Manteuffel’s instructions to Luttwitz were direct: “Panzer Lehr Division holds itself ready to advance by order of the corps following behind the 26th VGD by way of Gemund-Drauffeld toward Bastogne and the Meuse in the sector of Namur-Dinant. It consisted of a company of armored infantry (minus one platoon), one platoon of tank destroyers, and one platoon of light tanks and had the mission of protecting the left flank and rear of Task Force Harper. It was Middleton’s reasoning that a strong American concentration within these transportation centers would force the Germans to come to him and, in any case, American forces would be in strength on the enemy’s flank and rear. Captain Meier’s force, like most of CCR, 9th Armored and 28th Infantry Division soldiers and tankers retreating from the roadblock battles, eventually made it to Bastogne. The 9th Armored Division landed in Normandy late in September 1944, and first went into line, 23 October 1944, on patrol duty in a quiet sector along the Luxembourg-German frontier. Colonel Gilbreth’s as yet untested command, within this framework of parceling, separation, and external control, was expected to stop the advance of a formidable Wehrmacht armored division. [1] It reached the United Kingdom in September 1944. The 116th Panzer Division logs for this date report a number of skirmishes with American armor. However, no sooner had Captain Baird’s force started to move out when Lt. Col. Harper appeared and canceled the mission. 9th Armored Division shoulder sleeve insignia, Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia, Armored divisions of the United States Army, United States Army divisions during World War II, Military units and formations established in 1942, http://www.ljmilitaria.com/armygroundforcespatches/civil_war__spanish_american_war__indian_wars__wwi.htm#divisions, The 9th: The Story of the 9th Armored Division, "Official 3d Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division Homepage", https://military.wikia.org/wiki/9th_Armored_Division_(United_States)?oldid=4685722, Pages using infobox military unit with unknown parameters, 89th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, Mechanized, 509th Counter Intelligence Corps Detachment, Headquarters Company, 9th Armored Division, 131st Armored Ordnance Maintenance Battalion, 656th Tank Destroyer Battalion (attached 22 February 1945 past 9 May 1945), 811th Tank Destroyer Battalion (attached 14 November 1944 to 8 January 1945), 482nd AAA Automatic Weapons Battalion (attached 22 November 1945 to 9 January 1945; 22 February 1945 to 9 May 1945). In the 9th Armored Division’s CCR sector, the 52nd Armored Infantry Battalion seemed to be the primary target of the shelling. It slowed down the German advance, though it could not prevent the pursuing German spearheads from coming within 4 km from the Meuse near Dinant without any major engagements. Three infantry divisions, the 28th, 4th, and 106th, comprised VIII Corps. A few minutes later an entire German tank column barreled down on Task Force Rose from the north. Maj. Gen. Lt. Col. Robert M. Booth, commander of … When General Omar Bradley, 12th Army Group commander, visited Middleton at his headquarters in Bastogne, Middleton expressed concern about the overall defensive situation, only to be told, “Don’t worry Troy, they won’t come through here.” Middleton replied, “Maybe not, Brad, but they’ve come through this area several times before.” To help assuage his fears, General Bradley provided VIII Corps with the newly arrived 9th Armored Division. In mid-December 1944, the three combat commands of the 9th Armored Division were scattered throughout the Ardennes front. The German tanks were effectively aided by their infrared night-sighting devices with an effective range of 400 meters. An M5A1 light tank from Company D, 37th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division, leads a column of trucks into Bastogne on 27 December during Patton's drive to relieve the town. The three VIII Corps infantry divisions were responsible for an approximate 88-mile front that was just about three times that normally assigned an equivalent defending force. - … In the opening onslaught, the Germans swept the first line of defense with machine-gun fire to clear out any infantry that might be protecting the tanks. The 3rd Brigade demobilized on 15 July 1919 and reconstituted on 10 August 1921, within the newly-constituted 1st Cavalry Division. When the Germans launched their winter offensive on 16 December 1944, the 9th, with no real combat experience, suddenly found itself engaged in heavy fighting. After stocking up, the DeRoche force proceeded to Neufchateau where General Middleton had relocated his command post. The personnel of CCR, 9th Armored Division who managed to make it to Bastogne and regroup were able to assist the 101st Airborne Division by acting as either mobile emergency relief strike forces, armored support for the lightly armed paratroopers, or direct infantry augmentation to the defense line. The Shermans came upon three enemy tanks, one of which was