I don't think Corps had any idea of that. If you have information on these, please let me know. The 14, Apparently there was no coordination. 303rd Engineer Combat Battalion But from a military strategy point of view (and this can easily be seen on the map above), while Bastogne was a strategically important major road junction for sustaining the attack, it was on the periphery of the attack and well behind the initial front lines. A thing like this takes time. I had Troop "D" of the 87, Originally Division Trains had established little roadblocks around La Roche. On December 23, the weather cleared, and Allied planes finally filled the skies in support of the besieged American troops. The German press played it up as the "Wanssum Bridgehead" (Brückenkopf Wanssum) across the Maas at Wanssum, north of Venlo, Holland. When shown these notes later the general requested that they be turned over to him for revision, as he thought he had been too frank in his criticism. "Colonel Greg Fontenot's compelling account of the 7th Armored Division in the Battle of the Bulge provides wonderful insight into the hitherto unheralded but inspirational performance of the 'Lucky Seventh' and the units that fought alongside it. See more ideas about wwii, world war ii, world war two. In the original plan, three Armies (the Sixth Panzer Army [referred to by Hitler as Sixth SS Panzer Army but not formally designated as SS at the time - Cole, p. 76], Fifth Panzer Army, and Seventh Army) would attack. And it is a work in progress. Such war gaming sites are indicated by the unit name being in italics: e.g. Then I think the traffic -- well we had a schedule and everybody kept to it. One of the funniest orders I ever issued was for Lieutenant Colonel Jones to take two tank destroyers and bring them to Rogery and protect the 112th Infantry Regiment (this was during the withdrawal). There was not much control due to lack of information and the fact that some troops had been overrun very quickly. These units vary in size from a small number of people up to and including an Army Group. The order came out to make me commander and I wrote a letter to Corps pointing out that there was a Major General here who out – ranked me and said it would be a reflection on him to put me in charge. A note on Operation Schneeman: The only reference that I have found for this operation is on page 199 of "The Forgotten Battle: Overloon and the Maas Salient 1944-1945" the English translation of the original Dutch book by A. Korthals Altes and N. K. C. A. in't Veld (Sarpedon, 1995). 289th Engineer Combat Battalion For all Divisions, you may also want to see their brief history in the Center for Military History's "Combat Chronicle" web pages. As a source for rallying U. S. spirits, the defense of Bastogne and McAuliffe's "Nuts" were a success. The 7th Armored Division fought a running battle out of St. Vith on December 23, 1944. We just came down here and learned that the Germans were making a counterattack. Corps wanted the first combat Command to attack and seize the town of Schoenberg to relieve the pressure on these two surrounded infantry Regiments. Jones, Alan W., Jr. (423rd Infantry Regiment, 106th Infantry Division): Moranda, Robert (38th Armored Infantry Battalion, 7th Armored Division): "Bob's Story: Memories of Love and War" Click, Merriam, Lt. Robert and T/3 Hugh Williamson (4th I&H Section), Holding the Line: U. S. V Corps stops the 1st SS Panzer Corps, Hell at Bütgenbach: We fight and die here, Desperate Stand: The Bitter Defense of the Schnee Eifel (VIII Corps at St. Vith - 106th Inf Div), The Battle for St. Vith: 17th-23rd December 1944 (VIII Corps at St. Vith - 7th Armd Div), Operations of the 3rd Fallschirmjaeger-Division: Defense of the North Sector between December 1944 and January 1945. 301st Engineer Combat Battalion April 15, 2020 Uncategorized 5 ARMDD, 5th Armored Division, 5th Armored Field Artillery, 5th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 95 AFABN, 95th admin. 90th Infantry Division. A thing like this takes time. This is the order of battle of German and Allied forces during the Battle of the Bulge — specifically, at a point near the end of the battle, which lasted from 16 December 1944 until 25 January 1945. The German plan called for capture of St. Vith by 1800 on December 17 by Fifth Panzer Army, but the defenders held at St. Vith until late on December 21. (In fact, one of the German plans was named Herbstnebel or Autumn Mist.) The terrain was the dense Ardennes Forest. Originally the 106 th Division had CCB of the 9 th Armored Division attached. The weather was chilly mist and fog, so that Allied air support was nullified until December 23. So click on one of the areas in the list below the map to go to a specific area. Planning covered about four to four and one-half hours. The division was activated on 1 March 1942 out of "surplus" elements of the reorganized 3rd and 5th Armored Divisions, itself reorganized on 20 September 1943. The Story of the 95TH AFABN, 5TH ARMDD. Interview with: Brigadier-General Robert W. Hasbrouck. For now, this is primarily a link page, a focal point for Battle of the Bulge (Ardennes Offensive) information on the web. Thus a unit may appear more than once, if it