Post by Tiger505 on Jan 23, 2009 23:15:59 GMT -5
Based on Hill 112 Research accurate as I can make it.
Hauptsturmfuhrer Karl Keck’s 16.kompanie./SS-PZ.GR.RGT.21 belonging to the 10th SS Frundsberg. Supported by the three Panzer Mk IV tanks of the 5.kompanie./SS-PZ.RGT.10 under Hauptscharfuhrer Borrekott and Obersturmfuhrer Kurt Leven with three more Mk IV tanks.
SSPzPion
65 HQ PF on CIC
65 2x 8cm Mortars
370 PzPion w/Truck,PF,Goliath
340 PzPion w/Truck&PF
325 Panzer Zug 3x Mk IV
325 Panzer Zug 3x Mk IV
255 Artillery Battery 4x 10.5cm
1745 Total I can provide the TOE I used to build this but the Goliath is just a point soak.
Counter attack force.
1. Kompanie SS Spza. 102
350 Witman
480 2x Tiger Ie
480 2x Tiger Ie
260 SS Pzgren 2x PF
150 2x LW Flak 36 ROF3
1720 pts
Schwere SS Panzerabteilung 102 was formed in April1943 with the cadre of roughly 120 men in Holland and started to train in early May. It was formed to function as the heavy battalion of the SS Panzerkorps. It deployed 3 companies to the front near Kharkov in July with the intent of finishing the battalions training in the rear combat zone but the HQ remained behind in the Senne Training Area. On 1 June 1943 the SS Panzerkorps was renamed II SS Panzerkorps and the 1st SS LAH was transferred to the newly formed I SS Panzer Korps. The battalion was renamed Schwere SS Panzerabteilung 102 on 22 October 1943 and attached to II SS Panzerkorps. In the reorganization it lost 13.kompanie./SSPZ.RGT.1 to the new Schwere SS Panzerabteilung 101 and 9.kompanie./SS-PZ.RGT.3 to the 3rd SS Panzer Totenkopf. The unit that emerged from the shuffle consisted of two freshly raised companies and the remains of the heavy company of the 2nd SS Das Reich who returned from the east in April of 1944. Commanded by Untersturmbannfuhrer Weiss and including a large number of volksdeutsche from Rumania the unit was to endure the agony of Normandy around Hill 112 from July 10th until being redeployed in early August.
On the night of July 9/10 freshly promoted Obersturmbannfuhrer Weiss and the first elements of Schwere SS Panzerabteilung moved into the area of St. Martin losing their first two tanks to air attacks on the morning of the 10th. Hill 112 with its dominating position roughly 15km south-west of Caen which allows it to control the Odon and Orne river valleys is know as “the back door to Caen” and “the key to Normandy.” Its bare slopes devoid of cover except for a small wood just below the summit and scattered corn fields would prove deadly for anyone attempting to hold or attack the area. Those woods known as the “crown of thorns” to the British and “the wood of the half trees” to their German Counter parts and the small village of Maltot on the southern slope would be the focal point for the carnage.
On the morning of July 10th 1944 the British opened Operation Jupiter with the 43rd (Weesex) Division attacking Hill 112 with the 129th Infantry Brigade consisting of the 5th Dorsetshire, 4th Somerset Light Infantry, and 5th Wiltshire supported by the Churchills of the 7th RTR. They ran into tenacious resistance from the three Panzer Mk IV tanks of the 5.kompanie./SS-PZ.RGT.10 under Hauptscharfuhrer Borrekott who where in picket positions. As roughly 25 Churchills overwhelmed the picket platoon Obersturmfuhrer Kurt Leven with three more Mk IV tanks advanced to the picket line and where also destroyed. The sacrifice of theses six crews and the stubborn resistance by Hauptsturmfuhrer Karl Keck’s 16.kompanie./SS-PZ.GR.RGT.21 belonging to the 10th SS Frundsberg in the wood of the half trees allowed reinforcements to be deployed into a powerful counterattack.
