922nd Battalion. It finally arrived in the division assembly area east of Vielsalm late in the afternoon. The tankers, mindful of their passengers, could not use the tank cannon; so the column rolled through the streets with the infantry riders firing wildly in every direction. A sharp attack in the late afternoon brought Krag's detachment through the American outposts in the hamlets west of Salmchteau and by nightfall he had a troop in the south section of the town, its task made easier by the preliminary shelling laid in by the battalion of field guns. True, Kampfgruppe Peiper had been pretty well bottled up on the corps left wing; but this effort had been made by thinning the line between Malmdy and Trois Ponts. to two German armies. Even at this hour the scope of the German counteroffensive was but dimly seen and the 7th Armored Division advance party was informed that it would not be necessary to have the artillery accompany the combat command columns-in other words this would not be a tactical march from Heerlen to Vielsalm. Access to the Poteau-Vielsalm route in the north or the Beho-Salmchteau route in the south was no longer possible. The corps' mission, as it had devolved by the end of the day, would be. In the east, at Rodt, Remer's left battalion tried to rush the village from the woods but ran straight into artillery fire. The German corps commander, General Lucht, had ordered the Mobile Battalion of the 18th Volks Grenadier Division up from reserve during the previous night with orders to advance via Andler. The armored infantry were now disposed in the center with the medium tank companies, which had circled through St. Vith, at either flank. They come back to the more secure positions. About 1035 the blocking troops left by the 9th SS Panzer Division made an attack. Mayes's group moved out from the crossroads at first light on 18 December but had gone only some two hundred yards when flame shot up from the leading light tank and an armored car, the two struck almost simultaneously by German bazooka fire. The 82d Airborne Division, it was estimated, would reach Werbomont (about the same distance northwest of Vielsalm) on the morning of 19 December, but it was apparent that in this area also the enemy barred any solid contact with the St. Vith defenders. The 164th Regiment, reinforced by engineers and assault guns, apparently took some time to re-form after its fight with the 9th Armored Division counterattack force on 17 December. A Battery 935th Field Artillery Battalion Overseas World War II. The real punch in the forthcoming attack would be delivered by the tanks belonging to the Fuehrer Begleit Brigade. It will be recalled that on the night of 21 December General Hoge had set in motion a withdrawal of the northern flank of CCB, 9th Armored, to conform with Clarke's first defensive position just west of St. Vith. The men had not been given any recent training in the use of bazookas or machine guns; a large percentage of the machine gunners would therefore be killed in the fight for St. Vith. The southern advance, which had carried a mass As light broke, the right battalion of Remer's brigade attacked to cut the main western road close to Poteau. If successful, the attack by the two combat commands would provide escape corridors for the beleaguered regiments of the 106th. Having cut the St. Vith-Vielsalm road by capturing Rodt in the late morning of the 22d, Remer's Fuehrer Begleit Brigade made no serious attempt to push beyond Rodt, either against CCA, 7th Armored Division, to the west or CCB to the south. make its delayed drive east of St. Vith on the morning of the 18th. 1st Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment. The period of rest and refitting, after heavy fighting at Metz and in Holland, had put the 7th Armored in good condition. isolated the St. Vith forces from the remainder of the VIII Corps, although 773rd Antiaircraft Artillery Gun Battalion (90mm) 1802nd Engineer Aviation Company. Before daylight some of his tanks arrived in the woods west of Born. Only two medium tanks were barring the road. At the same time Company A of the 38th Armored Infantry Battalion fired into their ranks from the front. Facilities Managment Company. Lt. Col. Thomas J. Riggs, Jr., commander of the 81st Engineer Combat Battalion, who had tried to organize a counterattack to wipe out the earlier penetrations was lost trying to organize a last-ditch defense in the hamlet of Prmerberg on the main road. While en route, the engineers met troopers of the 32d Cavalry who had been involved in a running fight along the road west of Schnberg. In blinding snow, on slippery roads, 9th Armored tanks and infantry headed for Bauvenn, designated as the linkage point for the two combat commands. reached Vielsalm. It stands at the entrance to the valley road which leads to