Announcement

**Panzer Rob** · 09-16-2012, 08:03 AM

While being reconstituted in Denmark, StuG.Brgd.280 was first stationed in Åbenrå where it was attached to the 363.I.D. By the end of June the unit had been fully reestablished with personnel but had not yet received any new Sturmgeschütz. On 1.July the brigade was moved to Strellov in western Jutland and placed under the command of the 160.Reserve Division, which was based in Holsted. StuG.Brigade 280’s Stab and 1.Batterie were located in Strellov, the 2. and 3. Batteries in Lyhne and Ølgod, just north-east of Oksbøl.

Operation Market Garden was launched on Sunday, 17.September 1944. In response to the attack, reinforcements were feverously sought out and acquisitioned wherever possible in an attempt to help bolster the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS forces already fighting in Holland and to assist them in neutralizing and eliminating the Allied airborne and armored assaults focused on creating a path through Holland, across the Rhine and straight into the Ruhr while simultaneously eliminating the battered and decimated units retreating eastwards towards the Reich after having been smashed in Normandy.

It was not until early September 1944 that StuG. Brigade 280 started to receive the first of its new assault guns; records show that 9 StuH.42 had been shipped to the unit on 1.September, 22 StuG.III shipped on 6.September, an additional 9 StuH.42 shipped on 7 September and another 17 StuG.III were shipped on 24.September. These are of course only the dates these vehicles were shipped to the brigade and do represent the unit’s actual strength at the start of Market Garden.

Sturmgeschütz-Brigade 280 had been reconstituted in accordance with K.St.N446a* and at full strength would have had of a total of 31 assault guns; A Batterietruppe with one StuG.III ausf.G (for the brigade commander) and three assault gun batteries. Each batterie consisted of three Zuge with a total of 10 Sturmgeschütze ; one for the Zug Gruppeführer and the other 9 distributed equally amongst the three Zuge.

*K.St.N446a allowed for either three StuG.III ausf.G or three Sturmhaubitze 42 in the 2.Zug.

As of 17.September StuG.Brgd.280 had not yet received its full complement of vehicles, and as a result it could not be deployed at brigade strength. Therefore, the decision was made to send only the 3.Batterie to assist in the fighting in and around Arnhem. At the time of its mobilization and deployment, 3.Batterie/StuG.Brigade 280 consisted of 10 assault guns: One StuG.III ausf.G for the Gruppeführer (Major Kurt Kühme), six StuG.III ausf.G in the 1.Zug and 3. Zug (3 each) and three 10,5cm StuH.42 in the 2.Zug.

Below is a diagram showing the composition of 3.Batterie/StuG.Brgd.280 when it was deployed to Arnhem during Market Garden and a portrait photo of Major Kurt Khüme. Also shown is a shot of Kühme's StuG.III ausf.G.

The last image is an outstanding studio portrait of Herman Wehner taken shortly before his 3.Brigade was deployed to the fighting in Arnhem during Market Garden. Notice that he is wearing field gray Sonderbekleidung (with litzen style collar tabs) on which he is proudly wearing his EKII ribbon, GAB and black wound badge. The portrait is very large and the clarity is razor sharp; In hand you can make out the individual threads holding the collar tabs to the wrap(!)

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**Panzer Rob** · 09-16-2012, 08:04 AM

Major Kühme:

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**Panzer Rob** · 09-16-2012, 08:05 AM

Major Kühme's StuG.III in Arnhem during the fighting:

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**Panzer Rob** · 09-16-2012, 08:06 AM

Wehner's studio portrait

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**Panzer Rob** · 09-16-2012, 08:10 AM

3.Batterie/StuG.Brgd.280 arrived in the northern suburbs of Arnhem early on the morning of 19.September. Upon its arrival, the batterie was assigned to Kampfgruppe Spindler which had been part of a blocking line which had been created in the western suburbs of Arnhem to help prevent reinforcements from reaching Frost’s forces defending the northern end of the Arnhem bridge.

On the night of 18/19.September - just hours before StuG.Brigade 280 arrived - four British PARA Battalions had launched a two-pronged attack to break through the German blocking line via Utrechtseweg and Onderlangs in an attempt to reach the PARAs at Arnhem Bridge. The following paragraphs taken from It Never Snows in September give a very detailed description of the British forces attack; StuG.Brigade 280 would find itself fighting the survivors of these four British battalions in a bitter street-by-street, house-by-house battle upon its arrival in Arnhem the next morning:

“British battalion commanders attempted to co-ordinate their joint thrusts toward the bridge as best they could. A maze of un-reconnoitered streets and only a sketchy knowledge of enemy strengths and dispositions were to hamper the advance. The2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment was to assault along the Bovenover 'highroad' (Utrechtseweg), followed closely by 11 PARA, taking the high ground past the Municipal Museum and then down to the Arnhem bridge. Parallel to this route, following the bend in the lower Rhine, was the 'low road' or Onderlangs.

