by artillery fire, to thrust a few tanks along the east road. Remer's heavy Panthers had made bad going of the muddy roads north of Rodt. The center regiment of the 62d Volks Grenadier Division (the 190th), charged with seizing the high ground in the thick forest east of Grufflange, did get one battalion under way in the morning and succeeded, in overrunning an armored infantry platoon and three tank destroyers belonging to CCB, 9th Armored. They had met an entire German corps flushed Astride the woods road running north to Recht were small blocking detachments of tanks, engineers, and antitank guns. back to Vielsalm: the 112th had withdrawn to Huldange, thus coming closer to the 7th Armored and 106th. The threatened sector remained the line from Poteau to St. Vith, and from St. Vith along the eastern front covered by CCB, 7th Armored, and CCB, 9th Armored. St. Vith lay approximately twelve miles behind the front lines on 16 of firing moving west. North of the threatened area the 295th Regiment had come out of the woods behind Wallerode and started an advance southwest, covered by assault gun or tank fire from the ridge west of the town. The traffic jam thus created was made worse by the horde of officers and men driving American vehicles captured in the Schnee Eifel who were grimly determined to hang onto their loot. The entire force under Generals Hasbrouck and Jones was to form a defensive ring west of St. Vith and east of the Salm River. Unit Casualty List By Last Name Unit Casualty List By Date Army BBS The troops east of St. Vith simply had to be written off (at least 600 officers and men) although some later would be able to work their way back through the German lines. The 106th Division now could report, "We have Description. The withdrawal of CCB, 7th Armored Division, last night from St. Vith was expensive. The resulting state of affairs was summed up when the executive officer of CCA reported to the division G-3: "The CO of CCA wanted these facts made known. 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. Under sustained German pressure a wholly satisfactory solution never would be achieved. Most important, the 62d Volks Grenadier Division had robbed the Americans of their chance for a night withdrawal. Remer's battalion of armored infantry and two assault gun batteries, waiting in reserve in the valley below, never were committed. Only five Americans escaped.6 Two or more companies crossed near the blasted bridge and by 1530, despite the continual pounding administered by the 16th Armored Field Artillery Battalion and the rapid fire from the cavalry tank, assault, and machine guns, had nearly encircled Troop D. A cavalry request for medium tanks perforce was denied; the tank companies sent north to Hnningen had not yet returned and General Hoge had no reserve. By this time the last of the milling traffic was leaving Poteau; eight 8-inch howitzers of the 740th Field Artillery Battalion were abandoned here as the German fire increased, ostensibly because they could not be hauled out of the mud onto the road. 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. Most of the nine field artillery battalions in the ring had been grouped in this area and their displacement-while some batteries remained to keep up fire-was a slow, painful process. range served as a breakwater diverting heavy highway traffic so that Carelessly dismounting, one tank crew was riddled by machine gun fire; a second tank received a direct and killing blast. It would be the enemy, however, and not a command decision that forced the abandonment of the proposed effort. By midmorning of 22 December the flood of vehicles streaming into St. Vith was out of control. The American tankers caught on to what had happened when messengers and liaison officers failed to arrive at their destinations, but by this time the Germans had journeyed on to the southwest. In any case the German armored reserve was not available. The southern column of the 1st SS Panzer Division, which first had captured the town, was long since gone, hurrying west. 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. They would have to be threaded through the St. Vith bottleneck. All that the artillery could learn was that a German tank column was south of Malmdy. The last German Infantry at Sevenig, had suffered intensely (the fighting strength of 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. 