10th Pz.Div. in Africa Wehrpass

[Doug Nash]

Just got this the other day - it's something I've been searching for and finally found from a dealer in Poland, of all places. It's for a Grenadier with Pz.Gren.Rgt. 69 of the 10th Pz.Div., Killed in action 31 Jan. 1943. What I'd like to know is where he was killed - the Volksbund doesn't say, though it does have info on his grave site in Tunisia. I don't have enough data on the 10th Pz.Div. to show where they were on the date in question - They were at Sidi Bou Zid mid-February, and the Eastern Dorsal early January, but 31 Jan. is terra incognita. Can anyone help identify the place of death as shown in the Wehrpass?
Thanks --
Regards,
Doug Nash

[Doug Nash]

10th Pz.Div. Africa

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[Doug Nash]

10th Pz.Div. Africa

Image 3

[Larry deZeng]

The entry looks like Si Zid. “Si” is the abbreviation for Sidi, so it’s Sidi Zid. But all of the fighting on 31 January 1943 was along a line running roughly from Faid SSW to Gafsa. The only place along that line that seems to match is Sidi Bou Zid, which is also spelled Sidi bou Zid. Because the English spelling of the place names in Tunisia were changed in the 1970’s, it appears on current maps as Sïdï Bü Zayd. You can locate it just southwest of the Route 13 – Route 125 intersection near the bottom left of Sheet NI 32-3 on web site http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/n...452-ni32-3.jpg .It is 74.5 miles WNW of Sfax. I cannot say with certainty that Pz.Gren.Rgt. 69 was located there on that date, but the odds are that it was. To confirm its location on that date, you may need to look at: J. Restayn & N. Moller- The Combat History of the 10. Panzer Division: In Action in the East, West and North Africa 1939-1943, or, obtain one or more of the detailed combat histories of the campaign in Tunisia, which you can find an extensive list of here: http://books.stonebooks.com/cgi-bin/...bjects?1000286 .

--Larry

[Doug Nash]

Re: 10. Pz.Div. Africa

Larry,
Thanks much for the assist - will have to check out that source.
Best regards,
Doug Nash

[Gary T]

The Restayn book doesn't have any situational maps of any kind or anything more than a brief divisional overview.

It does however have lots of excellent photos...there are some of the fighting at Sidi bou Zid on 14th February (knocked out Shermans, US PoWs, captured HTs etc) onwards but no mention of when fighting started in this area.

There are also some nice shots of fully crewed SPWs of 5./ PzGr. Regt. 69 but these are from Macrh 1943.

[Doug Nash]

10th Pz.Div. Africa

Gary,
Well, I found some more clues - I dusted off the ancient copy of "Old Ironsides - the Battle History of the 1st (US) Armored Division." It provides some rather lengthy coverage of the operations of that division between 25 and 31 January 1943 between Sened Station, Sidi-Bou-Zid and the Faid Pass. Due to advances by German forces (of the 21st Pz.Div.) towards Faid Pass (held by a French force, who were captured), the US II Corps ordered that 1st Armored Div (1st AD) dispatch its Combat Command A (CCA) to counterattack from the direction of the Fondouk Gap on 30 Jan. At the same time, Combat Command C (CCC) of the 1st AD was to attack toward Sidi-Bou-Zid from Gafsa. Distance between both forces was 20-25 miles. As it turned out, Combat Command C got diverted towards Maknassy and didn't take part in the action on 31 Jan. The attack by CCA against the entrenched Germans at Faid Pass and neighboring Rebaou Pass during the early morning of 31 Jan. failed, having been shot to pieces by German antitank guns and tanks. The force from 21st Pz.Div. was reinforced later that day by elements from Kampfgruppe Weber, which had marched from Sfax. Together, both German forces counterattacked towards Sidi-Bou-Zid late that afternoon but were forced to halt by nightfall, having pushed CCA back towards that town. Grenadier Piwon of 5./Pz.Gren.Rgt. 69 must have been killed during that German Counterattack.
Kampfgruppe Weber consisted of:
Schw.Pz.Abt. 501
II/Pz.Gren.Rgt. 69
Stab/334.Inf.Div.
Geb.Jg.Rgt. 756
4./Art.Rgt. 334
8./Art.Rgt. 334
A sub-element of Kg Weber was Kg Lueder, led by the commander of Schw.Pz.Abt. 501. It was this Kg that I believe took part in the fighting between Faid and Sidi-Bou-Zid. It consisted of:
1 Pz.Kp. from Schw.Pz.Abt. 501
II/Pz.Gren.Rgt. 69
1 Pionier Zug
Flak
I believe that Gren.Piwon was part of Kg Lueder - without further information, that's the most I could come up with.