1 PARA was to spearhead this flat route alongside the river and harbor, supported by the remnants of 3 PARA. Both of these battalions had already suffered considerable losses trying to fight through this bottleneck the night before. Indeed, none of the other battalions were aware that 3 PARA was even ready to mount yet another attack. Soldiers were, therefore, not fully briefed. When the assault started, delays were to be caused by paratroopers shooting at each other as the two axes diverged. All four battalions were attempting to force an urban 'valley of death'. The houses on the high road were occupied on both sides by Moeller's SS Engineer Battalion. These were further overlooked by a group of houses beyond the marshaling yards northwards manned by Gropp's SS anti-aircraft gunners. The South Staffs and 11 PARA, confined to the streets if they wished to move in strength, were to be exposed to defilade and frontal fire once they were past the St Elizabeth's Hospital. There was no room for tactical maneuvers — it was punch through frontally, or fail. Similarly, the flat and exposed low road following the lower Rhine was dominated by 20mm and 37mm cannon set up in the brickworks immediately south of the Rhine. Furthermore, a steep-gradient embankment to the left, and the houses along Onderlangs all overlooking the axis of advance, were occupied by the Kampfgruppe Spindler. Cloaked by darkness, and a sinister early-morning mist rising from the lower Rhine, the advance started at 0400 hours on19 September. Denied the ability to flex their tactical muscle over a wider area, all depended upon the aggression and determination of the vanguard companies spearheading the columns. SS-Captain Hans Moeller recalled the initial contacts near the Rhine Pavilion: 'At 0400 the terrible noise of battle broke out on the left towards the Rhine, and left of us amongst Spindler's men.' Every sound in urban battle is magnified. Steel-shod boots scraped and clattered across the tarmac in the dark. Weapon reports were deafening and echoed around the streets in throbbing sound waves.

Slowly the lone surviving paratrooper advanced menacingly towards Mueller. On firing two more bursts, Mueller discovered his machine gun had run out of ammunition. He called frantically for a new belt, only to realize that his comrades had already fled. Unable to find his rifle, he picked up one of two 'egg' hand-grenades lying on the parapet of his trench. 'Tommy seemed to discover me,' he fearfully observed, and threw the first grenade. It was a dud. This Englishman was indestructible. There was a bang, and fire and dirt flew into his face as he detected the throwing movement from his opponent. 'I just had enough strength to throw my pulled grenade at the Tommy before I blacked out for a few moments.' Coming to after the explosion he could still see his assailant five meters in front of him. He remembers desperately trying to pull himself together otherwise he was going to die. 'You've got to get away fast now,' he thought, 'or Tommy is going to do you in completely. 'He then felt a sharp pain, 'as if somebody was slashing a knife back and forth' on his upper arm. Blinded by the blood on his face, he groped around for the machinegun. It had been torn open at the breech. That was it; 'it was high time for me to get out of my hole,' he thought. As he vaulted out of the trench another hand-grenade exploded within it, peppering his back with small pieces of shrapnel. Bleeding profusely, he stumbled off into the night, pushing his now useless left arm into his belt for support, hastened by the crump of hand-grenades behind him.

Dawn was now approaching, and with it the mist began to rise. As it did so the remnants of Graebner's SS Reconnaissance Battalion, positioned in the brickworks across the Rhine, were presented with an unbelievable target. Strung out in a column along the Onderlangs were 1 and 3 PARA, concerned only with exchanges of fire going on to their front by Moeller and to their left. 20 and 37mm cannon were able to lay on at short range over open sights with an uninterrupted traverse up and down the road. At 0600 the massacre began. Concentrated bursts of high-velocity shot flailed the ragged columns as they pushed on, unaware of the danger to their right flank. Bodies disintegrated and were dismembered by horizontal lines of tracer hammering across the river on a flat trajectory, exploding and splintering on the battered façades of houses beyond. The screams of the maimed were barely distinguishable above the crescendo of sound magnified by the surrounding buildings. Both battalions virtually ceased to exist. Spindler's men, occupying the houses and gardens bordering the high ground to the left overlooking the low road, grenaded and fired at anything that moved. Fire still continued from the front. Assailed from three sides, the attack collapsed in a withering concentration of weapons of all calibers. There was nowhere for the hapless paratroopers to turn, except to try and gain admittance to occupied houses on their left. Shelter had therefore to be fought for. At 0730 the advance elements of 1 PARA had reached the old harbor, barely 1,400 meters from the bridge. Sounds of battle were still apparent from that direction but they were finished. Behind, the column was in a shambles. Decimated desperate groups began now to flee or exfiltrate back to the start line. Most of the officers and NCOs were already dead or wounded. This was to be the nearest they would ever get to Frost; but 2 PARA, totally preoccupied with their own battle at the bridge, did not hear a thing.”