Vielsalm, and mechanized attack from either Recht or Rodt had to funnel through the narrow neck at this crossroads, vehicle maneuver off either of the two approaches being almost impossible. Gen. Robert W. Hasbrouck) in addition to his own division and its attachments. The piecemeal German attacks on the 20th had been turned back with little loss or difficulty. At Poteau CCA brought more troops into and around the village, while the enemy fired in from the hill to the north rising along-side the Recht road. In the early morning of 23 December Remer gathered a truck-mounted battalion of armored infantry, put some tanks at their head, and started them for Hinderhausen, with the intention of cutting south across the rear of the Americans. Confusion, darkness, and mud slowed the move, but by morning a medium tank company and a platoon of riflemen had reached the village. CCR maintained its cordon along the valley road. The western column made its march without coming in proximity to the west-moving German spearheads, its main problem being to negotiate roads jammed with west-bound traffic. Patrols working in front of the American lines came back with reports of enemy activity and movement; some kind of an attack was in the offing but it seemed slow in coming. The bulk of the German advance guard, as. General Hasbrouck received a telephone call at 1730 alerting, his division for movement to the south (it took five more hours for the 7th Armored G-2 to learn that "three or four German divisions were attacking"). How many vehicles and men were captured by the enemy is impossible to say. Also, the transmittal of the 7th Armored Division's own estimate of its possible progress was subject to "friction." This decision rested with Field Marshal Montgomery, the newly assigned commander of all Allied forces north of the German salient, who had been authorized by the Supreme Commander to give up such ground as was necessary in order to assemble sufficient strength for a decisive counterattack. 87th infantry division museum (ASN): #15084722 Enlistment Date: 01/07/1942 HQ Battery, 965th Field Artillery Battalion Awards: Good Conduct Medal, Purple Heart Medal Stanley L. Brantl is listed as Died Of Wounds in the 1946 Army and Army Air Forces Personnel Casualty List for Cuyahoga County, Ohio. When the 7th Armored. The next day it was able, with some pride, to turn over to the 7th Armored Division the 350 German prisoners it had guarded since 18 December and the stores at the railhead. But the newly committed 9th SS Panzer Division, following in its wake via Recht, threw a large detachment of panzer grenadiers into the woods around Poteau, either to retake the crossroad or to pin the Americans there. tank destroyers knocked out two of the lead tanks, temporarily halting the attack and giving Lohse's column time to reach Commanster. Hasbrouck earlier had been "suspicious" of what was happening in the northern sector around Recht and Poteau, but he was no longer too apprehensive after the successive march groups of the 1st SS Panzer Division had bounced off the 7th Armored Division roadblocks. It was located along the German-Belgium border, and was about 50 square miles. before the 21st, but the lengthy and destructive barrage laid down by the enemy had caused very severe casualties and shaken the defenders. The arrival of gasoline, rations, ammunition, and the presence of a few replacement vehicles in the division park would make the last-ditch stand or withdrawal, whichever it might be, a little easier. Communications were gone and he had no reserves. The task force pulled back into the village and hastily prepared a defense around the dozen or so houses there, while to the north a small cavalry patrol dug in on a hill overlooking the hamlet and made a fight of it. Montgomery had consulted with General Hodges, the First Army commander, and here, showed the ability to honor the fighting man which had endeared him to the hearts of the Desert Rats in North Africa: "They can come back with all honor. My division is defending the line St. Vith-Poteau both inclusive. At 1300 German vehicles were seen in Setz, four and a half miles from the eastern edge of St. Vith. To protect the valley corridor through which Task Force Jones would have to move some companies of the 112th Infantry were still left east of the river in the villages of Rogery and Cierreux. At 1345 Hasbrouck sent the signal for CCA to pull out. It would seem that a German rifle company first crossed into Weppler, now unoccupied, then wheeled and encircled the 2d Platoon on the hill. Add an answer. Subsequently Hasbrouck sent a platoon of light tanks to help out and an injunction that it was "imperative" that the village be held. Cemeteries & Memorials; Burial Search; About Us; Education; Facebook; Twitter; YouTube; Instagram; ABMC Headquarters 