[Larry deZeng]

Coincidentally, I spent a few minutes on it this morning, too, and what I found supports your findings, although in far less detail:

Here is a map showing a German attack toward Sidi bou Zid that commenced on 30 January:
http://www.dean.usma.edu/history/web...20map%2040.htm


31 Jan 1943: Kampfgruppe Weber (II./Pz.Gren.Rgt. 69 and Geb.Jg.Rgt. 756 supported by 11 Tigers and 14 Pz. IIIs from schw.Pz.Abt. 501) unsuccessfully attacked Allied positions in the Faid – Sidi bou Zid area in Unternehmen “Eilbote II” (Operation Express Messenger II).

--Larry

[MilitaryCollect]

10th Pz.Div. in Africa Wehrpass

Hi Guys,

Lexikon: http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/...nter/PGR69.htm

Accoding to the books, Kampfgruppe Lueder consisted of Pzr. Abt 501 reinforced by II./GR 69. It was sent south and southwest of the El Kabir coffer-dam area and its mission was to disrupt enemy communications. On January 21, it was withdrawn and sent via Kairouan to the northern sector. Volkmar Kuhn: "Rommel in the Desert", p. 185-89

Operation "Eilbote II" was launched on January 31, 1943 by units under the command of Generalmajor Weber and Oberstleutnant Buhse. It's objectives were the capture of Djebel Mansour and Djebel Sidi Salem. - while the Buhse group was directed toward Pinchon. I believe KG Lueder was still subordinate to KG Weber. KG Weber arrived at the Pinchon sector on January 31 and withdrew from the town upon the arrival of American reinforcements. The Tiger detachment suffererd heavy casualties with the arrival of new American anti-tank formations. P. Carrel, page 340-41.

Meanwhile, in the South, on January 30, 1943 elements of the 10th and 21st Panzer divisions, under the command of Generalleutnant Zeigler, attacked the Faid Pass. The battle lasted 48 hours and the Germans enjoyed their first successful pincer movement in Tunisia. Volkmar Kuhn: "Rommel in the Desert", p. 190-91. The French and Americans fled toward Sidi Bou Zid. An allied counterattack on February 2 was rebuffed. The formal attack on Sidi Bou Zid did not commence until February 14.

May be that he died at the battle of Faid Pass - which was encircled and his death is noted as being at Sidi Bou Zid? Seems that greater elements of 10th Panzer were involved with the attack at Faid Pass (French garrison) than anywhere else during this period. Indeed the map below indicates that the encirclement of the French garrison at Faid extended close to the town of Sidi Bou Zid.

Here's a neat link on this battle and a map too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Sidi_Bou_Zid

Here's a link to several maps of these engagments: http://militarymaps.org.ua/osprey_e.html#152_kasserine

List of maps offered by Osprey: http://militarymaps.org.ua/osprey_e.html

American Accounts:

http://www.historynet.com/historical...s/3033536.html

http://www.americainwwii.com/stories/facingthefox.html

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-.../1340819/posts

http://www.angelfire.com/games4/spatulalad/godsidi.htm

See also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunisia_Campaign

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_...Kasserine_Pass

Kampfgruppe's in Tunis: http://www.afrika-korps.de/forum/exp...ode=txt&t=3771

C.

[Doug Nash]

10th Pz.Div. Africa

Thanks guys - this has really been an interesting little exercise! You always learn something new on this site.
Cheers,
Doug

[MilitaryCollect]

10th Pz.Div. in Africa Wehrpass

Hi,

Gee wiz, there's a big gap in my books about the events from December, 1942 through the February 1943 offensive.

