Hi fellow collectors!
as collecting award citations of the western front 1944/45 (Normandy, Ardennes, Aachen, Holland etc.) is one of my main interests I wanted to share a little story with you!
It all started with a little Iron Cross group I received about 5 years ago. It belonged to officer candidate Karl Gebauer of II./Grenadier-Regiment 164, 62nd Volksgrenadier-Division. The 62nd saw heavy action south/southwest of St. Vith, Belgium, facing parts of the 106th US infantry division. He was awarded the Iron Cross second class on January 3rd 1945 for fighting in the Battle of the Bulge.
With the group came a list of close combat days which allowed me to locate the exact spots Gebauer saw action at. One was Steinebrück about 7km south of St.Vith, the other one was the town of Aldringen, about 12km southwest of St. Vith.
Last week i had an appointment in St. Vith, so I took the chance to also visit the spots where Gebauer saw in Decembre ´44. Steinebrück turned out to be a very small settlement right at the German border with just a handful of houses. It is located in a valley surrounded by steep hills, flown through by the our creek.
Grenadier-Regiment 164 attacked Steinebrück on Decembre 16th from the south. American infantry had occupied the hills and houses what led to brutal fightings around the village. On decembre 19th Steinebrück was taken by Grenadier-Regiment 164. It is confirmed that Gebauer was involved in close combat at least one day: on Decembre 17th (see list).
As a result of the heavy and powerful German attacks the American troops south of St. Vith retreated west towards the towns of Grüfflingen and Aldringen, followed by Grenadier-Regiment 164 (Gebauers unit) while other parts of 62nd Volksgrenadier pushed northwards, trying to capture St. Vith.
The 106th US Infantry again engaged Grenadier-Regiment 164 in a forest area east of Grüfflingen (Grüfflinger Forst). Here the 164th suffered heavy losses, but managed to break through the American lines on Decembre 22nd and took the town of Grüfflingen before heading towards Aldringen, where Gebauer saw close combat action again on Dec 23rd. The area around Aldringen is way flatter than Steinebrück, the town is surrounded by fields, little forests and rolling hills. One can only imagine how hard it must have been to attack the town by crossing the open, snowy fields, always fired at by enemy artillery and machineguns.
I started my little tour in Steinebrück before I went to Aldringen. On my way back I also had a little stopover in Grüfflinger Forst, but forgot to take pictures... silly!
I really enjoyed the day, it was like experiencing "living history"! My tour gave me a way better impression of what the soldier Gebauer went through and what he saw back in Decembre 1944! It also added a certain personal value to the documents!
I hope you enjoy my little show too!
Regards,
Matthias
I start with Gebauers documents and dog tag and two maps of the area... one I found online, the other one I created myself by using Google Maps so you get a better idea of the location!
as collecting award citations of the western front 1944/45 (Normandy, Ardennes, Aachen, Holland etc.) is one of my main interests I wanted to share a little story with you!
It all started with a little Iron Cross group I received about 5 years ago. It belonged to officer candidate Karl Gebauer of II./Grenadier-Regiment 164, 62nd Volksgrenadier-Division. The 62nd saw heavy action south/southwest of St. Vith, Belgium, facing parts of the 106th US infantry division. He was awarded the Iron Cross second class on January 3rd 1945 for fighting in the Battle of the Bulge.
With the group came a list of close combat days which allowed me to locate the exact spots Gebauer saw action at. One was Steinebrück about 7km south of St.Vith, the other one was the town of Aldringen, about 12km southwest of St. Vith.
Last week i had an appointment in St. Vith, so I took the chance to also visit the spots where Gebauer saw in Decembre ´44. Steinebrück turned out to be a very small settlement right at the German border with just a handful of houses. It is located in a valley surrounded by steep hills, flown through by the our creek.
Grenadier-Regiment 164 attacked Steinebrück on Decembre 16th from the south. American infantry had occupied the hills and houses what led to brutal fightings around the village. On decembre 19th Steinebrück was taken by Grenadier-Regiment 164. It is confirmed that Gebauer was involved in close combat at least one day: on Decembre 17th (see list).
As a result of the heavy and powerful German attacks the American troops south of St. Vith retreated west towards the towns of Grüfflingen and Aldringen, followed by Grenadier-Regiment 164 (Gebauers unit) while other parts of 62nd Volksgrenadier pushed northwards, trying to capture St. Vith.
The 106th US Infantry again engaged Grenadier-Regiment 164 in a forest area east of Grüfflingen (Grüfflinger Forst). Here the 164th suffered heavy losses, but managed to break through the American lines on Decembre 22nd and took the town of Grüfflingen before heading towards Aldringen, where Gebauer saw close combat action again on Dec 23rd. The area around Aldringen is way flatter than Steinebrück, the town is surrounded by fields, little forests and rolling hills. One can only imagine how hard it must have been to attack the town by crossing the open, snowy fields, always fired at by enemy artillery and machineguns.
I started my little tour in Steinebrück before I went to Aldringen. On my way back I also had a little stopover in Grüfflinger Forst, but forgot to take pictures... silly!
I really enjoyed the day, it was like experiencing "living history"! My tour gave me a way better impression of what the soldier Gebauer went through and what he saw back in Decembre 1944! It also added a certain personal value to the documents!
I hope you enjoy my little show too!
Regards,
Matthias
I start with Gebauers documents and dog tag and two maps of the area... one I found online, the other one I created myself by using Google Maps so you get a better idea of the location!
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