kampfgruppe:

The 5th Panzer Army attackes the US 28th Infantry Division.

The chain reaction during the early hours of the attack followed two paths, one via Gerow’s V Corps and the other via Middleton’s VIII Corps. The first report of enemy action on the 16th seems to have come to Gerow from the 102d Cavalry Group in the Monschau sector. The second report reaching V Corps was initiated by the 393d Infantry and was circumstantial enough to indicate a German penetration on the front of the 99th Division. By noon Gerow had sufficient information to justify a corps order halting the attack being made by the 2d and 99th. Although the First Army commander subsequently disapproved Gerow’s action and ordered a resumption of the advance for 17 December, the American attack in fact was halted, thus permitting a rapid redeployment to meet the German thrust. Gerow’s decision seems to have been taken before V Corps had any certain word from the 394th Infantry on the corps right flank. Neither Gerow nor Middleton was given prompt information that contact between the 99th Division and the 14th Cavalry Group had been broken at the V-VIII Corps boundary.

Since Middleton’s corps had been hit on a much wider front than in the case of its northern neighbor, a somewhat better initial appreciation of the weight of the attack was possible. Even so, Middleton and his superiors had too little precise information during most of the 16th to assess the German threat properly. Middleton seems to have felt intuitively that his thinly held corps front was being hammered by something more serious than local and limited counterattacks. By 1030 he had convinced General Hodges that CCB, 9th Armored Division, should be taken out of army reserve and turned over to the VIII Corps, for he had no armor in reserve behind the corps left flank. Shortly after noon telephone conversations with his corps liaison officers at the 106th headquarters in St. Vith convinced Middleton that he had to be ready to commit his own available corps reserves, four battalions of combat engineers and CCR, 9th Armored Division. By 1400 the 168th Engineer Combat Battalion was assembling at St. Vith and within the next few hours the remaining engineers and CCR were alerted and assembled, the latter moving up behind the corps center where, Middleton learned at 1415, all regiments of the 28th Division were under attack.

In this photograph taken a few miles from the German-Belgian border, a Brückebgerät-J*  carried the main road over the Malmédy-Stadtkyll railway after it had been blown by the retreating Germans. 1.SS Panzer-Division, which serves as the 6. Panzer-Armee spearhead, was forced to find a way around the uncompleted bridge at the start of their advance. a 2cm FlaK38 anti-aircraft gun manned by Luftwaffe personnel (most likely from the 19. FlaK.Brig.) has been set up to protect the bridge from Allied aircraft.

*(Brückengerät J pontoon bridging equipment which could span up to eighty-five meters and take up to 30 tons-or fourty meters and seventy tons-was also in service with the armies)

kampfgruppe:

Robert, pictured during the Ardennes Offensive.

Robert Wulff, born on August 9,  1919 in Oberlarg (today’s Alsace) became a German Paratrooper with the age of 21 while attending the Jump school in Wittstock / Pomerania (Fallschirmschule II, Commander Major Primus). After 6 jumps he passed the airborne school and was now a „Green Devil“. He was a member of the III./Fallschirmjäger-Rgt. 3 since this unit was born in August 1940, and at the end of the war in the I./ Fallschirmjäger-Rgt. 15. He saw action in combat missions in Russia, Italy as well as on the Western Front. He distinguished himself several times and got the Iron Cross 1st Class as well as the Close combat clasp in silver. Robert was repeatedly wounded. He became a US POW on May 2, 1945 and was taken over the Elbe river by British ferry boats and prevented himself from Soviet captivity.

Break from ‘Battle of the Bulge’ posts…of sorts
From the reenactment last weekend…that we did in ‘Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein’, since this was a mixed event (Russians and Ami-Joe) We decided to do a little different mix of kit for our impressions. Anyhow I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Recon elements of 12.SS-Panzer-Division in the approaches to Krinkelt, Belgium December 18.
The Americans were quick to take advantage of the fog of the morning hours, dragging the German operational timeline into the negative. At this time the German moral was still very much intact, and a breakthrough into the Allied lines is shortcoming, albeit with heavy losses to the 277. Volks-Grenadier-Division who were covering the flanks of the approaching I.SS-Panzerkorps.

After getting past the slowing advance into the Krinkelt-Rocherath area, the 1.SS-Panzer-Division ‘LSSAH’ managed to take hundreds of prisoners.
Here Panzertruppe over-watch the seemingly endless stream of captured American soldiers taken during the initial 3 days of fighting.

Two American soldiers inspect a Pz.Kpfw.IV Ausf.J from 6. Kompanie/SS-Panzer-Regiment 1 knocked out by M10 tank destroyers of the 644th Tank Destroyer Battalion near Wirtzfeld on December 17.

