Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Files

Battle of the Bulge: Volksgrenadier Report

The report of the 212th Volksgrenadierdivision on the Battle of the Bulge is quite revealing. It clearly points out various shortcomings on the German side, but also details the strength of the US 4th Infantry Division. It gives many reasons beyond the "material superiority" trope, like tenacious defense, good inter-arms coordination, artillery, fire discipline and others. Cover: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-1985-0104-501 / Lange / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en Colorization by vonKickass »» GET BOOKS & VIDEOS «« » Stukabook - Doctrine of the German Dive-Bomber - http://stukabook.com » The Assault Platoon of the Grenadier-Company November 1944 (StG 44) - http://sturmzug.com » Army Regulation Medium Panzer Company 1941 - http://www.hdv470-7.com » Tank Assault - Combat Manual of the Soviet Tank Forces 1944 - http://stm44.com » IS-2 Stalin's Warhammer - http://www.is-2tank.com » StuG: Ausbildung, Einsatz und Führung der StuG Batterie - http://stug-hdv.de » Achtung Panzer? Zur Panzerwaffe der Wehrmacht - http://panzerkonferenz.de » Panzerkonferenz Video - http://pzkonf.de »» SUPPORT MHV «« » patreon - see videos early (adfree) - https://www.patreon.com/join/mhv » subscribe star - https://www.subscribestar.com/mhv » paypal donation - https://paypal.me/mhvis » YouTube Membership - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK09g6gYGMvU-0x1VCF1hgA/join »» MERCHANDISE «« » teespring - https://teespring.com/stores/military-history-visualized »» SOURCES «« Bundesarchiv: various Pröhuber, Karl-Heinz: Volksgrenadier-Divisionen. Band 1: Zur Geschichte und den personellen/ökonomischen Rahmenbedingungen der im Westen 1944/45 eingesetzten Großverbände: eine Studie, Helios: Aachen, Germany, 2018. Scherzer, Veit: Deutsche Truppen im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Band 1: Formationsgeschichte des Heeres und des Ersatzheeres 1939 bis 1945. Teilband 1 A., Scherzers Militaer-Verlag: Ranis / Jena, Germany, 2007. Nash, Douglas E.: Victory was beyond their grasp: with the 272nd Volks-Grenadier Division from the Hürtgen forest to the heart of the Reich, Casemate: Philadelphia, USA, 2015. Zaloga, Steven: Smashing Hitler’s Panzers: The Defeat of the Hitler Youth Panzer Division in the Battle of the Bulge, Stackpole Books: Guilford, Connecticut, USA, 2019. https://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gliederungen/Volksgrenadierdivisionen/212VGD-R.htm https://www.bayonetstrength.uk/GermanArmy/GerInfBn/OrgGerInfBn-headerpg.htm 00:00 Intro 00:33 Report & Combat Context 01:04 Volksgrenadier-Division 02:05 ID 44 vs Volksgrenadierdivision 06:36 212th Volksgrenadier-Division 07:28 Lack of Heavy Weapons 09:11 German Artillery & US Radios 09:40 Area of Attack too wide & US Defensive 11:00 US Artillery & Air Superiority 12:30 Lack of mobile Anti-Tank Weapons 13:51 US Capabilities beyond Material 14:59 Leadership & Equipment Issues 16:02 Summary #battleofthebulge #ww2 #germanperspective #militaryarchives #volksgrenadier

Comments

Ted M Jones

This was excellent... but when I first saw it I was so hoping this was going to be about the 12th Folksgrenadiers and would cover the Battle of Lanzerath Ridge. I would love to learn more about the German take on this action on 12/16/1944. It seems to be the perfect case of a really good commander facing off against an unbelievably bad commander. I'm surprised Piper didn't kill the Fallschirmjäger commander.

Ted M Jones

Also, it's always worth remembering that US Army divisions in Europe were of 3 types. There were the Regular Army units like the 4th Division. There were new Federal divisions like the 101st. And in-between there were the Federalized National Guard divisions. You could get away with things vs a green National Guard division that you couldn't get away with against an experienced division in any of the 3 types.