quickly destroyed with the other two withdrawing into defilade. Each combat command was a combined arms military organization of comparable size to a brigade or regiment and loosely patterned after the German combined arms approach to mechanized warfare. With the possible exception of the titanic clash at El Alamein, no tank engagement in World War II will be longer remembered than the dashing armored coup which first put the American Army across the Rhine at Remagen bridge. A training com… The division played an important role during World War II in the invasions of North Africa and Sicily and the liberation of France, Belgium, and the Netherlands and the invasion of Germany. Outnumbered five to one, with its infantry rifles companies surrounded for most of the time, clerks, cooks, mechanics, drivers and others manned the 10.000 yard final defensive line. In addition to the direct fire coming from the German panzers, the infantry and Shermans of Task Force Rose were also coming under indirect fire from 88mm antiaircraft guns estimated to be about 2,500 yards to the east. At about 9:40 am on the 17th, approximately 10 minutes after word came that the Germans had captured Clervaux and crossed the Clerf River, General Middleton ordered Colonel Gilbreth to establish two roadblocks between Clervaux and Bastogne in an effort to delay the Germans. It changed the world more than any other single event in history. At approximately 8:30 am on December 18, the infantrymen of Task Force Rose facing Clervaux reported that three enemy tanks accompanied by infantry were approaching. Although never officially reorganized, the Brigade was inactive until its 15 October 1940 activation and redesignation and conversion to HHC, 9th Armored Division Trains, and deployed to Europe, receiving campaign-participation credit for operations in the Rhineland, the Ardennes-Alsace, and the Central Europe theatres of war, and awarded two Meritorious Unit Commendations, with embroidered streamers reading: Europe 1944 and Europe 1945. They were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for their heroism. General Luttwitz’s corps consisted of the 2nd Panzer Division, the Panzer Lehr Division, and the 26th Volksgrenadier Division (VGD) with the added strength of the 15th Volks Werfer (rocket launcher) Brigade, the 766th Volks Artillery Corps, the 600th Army Engineer Battalion, and the 182nd Flak Regiment. All three platoons of his tank company (15 Sherman tanks) were positioned about 300 yards to the rear of the infantry. These enemy forces were the lead elements of the 116th Panzer Division, which were on their way to Houffalize after taking Trois Vierges. In Longvilly, Colonel Gilbreth and the remnants of Task Forces Rose and Harper waited for the expected arrival of the enemy force that had annihilated his two roadblocks; however, it was nearing midnight on December 18 and still there had been no direct assault upon their position. The other two were St. Vith to the northeast and Marche-en-Famenne to the northwest. The Division was shifting south to Czechoslovakia when the war in Europe ended on 9 May 1945. Just after midnight, in a message to its corps headquarters, 116th Panzer reported heavy resistance and the taking of prisoners from the American 52nd Armored Infantry Battalion. Col Daniel Van Voorhis took a cadre of 175 officers and enlisted men from Fort Eustis to Fort Knox in February 1932, and established a Provisional Armored Car Platoon. These retreating soldiers and tankers were not, despite some postwar accounts, a bunch of dispirited, demoralized, and undisciplined panic mongers. The 112th Infantry Regiment drew off a platoon of tank destroyers, and the 110th Infantry Regiment was sent a platoon of tank destroyers as well as a company of tanks. Fuller’s regimental front stretched approximately 10 miles, and anything even remotely resembling a continuous line of defense was far beyond the manpower capabilities of the 1st and 3rd Battalions. In the ensuing battle, Harper was killed and his scratch force of armor and infantry cut to pieces. The Clerf crossings lay only about 17 road miles from Bastogne. Since the primary mission of the Fifth Panzer Army was to reach and cross the Meuse River by day three of the offensive in flank support of Sixth SS Panzer Army’s drive to capture Antwerp, the 2nd Panzer and the Panzer Lehr Divisions were to rapidly move beyond Bastogne regardless of who held it. We operated in this organization until … General Manteuffel had planned that Bastogne would be taken on the first day of the offensive. Its stand at Bastogne held off the Germans long enough to enable the 101st Airborne to dig in for a defense of the city. The 28th and the 4th had been severely mauled in the bloody battles of the Hürtgen Forest. Prior to its commitment to the Ardennes offensive, 2nd Panzer was supplied with the newer model Panther medium tanks equipped for night fighting with the new infrared sighting apparatus and high-velocity 75mm cannon. Cemeteries & Memorials; Burial Search; About Us; Education; Facebook; Twitter; YouTube; Instagram; ABMC