As I mentioned above, the 3.Batterie/Sturmgeschütz-Brigade 280 arrived in Arnhem early in the morning of 19.September. Upon its arrival, 3.Batterie was assigned to Kampfgruppe Spindler, commanded by SS-Obersturmbannführer Ludwig Spindler. Spindler immediately divided and distributed 3.Brigade’s assault guns amongst three Kampfgruppe within Spindler's blocking line: 3 assault guns were attached to Kampfgruppe Möller, Harder and von Allworden and were used in a direct fire support role with infantry forces against the British forces: The following is from It Never Snows in September:

“Meanwhile, elements of Wehrmacht Assault Gun Brigade 280 began to clatter into Arnhem, coming from the north. Consisting mainly of 'Sturmgeschutz III' SPs, mounting a 75mm gun, they were allocated to the Kampfgruppe Spindler. Spindler in turn employed them singly or in pairs to his various subsidiary Kampfgruppen, depending upon their needs. A start line was established at the head of Utrechtstrasse, as the armored vehicles gathered in the vicinity of the railway station waiting for the command to move forward. As it grew light SS-Captain Moeller's sector on the Utrechtseweg was subjected to the full fury of the paratrooper assault. The South Staffs, emerging from the protective cover of the St Elizabeth's Hospital and advancing on the museum on the high ground, were caught by flanking fire from SS-Lieutenant Gropp's Flak Kampfgruppe firing from the upper stories of the houses across the marshaling yards. On the other side and front they were hit by Moeller's SS Engineers who, as the commander relates, fired without mercy. Panzerfaust projectiles literally tore a group of paratroopers apart. Flame-throwers belched flaming petroleum into the attacking enemy.' A self-propelled assault gun clattered into position by the museum supported by Moeller's two armored half-tracks, and engaged the incoming assault frontally. It was a difficult battle to control at company and battalion level because whole platoons would disappear from sight defending just one house.

Commanders were literally on their own once this close-quarter fighting was joined. Moeller recalls the fight becoming '. . . a free-for-all. The streets were death zones. Dead and wounded could not be retrieved. Rubble was strewn everywhere. Fences and walls had been flattened by the assault gun, whose sharp gun reports spurted fire at the enemy. It did not all go Moeller's way, however. Frequently, 'damn well-aimed sniper fire' took its toll of his men. But the German fire was becoming increasingly effective as Moeller sought to combine all the weapons, including armored vehicles, at their disposal. 'We had plenty of ammunition,' he claimed, 'and literally shot up attack after attack bravely launched by the enemy.' It could not last indefinitely, although at time she wondered despairingly whether it might. 'Wounded civilians, who had tried to save what there was to save, were screaming. But what did that matter! So many things had been destroyed, house and farm, property and livestock, all were consumed by flame, and a dark pungent smoke drifted through the streets of this once elegant residential area. 'By about 1000 hours the enemy's momentum was spent. 'His attack,' Moeller observed, 'became fragmented, spread out and uncertain.' It became apparent that the British 'were completely exhausted, their strength overtaxed, and their confidence shaken by excessively high losses'.

Two hours earlier Major General Urquhart, the British divisional commander, released from confinement due to this determined but costly push towards the bridge, had realized that now they would never reach it. Even continued attacks by 4th Parachute Brigade would not be able to restore the situation. 11 PARA was therefore ordered to break off its assault behind the South Staffordshire Battalion and withdraw. A messenger was sent forward to warn the commanding officer of the South Staffordshires, but he did not get through. They had reached their furthest point of advance on the high road — the PGEM building just beyond the Municipal Museum. Their situation was desperate -only a few remaining PIAT light shoulder-fired anti-tank weapons were keeping the Sturmgeschutz III SPs of Assault Gun Brigade 280 at bay. At about 1230 they ran out of ammunition. Almost immediately the assault guns were launched down the road in the direction of the museum. The South Staffs had to scatter. Meanwhile, 11 PARA had formed up, oblivious to the threat to its rear, and had assembled for its withdrawal, apparently secure in the knowledge that they were covered. They were caught in the open with catastrophic results. It was soon over. For the rest of the afternoon of 19.September the survivors of the decimated British battalions fled or fought their way out in groups moving towards Oosterbeek. Moeller reported that 'changeable fighting went on and on until it finally petered out at around noon'. All around lay the wreckage and the human flotsam of war marking this high tide of the paratrooper advance. SS-Corporal Wolfgang Dombrowski found himself asking the inevitable question on Utrechtseweg: 'What were we to do with our wounded? A red cross flag was produced and casualties approached slowly, step by step. To our astonishment fire ceased immediately. Stretcher bearers picked up the wounded, moved off, and the shooting started again. We couldn't understand this as we were used to conditions on the Eastern Front. These Paras were supposed to be hard men - we knew they were! - and yet we were allowed to pick up the wounded. The other side was then given the opportunity to do the same.”