I had to deal with a computer going south on me, all my future posts for the Ardennes were on it. But worry not I am already hard at work to replace those.
Looks like my initiative had been stalled like I.SS-Panzerkorps in the Krinkelt-Rocherath area, and like those men in 272.Volks-Grenadier-Division I remain undaunted!

At least I have a new computer.

kampfgruppe:

The fields of fire of six Königstiger tanks, belonging to Kampfgruppe Peiper, in the La Gleize area.

blutundschonheit:

Frohe Weihnachten für mich! (Taken with instagram)

December 19

By morning, Preiss had brought his I.SS-Panzerkorps headquarters forward to Holzheim and Mohnke his SS-Panzer-Division headquarters to Wanne. Preiss could see now his best chance at moving westwards lay with Peiper and he therefore ordered the whole of the 1.SS-Panzerkorps to backup the Kampfgruppe’s efforts. The second echelon on Rollbahn D, Kampfgruppe Sandig, was closing on Stavelot and came to a stop in front of the American-occupied townwhile to the south Kampfgruppe Hansen was still held up near Poteau by the 7th Armored Division combat command.SS-Standartenführer Hansen was ordered to disengage and resume the advance along his assigned Rollbahn E through Logbiere and Wanne, which for much of the way looked hardly than a cross-country track. 

December 19-Stavelot

Keeping hold of Stavelot, the 1st Battalion of the 117th Regiment, well supported by artillery and tank-destroyers, barred all progress across the Amblève there. With I.SS-Panzerkoprs’ decision to back Kampfgruppe Peiper, control of the town was of the utmost importance to the Germans, and on the afternoon of December 19 Stavelot was subjected to another attack, both from units doubling back from Le Gleize and those seeking to get through from the far side of the river.
  At midday SS-Sturmbannführer Knittel had arrived at Troi-ponts from Le Gleize with his detachment organized with two groups: one, led by SS-Obersturmführer Coblenz, advanced along the main road at the bottom of the Amblève river ; the other led bySS-Obersturmführer Coblenz, attacked the heights around the hamlets of Ster, Parfoundruy and Renardmont. US artillery was responsible for slowing and finally halting them both, though not before the Americans had been pushed to the edge of Stavelot along the valley and hamlets on the heights of the west of the town had been taken.The civilian population of the area, caught in crossfire, suffered greatly from the American shelling but particularly from the excesses of some of the grenadiers.
 On the eastern edge of the town, Kampfgruppe Sandig struck at the Americans defending the bridge, but grenadiers could not advance against the heavy mortar and machine-gun fire, and very Schwimmwagens which managed to get across the river were very soon destroyed. Committed for this attack were I.Battalion, led by Sturmbannführer Wilfred Richter, of Sandig’s SS.Pz.Gren.Rgt. 2; some Panzer IVs of the 7.Kompanie of SS-Pz.Rgt. 1 just back from Wanne via Wannernval, and some of the Tiger IIs of Schwere-SS-Panzer-Abteilung 501. One of the tigers was disabled just at the entrance to the bridge by a tank-destroyer and with American artillery plastering the area, Sandig was not slow to sense the battle for Stavelot bridge was lost.

Leaving I. Battalion in position facing across the river towards Stavelot, Sandig thereupon sent II.Battalion, under the command of SS-Sturmbannführer Herbert Schnelle, through Wanne towards Petit-Spai, where it was ordered by Mohnke, the divisional commander, to cross the bridge there and join Peiper. Ellements did so early on in the morning of December 20 and got to Le Gleize around midday…the last grenadiers that would kampfgruppe Peier.
 In the petit-Spai are Mohnke had meanwhile been building up strength late that afternoon. What remained at Wanne of the tanks of 7.Kompanie of SS.Pz.Rgt. 1, plus some other of the regiment’s tanks, were gathered with the first elements to arrive of Hansen’s SS.Gren.Rgt.1 which was making its way up from Recht. Hansen described after the war how even some of the regiment’s tracked vehicles were unable to cope with the glutinous ‘roads’, but among the equipment which had reached Petit-Spai were some anti-tank guns and these were taken over t the north bank to cover the bridge.

