Operation Nordwind Januar 1945, 2. Bataillon of 315. US Infantryregiment

Hello to everyone,
my name is Michael and I live in the northern parts of Germany.

I joined up on this forum because I am hoping to find out some informations about my grandpa. He served in the german Wehrmacht during WW2 for 6 years. He is missing in action till January 1945.
When I started searching for more informations about my grandpa I only had one picture and a message from the national Redcross organisation from 1952 of him. First it seemed that he would have been killed on the Eastern front in January. But the papers were wrong, because I found out that he served in a different unit. Now I try to find out more about what happened in January 1945.
He took part on the operation "Nordwind" and the tank-combat of Hatten/Rittershoffen in January 1945. He served in the 220. Tank engineer-bataillon of the 21. Armored Division of the German Wehrmacht. He was in the C-Company, so his unit fought in Hatten against the 2. Bataillon of the 315. US infantry-regiment for several days. The C-Company of this tank-engineer bataillon fought in Hatten for several days. The combat strength was around 100 soldiers. I guess he was killed during the combat.
I really would be glad to get more informations about the combat of Hatten.
Many regards
Michael from Germany

 

Hatten and Rittershoffen January 1945 - World War II Forums look here michael.

 

Hello Sniper,

thanks very much for this information!

Michael

 

Michael,

There were seveal units from both sides fighting tooth and nail in Hatten.

On the American side there were the 2nd Battalion, 315th, the 19th Armored Infantry Battalion, elements of the 47th Tank Battalion, and a handful of tank destroyers from two different battalions.

On the German side were elements of the 21st Panzer and 25th Panzer Grenadier divisions, the 20th Regiment of the 7th Parachute Division, and the 104th regiment of the 47th Volks Grenadier Division. They were supported by elements of one or more tank destroyer battalions.

The infantry units fought not only house to house, but often room to room.

Read Col. Han von Luck's Panzer Commander. Col. von Luck describes in some detail the battle of Hatten-Rittershoffen, and although he failed to realize the 19th AIB had fought its way into Hatten on the 13th, (he was stationed in Rittershoffen) he does provide valuable, eyewitness informaton about the battle from the perspective of the 21st Panzer Division.

Please feel free to ask any additional questions you might have. I will be more than happy to try and answer them for you.

Duckbill

 

gurleymaps

 

Hello Michael, My name is Terry from Florida.My great uncle Joseph H.Owens is also missing from the Hatten Area.I hope you can find out what happened to your grandpa.Tech Sgt.Owens was with the 315 infantry regiment 79th infantry division.He was killed January 19,1945 in or near Hatten.He is listed on the tablets of the missing.I try to read up on operation "Nordwind" as much as i can.gurleymaps.maps of the battle are here..good luck Michael and i hope you can find something out about your grandfather.dirtyterry1968@yahoo.com

 

What company was Tech Sgt. Owens in do you know? Just curious.

 

Hello Michael,

My Father was killed Jan. 9. 1945 in Hatten. He was a Sanitätsfeldwebel in the 25. Panzergrenadier-Division. You may know that there is now a Museum in one of the Bunkers near Hatten where the battle toke place. I have been there a number of times together with a comrade of my Father who was right there during all the fighting. He is still alive in Germany. This museum used to have extensive documentation of the battle from American, German and French sources. I have a number of these here and I would be pleased to share them with you. I emigrated to Canada in 1962 where I now live in retirement.

Please Email me if you want to contact me, in German if you like.

bds.tech@sympatico.ca

Bernie Soostmeyer

 

Hello,
Sorry to take so old topic ...
But I'm still looking for information on the Battle of Hatten.
DIRTYTERRY, your post interests me. My mother was born in Hatten. She lived the battle of January 1945 (she was 10). In her memory, she remembers perfectly 4/5 GI's who were staying in the home of his parents, before the German attack in early January. She clearly remembers 3 names or surnames: there was a soldier named "JACK" and two of them were called "OWENS." One of the soldiers had given a harmonica to his little sister (she was 4 years old at the time)
At the first German attack, the soldiers left the house hurriedly. They just said, they were ordered to go to the bunker ESCH (south of Hatten) It was the last time she saw the American soldiers. She always wondered what had become.

If your great uncle was one of the soldiers, it would be quite a coincidence. We should know in which company your great uncle was and then check where his regiment was located in the village during the German attack.

Amicalement,

Eric