They were sometimes misidentified as Tiger HIs. Panzer Tracts, 2001. 560th Volks Grenadier Division (15-29 Dec. 1944) and 12th VGD (1-28 Jan. 1945). The next version of this story can be found in a 1947 book by Major Donald P. Boyer of the 38th Armored Infantry Battalion titled St. Vith, The 7th Armored Division in the Battle of the Bulge, 17-23 December 1944: A Narrative After Action Report. Armored Champion, The Top Tanks of World War II. 1946. None of these Tiger IIs were lost at St. Vith and from photographic evidence at least three are recorded to have no burn damage and/or holes in the rear. Ministry of Supply, 1945. 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. 2014. Zaloga, Steven. The mud had made the roads and open areas impassable for armored vehicles. Those factors dictated that at least another 24 hours would be needed before a major assault on St. Vith could begin. Germanys Tiger Tanks VK45.02 to TIGER II. Darlington Productions Inc., 2000. 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. 13th Flak Division 651 . Combat Interviews of the 38th Armored Infantry Battalion, 7th Armored Division: The St. Vith Salient and Manhay, December 17-23, 1944. Situated next to B Company were Company A, 27th AIB and Company D, 14th Tank Battalion. The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18. #WW2 . To execute this maneuver, Hoges entire command would have to move all the way up to St. Vith and back down again. Revised Edition, Arms and Armour Press, 1973. General Jones and his staff had pulled out of St. Vith on the morning of the 18th for Vielsalm. Manteuffel had hoped for considerably more on the 19th. Generals Manteuffel and Lucht had planned an all-out attack to take St. Vith starting at daylight with a three- pronged envelopment by the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division against 9th Armored positions in the south. 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. The event that Lieutenant Olson recounts does bare a resemblance to the M8 Greyhound versus Tiger story, with both events taking place at or near St. Vith on the 18th of December 1944 and involving an American armored car from the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron knocking out a German tank by shooting it in the rear. According to the British, 37 mm M6 guns APC M51 can only penetrate around a maximum of 65mm of rolled homogeneous armor plate (RHA) at 30 degrees under V50 ballistic standards. 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. The StuG III explanation also accounts for why Troop B makes no mention of it in their morning report and record of events entry for 18th December 1944 and why Lieutenant Colonel Boylan makes no mention of it his 1946 letter or in the 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadrons After Action Report for the month of December 1944. Troop D, 89th Recon had positioned its troop headquarters and first platoon to cover the bridge over the Our. Sometime later that Monday morning, General Hoge sent his liaison officer to St. Vith to learn the dispositions of CCB, 7th Armored Division. However, the monumental traffic jams in the Losheim Gap and at Schoenberg continued to delay both the 18th Volksgrenadier Division and the Fhrer Escort Brigade, and not until after daylight on the 20th would a bridge be ready at Steinebruck for the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division. Based upon this fairly optimistic view, Ridgway, shortly after midnight, ordered the entire St. Vith force to withdraw from its current positions and form a defensive ring west of St. Vith and east of the Salm River. Both assault groups suffered heavy casualties. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. Once in St. Vith, Jones explained that only the leading elements of the 7th Armored Division had arrived thus far and that St. Viths northern approach was under attack. That cold snap that hit us has frozen the roads. which, in principle, is comparable to the 37 mm American gun. Panzer Tracts No. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945.. 22 22. Which specific Tiger II this was is unknown. After Action Report, Month of December, 1944. 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. While making his reconnaissance at Monschau he received an urgent message to call V Corps headquarters. Then there is the issue of the entrys ambiguity in regards to the Tiger tank that was knocked out. The Sherman tanks of B Company repulsed the enemy with fire from their 76mm guns. (1944) 111 111. Instead of the M8 Greyhound firing three shots into the Tigers rear, the M8 Greyhound in Lieutenant Olsons version of events fired two shots. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. His troops remained in place, and the pullout to the west side of the Our River began at dusk. . The closest primary German armored thrust route to the south ran through Burg Reuland, also about five miles from St. Vith. The move had scarcely begun when an enemy attack hit the junction between Company B, 27th AIB and Company D, 14th Tank Battalion. Eisernes Kreuz 2.Klasse (1914) Periode: Eerste Wereldoorlog (1914-1918) Toegekend op: 30 oktober 1917. Although it was beaten off, the attacking Germans were identified as new to the area, soldiers of the 9th SS Panzer Division, a cause for considerable concern at this point in the battle. The German armored and infantry attacks were preceded by the shelling of the American positions with at least 657 light, medium, and heavy guns and howitzers and 340 multiple rocket launchers. There is no comparison to Tiger. Osprey Publishing, 2002. This one, however, most likely did not. Protected by armor between 25 mm to 145 mm thick and armed with a fearsome 88mm KwK 36 L/56 main gun, the Tiger I was arguably the most feared tank of World War II by Allied soldiers. 1964. Volksgrenadier Division 2. Engeman set out with two task forces to meet the enemy. The job of capturing St. Vith went to the Fifth Panzer Armys 66th Corps, commanded by General Walther Lucht. Daniel P. Kneeland, Grafton, Ma. Together they broke up the attack. Hoge departed Faymonville at approximately 1800, arriving at General Joness headquarters in the St. Josephs Kloster about a half hour later. Sell, buy or rent Panzers in Winter: Hitler's Army and the Battle of the Bulge (Praeger Security I 9780275971151 0275971155, we buy used or new for best buyback price with FREE shipping and offer great deals for buyers. The area being defended was beginning to take the form of a large horseshoe, its axis running approximately northeast to southeast. 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. American Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force Choose a Unit. The last Tiger II belonged to Schwere Panzer Abteilung 506 (Heavy Tank Battalion 506) and was lost to enemy fire on the Lentzweiler road in Luxemburg. First Edition, Stackpole Books, 2004. This moment marked the beginning of the famous Battle of the Bulge, Germany's last major offensive on the Western Front in World War II. CCB, 9th Armored was linked on its left with CCB, 7th Armored and what was left of the 424th Infantry Regiment on its right. 1940 194111. If neither a Tiger I nor a Tiger II was killed on 18th December 1944 in or around the town of St. Vith by an M8 Greyhound, what was? Zaloga, Steven, and Tony Bryan. 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. 6731 Whittier Avenue, Suite C-100 McLean, VA 22101, Stay up to date with all of our latest news, Boylan, Vincent L. Letter to Robert W. Hasbrouck. The rounded portion of the horseshoe was composed of Colonel Dwight Rosebaums CCA, 7th Armored between Poteau and Rodt and General Clarkes CCB, 7th Armored in the very center protecting St. Vith. Staff Sergeant Frank Mykalo knocked out a German machine-gun position, enabling the men in the lead half-tracks to dismount and deploy along the side of the road. However, once a closer look is taken at this story, cracks begin to appear, and soon enough one begins to wonder whether or not this story really is too good to be true. Luftwaffe-Feld-Division. Eisernes Kreuz 2.Klasse (1914) Period: First World War (1914-1918) Awarded on: October 30th, 1917. Operation Nordwind 1945 Hitlers last offensive in the West. During the assault, B Company suffered about 40 casualties including its commanding officer, Captain Henry D. Wirsig. The fight lasted for more than three hours before the Germans withdrew, leaving one burning tank and approximately 150 dead. First Edition, Stackpole Books, 2004. Gen. William Hoges Combat Command B (CCB) of the 9th was attached to V Corps to support the 2nd Infantry Division in its planned attack through the Monschau Forest as part of the U.S. Armys strategy to capture or destroy the Roer River dams. 223 223. The M8 was used mostly as a reconnaissance vehicle for scouting. Hoge pointedly asked Ridgway how it could be done. Schiffer Publishing, 2000. Your email address will not be published. It is interesting to note that the U.S 7th Armored Division suffered a moderate 425 Battle Casualties, on page 465 of Hitlers Last Gamble by Trevor N. Dupuy, for December 17-23, 1944 in the Battle of Saint Vith including the 1st day of the Battle of Manhay, out of the 3,397 Battle and Non-Battle Casualties suffered during the Battle by the U.S 112th Infantry Regiment of the U.S 28th Infantry Division, the U.S 424th Infantry Regiment of the U.S 106th Infantry Division, Combat Command B of the U.S 9th Armored Division and ofcourse the U.S 14th Cavalry Group. The German tank then stopped dead in its tracks and shuddered; there was a muffled explosion, followed by flames which billowed out of the turret and engine ports. 