2300 Clarendon Blvd, Suite 500 Arlington, VA 22201 Phone: 703-584-1501. Many records were destroyed during the final retreat, units were put back in the line on the 23d with no accounting of their existing strength, and the formations of the 106th Division and 14th Cavalry Group had taken very severe losses before the defense of St. Vith began. The headquarters and tank company had little time to get set, for about 0200 the advance guard of the southern German column hit the village from the east and northeast. Gen. Robert W. Hasbrouck) was in the XIII Corps reserve, planning for possible commitment in the Ninth Army Operation DAGGER intended to clear the Germans from the west bank of the Roer River once the dams were destroyed.2. This regiment, which had sent combat patrols against Stone's The First Army headquarters was in process of drafting plans for uniting the XVIII Airborne Corps and the St. Vith force when General Hasbrouck's letter arrived. The American positions were much better integrated than on previous days: the 7th Armored Division artillery and attached battalions-of particular importance the one medium tank battalion- were tied in closely with the troops they supported. In addition light tanks belonging to the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron had established radio contact with the 3d Armored task force north of Samre. After three hours of this the Americans observed the enemy going into attack formation in an open field next to the village church. They are standing in rows with 13 sitting on the ground in front with 6 men reclining in front of them. Sustained shelling had also destroyed all means of communication, except by runner, and left the little groups isolated and unable to support one another. firing line. It would be the enemy, however, and not a command decision that forced the abandonment of the proposed effort. It was well in the hand of its commander and ready to fight. 8 Cavalry Rgt BAUGH, EDWARD RODOLPH. The new defense ordered by Clarke began to form shortly before midnight. An attack from Bastogne to the NE will relieve the situation and in turn cut the bastards off in rear. Clarke would hold as long as possible east of the town, but with both combat commands in its streets St. Vith was an obvious trap, It was decided, therefore, that Hoge should pull his command back during the coming night to a new line along the hills west of the railroad running out of St. Vith, thus conforming on its left with CCB, 7th Armored. Furthermore the 7th Armored trains had reported signs of an enemy force far to the west of the 7th Armored outpost positions. (It will be remembered that the 18th Volks Grenadier Division was charged with the encirclement and capture of St. Corps and division military police, too few in number for a traffic problem of this magnitude, were brushed aside. Casualty figures subsequently compiled for the 7th Armored Division, and the 14th Cavalry Group list 3,397 officers and men either killed, wounded, or missing, Statistics on losses suffered by the various artillery, engineer, and tank destroyer units have never been compiled. The 18th Volks Grenadier Division, on the right, had fed the foot troops of its 295th Regiment in between the Mobile Battalion, deployed around Wallerode, and the 294th, astride the St. Vith-Schnberg road. 1945 (approximate) Subject. As a result of the regrouping. other officers set to work to organize a breakout. The occupation of St. Vith had considerably disorganized the attacking division, whose regiments jammed into the town from east, north, and south. About 0800 the Panthers engaged the small covering force at Hinderhausen. Actually the column was blocked at Salmchteau before the pursuing troops of the Fuehrer Begleit Brigade caught up with the tail. The orders given the 7th Armored Division still held-to assist the 106th Division. They put up a wonderful show." were abandoned-their crews shelled out by accurate enemy concentrations After firing their last rounds at the town and the column, the German tanks withdrew. They had met an entire German corps flushed At Bastogne the 101st Airborne Division was arriving to take over the fight at that critical road junction, but there were no additional reinforcements which General Middleton could employ in plugging the gap between St. Vith and Bastogne. Throughout the 19th there were sporadic clashes with the enemy around the perimeter. Over the field telephone General Jones concurred in the opinion furnished Montgomery and Ridgway, but at 1250 Jones dispatched a memo to Ridgway saying, "My intentions are to retain the ground now defended." Through most of the confusion and immobility characterized the St. Vith bottleneck. CCR headquarters had meanwhile become ensnarled with the remnants of the 14th Cavalry Group and the residue of the corps artillery columns at the little village of Poteau, where the roads from Recht and St. Vith join en route to Vielsalm. A double column of enemy troops and vehicles marched along the road into St. Vith. The division left wing was formed by the 164th Regiment, which had occupied Lommersweiler and Hemmeres following the withdrawal of CCB, 9th Armored. 