Headquarters 2300 Clarendon Blvd, Suite 500 Arlington, VA 22201 Phone: 703-584-1501. In honor of their World War II service, the 9th was officially nicknamed the "Phantom Division." Men and armor retreating into Bastogne from the battles that preceded the arrival of the 101st Airborne Division continued to stream in throughout the day with valuable information concerning German deployment and strengths. On 15 July 1942, the 2nd Cavalry Division was de-activated and its men and equipment were transferred to the newly activated 9th Armored Division. With its primary mission now canceled with the destruction of Task Force Harper, Team Booth weighed its options of either defending in place or heading for Bastogne. Hierbei täuschten die Alliierten erfolgreich die Wehrmacht und machten ihr weis, dass die tatsächliche Invasion in der Gegend von Dünkirchen stattfinden würde. The 9th Armored Division traced its origins back to the 2nd Cavalry Division stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas. A half hour prior to the launching of the Ardennes offensive, Colonel Lauchert received a personal phone call from Hitler instructing him that in directing his forces, “The battle must be fought with brutality and all resistance shall be broken in a wave of terror.”, In compliance with Middleton’s order, Colonel Gilbreth established two roadblocks. In the exchange of fire, A Company knocked out three Mark IVs with one Sherman destroyed, the main gun of a second was disabled, and a third Sherman threw a track, forcing its crew to destroy it. CCA was placed just south of the confluence of the Our and Sure Rivers wedged between the 109th Infantry Regiment of the 28th Infantry Division to its north and the 12th Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division to its south. Harper next tried to set up a defensive line at Houffalize to stop the Germans and during the night engaged the forward elements of the 116th Panzer Division. Rose (Task Force Rose), consisted of a company of Sherman tanks (A Company, 2d Tank Battalion), one armored infantry company (C Company, 52nd AIB), and a platoon of armored engineers. In the 9th Armored Division’s CCR sector, the 52nd Armored Infantry Battalion seemed to be the primary target of the shelling. It was the first German division to reach the Atlantic and the first to reach the Swiss frontier. In honor of their World War II service, the 9th was officially nicknamed the "Phantom Division." The sounds of enemy tanks could be heard to Task Force Rose’s right, and since the armored infantry’s antitank platoon could not cover the task force’s right flank, a platoon of Shermans was dispatched. © The crew is unpacking and taking inventory of all the gear issued with the tank, they probably received the tank with the back deck covered in the boxes. 22nd Tank Battalion. Although the Germans were on the ropes and expected to capitulate soon, General Middleton still worried about the thin spread of his on such a wide front. So let’s take a closer look. Harper, finding his way to Longvilly blocked, headed cross country with an assault gun platoon in the direction of Houffalize where, along the way, he met up with a retreating body of Task Force Rose tanks and soldiers directed by a Lieutenant DeRoche. Bastogne lay in the sector of advance that Manteuffel assigned to XLVII Panzer Corps and its commander, General Heinrich von Luttwitz. The Germans did not expect this to happen. The division was activated on 15 July 1942 at Fort Riley, KS.It reached the United Kingdom in September 1944. This time it took nearly 90 minutes for the smoke to lift, and when it did the GIs of Task Force Rose discovered that the German panzers had moved to within 800 yards of their position and the Shermans were taking direct fire from approximately 16 German tanks. Major General John W. Leonard’s 9th Armored Division was, like most armored divisions of the period, divided into three separate combat commands (CC): A, B, and R (Reserve). Once Luttwitz’s XLVII Panzer Corps crossed the Clerf, Bastogne could be reached no later than midday of the 18th, thus allowing German command and control the use of its vital road network. The 26th VGD commander, General Heinz Kokott, was given the mission of forcing crossings at the Our and Clerf Rivers on the left of the Panzer Corps, holding them open for the armor of the 2nd Panzer Division, then following it to Bastogne. 