8 Sturmgeschuetz s.Pak to Sturmmoerser. The fall of Rodt effectively split 7th Armoreds CCA from General Clarkes CCB. I wanted to focus on the M8 vs Tiger story, I already noticed the Ferdinand claim, but decided not to mention it. VGD captured St. Vith, winning a great victory. VGD captured St. Vith, winning a great victory. The same story is retold in A Colonel in the Armored Divisions A Memoir, 19411945 by William S. Triplet, and like a game of telephone it gets even more distorted. The 294th Volksgrenadier Regiment was a unit of the larger 18th Volksgrenadier Division. On December 21, 18. Schneider, Wolfgang. 1/18th Scale Cars; 1/24th Scale Assembly Kits; 1/24th Scale Cars; 1/43rd Scale Cars; . The Ardennes 1944-1945: Hitlers Winter Offensive. Revised Edition, Arms and Armour Press, 1973. A mobile battalion of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division was already moving on Andler to seize the Schoenberg bridge and the road to St. Vith. This German World War II article is a stub. No reinforcements were expected. Close. A Company moved south under the protection of the high river bank, while C Company deployed along the left side of the road as the enveloping company. Ridgway knew Hoge to be calm, courageous, and imperturbable. This means that 50% of shots fired will penetrate this amount of armor. Hoge managed to stop the stragglers, and soon a provisional company of men from the 424th was formed to reinforce the 27th AIB on its march toward the Our. CCBs new position blocked the main Winterspelt-St. Vith highway and the valley of the Braunlauf Creek, a second natural corridor leading to St. Vith. The earliest known mention can be found in the December 18th, 1944 morning report and record of events entry of Troop E, 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron which briefly states that an M-8 atchd [attached] to A Tr [Troop A] knocked out one Tiger tank. However, I am not so emotionally attached to my favorite LAV that I cant see the improbabilities. The most startling difference however is the range at which this engagement occurred, with Lieutenant Olsons version having the engagement take place at 800 yards (732 meters), compared to the original storys 25 yards (23 meters)! The 18th Volksgrenadier Division (18th VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. Personally I have not believed this event at all. The distance from Burg Reuland on the southeast to Poteau on the northwest was about 10 miles with only a single secondary road as a line of retreat for thousands of men defending the horseshoe against attack from three directions. 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.. After listening to the information provided by General Clarkes staff officer, General Hoge decided to go to St. Vith himself to assess the situation. Boyer, Donald P. St. Vith The 7th Armored Division in the Battle of the Bulge 17-23 December 1944 A Narrative After Action Report. 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. Given that the American accounts do not give a consistent account of what happened that day at St. Vith, the other side of this story must also be investigated. After putting down a heavy concentration of artillery fire, the Germans moved their infantry across the river east of the position held by the 2nd platoon of D Troop, 89th Recon. 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 . There are two likely candidates, the first being a Panzer IV. By that time the 62nd Volksgrenadier Division should have the bridge at Steinebruck rebuilt, at least two regiments of the 18th Volksgrenadier Division should be forward, and the Fhrer Escort Brigade should be ready to make the principal thrust down the Ambleve highway into St. Vith. According to Hugh M. Cole, an American historian and army officer. 1945). VGD led by Heinz Kokott, Heinrich Himmler's brother-in-law. 120th Infantry Regiment (30th Infantry Division) 307th Airborne Engineer Battalion 319th Field Artillery Glider Battalion 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment German Units 3d Parachute Division 12th SS Panzer Division 18th Volksgrenadier Division 246th Volsgrenadier Division 884th March Battalion 905th Assault Gun Brigade 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. Gen. Bruce C. Clarke, commander of CCB, 7th Armored Division, arrived at General Joness command post in St. Vith at approximately 1030. One, the 18th Volksgrenadier Division, was holding the northern reaches of the Schnee Eifel. Clarke pulled back his left flank to protect Hinderhausen, a key position on the emergency exit route to Commanster and Vielsalm. The losses in men and equipment for CCB, 9th Armored, as with the rest of the American units defending St. Vith, had been severe. December, 1944 By Greg Moore gregpanzerblitz.com December, 2008 Battalion I x 5 x 4 x 1 x 2 x 12 293rd Volks- . Under the chain of the northern sector command, only General Ridgway was unsure of Field Marshal Montgomerys decision to withdraw from the defense. 