5th Battalion, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. Don't move 'til you hear from me. While Boylan's men took positions to defend Hinderhausen against attack from Rodt, Lohse's heavy column formed to enter the trail at Hinderhausen. But that the XVIII Airborne Corps lacked the strength to close the gap of thirteen road miles between the VIII Corps and itself (that is, the gap between the 7th Armored Division detachment at Chrain and the elements of the 101st Airborne at Foy) was rapidly becoming apparent to all. in firing position) and a massed infantry assault drove the troopers out. In any event enough pressure was exerted during the morning to drive the small American screening force back toward St. Vith. Early on the afternoon of the 17th the 440th Armored Field Artillery, leading the column, entered Malmdy, only to be greeted with the sign THIS ROAD UNDER ENEMY FIRE. Since the shift would leave Hoge's northern flank open, it was agreed that contact between the two combat commands would be re-established at Bauvenn, necessitating that Hoge's left be pulled back some two thousand yards. To the left the two remaining regiments of the 62d were to attack due west with the object of reaching the road between St. Vith and Maldingen; they would take no part, however, in the assault on St. Vith. Of the southern half of the original ring there remained only the rear guard and covering forces strung along the roads east of Salmchteau. Perhaps the German command did not realize the full extent of the gains won in the St. Vith area and was wedded too closely to its prior plans. as a patrol action. by artillery fire, to thrust a few tanks along the east road. The problem involved in extricating and reforming these units was enhanced by the natural desire of the German soldiers to make the most of this opportunity to sleep for a little while in warm billets. About this time the Germans made another attempt, covered trunk lines, although in the late summer of 1944 work had been started drive by this time were twenty-five airline miles to the southwest of difficult job of disengaging from an enemy who might continue the attack after concentration against the enemy thrusting against the 38th and The losses sustained by the defenders of St. Vith must be measured There two companies of the 1st Battalion, 112th Infantry, were deployed, guarding a draw and secondary road which provided quick access to the Salm valley at a point midway between Jones's assembly area at Bovigny and Salmchteau. at any moment. In German plans the hub at St. Vith was important, but it was not on the axis of any of the main armored thrusts. On the whole it appeared that the north flank of the St. Vith force shortly would be battened down at its western terminus and that the danger of a German turning movement there had been removed. liaison officer with such an order had left Hasbrouck's command post The combat engineer battalion deployed about two miles east of St. Vith along the outer edge of a pine forest fringing the ridge mask over which climbs the road from Schnberg. specific instructions for the unit to which they were sent. General Clark later phrased the problem thus: Fortunately for the forces in the salient the withdrawal to the "goose egg" defense, a move made with extreme difficulty on muddy and congested roads and trails, was unhampered in its first phases by any German reaction. About 0800 the Germans launched a reconnaissance in force northeast of St. Vith, advancing from Wallerode toward Hnningen. The bulk of the LXVI Corps remained wedged in the streets of St. Vith or backed up along the roads funneling in from the east. moving along the Bovigny-Salmchteau road which traversed the guns from the 814th Tank Destroyer Battalion and the provisional, ANTITANK GUNNERS GUARDING A CROSSING near Vielsalm in the 7th Armored Division area. In an infantry division, there were usually 4 artillery battalions, 3 outfitted with 105mm . Two of the three Our bridges chosen for capture in the LXVI Corps' plan now were in German hands, but the bridge at Steinebrck still had to be taken. The opportunity for a decisive American counterattack toward Schnberg was past, if indeed it had ever existed, and Hasbrouck's immediate concern was to establish his division north flank in a posture of defense in the St. Vith-Vielsalm area. At 2000 the battle along the Schnberg road flared up again. (See Map VII. 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