365th Battalion. The First Army commander still expected, on the night of the 21st, that Ridgway's corps would shortly gain contact with the 7th Armored-but the situation was deteriorating at a fast clip. Actually the column was blocked at Salmchteau before the pursuing troops of the Fuehrer Begleit Brigade caught up with the tail. 800 Port Company (517 Port Bn) BLEVINS, JAMES LEWIS. American tank destroyers which had been dug in at a bend in the road General Hasbrouck to take charge of all the troops in the ring, General unknown to the 7th Armored Division headquarters. At 1345 Hasbrouck sent the signal for CCA to pull out. Possession of the First Army ration dumps at Gouvy Station was a boon to the units in the St. Vith-Vielsalm defense, for by 20 December the 7th Armored Division trains for all practical purposes were cut off from the forward combat elements. As for the last American troops extricated from the ring, Task Force Jones, it will be recalled, had assembled at Bovigny, south of Salmchteau and on the west bank of the river, while elements of the 112th Infantry waited east of the river at Rogery and Cierreux for the withdrawal order from General Hasbrouck. The next level up is the Field Artillery Battalion (ABCT) which consists of a Headquarters & Headquarters Battery, an Forward Support Company attached from the Brigade Support Battalion, and 3 Field Artilery Batteries (this). 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. Subscribe to 465th Field Artillery Battalion Footer menu. The Germans were somewhat disconcerted, but snipers accounted for two American officers. The three task forces organized along the new line nominally represented a total of five medium tank companies, a. light tank company, three platoons of 90-mm. The Fuehrer Begleit commander, with the independence that characterized the actions of a man who stood ace-high with Hitler, decided to shift the attack and take Rodt (Sart-lez-St. Vith), about two and a half miles west of his assigned objective. Unless assistance is promptly forthcoming I believe our present position may become serious for several reasons, namely: a. At Commanster a traffic jam started. A Battery 935th Field Artillery Battalion Overseas World War II. Horse-drawn artillery succeeded in getting into position nearby and had a share in the action. In midmorning of 20 December the Germans in the village deployed skirmishers and began a fire fight to test the American strength around the station. The detachment which Jones had sent to Gouvy, midway between Deifeld and Chrain, was surprised to find the village occupied by German infantry. the connective tissue between the 7th and 9th Armored combat commands. The enemy took the village quickly, and with it many of the half-tracks belonging to the 48th Armored Infantry Battalion. General Hasbrouck was apprised of this new enemy threat; by what he later remembered as "one of the funniest. . assembly area, more difficult and tenuous. This message reached Ridgway's headquarters ten minutes before noon. The arrival of an additional field artillery battalion belonging to the 7th Armored and two 155-mm. The 424th and 112th Infantry Regiments were to withdraw from their positions. Free shipping for many products! No one could say with certainty, of course, what strength the enemy was preparing for the final assault to gain St. Vith. This was an average Belgian town, with a population of a little During Task Force Jones's disengagement the 440th Armored Field Artillery had emplaced to give covering fire and protect the flank of the task force. Incidentally, the quick and forceful reaction to all German probing during the day and the fact that Hasbrouck had kept only a very small reserve out of the line had created an impression of American strength in the enemy headquarters well beyond the fact. Fortunately the fire could be checked without too much damage. The corps' mission, as it had devolved by the end of the day, would be. On the 19th most of Ridgway's troops had engaged in patrolling with no enemy contact; on the 20th the XVIII Airborne Corps faced the westernmost elements of the I SS Panzer Corps, the entire LXVI Corps, and the LVIII Panzer Corps. 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. 1945 (approximate) Subject. Infantry Battalion (Lt. Col. William H. G. Fuller) and B Troop of the Communication between as a patrol action. The armored infantry were now disposed in the center with the medium tank companies, which had circled through St. Vith, at either flank. Who made up the enemy force and its strength is uncertain-probably this was the Mobile Battalion of the 18th Volks Grenadier Division, making the preliminary move in the scheme to encircle St. Vith. Actually this change had no effect on the conduct of subsequent operations and was effective for only a few hours. During the afternoon of 18 December while the combat commands of the 7th and 9th Armored Divisions were fighting holding actions along the eastern front of the St. Vith area, General Hasbrouck engaged in an attempt to restore the northern flank of the 7th Armored in the Poteau sector. The village itself was garrisoned by the service company of the 48th Armored Infantry Battalion and some drivers belonging to the battalion whose vehicles were parked there. 7 That a gap existed on the right of the 424th was known. A disabled German self-propelled gun is in the foreground. 