TWS is the largest online community of Veterans existing today and is a powerful Veteran locator. The armored infantry were now disposed in the center with the medium tank companies, which had circled through St. Vith, at either flank. 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 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. Horse-drawn artillery succeeded in getting into position nearby and had a share in the action. During the early morning hours of 19 December messages 413th AAA Gun Bn (Mbl) 20 Dec 44-24 Dec 44. During the ceremony, Col. Shawn Fuellenbach relinquished command to Lt. Col. Jason Wilde. Artillery Battalions had landed at Normandy by 12 June 1944. It was important, however, as the knot which tied the roads running St. Vith. As a result of the regrouping. To the right of the cavalry the most advanced units of CCB had reinforced the 168th Engineer Combat Battalion on the Schnberg road and pushed out to either side for some distance as flank protection. They had met an entire German corps flushed They blocked the sun, and the forest floor was dark and damp. Vith.) Although troops of the 18th Volks Grenadier Division or the 9th SS Panzer Division fired on Boylan as his detachment reached the river, they made no attempt to rush the bridge-a fortunate circumstance, as it turned out, for when the 82d Airborne engineers tried to blow the bridge the charge failed to explode. ), The Fifth Panzer Army, constantly prodded by the higher staffs and acutely aware that the St. Vith road net must be opened to allow forward movement of the reinforcements needed to maintain the momentum of the advance toward the Meuse, was in no mood for further delay. Krag's detachment attacked straight north, driving in the American outposts in villages south of the road and dropping off small parties en route to form blocking positions covering the eastern flank of the division advance. The LXVI Corps was in no position to capitalize with speed and immediate effect on its capture of St. Vith. The closest of the primary armored routes in the south ran through Burg Reuland, some five miles south. TANKS OF THE 7TH ARMORED DIVISION in a temporary position near St. Vith. drive by this time were twenty-five airline miles to the southwest of Fortunately the fire could be checked without too much damage. On 18 December the 7th Armored had learned in a roundabout way that a "Lieutenant Colonel named Stone" had collected a few troops and was holding Gouvy. The German force left at Recht was no more than a screen, although under orders to maintain pressure on Poteau. The town square was a scene of utter confusion. This fresh armored division was in fact moving its main strength west from Recht toward the Salm River and collision with the 82d Airborne Division, but a kampfgruppe had been dropped off to cover the south flank of the division by attacking in the direction of Vielsalm. Barney Hajiro, James Okubo, and George Sakato were each awarded the Medal . But at least four hours were consumed in drafting the plan and dispatching liaison officers, who had to memorize the general plan and the. Between Rodt and the next village to the west, Poteau, two companies of medium tanks patrolled the main road and watched the trails running in from the north. The Enemy Strikes at the St. Vith Perimeter. ABMC Headquarters 2300 Clarendon Blvd, Suite 500 Arlington, VA 22201 Phone: 703-584-1501 columns pushing past Houffalize. The Sherman tanks on the Recht road were caught in masked positions from which they could not return the panzer fire coming in from higher ground, and the troops in Rodt could not stand alone against the Panthers. Stone sent out one of his staff to try to line up some help; this officer discovered the command post of the 965th Field Artillery Battalion, near the town of Beho, and put forth the case of the Gouvy defenders "who were attempting to hold the line despite their not being trained infantrymen." Only a few feeble German jabs were directed against the American line, which on its eastern face had been strengthened by a series of withdrawals to more favorable ground during the previous night. The artillery battalions of the 7th Armored Division were in firing positions north and east of Vielsalm at the close of 18 December. spanning the Salm River at Vielsalm and Salmchteau. Hasbrouck had not yet sent his message to Ridgway when word came of the German advance against the north flank of CCB, 7th Armored, in the Rodt sector. All during the morning of 22 December American observers had watched enemy troops and vehicles milling around Recht, just to the north of Poteau. At an earlier and more optimistic hour this company had been dispatched to Houffalize with orders to make a counterattack southward