After rapidly assembling at first light, reinforced by reconnaissance battalion, Peiper opened the attack on Stoumount as 9.00 a.m. (CET). To the left of the road leading to the village was a steep drop off which redistricted the movement of the panzers deployed on the flank, but they almost reached he village undercover of the early morning mist before they were spotted and the American anti-tank guns and artillery opened up from the outskirts and the edge of a wood to the north. The first panzer - a panther - to get into the the village reached the church, where it was knocked out by a 90mm anti-tank gun. The battle went on for two hours, with the infantry attacking south while panzers advanced along the road, before the defense was finally breached and the village penetrated. The Americans suffered some 250 casualties and about a hundred taken prisoner.
  With characteristic efficiency Peiper wasted no time in dispatching a probing force forward on the heels of the Americans, and a few Panthers and SPWs began to roll down the road towards the railway station beyond the village. It was from here, though, that the Americans planned to start a counter attack and where a company of the 704th Tank Battalion commanded by Lieutenant Colonel George K. Rubel (which had been hastily equipped with tanks collected from Sperimont Ordnance Depot), plus a company of the 1st Battalion, the 119th Regiment, and two AAA Batteries - the 110th and 143rd - formed a strong roadblock awaiting the oncoming armor. All around lay the litter of equipment discarded by the shattered 3rd Battalion of the 119th regiment during its retreat from the village itself.
  a about 3.00 p.m., just behind the last of the retreating Shermans, a Panther suddenly appeared out of the fog almost on top of the American forces. The Panthers over-confident crew were slow to react and one of the Shermans  fired first. At that range the Panther stood no chance and the shell ricocheted down from the gun mantlet, killing the driver instantly. Second later the Panther behind it also brewed up. As a third came out of the mist it entered the sights of a tank destroyer: the shell struck the road, flew up off the ground and penetrated the hull floor. A second shot hit the muzzle brake and the end of the barrel shattered as the tank burst into flames.

  This action marked the furthest point west reached by Kampfgruppe Peiper. It was the supply situation which ruled out further progress. Until supplies could be brought up, all that could be done would be to hold existing positions. Knittel’s force was ordered back to Stavelot to secure the supply route and to keep the bridge open. The 1. Komapnie of SS-Pz.Rgt. 1 was to hold positions reached at Stoumount railway station and the village, while 2. Kompanie was responsible for securing Le Gleize against attack from the north and north-east. Meanwhile Flak-Sturm-Abeilung 84 was to block the area around Cheneux to protect the Amblève crossing. Supporting the panzers at Stoumount and reinforcing the troops at Cheneux were grenadiers of the III. Battalion, SS.Pz.Gren.Rgt.2.
  Since the afternoon Stoumount had constant artillery  and mortar fire and, towards dusk, as fighting to the west gradually intensified, Peiper realized that his weak forces were unable to maintain their hold on the three kilometers between the village and the nearby railway station. Reluctantly, he therefore ordered the troops be withdrawn that evening, first to a hairpin bend along the road, and finally at 9.00 p.m. to the edge of the village. Kampfgruppe command post was located in a house near the Froide-Cour château, the château itself being used as a clearing and collection point for prisoners.
  Earlier about midday, Peiper had sent out a small patrol north from La Gleize. The Sd.Kfz.s 250s had passed through Borgoumont, and at Cour the grenadiers learned from the villagers the precise location of a huge fuel depot. Pressing on, they soon ran into the troops guarding the petrol and after a short skirmish withdrew to La Gleize. In a desperate need for fuel, Peiper was halted just short of two million gallons yet he made no further attempt to reach it. He later stated that, though he had not known of the dump north of Stavelot, the map he was given before the start of the offensive was marked with the supply installation at Bülligen and with the one north of La Gleize. By December 19 the Stavelot dump had been entirely shifted when the patrol approached. This operation had then gone ahead without any more interruptions and was completed within a couple of days.

Positions of SS-Panzer-Regiment 1 during the hours between 8 and 9 a.m. CET.

Tiger 222, last seen at Deidenberg, has now reached a small crossroads on the N23 mid-way between St. Vith and Malmédy called Kaiserbaracke.
Both the still and move cameraman on hand to record the scene as elements of 1.SS-Panzer-Division rolled along north to the battlefront. The picture have now been firmly established in the history of the Ardennes offensive.
An ex-Fallschirmjäger has identified the four paratroopers riding the tank as Obergefreiter Koos and Oberjägers Lenz, Löwe and Hess. The SS officer looking the opposite way of Tiger II ‘222’ is Oberscharführer Persin of Panzer-Aufklärung-Abteilung 1.