**Panzer Rob** · 09-16-2012, 08:11 AM

Here’s another detailed write-up on 3./StuG.Brigade’s arrival and deployment during the Battle of Arnhem, taken from the excellent Defending Arnhem website:

“The arrival of part of Sturmgeschützbrigade 280 on the 19th September 1944 assisted the Germans in turning the tide against the attacking Airborne soldiers during the Battle of Arnhem. Conveniently for the Germans, this unit had arrived during the attack of the 4 British Battalions who were trying to reach the bridge. They were quickly inserted into the German defensive line and engaged the oncoming assault by the British causing considerable casualties.

During the Battle of Arnhem Sturmgeschützbrigade 280 was commanded by Major Kurt Kühme who was a veteran of both the Eastern and Western Fronts. His unit had just been refitted in Denmark and was on its way to Aachen when part of the unit was rerouted by Field Marshal Model to the impending crisis in Northern Holland. Whilst the rest of Sturmgeschützbrigade 280 was located over the German Border, Major Kühme, on orders, employed only 10 AFVs - 7 x StuG III (different variants), 3 x StuG42 (Sd.Kfz. 142/1) and 1 x SPW ( Sd.Kfz. 251/8). Even so, this unit had considerable fire power and was extremely effective against the lightly armed airborne troops.

This Assault Gun force was subordinate to SS-Obersturmbannführer Spindler and was added to the blocking line on the 19th September 1944 which formed in the western suburbs of Arnhem, late on the 17th September 1944. The Assault Gun Brigade's vehicles were attached to each Kampfgruppe within Spindler's Sperrlinie. 3 SPs each were attached to Kampfgruppe Harder, Moeller and von Allworden. These Self Propelled Guns (SPs) were used in a direct fire support role for the infantry against the British strong points along their perimeter.

Initially the brigade was not effective due to insufficient regard for infantry protection. The SPs would move into exposed positions during the night forgoing liaison with their infantry colleagues, to be only hit in the morning by British well placed camouflaged Anti-Tank guns. However after some reorganisation on 21st September 1944, the Germans ensured that the SPs would not operate individually and that they had sufficient infantry protection at all times.

Due to the lack of manpower in the later years of the war, combined with the immediate threat of the enemy on German soil, units were most likely refitted with a mixture of combat inexperienced soldiers from the different armed services and were then immediately sent into battle. The opportunity for units to conduct the necessary cohesive unit training and tactics was often disregarded as reinforcements were required to plug ever present holes in the German front.

This was different for the Sturmgeschützbrigade 280. They had spent a number of months both refitting and training in Denmark and was considered an effective combat unit at this late stage of the war. By the 24th September 1944, Sturmgeschützbrigade 280 had 2 Sturmgeschütz III SPs destroyed. This equated to 20% loss of its original combat strength when it arrived only 5 days prior. Also killed was Oberwachmeister d. Res Josef Mathes who was posthumously awarded the Knight's Cross for his actions on the 19 Sep 1944.”

**Panzer Rob** · 09-16-2012, 08:12 AM

Two Propaganda photographers by the names of Wenzel and Jacobsen had been sent by the Ministry of Propaganda to Arnhem to take photographs of the fighting and they managed to take many photographs of 3./StuG.Brgd.280, starting with its arrival from Denmark.

The first of the next several photographs taken by Wenzel and Jacobsen shows a pair of 3.Batterie StuG.IIIs driving down Zijpse Poort on their way towards Arnhem shortly after the unit’s arrival and unloading from the rail cars they were transported on. The second and third photos show the unit as it makes its way towards Utrechtsestraat. The fourth photo is rather special; It shows all 10 of the 3.Batterie’s StuG.III and StuH.42 as they assemble on Utrechtsestraat shortly before they were committed to battle. No doubt one of the vehicles in this photo is Wehners.

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