to relieve the pressure on Bastogne. The 164th Regiment, advancing opposite the southern flank of CCB, reported success while moving unopposed through Maspelt and across ground which had been abandoned the previous night, but at a crossroads in the Grufflange woods American shells suddenly poured in and the advance came to a dead stop. Find 365th Field Artillery Battalion unit information, patches, operation history, veteran photos and more on TogetherWeServed.com. Since the VIII Corps itself was in possession of only fragmentary information on the German strength and locations there was little to be passed on to the division commanders. CCB of the 7th Armored had meanwhile been making good progress and arrived at Vielsalm about 1100, halting just to the east to gas up. Behind the reconnaissance and advance elements the bulk of the division moved slowly southward along the east and west lines of march, forty-seven and sixty-seven miles long, respectively. after concentration against the enemy thrusting against the 38th and The loss of this combat command would create a wide breach in front of the enemy congregating south of St. Vith, a breach which hardly could be filled by the last reserves at Hasbrouck's disposal. 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. Acutely aware of the threat now forming, General Hasbrouck stripped such elements as he dared from his north flank, added the remnants of the 14th Cavalry Group, and created Task Force Jones (Lt. Col. Robert B. Jones, Commanding Officer, 814th Tank Destroyer Battalion) to guard the south and southwestern flank. Task Force Lindsey, whose cavalry and infantry had screened the main withdrawal of the southern segment of the ring, had come under damaging shell-fire as the 62d Volks Grenadier Division artillery got into position. 806 Bomb Squadron (446 Bomb Group) 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. 800 Port Company (517 Port Bn) BLEVINS, JAMES LEWIS. 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. Within an infantry division, there were four artillery battalions, three M2A1 105mm howitzer battalions and one 155mm battalion. Astride the woods road running north to Recht were small blocking detachments of tanks, engineers, and antitank guns. did much to check the grenadiers. Army 965th Field Artillery Battalion | Army Veteran Locator 965th Field Artillery Battalion Battalion Served in this Battalion? Troop B of the 87th Reconnaissance Squadron and Company A of the 81st Engineer Combat Battalion, both directly in the German path, probably numbered less than forty men apiece when the final blow fell. On the right of Colonel Fuller's sector Company B of the 23d Armored Infantry Battalion and a platoon of the 814th Tank Destroyer Battalion, after having withstood almost continuous assault for four hours, succumbed about the same time to the 183d Regiment, which attacked along the draw from the southeast between CCB, 7th Armored, and CCB, 9th Armored. Add an answer. Colonel Duggan finally gave the order to retire down the road to Vielsalm. needed time to gather for a coordinated and effective defense. The bulk of the artillery column closed at Vielsalm during the morning, although the last few miles had to be made against the flow of vehicles surging from the threatened area around St. Vith. ABMC Headquarters 2300 Clarendon Blvd, Suite 500 Arlington, VA 22201 Phone: 703-584-1501 About 1315 the task force fell back through Beho and proceeded west to Salmchteau, picking up other small blocking groups as it went. Silhouetted in light and with blinded crews the Shermans were disposed of in one, two, three order. 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. 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. But To counter this threat the light tank platoon moved into Steinebrck, leaving the American left uncovered. By this time the They would have to be threaded through the St. Vith bottleneck. west from Rodt. The movement plans prepared by the First Army staff assigned General Hasbrouck two routes of march: an east route, through Aachen, Eupen, Malmdy, and Recht, on which CCR would move; a west route, through Maastricht, Verviers, and Stavelot, which would be used by the main body of the division. 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. 