2nd.US Armored Division and the 30th. Infantry Division in April 1945

Hello everyone -
I am looking for more detailed informations about the 2nd US Armored Division and the 30th Infantry division (I guess both of the part of XIX. Army-Korps) in the beginning of April 1945 (during 8th and 20th of April). The 2nd Armored Division reached Hildesheim (the city I am born) in north direction and then turned eastward. The Wehrmacht treid to defend the region by the LXXXVI.AK (the 1st Fallschirm-Armee (Student) und the II.Fallschirm-Korps). Does anyone know if there are after-action reports about the period I am looking for?

Thx
Northwind

 

From a quick check the 3d Battalion, 119th Infantry, 30th Infantry Division attacked Hildeshiem on April 5-8. they were working with elements of the US 2d Armored Division.

Personal memoir from the Executive Officer, L Company, 119th Infantry here, section 8.

David Knox Journal


Page 26, of the 3d Bn Journal mentions Hildeshiem

http://www.oldhickory30th.com/119th 3rd Battalion Combat Journal June 16 1944 to June 17 45.pdf


The webmaster of 30th Division Old Hickory would love to hear from you.

 

Earthican -
thx very much for your first informations! It seemed that the 119th cleaned the area east of Hildesheim - probably they followed the 2nd armored divison. I will ask the webmaster of 30th Division Old Hickory as well.

P.S.: I haven´t forgotten to send informations about the tank-battle of Hatten-Rittershoffen. But I wasn´t here for a loner period and I had no possibilities to work on this project. But I hope I will be able soon ... sorry for waiting!

 

At the oldhickory website you should be able to find more documents for all the units of the 119th Infantry (1st and 2d Bns, more from the 3d, plus 119th Infantry Headquarters).

Look forward to what you find for the 2d AD and 30th ID around Hildeshiem.

No hurry on Rittershofen/Hatten thread. Post when you have something new.

 

This is pretty general, but it was the 1st Battalion, 67th Armored Regiment of the 2nd Armored along with the 1st Battalion of the 41st Armored Infantry Regimment that secured the town. The book (Hell On Wheels-Donald Houston) mentiones that E Company of the 119th was attached but doesn't give much detail on them. Of course this is a 2nd Armored history.

1st Bn. 67th had a tank with a PA system and told the Germans that 100 dive bombers would attack the town if they didn't surrender. Many did, but a flight of German dive bombers flew low over the town making many if the surrendering Germans re-think and began a stiff defense. The 1st Bn moved in later to secure the town.

 

The 67th AR AAR is available here (link). If you have problems downloading the document (14MB) I can send you individual pages.

After action report, 67th Armored Regiment, 5th Armored Divison, 6 June 44 thru May 45. :: World War II Operational Documents


Attached is an excerpt for 8 April 1945. If you are trying to sort out the actions you will want to read several pages before the date of interest. Since the armored divisions "task organized" the composition of the Combat Commands varied as well as the Task Forces under them.

In addition, the 2d AD and 3d AD had unique organizations that used Armored Regiments and Armored Infantry Regiments, with 1st, 2d and 3d Battalions (no ## Tank Battalions or ## Armored Infantry Battalions).

Originally the Armored Regiment had one light tank battalion (Stuarts) and two medium tank battalions(Shermans). Before D-Day they were re-organized into mixed battalions of one light company and two medium companies, but the lettering did not change. So A, B and C companies are light and found in 1st, 2d and 3d Battalions, respectively. See second attachment for the companies found in each battalion.

 

Earthican, Wonder why the link shows the 67th Armored Regiment was with the 5th Armored Division?
Everything else is right on the money. My brother was in A Company of the 67th--light tanks.

 

I suspect, in digitizing the archive, much like the American effort to build their MULBERRY, speed mattered more than accuracy.

In any case, the Search function at CGSC (or CARL) seems to work more like a "Shuffle" function. I got that hit on a Google search for "67th Armored". And with your information I could ignore what the returned target link said. It pays to know those sub-units.

Salute to your brother and all the tin can tankers of the "Hell on Wheels".

 

Thank you--never heard them referred to as tin cans but it sure fits. The old A company warriors always called them steel coffins and the 37 mm cannon a pea-shooter.

 

Hi everyone -
here an article about the "Hell on wheels" published in the regional newspapers in april 2012 ... View attachment 17255

 

Look at attached file. My father was there, 67th Armored Regiment, Company B Recon, 2nd Armored Division.. They had 30th on one side and 31st on other.

 

Hi,
I have read that the 67th AR overrun 4 railroad guns on 11th April 1945 in this book:
History 67th armored regiment

But more interesting is the 16inch railway gun from P153 of that same book. Maybe is it known where and when it was encountered by the 67th AR/2nd AD?

Regards,
Javier

 

Hi,

Anyone knows where and when happened this shelling?
"Damage done when a German 280mm shell landed in the area around 0345 hours. General Palmer wrote: “Shell from Railway did this. Not far from where I live. 5 bigger ones hit about 150 yards from my place the others .. (?). One blew the door in on my caravan. The place was a mess. Nice guys!” "

https://io9.gizmodo.com/these-previously-unseen-photos-bear-witness-to-the-carn-1724815979

Regards,

 

Ups,
the caption corresponds to the picture nº29 of that gallery.

 

April, 1945, this 240mm 'racketenwerfer' (rocket mortar) was captured in the Weser Forest somewhere south of Hamelin by elements of 117th IR, 30th Division. This is the same enormous naval gun that was mounted in the Sturmtiger, which were also encountered in this area. The sturmtigers are well known but I never see anything on these towed pieces other than this lone photo from the 30th Division history. The hits from these might well have been mistaken for rail guns.

 

Sorry, but no, it is a 38cm Skoda M16 Moerser with an extemporaneous pneumatic tire truck. The Sturmtiger Raketenwerfer was also 38cm and was not a "naval gun". The Sturmtiger 38cm was originally designed as a naval ASW rocket launcher, i.e. a "Raketenwerfer" in German. In the Sturmtiger it was redesignated as the 38 cm RTg (Raketen-Tauchgranate) Stu. M. RW61 L/5.4

 

Ah, thanks for that correction. I knew the diameter once, before my brain began rotting. But... these might well have been mistaken for a rail gun which was the point I was trying to make. I'm not seeing any references to a 38cm Skoda Moerser, only a 305 and a 24, neither of which look like this thing.

.

 

Sorry, my bad, you were right...it was a 24cm piece. It is the 24cm Haubitze 39 or 39/40. Designed by the Czechs as the 24cm houfnice vz.39 for a Turkish export order. Except that it is missing the gun tube and breech, which were transported separately. Here is a photo of the tube and breech on its carrier, probably from the same sequence of photos. 24cm H 39 (ex-czech)? • Axis History Forum And here is another photo of the carriage without breech or gun tube. 24cm H 39 (ex-czech)? • Axis History Forum

The real question is how it got to Hamelin. The only units to ever use them were Heeres-Artillerie-Abteilung I./814 and II./814. However, the first ended the war in Koenigsberg and the second in Courland.

 

That makes more sense, especially with the missing tube. Without it, it looks like a "Raketenwerfer." Several Sturmtigers were captured in the same area and those has basically just been rolled out of the factory and sent to the front as everything collapsed. Perhaps this gun was being moved in the same way, straight from a factory. I said "Hamelin" because that is the nearest city of any size, but it is actually south of there in the Weser Forest, or Weser Uplands.

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