352nd VGD Group - Few Question

[Luft 76]

John : you are welcome.
Archi : thanks for the very usefull links about maps.

[InfanterieSammler]

Hello John, Lionel and Luft 76 !

Some general remark :
John/InfanterieSammler, I really worship your interest in great detail, trying to pin down the
very exact locations/circumstances, where the soldiers fought .

I think Lionel already did an excellent job, in deciphering the locations in the "Sturmtage" list.
Some very minor additions :
- 16.12.44 : I think it is Niederberghof (a farmhouse or grange, ~1km S of Gentingen) [see map]
- 17.12.44 : "Erzwingung d.[es] Übergangs ü.[ber] d.[ie] Blees" (=Forcing the River Blees)
- 18.12.44 : Inbesitznahme ... Kirchbusch ... Fohrberg
[I think the place on 18.12., starting with "K" should be the same as mentioned on 16.12.44]

I'll attach some maps, which might be of interest. 1st is 1:100,000 scale.
I think I found the locations, mentioned on the 16. and 18., on a topographic map with a scale of 1:25000,
which can be found on this site (Messtischblatt Nr.6103 Wallendorf):
http://www.landkartenarchiv.de/deuts...blaetter_6.php
http://www.landkartenarchiv.de/tk25....Maps_2499_high

These entries are somehow confirmed by the FMS report mentioned by Luft 76 :
In the B-067 report Gen. Schmidt mentions, that Gren.Rgt. 916 had the task to take the high ground
N of Bettendorf. But despite all efforts, it was only able to achieve that task, when heavy weapons
were brought in on the 18th (The 3rd map is from that FMS report).

I fully agree with Luft 76 on the FMS reports. They are great sources (and often the only ones !),
but they have to be taken with care, as many are written from memory only. According to my experience,
their accuracy differs, some are very poor, some are extremely good. IMO, FMS B-067 seems to be a good one !

Here are some additional links, I found interesting. (The first one has a lot of photos of the
battlesites as they look today, the second one two pdfs in English language):
http://www.darkplaces.org/Deutschlan..._Reisdorf.html
http://www.mnhm.net/cms/index.php/de...storische-wege

Best regards,

Archi

Hello Archi,

Thank for your kind words and your contributions to this thread.

I really appreciate your assistance with the "Sturmtage" translations and finding those places on the map. I have now bookmarked that site for future reference - another great resource! Thank you also for the links to the "Then/Now" sites, these are always very interesting. I really enjoy seeing historical locations as they exist today.

[Paul E]

Archi,

Do you know if the locations on the darkplaces website around the Westwallwanderweg are just a walking tour or are they accessable by car > in particular the Amerikanisches Browning MG Schützenloch and memorial to the 109 IR .

regards

Paul

[Archi]

Hello Paul E !

I cannot answer that exactly.
(It says "Wanderweg" (= hiking path) ...)
However, when I tried to locate those locations John was looking for, I found quite a number of sites,
which offer battlefield tours to that sites. Those people should be able to answer this much better.
(You just need to google for : Hoesdorf Ardennes, Reisdorf etc ... )

Some examples :
https://www.visitluxembourg.com/de/a...rinnerungs-weg
http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...trip=1&vwsrc=0

Hope that helps, best regards,

Archi

[Paul E]

Many thanks Archi , i'll check them out