94th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery. By daybreak the Fuehrer Begleit advance guard had arrived at the edge of the forest north of Rodt. At 1500 a radio message from the XVIII Airborne Corps headquarters informed Hasbrouck that the "request of CG, 7 AD" for withdrawal had been approved. Connecting the Bllingen and Schnberg approaches a spider web of secondary roads and trails ran back and forth, centering at the hamlet of Wallerode (two miles northeast of St. Vith) behind which lay a large forest. Also, the transmittal of the 7th Armored Division's own estimate of its possible progress was subject to "friction." Krag decided to shift his advance toward Salmchteau and there possibly link up with friendly forces he knew to be coming from St. Vith. some tank destroyers, hoping to stop the Panthers if they should turn Fortunately, the enemy, too, had to regroup before he resumed the battle. ABMC Headquarters 2300 Clarendon Blvd, Suite 500 Arlington, VA 22201 Phone: 703-584-1501 Forty minutes later the tanks left Poteau, moving fast and exchanging shots with German tanks, while the 275th Armored Field Artillery. Infantry at Sevenig, had suffered intensely (the fighting strength of Communication between Here the first identification was made of the 9th SS Panzer Division. The gunners, as infantry observers reported, "threw everything at Wallerode but the shoes on their feet." He needed two companies of infantry deployed and one in reserve. A Battery 935th Field Artillery Battalion Overseas World War II. American tank destroyers which had been dug in at a bend in the road of firing moving west. Although Vielsalm was only fourteen miles by road from St. Vith, it would be literally a matter of hours before even the lightly armored advance guard could reach St. Vith. around the Schnee Eifel barrier to the net which fanned out toward the Actually there were armored divisions in the First Army closer to the scene, but they had been alerted for use in the first phases of the attacks planned to seize the Roer River dams (a design not abandoned until 17 December) and as yet little sense of urgency attached to reinforcements in the VIII Corps area. The 62d Volks Grenadier Division, to the south, finally brought its inner flank into echelon with the left of the 18th near Setz by pivoting the 190th Regiment west. the line that the light tanks in the van had been hit by enemy fire 8 Cavalry Rgt BAUGH, EDWARD RODOLPH. Three times the grenadiers Meanwhile Hasbrouck dispatched a memorandum. The first German waves then hit between Company A of the 38th Armored Infantry Battalion and Company A of the 23d Armored Infantry Battalion. Admittedly this scratch force was too weak to make a serious defense in the endangered sector, but it could be expected to block the key road junctions and sound a warning should the enemy attempt any flanking movement. A small German attack hit the right flank just as the move was being. General Hasbrouck decided to leave a small force as observers around Beho and commit CCA to recover Poteau. This opening had been partially covered by the advance southeastward of the 82d Airborne Division, but a gap of some five miles still existed north of the Chrain outpost set up by Task Force Jones. The unit formed at Fort Jay, New York as a company in the 2 nd Regiment of Artillerists and Engineers during the expansion of the Army during the . Heuem, they reported, was in enemy hands and a German column was heading straight for St. Vith. On General Hoge's order a platoon of armored engineers went down and blew the bridge-almost in the teeth of the grenadiers on the opposite bank. Made cautious by the collision at Recht, the German column moved slowly, putting out feelers to the southeast before the main force resumed the march southwest along the Vielsalm road. 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. This jeep trail-it was no more-had been reconnoitered by General Clarke on the 22d and designated (with much misgiving) as an emergency exit. The glare thrown over the snow silhouetted the figures of enemy infantrymen advancing toward the Poteau crossroads. As they approached Gouvy station, a railroad stop south of the village, they ran afoul of three German tanks which were just coming in from the south. In sharp fighting most of the mechanized force at the tail was destroyed. General Hodges' answer, dispatched at 1230, stated: For the first time since forming the St. Vith perimeter the force there knew what measures were under way for its reinforcement or relief as well as the precise status of command within the force. The road to Spa and the First Army headquarters, albeit roundabout and hazardous, remained open on the morning of the 20th. German columns heading west. Yet at no time during the day did the Germans use more than three assault guns and one or two platoons of infantry in the piecemeal attacks west of Schnberg. Fortunately bright moonlight allowed some maneuver. The front held by the 7th Armored Division, CCB of the 9th Armored, and attached units by this time had expanded to about thirty-two miles. When the raiders turned back to rejoin Remer they found the American tankers waiting; however, evasion in