9th A.D. halftracks advancing through Engers, Germany, 27 March 1945. Subscribe to 14th Tank Battalion, 9th Armored Division Footer menu. However, many other retreating soldiers never made it, having fallen to the gauntlet of sporadic enemy artillery fire, snipers, and engagements with concealed enemy infantry and tanks. While the British 29th Armoured Brigade blocked to road to the Meuse, the 2nd Armored Division attacked the exposed flank of the 2nd Panzer Division with full force. Because the 15th was known as the Wolf Pack, it had a wolf's head over an armored triangle as the battalion insignia. Shortly after midnight, Gilbreth ordered his forces to prepare to withdraw to Bastogne. The entire front was being subjected to similar bombardment, and the Germans were probably just putting on an artillery show or involved in some spoiling operation. Unit Roster - This is an excerpt from the Unit History and includes both a list of men as they arrived in France and a list with addresses … At the Allerborn roadblock Task Force Harper was then in command of Major Dalton, the executive officer of the 2nd Tank Battalion. There have been countless thousands of published works devoted to all or of it. The decisions about where to place CCR’s individual components were to be made elsewhere— some by Maj. Gen. Norman Cota, commanding the 28th Infantry Division, some by his regimental or battalion commanders, and some even by the corps commander himself. Colonel Gilbreth would have very little independent command and control over his unit. The division was activated on 15 July 1942 at Fort Riley, KS. The 9th Armored Division is cited for extraordinary heroism and gallantry in combat in the vicinity of Waldbillig and Savelborn, Luxembourg from December 16 to December 22, 1944 by repulsing constant and determined attacks by an entire German division. The 2nd Armored was organized as a "heavy" armored division, having two armored regiments of four medium tank and two light tank battalions of three companies each. Lt. Col. Booth’s outposts had reported the presence of enemy armor on the Bourcy-Noville road and a platoon of the 52nd AIB discovered enemy units to the west, northwest, and south. Due to German superiority in armor, however, only one enemy tank was disabled while the other two turned back for cover. In September 1943 fourteen of those were reorganized, these are sometimes called the „light“ armored divisions, although this name is a bit misleading, because the main difference was in size and not the equipped tanks. This was based on an earlier effort but was predicated on a new Cavalry Regiment TO&E (Table of Organization and Equipment) which was … CCB found itself near the village of Faymonville and recently attached to V Corps to support the U.S. Army’s effort to capture or destroy the Roer River dams. With reports of German assaults and penetrations coming in throughout the day from his entire VIII Corps sector, General Middleton realized that what was occurring was no simple spoiling attack but a major German offensive. Shortly after this initial engagement, four enemy tanks supported by infantry emerged from the woods just northeast of the American forward positions. 68th Tank Battalion 69th Tank Battalion 9th Armored Infantry Battalion 44th Armored Infantry Battalion 50th Armored Infantry Battalion 86th Cavalry Rcn Sq (Mecz) 25th Armored Engineer Battalion 146th Armored Signal Co 6th Armored Division Artillery 128th Armored Field Artillery Battalion 212th Armored Field Artillery Battalion 231st Armored Field Artillery Battalion 6th Armored Division … Four of the 9th Armored Division's M-26 Pershing tanks from A Company, 14th Tank Battalion were first to the bridge. The Division drove on to Frankfurt and then turned to assist in the closing of the Ruhr Pocket. According to Lauchert’s timetable, his reconnaissance battalion should have been in Bastogne well over an hour earlier. The Sherman tanks of A Company opened fire and counted hits on all three German tanks. Thus, Bastogne, like St. Vith and Marche-en-Famenne, needed to be dealt with quickly to achieve Hitler’s goal of capturing the Belgian port city of Antwerp and splitting the Allies—both politically and geographically. The two Shermans sent by Task Force Rose to lead the relief force had to return alone to the battle. Lieutenant DeRoche, after turning five of his Shermans over to Lt. Col. Harper, led his small force toward St. Hubert where they found supplies of fuel and ammunition. Although the 116th Panzer Division was making progress against stiff and unexpected opposition, its corps headquarters was unhappy with its slow progress and the commanding general of the 116th Panzer was instructed to assume personal leadership of his advance elements. Luttwitz’s 2nd Panzer Division was formed in 1935. At approximately 3 pm on December 18, CCR headquarters at Longvilly received the final message from the northern roadblock that the defenders had been overrun. It was not until 7 pm on December 17 that Eisenhower, reluctant to part with his last reserve divisions, gave permission. CCB of the 9th Armored was immediately needed in St. Vith to shore up the 106th Infantry Division, while CCA was badly needed in the Wallendorf-Echternach area to support the 4th Infantry Division. Captain Rose placed a platoon of infantry facing north of the junction and another platoon facing east on the road coming from Clervaux. The offensive was launched, 28 February 1945, and the 9th smashed across the Roer to Rheinbach, sending patrols into Remagen. Harper ordered five of DeRoche’s Shermans to remain with him and sent DeRoche with what was left to St. Hubert for fuel and ammunition. The 2nd Armored Division ("Hell on Wheels") was an armored division of the United States Army. The 9th Armored Division (the "Phantom Division") was an armored division of the United States Army in World War II. ABMC honors the services of overseas U.S. Armed Forces by maintaining and promoting America's overseas commemorative … After about 15 minutes the smoke cleared with no immediate action on the part of the Germans. Based upon all available information, Booth estimated that his team was up against at least one armored division. The devastating successes of the German armored units in Poland and France underscored America's need for an effective armored force. 