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. Airfix J6017 Volkswagen Camper Van (Quick Build) R 405.00. Tigers In Combat I. Outnumbered and in danger of encirclement, the cannoneers and their rifle support from C Company made a platoon-by-platoon withdrawal toward Winterspelt. No one knew what was happening. 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. By 1245, the original line was restored, and the antitank guns of Company A, 811th Tank Destroyers were recovered. This left General Clarke with only one full company of armored infantrymen. In addition, the massive road jam caused by the inability to pass through St. Vith was creating acute shortages of gasoline and ammunition well to the west of St. Vith. Division 3. 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. At about noon that day, the 62nd Volksgrenadier Divisions 190th Regiment had broken through north of the 424th Infantrys Cannon Company. Infanterie-Division 193510 [1] 22 22. 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. 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. Once St. Vith was taken, Model intended to drive the brigade swiftly for the Meuse River or cut behind the opposition on the Elsenborn Ridge that was bottling up the Sixth Panzer Army. Jones wanted Clarke to counterattack immediately with his combat command and break that ring that these people have closed around the Schnee Eifel.. On December 21, 18. 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. Clerks were running everywhere and junior staff officers were arguing among themselves; upstairs, however, Hoge found General Jones remarkably composed. After the Tiger I had passed, the armored car then slipped out of its concealed position and began accelerating towards the tank in an attempt to close the gap between the two. Volksgrenadier-Division. The hardest hit, though, were the armored infantrymen of the 27th AIB with nearly 300 battle casualties. The story begins on the 18th of December 1944, two days after the start of the German offensive. At St. Vith, Lt. Col. William H. Slayden was with Jones when Jones received the call from Middleton concerning 7th Armored Division support. On his way to St. Vith, General Hoge stopped in Faymonville to alert his command to be prepared to move immediately. This initial thrust carried the enemy approximately 400 yards into the battalions sector. 12th Volksgrenadier Division 89; 197; 487; 557; 650; 727. Rapidly, the M8 advanced to within 25 yards (23 meters) of the Tiger I and quickly pumped three rounds into its rear. It is a classic David versus Goliath tale straight out of World War II that features American heroism. Troop D, 89th Recon and Company D, 14th Tank Battalion formed a line from Grufflingen to Thommen, and Companies B and C of the 14th Tank Battalion took up positions between Thommen and Maldange. On the morning of the December 20, three tank destroyers were placed in support of Company C, 27th AIB. 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. Such was not the case, however, and by the evening of the December 20, the Germans were feeling the growing negative effects of the St. Vith salient. By mid-afternoon, General Hoge ordered his infantry to halt and dig in. General Luchts plan for December 17 was simple. The Seventh Armored Division in the Battle of St. Vith. Three times the grenadiers [German] tried to rush their way through the foxhole line held by the 38th Armored Infantry Battalion (Lt. Col. William H. G. Fuller) and B Troop of the 87th astride the Schnberg road. js = d.createElement(s); Add to cart. Communications with division headquarters in St. Vith were limited to liaison officers running along a road now being shelled by the Germans. The heroic defense of St. Vith, though costly in men and materil, disrupted the German timetable extensively. Fortunately for Colonel Reid, word came at about 1730 that his 424th Infantry Regiment was to withdraw immediately. The Battle at St. Vith, Belgium 17-23 December 1944 An Historical Example of Armor in the Defense. Thus, the Fifth Panzer Army commander ordered that St. Vith be taken no later than the second day of the offensive. The troops were exhausted and spread out. Field Marshal Montgomery, believing that Ridgways Corps could not attack successfully toward Vielsalm and that the American forces within the goose egg could better be used in support of other forces committed to the northern shoulder defense, decided upon a general withdrawal. German 18th Volksgrenadier Div. 301 sentences with 'poor shape'. In my opinion, the only definite conclusion that can be made from all this is that some American vehicle engaged something at St. Vith on the night of the 18th. It was around 1200 hours and all was quiet when suddenly a German heavy tank was spotted slowly approaching the American line, a Tiger I. Luftlande-Division 19416 19421944 19453 22 22. The tanks of the 14th Tank Battalion and the half-tracks of the 27th AIB paused to pick up the foot elements of the 424th RCT, 106th Infantry Division. At about midday, the field marshal sent a message to General Hasbrouck: You have accomplished your missiona mission well done. This is puzzling, to say the least. A second attempt on the bridge, made by about 40 men four hours later, was also thrown back by machine-gun fire. Now with a new armored combat command due to arrive at 0700 hours the next day, and with the rest of the division to follow, Jones believed he would soon have the potential to deal with both the Schnee Eifel and Winterspelt emergencies. Close. Back in the 1970s I worked with a man who told this story, he claimed he was the driver. 