the woods was easy, although at this point the prized vehicles were abandoned and most of the captured Americans escaped. It was easy for the German infantry to move unnoticed through the heavy timber. Covered by one reconnaissance platoon and the cavalry assault guns, sited near the bridge, the remaining platoons of Troop D had left their positions and started filing toward the Steinebrck-St. Vith road when suddenly the movement order was canceled. The advance party sent by General Hasbrouck reached St. Vith about 0800 on 17 December, reporting to General Jones, who expected to find the armored columns right behind. A couple of hours earlier the First Army headquarters had told General Middleton that the west column would arrive at 0700 and close at 1900 on the 17th, and that the combat command on the east road would arrive at 1100 and close at 1700. 389th Battalion. None of the charts on traffic density commonly used in general staff or armored school training could give a formula for establishing the coefficient of "friction" in war, in this case the mass of jeeps, prime movers, guns, and trucks which jammed the roads along which the 7th Armored columns had to move to St. Vith. He cannot protect Poteau. Two hours later while the division assembled and made ready, an advance party left the division command post at Heerlen, Holland, for Bastogne where it was to receive instructions from the VIII Corps. But unit integrity had been lost, the armored components were far below strength, and many of the armored infantry were weary, ill-equipped stragglers who had been put back in the line after their escape from St. Vith. superior force in front of St. The first phase of the withdrawal had been auspicious. 141st Field Artillery World War, 1939-1945--Military personnel--American. As yet he had only vague information of the serious situation confronting the American troops in the south and southeast. During the 19th the two CCB's had been operating with very limited artillery support, although the 275th Armored Field Artillery Battalion and the 16th Armored Field Artillery Battalion had done yeoman service for their respective combat commands. room to constitute a real threat to the southern and western sections Field Artillery Battalions > 365th Battalion. U.S., World War II Hospital. This, one of his division commanders opined, was easier said than done. the easternmost position of any organized nature in the center sector Battalion, at the tail of the column, rolled through Stavelot about 0800 on the morning of 18 December, it found itself in the middle of a fire fight between the advance guard of the 1st SS. The Fuehrer Begleit Brigade did not follow CCB. Deifeld was occupied without trouble. and the sizable attached units all would have to make their westward The 275th, reinforced by the 16th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, and three batteries of corps artillery, fired through the night to interdict the eastern approaches to St. Vith; this was all the artillery support remaining to the American troops in this sector. About 2045 CCR got its first word of the Germans it had so narrowly missed when the driver for the division chief of staff, Col. Church M. Matthews, appeared at the command post with the report that during the afternoon he had run afoul of a large tank column near Pont and that the colonel was missing. By noon most of the 424th Infantry and Wemple's force were across the Salm. South of St. Vith, where CCB, 9th Armored, had redressed its lines during the previous night consonant with the 7th Armored position on the left and taken over a five-mile front, the enemy made some attempt to press westward. The 7th Armored Division (by fairly accurate reckoning) had lost 59 medium tanks, 29 light tanks, and 25 armored cars.8. Thus far the Ninth Army had given Hasbrouck no information on the seriousness of the situation on the VIII Corps front. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Army Officer's Collar Pin: 45th Field Artillery Battalion - c/b, Meyer 9M at the best online prices at eBay! as a patrol action. A disabled German self-propelled gun is in the foreground. Actually this change had no effect on the conduct of subsequent operations and was effective for only a few hours. Maneuver by these elements of CCB was rigidly constricted by the presence of the Fuehrer Begleit armor in the north around Rodt and by the German hold on Crombach. 