentions that while Panther was vulnerable to lower-caliber AT guns, the Tigers were almost immune to them. 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. 47. Volksgrenadier-Division 5 [ ] 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 Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. 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. Panzer Tracts No. Both task forces reached St. Vith shortly before noon on the 18th to find not one, but two German attacks moving against the town. Since the move from Faymonville to Winterspelt involved a greater distance, Hoge decided to get his command on the road immediately. 1/18th Scale Cars; 1/24th Scale Assembly Kits; 1/24th Scale Cars; 1/43rd Scale Cars; . At about midday, the field marshal sent a message to General Hasbrouck: You have accomplished your missiona mission well done. It is possible (if unlikely) that this event was completely unrelated to the M8 Greyhound versus Tiger story. Little offtopic here but another misidentification might be the 1 destroyed 88mm assault gun (Ferdinand). 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. Ten tanks, numerous supply vehicles, armored cars, and jeeps were lost to enemy action. 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. The defense of St. Vith was now achieving some kind of order in contrast to the chaos that had reigned during the previous three days. (1944) 111 111. Schneider, Wolfgang. 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. 10 Apr. Home News Random Article Install Wikiwand Send a suggestion Uninstall Wikiwand Upgrade to Wikiwand 2.0 Task Force Jones and the 112th Infantry eventually found their way into 82nd Airborne Division lines during the night of the 24th, but not before the units suffered heavy losses. General Luchts plan for December 17 was simple. However, Company B, 27th AIB was sent to help ease the situation, covering the cavalrys left flank. Cole, Hugh M. The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge. Besides the previously mentioned absence of any recountings of this event in several notable documents that should have contained it, and most peculiarly, Captain Anstey himself makes no mention of the engagement when he discusses and documents the events of the 18th of December 1944 in a combat interview he gave on the 2nd of January 1945, just over two weeks after the event supposedly took place. Anderson, Thomas. Volksgrenadier-Division. Although the bridge over the Our was blown, the German presence kept growing. This left General Clarke with only one full company of armored infantrymen. 22 22. M8 Greyhound Light Armored Car 1941-91. Armored Champion, The Top Tanks of World War II. The Pontiac, Michigan, resident also served 10 years in the U.S. Army. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. Division C E R T I F I C A T E 24 June 1945 I certify that I am S-3 In blinding snow and on slippery roads the tanks and infantry of CCB, 9th Armored headed for Bauvenn. What a fantastic real-life story or is it? Hunnicutt, R. P. Armored Car A History of American Wheeled Combat Vehicles. Osprey Publishing, 2002. Together they broke up the attack. Infantry divisions would begin the attack along the entire length of a 50-mile front, forcing a rupture along the Allied line and giving the German panzer divisions freedom of movement in the unoccupied ground beyond the front. After learning of the attack by the Fhrer Escort Brigade, Brig. 13th Flak Division 651 . War Department Technical Manual TM 9-1904 Ammunition Inspection Guide. 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. First Edition, Stackpole Books, 2004. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945.. 1947. Sicherungs-Division) was a rear-security division in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany. Germanys Tiger Tanks VK45.02 to TIGER II. 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. Jones explained to Hoge that his division was being attacked along its entire front and that two of his three regiments, the 422nd and the 423rd, had been partly surrounded in the Schnee Eifel area just east of Schoenberg. 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. The mud had made the roads and open areas impassable for armored vehicles. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division under the command of Generalmajor Gnther Hoffmann-Schnborn patrolled the Schnee Eifel area. [1] On March 6, 1945, when Botsch was ordered to take command of the LIIIrd Army Corps, the 18. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18. The mobile battalion consisted of three platoons of assault guns, a company of engineers, and another of fusiliers. 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. Late in the day, the Germans launched three major attacks, each directed along a main road leading into the town. I wanted to focus on the M8 vs Tiger story, I already noticed the Ferdinand claim, but decided not to mention it. Company B of the 9th Engineers and D Company of the 89th Recon joined the line to supplement the armored infantry. Were any of these Tiger Is and or Tiger IIs knocked out on the 18th of December, 1944? Andrews, Frank L. The Defense of St. Vith in the Battle of the Ardennes December, 1944. This battalion hit the 424ths Cannon Company at the Weissenhof crossroads. 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. What Jones did not tell Hoge was that in one of those regiments his own son was serving at regimental headquarters. Bergstrm, Christer. 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. 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. Volksgrenadier-Division was formed from the partially formed 571.Volksgrenadier-Division in Denmark in September 1944, it also included excess Kriegsmarine personnel and surviving elements from 18. His troops remained in place, and the pullout to the west side of the Our River began at dusk. The commanders were at the center of the Foret Domaniale du Grand Bois. It was a new and inexperienced division made up of Luftwaffe personnel, former Kriegsmariners out of a First Edition, Stackpole Books, 2004. He is being outflanked and is retiring west another 2,000 yards refusing both flanks. }(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. On top of the contradictions and ambiguity of Troop Es entry, there is also the curious fact that Troop A does not make any mention of this event in its morning report and record of events entry for the 18th of December, 1944. Perhaps the most unlikely performer of the entire battle was the 18th Volksgrenadier Division. 1945) English PDF (18 MB) Jan B-627 Volkssturm (Oct. 1944-Apr. The American plan was that once the 2nd Infantry Division reduced the German defenses at the Wahlerscheid crossroads, CCB was to spearhead a drive to the reservoirs north of Gemund and Schleiden. 1946. Its population in 1944 was about 2,000, and its citizens were very much pro-German. Combat Interviews of the 38th Armored Infantry Battalion, 7th Armored Division: The St. Vith Salient and Manhay, December 17-23, 1944. The 18. 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.