assembly area, more difficult and tenuous. Harassing and interdiction fire, therefore, was turned over to the mortar crews, who mixed high explosives and white phosphorous shells to make the supply last. specific instructions for the unit to which they were sent. narrow defile cut by the Salm River. 2 btrys, 413th AAA Gun Bn (Mbl) 24 Dec 44-3 Jan 45. conditions and would return again to the battle. Nearly all the American units in the St. Vith area were already committed; all that General Hasbrouck could do was to station a light tank company, a company of armored engineers, the headquarters battery of an antiaircraft battalion, and a reconnaissance troop piecemeal in a series of small villages south and west of Beho. Despite a brush with Remer's group and the loss of several tanks in the swampy ground south of Rodt the command reached Crombach and Hinderhausen, where General Clarke was building a second line of defense. 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. A few tanks, light armed reconnaissance troops, most of the division engineers, and considerable rifle strength struck through the dark against the eastern arc of the loosely organized American ring. The Defenders of St. Vith Pass to the XVIII Airborne Corps. Franklin P. Lindsey, Jr.), remained through the morning, screening the exit route at its Maldingen entrance. On the morning of 18 December General Hoge, CCB commander, was ordered to hurry to the 106th headquarters where he was told of the threat developing north of St. Vith. It was here that the unsuccessful attacks launched earlier by the 18th Volks Grenadier Division and the Fuehrer Begleit Brigade had formed. coalesce to the west of the St. Vith perimeter. Using the church spire as a reference point the cannoneers of Battery C opened fire, their 155-mm. noon, was made under cover of a creeping barrage laid down by the German In the course of the night battle at St. Vith the German assault units had become badly scrambled. CCA (Col. Dwight A. Rosebaum), watching the southern flank of the 7th Armored around Beho, had not yet met the Germans (who were in fact driving past to the west, but on roads south of Beho). stragglers under Stone's command was deployed so as to defend the railhead Again the 168th Engineers gave a American 90-mm. middle of the afternoon at Bovigny some three and a half miles south of Salmchteau on the west side of the Salm River. 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 Panzer Division and a small American force of armored infantry, engineers, and tank destroyers. Apparently the German corps command had some difficulty in organizing a co-ordinated and well-timed advance over the broken and wooded ground around St. Vith. The villages of Hinderhausen and Crombach, on which this position was based, both offered emergency exits to the west along dirt roads and trails. Confusion, darkness, and mud slowed the move, but by morning a medium tank company and a platoon of riflemen had reached the village. 965th Field Artillery Battalion United States Army Strength Battalion Type Defence Agency Years 1942 - 1959 Report To Field Artillery Units Reporting Units A Battery B Battery C Battery HHB Service Battery Members Who Served in 965th Field Artillery Battalion 965th Field Artillery Battalion Description Not Specified A company of the 27th Armored Infantry Battalion, however, was put in to cover the cavalry left flank. 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. The motorized rifle battalion, now led by an assault gun company, headed south toward the road center at Beho, found it free of American troops, and there joined a part of the 62d Volks Grenadier Division. The main artillery column again missed the 1st SS Panzer Division by only a hair's breadth. Well to the rear of the 1st SS Given this breathing spell, the Allies now faced the question of whether the tired, depleted, and divided forces trying to form a new perimeter should make a lone and desperate stand or fall back to join the XVIII Airborne Corps. We may become subjected to enemy artillery fire from practically any direction. Control, as the 18th's commander later reported, was almost nonexistent. Fate took a hand to save the rest of the column. Remer's heavy Panthers had made bad going of the muddy roads north of Rodt. The homogeneity of the battalion, in American practice the basic tactical unit, largely ceased to exist, nor did time and the enemy ever permit any substantial regrouping to restore this unity. a result, toiled through the woods toward Wallerode, arriving there in the early evening. During the ceremony, Col. Shawn Fuellenbach relinquished command to Lt. Col. Jason Wilde. 