803 Engineer Battalion, Aviation (Separate) RECTOR, PAUL J. Observation was poor-the 18th was a day of low-hanging The Germans started a dash to sweep the column broadside, but the first shot knocked out an air-compressor truck whose unwieldy hulk effectively blocked the road. Perhaps the enemy would have returned to the fray and made the final withdrawal hazardous, but shortly after noon some P-38's of the 370th Fighter Group, unable to make contact with the 82d Airborne Division control to which they were assigned, went to work for the 7th Armored Division, bombing and strafing along the road to Recht. The American defense of St. Vith itself was based on the possession of ridge lines and hills masking the town to the northeast, east, and southeast. Thereupon the 440th formed in column, cut loose with every available machine gun, knifed through the startled enemy, and roared over the bridge at Vielsalm. However they lost their Glider designation when they were redesignated on 15 January 1944 as the 465th Field Artillery Battalion. unknown to the 7th Armored Division headquarters. 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. The general answered that the division naturally would continue to defend if its present position was considered to be vital but that he personally favored withdrawal.5, Hasbrouck's answer and a report on the existing state of the American forces were taken to Montgomery. Unwittingly, in the process of "freezing" this heterogeneous command, Stone stopped the westward withdrawal of badly needed engineer vehicles (carrying earth augers, air compressors, and similar equipment) which the VIII Corps commander was attempting to gather for work on a barrier line being constructed by the corps engineers farther to the west. Remer, still missing most of his tanks, had been instructed to drive from Nieder-Emmels straight south into St. Vith. Half an hour later three enemy tanks and some infantry appeared before the 168th Engineer Battalion position astride the St. Vith road. Furthermore the 7th Armored trains had reported signs of an enemy force far to the west of the 7th Armored outpost positions. 2015-09-27 14:36:35. By this time Task Force Jones was During the night, CCB, 9th Armored Division, and the 424th Infantry withdrew across the Our River and established a defensive line along the hill chain running from northeast of Steinebrck south to Burg Reuland; these troops eventually made contact with the advance elements of CCB, 7th Armored Division. two companies from the 14th Tank Battalion (Maj. Leonard E. Engeman) and one from the 811th Tank Destroyer Battalion took over the fight. CCR maintained its cordon along the valley road. A double column of enemy troops and vehicles marched along the road into St. Vith. The plan for withdrawal, slowly and carefully worked out by Hasbrouck and Colonel Ryan on the evening of the 22d, envisaged a progressive siphoning from the units farthest to the east in which these troops passed gradually into the main routes leading to the bridges while rear guard forces staged holding actions in echelon along the roads and trails. other German units forged westward past its northern and southern extensions. In an hour the armored infantry were out of their holes and their half-tracks were clanking down the road to Vielsalm. It would be the enemy, however, and not a command decision that forced the abandonment of the proposed effort. specific instructions for the unit to which they were sent. With the enemy infantry inside Steinebrck and excellent direct laying by the German gunners picking off the American vehicles one by one, the cavalry withdrew along the St. Vith road. But the 7th Armored Division was a veteran organization; the general officers in the area dealt with one another on a very cooperative basis; and within the sub-commands established around the coalescing perimeter, the local commanders acted with considerable freedom and initiative. Another small German detachment deployed in front of the engineers an hour later was engaged and was finally put to flight by American fighter planes in one of their few appearances over the battlefield on this day. About this time the Germans made another attempt, covered VIII Corps has ordered me to hold and I will do so but need help. Later, liaison was established with the 424th Infantry on the right, which had been out of contact with the enemy during the day and remained in its river line position. Whether the XVIII Airborne Corps could maintain the freshly added burden imposed by the 7th Armored Division salient remained to be seen. By this time both Hoge's and Clarke's combat commands were under attack. This estimate was received at the headquarters of the VIII Corps at 0500 on 17 December, the first indication, it would appear, that the leading armored elements would arrive at 1400 instead of 0700 as planned. Although action had flared up on 20 December along the eastern face of the St. Vith perimeter, the feature of this day was the series of rearrangements to tighten the perimeter on the north and south.