2.) 9th Armored Division – WW-2. For the men of CCB and CCR, the hard slog was over for the time being. It changed the world more than any other single event in history. After a brief shelling of Task Force Rose positions, the German guns placed a smoke screen in front of the American task force. 9th Infantry Division In WWII - The Archival Film Footage Collection - 9th Infantry Division in WWII - Archival Film Footage Belgium - September 1944 3 September 1944 Tanks of the 746th Tank Battalion in support of the 60th Infantry Regiment, fire from a roadside at the Belgium town of Philippeville. By midday on December 17, Luttwitz’s 2nd Panzer Division, after crushing American resistance in Marnach, was pushing west toward Clervaux and its bridges across the Clerf River. Prior to its participation in the Ardennes offensive, the division participated in the invasions of Poland, France, the Balkans, and Russia. After World War II, the unit returned state-side and was inactivated until 15 July 1963, when it was reassigned from the 9th Armored Division, and converted and redesignated as HHC, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. "CROSS THE RHINE WITH DRY FEET COURTESY OF 9TH ARM'D DIV". In April it continued east, encircling Leipzig and securing a line along the Mulde River. The 73rd AFA batteries were immediately pulled back to Longvilly. Next, the Germans turned their attention to Task Force Harper near Allerborn. Unknown to the Americans, the Germans were planning a major offensive code-named Operation Watch on the Rhine. The time was about 1 pm on December 18. This U.S. Sherman M4A3 (76) of Company B, 2nd Tank Battalion, 9th Armored Division is the only known surviving combat vehicle of the division. The Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen was found intact, and was seized by elements of the 9th Armored minutes before demolition charges were set to explode on 7 March 1945. Place and date: Near Grufflingen, Belgium, 21 December 1944. History of the 811th Tank Destroyer Battalion - Pages 1 to 41. On December 16, however, the forces available to Middleton to implement this plan were not nearly enough. 8th Armored Division – WW-2. The Combat Command had been attached to the 2nd Infantry Division in order to participate in an attack on the Roer River Dams in the vicinity of Dreiborn, Germany. Panzer Lehr would follow directly behind the 26th VGD. Each battalion had its own insignia. By 9 pm, Task Force Harper ceased to exist as a unified, cohesive fighting unit. The 106th Infantry Division was newly arrived at the front, replacing the 2nd Infantry Division, and had yet to see combat. The German reconnaissance battalion was still carefully feeling out this rather unexpected mix of enemy armor and infantry and had decided to wait for the arrival of the main body. Supported by the outstandingly responsive and accurate fire of its artillery battalion, this widely dispersed force stopped every attack for six days until its surrounded infantry were ordered to fight their way back to them. The second roadblock near Allerborn, under the command of Lt. Col. Ralph S. Harper (Task Force Harper), consisted of a company and a half of Sherman tanks (C and D Companies, 2nd Tank Battalion), one company of armored infantry (B Company, 52nd AIB), and a platoon of armored engineers. In addition, an American occupation of Bastogne would provide Allied forces with a base from which to hamper the German flanks and rear as well as cause major resupply problems for Luttwitz’s fuel-hungry tanks. Sovereign Media, 6731 Whittier Avenue, Suite C-100 McLean, VA 22101, From Tolkien to Hitler: Famous Soldiers of World War I, The Battle for Omaha Beach: The Men of the D-Day Invasion, Napoleon Bonaparte’s Last Campaign: The Battle of Waterloo, Operation Barbarossa: World War II’s Eastern Front, The Battle of Gettysburg: Turning Point of the American Civil War, Blood for Time: 9th Armored at Bastogne and the Battle of the Bulge, What Made the German Luger the Most Famous Pistol in Modern Warfare, The Essential Role of Navy PBR Boats in the Vietnam War, Why Francis Marion Became the Father of Guerrilla Warfare, Band of Brothers’ Buck Compton: One Man’s Call of Duty, Herrlisheim: What Became of the 12th Armored Division’s Lost Battalion, Assault on Ludendorff Bridge: The First Allied Crossing of the Rhine, The Falaise Gap: Ike vs. Monty and a Failure of Command, Daredevil Tankers Turn the Tide at the Bulge. 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