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. Telephone service to the VIII Corps headquarters at Bastogne ended on 18 December when that headquarters moved to Neufchteau. led a company of tanks and another of armored infantry into St. Vith. The 440th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, unable to reverse itself, turned west to Stavelot and subsequently joined the western group on its way to Vielsalm. U.S., World War II Hospital. ABMC Headquarters 2300 Clarendon Blvd, Suite 500 Arlington, VA 22201 Phone: 703-584-1501 By daylight small hostile groups had pushed far to the west in the sectors of the two armored combat commands'. Gen. Robert W. Hasbrouck) in addition to his own division and its attachments. hand, the bulk of the 23d Armored Infantry Battalion appeared to reinforce the river had been completed, that only the 112th covering force remained. 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. Congrats. But despite admonitions from the German High Command that the armored spearheads should race forward without regard to their flanks it was obvious that St. Vith had to be threefold: to insure the complete isolation of the troops that might be trapped on the Schnee Eifel, to cover the German supply lines unraveling behind the armored corps to the north and south, and to feed reinforcements laterally into the main thrusts by using the St. Vith road net. 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. 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. It was here that the unsuccessful attacks launched earlier by the 18th Volks Grenadier Division and the Fuehrer Begleit Brigade had formed. At the small village of Petit Thier it was discovered that a lieutenant from the 23d Armored Infantry Battalion, separated from his column on the march south, had heard the firing at Poteau and had rounded up a collection of stray tanks, infantry, cavalry, and engineers to block the way to Vielsalm.4 The CCR commander took over this roadblock and, as the force swelled through the day with incoming stragglers and lost detachments, extended the position west of the village. A perimeter defense by units cut off from the rest of the XVIII Airborne Corps was a very temporary expedient; the ground now occupied, in the opinion of the local commanders, could not be held for long. Subscribe to 965th Field Artillery Battalion Footer menu. Six paved or macadam roads entered St. Vith. The battalion landed at Utah Beach during Operation Neptune, and participated in the liberation of France and Belgium. 4 and two infantry divisions. Armored. 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. Even so, by the evening of 19 December the two infantry divisions of the LXVI Corps were in position to launch piecemeal attacks at or around St. Vith. The battery swung its quadruple machine guns around for ground laying and moved into the fight, firing at the enemy assembling along the banks of the Amblve River, which here ran through the south edge of the town. A trail had been discovered leading west out of the valley, and most of the middle of the column, led by a light tank company, escaped over it. 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. Three armored cars, two jeeps, and one light tank were able to disengage and carried the wounded out; apparently a major part of the force was able to make its way to Vielsalm on foot. 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. The loss of the vital road junction at Poteau, earlier in the day, made the connection between the forces of the division at St. Vith, around Recht, and in the Vielsalm. represented at its tip by the 1st SS Panzer Division, of the German attack. Here was the column, straitjacketed 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. East of St. Vith the 18th Volks Grenadier Division was regrouping as it waited for its artillery and trains, involved in the traffic jam caused by the Fuehrer Begleit columns. Despite the American withdrawal from the WinterspeltHeckhuscheid area and the promptings of the impatient commander of the LXVI Corps, the 62d only tardily brought itself into conformity with the forward kampfgruppen of the 18th Volks Grenadier Division. First Army intelligence sources carried word of an enemy force building up here south of the 30th Division, a matter of considerable concern to Generals Ridgway and Hobbs by the night of 20 December. List of the participants of the Washington Artillery in World War II. Krag decided to shift his advance toward Salmchteau and there possibly link up with friendly forces he knew to be coming from St. Vith. Facilities Managment Company. Heuem, they reported, was in enemy hands and a German column was heading straight for St. Vith. With the arrival of the assault guns some attempt was made to probe the American defenses east of St. Vith. The 62d Volks Grenadier Division had been given the mission of cutting the possible escape routes southwest of St. Vith by an advance through Grufflange and Maldingen. Colonel Jones organized three small detachments to occupy Deifeld, Gouvy, and Chrain, a screening position a little over six miles from east to west. This move brought the grenadiers across open ground and under flanking fire from American tanks located by the railroad underpass just north of St. Vith. The time now was midafternoon. 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