746th Tk Bn 28 Jun 44-10 Jul 45. An hour later the platoon west of the village saw an enemy column of horse-drawn artillery driving into position. The fact that this attack, launched about 1630 by the German center and left, miscarried was due as much to the enemy's failure to locate the new line of, defense as to American resistance. By noon the situation was such that the little group of troopers dared delay no longer. In fact, he had not reached the commanders of his two infantry divisions with orders until daylight. Free shipping for many products! One brief engagement was fought on the 18th at Gouvy, a rail and road junction southwest of Beho. in firing position) and a massed infantry assault drove the troopers out. By this time Task Force Jones was In this sector Although the 62d Volks Grenadier Division was quick to occupy the ground vacated by CCB, no attempt was made to follow into the new American position. Our supplies must come in through a bottleneck over a bridge near Vielsalm. ABMC Headquarters 2300 Clarendon Blvd, Suite 500 Arlington, VA 22201 Phone: 703-584-1501 The mass of artillery, cavalry, and supply vehicles moving painfully through St. Vith to the west-with and without orders-formed a current almost impossible to breast. General Hasbrouck received a telephone call at 1730 alerting, his division for movement to the south (it took five more hours for the 7th Armored G-2 to learn that "three or four German divisions were attacking"). aided by Nungesser's engineers, drove back the attackers. The fir trees interlocked at their low branches so everyone had to stoop all the time. (It will be remembered that the 18th Volks Grenadier Division was charged with the encirclement and capture of St. 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. Infantry at Sevenig, had suffered intensely (the fighting strength of by the collection of American armor confronting him-"tanks were everywhere," said the 18th Volks Grenadier Division-and by the amount of artillery fire his every movement attracted. By noon most of the 424th Infantry and Wemple's force were across the Salm. The tankers, mindful of their passengers, could not use the tank cannon; so the column rolled through the streets with the infantry riders firing wildly in every direction. This, of course, was the panzer detachment of the 1st SS Panzer Division. The 293d Regiment, having aided in the capture of the Schnee Eifel regiments, filed into Schnberg during the night. ABMC Headquarters 2300 Clarendon Blvd, Suite 500 Arlington, VA 22201 Phone: 703-584-1501 In the chain of command only General Ridgway demurred. tricky staff problem. The 1 st Battalion, 6 th Field Artillery holds a special place of distinction among artillery units of the U.S. Army, fighting at some of the most decisive conflicts in American military history. General Hasbrouck decided to wait further developments before committing any of his meager reserves at Chrain. 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. When General Bradley and the 12th Army Group staff met in the afternoon of the 16th to make a tentative selection of divisions which could be taken from other fronts to reinforce the Ardennes sector, the choice in the north fell on Hasbrouck's command. Fortunately bright moonlight allowed some maneuver. In the east, at Rodt, Remer's left battalion tried to rush the village from the woods but ran straight into artillery fire. did much to check the grenadiers. Supply routes to the 7th Armored Division trains were still open, although menaced by the roving enemy and obstructed by west-moving friendly traffic. The real punch in the forthcoming attack would be delivered by the tanks belonging to the Fuehrer Begleit Brigade. Additional infantry units, tank destroyers, and badly needed artillery were on their way to reinforce Ridgway's command, but the enemy force in opposition was strong and at most points along the extended front the initiative remained in German hands. An attack to seize the village of Joubival. Middleton and the 106th Division commander based their plans for a counterattack by a combat command of the 7th Armored east of St. Vith early on 17 December. Even so the one-way trail was a poor and precarious road to safety; a sudden thaw or one tank askew could trap both Lohse and Boylan. 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. St. Vith. Summary of Content This is a photograph of 83 members of the 969th Field Artillery Battalion. 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. In any case the German armored reserve was not available. 61 Lake Avenue, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 Phone: (518) 581-5100 | Fax: (518) 581-5111. About 1315 the task force fell back through Beho and proceeded west to Salmchteau, picking up other small blocking groups as it went. A heavy barrage (the 62d Volks Grenadier Division by this time had a number of pieces. General Clarke's plea for reinforcements brought in a rifle company, a company of tank destroyers, and a few light armored vehicles. General Jones and General Hasbrouck still expected that CCB would. tank destroyers, two troops of cavalry, and the equivalent of four or five rifle companies. Jones ordered the 112th Infantry to draw northward on the night of l9-20 December and make a firm connection with the southern flank of the 424th. It was located along the German-Belgium border, and was about 50 square miles. 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