I./GR 69 - KG Lang - formed shortly before 8 Feb. 43' == later part of Gruppe Kleeburg (sub-part of Gruppe Schmidt - formed 25 Feb. 43');

II./GR 69 - KG Lueder - formed prior to 30 Nov. 42' == later part of Angriffsgruppe Weber (formed 14 Jan. 43') - became KG Weber 14 Jan. 43 (with 3 sub-parts including KG Lueder) == later with KG Gerhardt (formed 8 Feb. 43').

Information obtained from Bender & Law "Afrikakorps", pp. 96 - 129.

Can't find references for 5./ Pz.Grn. Rgt. 69, although several KG's operating in Tunisia had unnamed Pz.Grn. units attached thereto.

Part of Maj. Lueder's reports: http://www.chsk.com/steppenwolf/tiger1_in_action.htm

Another interesting site: http://www.deutsches-afrikakorps.de/

Here's a map the the George Forty series.

Christopher

[Doug Nash]

10th Pz.Div. Africa

I've ordered a copy of the US Army Green Book Series' "Northwest Africa: Seizing the Initiative in the West" to see if there's more info. The Green Books usually do a pretty good job in laying out opposing forces' order of battle for all major and most minor engagements, so I'm hoping that there might be something written there about the actions that took place between Faid and Sidi-Bou-Zid from 30 - 31 January 1943. I'll report back once my copy arrives.
Cheers,
Doug Nash

[Larry deZeng]

Sounds good.....

--Larry

[Larry deZeng]

Here are the Tunisia entries from KTB/OKW for the time frame of interest. These may shed some additional light on the topic. I have left them in German instead of translating them because everyone in this thread reads German.

From KTB/OKW, Band 1943, Teilband I

31. Januar 1943:
“Im Südabschnitt der tunesischen Front is eine deutsche Angriffsgruppe zur Gewinnung der Enge bei Faid (110 km westnordwestl. von Sfax) angetreten und hat Gelände gewonnen.”

1. Februar 1943:
“In Tunesien wurde beim Angriff zur Rückgewinnung der alten HKL im Abschnitt der Div. “Superga” von der Kampfgruppe Weber die Linie 10 km nordostw. und 10 km ostw. Rebaa od Yahia – Wegegabel 10 km südwestl. Dj. Chirid erreicht. Im Abschnitt des it. XXX. AK nahm die 21. Pz.Div. am 30.1. Faid mit den benachbarten Engen und behaupttete es am 31.1. gegen feindl. Gegenangriffe.”

2. Februar 1943:
[No entries concerning fighting in Tunisia].

3. Februar 1943:
“In Tunesien wehrte die 21. Pz.Div. Angriffe des Feindes in Stärke von 8 Btle. bei Faid erfolgreich ab. Um der von Norden drohenden Umfassung zu entgehen, wurden die eigenen Kräfte in der Nacht zum 2.2. auf Maknassy zurückgenommen.”

4. Februar 1943:
[No entries concerning fighting in Tunisia].

5. Februar 1943:
“In Tunesien griff der Feind am Dj. Mansour im Abschnitt der Div. “Superga” an. Der Einbruch wurde im Gegenstoß abgeriegelt. Bei der Deutsch-it. Pz.-Armee schob sich der Gegner nach heftiger art.-Vorbereitung an die Nachhutstellungen heran.”

--Larry

[Doug Nash]

10th Pz.Div. Africa

Larry,
Great stuff! It's interesting to see how some things are reported up the chain and some are not. What may seem to be a major engagement at the local level might be reported up the chain as "nothing noteworthy to report." On the other hand, something relatively minor may be elevated so that when they get the report at Army or Army Group Level, it assumes gigantic proportions.
Just a note - have sent email to author Chris Wilbeck, author of "Sledgehammers: Strengths and Flaws of Tiger Tank Battalions in World War Two." He's got a copy of Major Lueder's reports from 18 January to 1 February & I asked him for a copy. Perhaps that might provide the final, definitive answers that we seek!
Doug