moved from one area to another. This led the German Fifth Panzer Army Commander, Gen. Hasso von Manteuffel, to recommend to Hitler's adjutant on December 24 that "the German Army give up the attack and return to the West Wall." The Lucky Seventh goes to war Silesia is defended in the West The eve of battle They had their Command Posts close enough together so that they could talk with one another. These German tanks menacing the 112th Regiment had come up a road our people thought impassable to tanks. According to War Department General Order 114, December 7, 1945 there were approximately 2,000 units that received the Ardennes Credit, (The Battle of the Bulge). The hierarchy given here is at a moment nearly at the end of the Battle. Of course Corps was so far away and had such a wide front so thinly held that the Germans just filtered between them. British 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry Armored Regiment: 296th Engineer Combat Battalion: Houffalize late in the Bulge, 2nd Cavalry Group (2nd & 42nd Cav Rcn Sqdns): crossed from France into Luxembourg 23 Dec 44 and guarded XII Corps' right flank along the Moselle River [No official website found but very useful -- though very hard to navigate -- site found, 4th Infantry Division: bore brunt of attack at Echternach, Luxembourg, XII Corps: 4th Inf Div, 9th Armd Div(-), 10th Armd(elem), 109th Rgt of 28th Inf div, 2nd Cav Gp, 282nd Engineer Combat Battalion: arrived in France 25 Dec 44; moved into combat, manning road blocks at Bech, Luxemboug 13-23 Jan 45 and at Christnach, Luxembourg 23-30 Jan 45, 285th Engineer Combat Battalion: arrived in France 9 Jan 45; moved into positions SE of Luxembourg City at Dalheim 20 Jan 45; moved to front line at Greiveldange 21 Jan 45, III Corps: See 4th Armd Div, 26th Inf Div, 80th Inf Div, 26th Infantry Division: western Luxembourg, between 4th Armd Div to west and 80th Inf Div to east, 80th Infantry Division: came up from south to make far eastern end of center of southern shoulder, between 26th Inf to west and XII Corps to east. The only railroad on the entire front to cross from Germany into Belgium came to St. Vith, Belgium, making St. Vith, which was also a major road junction. This is a list of some of those units so recognized but for which I have yet to determine their geographic location during the Battle of the Bulge. It was jammed up so that it was impossible to travel. In the largest battle ever fought by the U. S. Army, with 600,000 GI's involved, it is difficult to place one unit or location ahead of another in importance. Most accounts of the Battle of the Bulge give short-shrift to the interval during which the German forward progress stopped and the American counterattack began. ", Source:Combat Interview from NARA: National Archives = 1945, Last Updated on Wednesday, 23 January 2019 20:36. General Bruce Clarke went right up to St Vith to study the ground and be ready to issue orders when his combat command arrived. While he covers the entire history of the division, Fontenot concentrates his account on the unit's stand at St. Vith (Dec. 16-22). General Clarke had two battalions of infantry, an engineer company, a battalion of tanks, one tank destroyer company and as time went on got another battalion of tanks. Two later attacks on New Year's Day 1945 attempted to create second fronts in Holland (Operation Schneeman) and in northern France (Operation Nordwind). Initially when we came down we were not given an Army order. The Battle of the Bulge began with the German attack (Operation Wacht am Rhein and the Herbstnebel plan) on the morning of December 16, 1944. The dense forest had very few roads, none of which were large. 290th Engineer Combat Battalion But a few war gaming sites are of sufficient quality and historical depth about the unit's actual experiences to merit inclusion. Fontenot combines the experience of a combat commander, the eye of a serious historian, and the understanding of a professional soldier in relaying … 286th Engineer Combat Battalion It is an attempt to give the units' locations in the major areas of the Battle of the Bulge (Ardennes Offensive), as well as links to their web pages, if they have a web page. Unfortunately, due to the complexity of the battle and to other circumstances, there are a great number of popular misconceptions about the Battle of the Bulge; so I hope to set some of these straight. A quite complete and accurate account was prepared by one of the participants, Maj. Donald P. Boyer, Jr., in 1947 and was published as St. Vith: The 7th Armored Division in the Battle of the Bulge, 17-23 December 1944. It is significant to note that the 7th Armored Division was near Aachen, Germany when the German attack began. The area being defended was beginning to take the form of a large horseshoe, its axis running approximately northeast to southeast. He really had about ⅔ of the combat elements of the 7th Armored Division which together with what I had and attached units were really a pretty good size Corps. For example, the hierarchy here places the U. S. 7th Armored Division in XVIII Corps in U. S. First Army in 12th Army Group. The hierarchy given here is at a moment nearly at the end of the Battle. The rounded portion of the horseshoe