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. 194311 Moreover, at least a regiment from the 1st SS Panzer Division was in sporadic conflict with the American defenders in the Recht-Poteau area and, in the south, elements of the 560th Volksgrenadier Division, part of General Walter Kruegers 58th Panzer Corps, were also identified as pushing against American forces in the St. Vith salient. At 0130 the 27th AIB was hit hard and the sector held by Company B, 9th Engineers was deeply penetrated, causing the armored infantry to fall back under the protective guns of Company A, 14th Tank Battalion. 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. The next move was up to General Lucht and his corps. Schneider, Wolfgang. At approximately 0530 on December 16, eight German armored divisions and 13 infantry divisions launched their all-out attack on five divisions of the U.S. First Army. Once the bridge at Steinebruck was seized, the 62nd was to support the 18th Volksgrenadier Divisions drive on St. Vith by blocking the western and southern routes in and out of the town. . Developed in the 1930s, the Panzer IV was one of the mainstay German armored fighting vehicles of the Second World War as well as Germanys most-produced tank of the war, with over 8,500 produced. While on its way, the platoon was commandeered by a colonel from the 106th Division. Infanterie-Division . Between these units, a place was found for the provisional company composed of the 424th Infantry stragglers. Although the Germans were quick to build up beyond the Our River after the American withdrawal, they made no immediate moves against the new American line. Yes in theory. Jentz, Thomas, and Hilary Doyle. The entry only states that a Tiger tank was knocked out. On 18 January 1945, the final alignment became (XVIII Corps, U. S. First Army, 12th Army Group) -- the alignment in the hierarchy given here. Germanys Tiger Tanks D.W. to Tiger I: Design, Production & Modifications. The Tiger II, also known as the King Tiger, Royal Tiger, Knigstiger, and Tiger Ausf.B, was an enormous, 69.8 tonne German heavy tank. The division was formed in Denmark, in September 1944, by redesignating 571. A strong attack has just developed against Clarke again. The 16th Field Artillery also pitched in, as did a battalion of 155mm howitzers sited around Commanster. }(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. VGD) was a volksgrenadier division of the German Army (Heer) during the Second World War, active from 1944 to 1945. 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. 4 Grosstraktor to Panzerbefehlswagen IV. At about 1330, three German self-propelled guns and 19 or 20 horse-drawn artillery pieces went into position on the high ground 800 yards to the southeast of Steinebruck. Join historians and history buffs alike with our Unlimited Digital Access pass to every military history article ever published (over 3,000 articles) in Sovereigns military history magazines. 1945. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. The new sector assigned to CCB was on the fringe of territory the Sixth Panzer Army had mapped out for its further maneuvers. Next came B Company, 9th Armored Engineers; the 16th Armored Field Artillery; B Company, 482nd Antiaircraft Artillery; and the 14th Tank Battalion. . Zaloga, Steven. Tiger. The Ardennes 1944-1945: Hitlers Winter Offensive. of the Army, 1965. Both task forces reached St. Vith shortly before noon on the 18th to find not one, but two German attacks moving against the town. VGD. 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. Both American units were able to drive forward, and the Shermans knocked out six German armored vehicles. 45 mm. Hoge and Ridgway had been on the West Point football team together when Ridgway had been the teams manager. Johnston, W. Wesley. Under cover of automatic weapons fire from a platoon of light tanks, Sergeant Eugene Dorland and two other men from the engineers went into the cold, bullet-splattered water carrying three cases of TNT and placed their charges on the south abutment of the bridge. Darlington Productions Inc., 2000. During the 27th AIBs assault, a call went out for the 14th Tank Battalion to join the action. VGD division was absorbed into the 26. Schiffer Publishing, 1997. 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. 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.