For I.SS-Panzerkorps the situation was a turning point as it struggled to supply and to support for the formidable, if stationary Kampfgruppe which had achieved the deepest penetration yet. Would it be resupplied and reinforced… or strangled?
  North of the Ambleve the kampfgruppe’s strength had so far been augmented by the company of of Fallschirmjger from Fallschirm.Rgt.9, by part of II.Battalion, SS.Pz.Gren.Rgt.2, and by the divisional reconnaissance unit, SS-Pz.Aukl.Abt. 1, though it should be bore in mind that the divisional units under Peiper’s command, not all of their strength was necessarily north of the river. For example, he had only one of the ten Tiger IIs belonging to s.SS-Pz.Abt. 501 and just one Panzer IV of the 7.Kompanie,SS-Pz.Rgt. 1.
  The American decision to eliminate this dangerous breakthrough had resulted in the reorganization of their strength in the area. In the middle of the previous afternoon the 119th Regiment and the 740th Tank Battalion, organized under Brigadier General William K. Harrison, the 30th Infantry Division’s second in command, as Task Force Harrison, had been detached from the 30th Infantry and assigned the operational control of XVIII Airborne Corps. At the same time the corps took back its 82nd AB Division from the V Corps and received part of the 3rd Armored Division. The Airborne 503th P.I.R. was engaged towards Cheneux and its 505th P.I.R. further east towards Trois-Ponts, while CCB of the 3rd Armored assembled near Theux.
  On the morning of the 20th the 3rd Armored combat command, organized three task forces, was moved south by Brigadier General Raymond V. Boudinot. From the Spa area a task force under the command of Captain John W.Jordan was to attack Stoumont: one commanded by Major K.T. McGeorge was to move against the flank of the penetration from north of La Gleize at Borgoumont and from Francorchamps ; and the strongest of them, commanded by Lieutent Colonel William B. Lovelady, was to move south along the little Roannay valley to cut the Trois-Ponts - La Gleize road near Coo.
  Task Force Jordan made little progress. The column was confined to the road by high banks on either side and as it approached Stoumont a panzer knocked out two of its leading tanks. As no other means of approach was available, the task force halted for the night. Similarly, Task Force McGeorge was stopped around midday when it came up against a road-block south of Borgoumont. To the east Task Force Lovelady was more successful: pushing determinedly south, by 1.00 p.m. its tank battalion crossed the 117th Regiment’s positions at Roanne and got onto main N23 between La Gleize and Coo without any opposition. There they took by surprise and destroyed five trucks and two cars of a heavily camouflaged convoy which had crossed Petit-Spai bridge and was trying to resupply Peiper at La Gleize.
  Kampfgruppe Peiper was now completely cut-off. The ring was tightening around the Kampfgruppe’s southern flank as well, when, late in the afternoon, the 504th P.I.R. attacked Cheneux. Peiper, well aware of the importance of this southerly access route for any future development, had reinforced the bridgehead with the elements of II. Battalion, SS-Pz.Gren.Rgt. 2, as soon as they had joined the Kampfgruppe at La Gleize that morning. The paratroops’ 1st Battalion launched the assault across a bare field crisscrossed with barbed wire and took heavy punishment. After three costly attempts they gained a foothold in taking the first row of houses in the village but, as the fighting died away in the evening, part of Cheneux still remained in German hands.
  On the Western edge of the penetration, Task Force Harrison had fought its way forward the previous evening as the Germans withdrew after a brutal encounter near Stoumont railway station. On the 20th the task force began to attack Saint-Edouard sanitarium, a large building standing on high ground at the western edge of the village. Grim hand-to-hand fighting followed inside the building; eventually the grenadiers were outnumbered and driven out, and by 8.00 p.m. the Americans were in control. Around midnight a fearsome counter-attack put the grenadiers back into possession of ‘Festung Sankt-Edouard’ - the Germans taking thirty prisoners in the process of destroying 5 Shermans.
 
 

god these posts are amazing—at the same time I look over and see your icon and just die EVERY TIME christ your blog is so quality

Thanks, that actually means a great deal coming from a person who has a great deal knowledge of Military Tactics. As far as my blog, I am far from quality as I am given to bouts of boredom and get distracted. My comp frying on me had put a crimp in my original idea of doing things in a day-by-day manner.
Next year I will make Wacht am Rhein my bitch!

Prost!

In the early hours, the now-reduced Kampfgruppe Sandig launched another to take the vital bridge and town of Stavelot. The grenadiers made a brave attempt to wade across the icy waters of the Ambléve, but struggling against the fast running waters, they made slow, painful progress, making almost perfect targets in the light of the flares and burning houses. Those who did get on the opposite bank were too few and were quickly driven back by counter-attack. Dawn found the American line on the north bank still intact. Men of Company A, 105th Engineers Combat Battalion, led by Lieutenant Coffer, had meanwhile piled up 1,000 pounds of TNT on the bridge, and about 5.00 a.m. the explosion brought the first span on the north side crashing into the river.
  To the west of the town, Knittel’s forces gradually began to disengage, pulling back to Petit-Spai, and giving up the hamlets of Ster, Parfondruy and Renardmont which were reoccupied by the Americans.

A Henschel Tiger II ‘223’ belonging to SS.Panzer-Abteilung 501  abandoned just outside of La Gleize on 19.Dec. 1944.
 It still has brackets on the rear hull for mounting the jack but has no coat Zimmerit which was no longer applied to AFVs after 9.Sept.1944. This indicates that it was manufactured between early September and and the beginning of October 1944 when Henschel was instructed to stop fitting the jack bracket because the associated jack was no longer being issued with the vehicle.
 After the recapture of La Gleize the American 1st US Army organized a tour for some press corps photographers during which these photos were taken.