was composed of Colonel Dwight Rosebaum’s CCA, 7th Armored between Poteau and Rodt and General … I always had some sort of reserve – it didn't amount too much. For example, the hierarchy here places the U. S. 7th Armored Division in XVIII Corps in U. S. First Army in 12th Army Group. During the Battle of the Bulge, The 7th Armored Division was forced out of St. Vith in December of 1944. Originally the plan was to withdraw at 0300 hours but Combat Command "B" of the 9th Armored Division was so involved with the attack, it had to wait till things quieted down. The ending date of the Bulge is considered as January 25, 1945, since this was the date on which the lost positions were officially thought to have been completely regained. Even when the 7th Armored Division had reached St. Vith, … In addition, ground visibility for the troops was often very low, due to the trees and fog. We weren’t able to retire before 0300 hours on 23 December. Fontenot combines the experience of a combat commander, the eye of a serious historian, and the understanding of a professional soldier in relaying … The overall German plan is laid out in the map above (from Hugh Cole's official history "The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge", Map IX). Then when 112 th came in it naturally attached itself to the infantry division. 297th Engineer Combat Battalion "Colonel Greg Fontenot's compelling account of the 7th Armored Division in the Battle of the Bulge provides wonderful insight into the hitherto unheralded but inspirational performance of the 'Lucky Seventh' and the units that fought alongside it. 275th Engineer Combat Battalion It was no accident that St. Vith was right in the very center of the Fifth and Sixth Panzer Armies: St. Vith had to be the main line of supply for both Armies. It is an interlocked ornament, found in Nordic monuments, composed of three torques: red for Artillery; blue for Infantry; and yellow for Cavalry. He arrived there at approximately 0800 hours in the morning, 17 December 1944. The tank battles of North Africa and Russia in early 1942 caused the US Army to recognized the need to drastically increase the number of its armored units. I had something at Bouvigny for a time, but I don't know just now what it was. December 1944 World War II Combat Interviews of the 7th Armored Division: The Battle of the Bulge -- Defense of St. Vith, Belgium. It was a Corps order, not written but oral. Most accounts of the Battle of the Bulge give short-shrift to the interval during which the German forward progress stopped and the American counterattack began. Journalists hungry for some sign of American success at stopping the German onslaught played up the defense of Bastogne, where Gen. Anthony McAuliffe (101st Airborne Division) said "Nuts" to a German surrender demand and where the Third US Army (10th Armored Division) broke through the German Seventh Army's buffer to reach the surrounded town on Day 3 of the Battle of the Bulge. Usually this means Division level. 305th Engineer Combat Battalion, popular misconceptions about the Battle of the Bulge, Center for Military History's "Combat Chronicle" web pages, 99th Infantry Battalion (the "Norwegian" Battalion), "Railsplitters: The story of the 84th Infantry Division", Liberated La Roche-en-Ardenne 11 January 1945, 736th Field Artillery Battalion (non divisional), Combat Interviews of the 7th Armored Division and 106th Infantry Division, Records of the 38th Armored Infantry Battalion (7th Armored Division), After Action Reports of the 40th Tank Battalion (7th Armored Division), "The Operations of the 423rd Infantry (106th Infantry Division) in the Vicinity of Schonberg during the Battle of the Ardennes, 16-19 December 1944 (Ardennes-Alsace Campaign) (Personal Experience of a Battalion Operations Officer)", The Drop Zone's Personal Accounts in the European Theater, web site "The Battle of the Bulge: The North Shoulder", The Battle of the Bulge: The Northern Shoulder, 7th Armored Division Troops at Baraque de Fraiture ("Parker's Crossroads"), Click here for an active overview of all pages at the 7th Armored Division web site, Overview of the Battle of the Bulge (immediately after this table of contents), In a revised plan on November 1, 1944, the, V Corps (See 2nd Infantry Division, 8th Infantry Division, 78th Infantry Division, 99th Infantry Division), XIII Corps (See 7th Armored Division, XIX Corps, 102nd Infantry Division, 104th Infantry Division), XIX Corps: 21 Dec - XIX Corps takes over former VII Corps units (104ID, 83ID, 5AD (-CCR), 8ID, 78ID) and zone; XIII Corps takes over 29ID and former XIX Corps zone, 97th Quartermaster Battalion: (16 Dec) camped 2 mi SW of Eupen, 277th Engineer Combat Battalion, attached to 102nd Infantry Division Dec. 15-28, 1944, 278th Engineer Combat Battalion: in Belgium at Hermalle and Vise (north of Liège) until 26 December, then in Belgium at Aubel (north of Verviers) and in Holland at "Lanaye Locks", 296th Engineer Combat Battalion: in attack in Aachen area at start of Bulge, VII Corps: from Hotton west to the Meuse (from about 20 December), 86th Mortar Battalion: Support for various Divisions in the area, 97th Quartermaster Battalion: (20? 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