Hauptsturmfuhrer Endemann in Tiger 221 led his 2.kompanie into the attack with 7 Tigers from St. Martin towards Hill 112. As the smoke from the British Trommelfeuer lifted the Tigers advanced with the main effort directed towards the wood of the half trees and the battered 16.kompanie pioneers still fighting for their lives. Untersturmfuhrer Schroif`s platoon advanced on the right and Untersturmfuhrer Ratsack`s on the left. Three British tanks and several anti tank guns where destroyed. Despite stiff British resistance the Tigers of 2.kompanie had cleared the east section of Hill 112 but not without loss. Tiger 213 had been damaged by an anti-tank gun and Hauptsturmfuhrer Endemann was missing. British artillery concentrations would driver the Tigers undercover but it would not keep the hill in English hands. Another British attack with Churchill support would successfully take the northern section of the woods. A night attack with the 2.kompanie and grenadiers of SS-PZ.GR.RGT.21 would result in a bloody stalemate that would last until the next day. At the same time Tigers of 1.kompanie under Hauptsturmfuhrer Kalls were ordered to clear up the situation in Maltot. Advancing in a blitz attack to avoid British artillery Hauptscharfuhrer Baral’s platoon was ordered to protect the right flank and reached the village only to come under heavy fire from British tanks and anti tank guns. At a range of less than 200 meters Baral’s Tigers including the soon to be ace Unterscharfuhrer William Fey in Tiger 134 engaged the British tanks and infantry of the 130th Brigade and 9th RTR. Fey would claim two kills in this point blank melee. Fighting around Maltot would continue on into the night as Baral`s platoon would be used as a spearhead for an infantry assault by the SS-PZ.GR.RGT.20 of the 9th SS Hohenstaufen. The Tigers of the 1.kompanie would succeed and Maltot would be in German hands. The 9th RTR would report 12 Churchills lost in Maltot by 2235 but only seven British tanks and 8 anti tank guns where claimed.
During the 11th Tigers of the 2.kompanie supporting grenadiers from the SS-PZ.GR.RGT.22 of Frundsberg attacked the half tree wood from the south-east and Tigers of the 3.kopanie with SS-PZ.GR.RGT.19 of Hohenstaufen attacked from the south-west. Once again the British where evicted from the wood with five more Shermans destroyed. After their retreat the British once again advanced taking the wood. This time Tigers of 1.Kompanie with Stug support from 2.kompanie./SS-PZ.RGT.9 and grenadiers of SS-PZ.GR.RGT.20 that would reclaim the woods. For the loss of three Stugs destroyed and three damaged the British where forced out of the wood. They left behind 93 bodies. One Grenadier later wrote:
“The site was beyond all imagination. The dead, friend and foe, lay in masses on the open ground right up to the little wood. The air was putrid with the smell of decomposing corpses.”
By the end of July 11th the battalion was down to 14 operational Tigers, with 12 in short term repair and 13 long term repairs. They went into Normandy with 45 Tigers they would leave with none. From July 10 through August 1 the battalion was in constant action. It successfully held its ground through stubborn resistance and vicious counterattacks supporting elements of the 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divisons. They suffered from air attacks and the trommelfeuer of artillery. Despite being outnumbered they held firm in their duty to support the German infantry even as it was decimated in the Verdun of Normandy.
References
In the Firestorm of the Last Years of the War, by Wilhelm Tieke
Sons of the Reich, by Michael Reynolds
Tigers in Combat II, by Wolfgang Schneider
Tiger I on the Western Front, by Jean Restayn
Hauptsturmfuhrer Karl Keck’s 16.kompanie./SS-PZ.GR.RGT.21 belonging to the 10th SS Frundsberg. Supported by the three Panzer Mk IV tanks of the 5.kompanie./SS-PZ.RGT.10 under Hauptscharfuhrer Borrekott and Obersturmfuhrer Kurt Leven with three more Mk IV tanks.
SSPzPion
65 HQ PF on CIC
65 2x 8cm Mortars
370 PzPion w/Truck,PF,Goliath
340 PzPion w/Truck&PF
325 Panzer Zug 3x Mk IV
325 Panzer Zug 3x Mk IV
255 Artillery Battery 4x 10.5cm
1745 Total I can provide the TOE I used to build this but the Goliath is just a point soak.
Counter attack force.
1. Kompanie SS Spza. 102
350 Witman
480 2x Tiger Ie
480 2x Tiger Ie
260 SS Pzgren 2x PF
150 2x LW Flak 36 ROF3
1720 pts
Schwere SS Panzerabteilung 102 was formed in April1943 with the cadre of roughly 120 men in Holland and started to train in early May. It was formed to function as the heavy battalion of the SS Panzerkorps. It deployed 3 companies to the front near Kharkov in July with the intent of finishing the battalions training in the rear combat zone but the HQ remained behind in the Senne Training Area. On 1 June 1943 the SS Panzerkorps was renamed II SS Panzerkorps and the 1st SS LAH was transferred to the newly formed I SS Panzer Korps. The battalion was renamed Schwere SS Panzerabteilung 102 on 22 October 1943 and attached to II SS Panzerkorps. In the reorganization it lost 13.kompanie./SSPZ.RGT.1 to the new Schwere SS Panzerabteilung 101 and 9.kompanie./SS-PZ.RGT.3 to the 3rd SS Panzer Totenkopf. The unit that emerged from the shuffle consisted of two freshly raised companies and the remains of the heavy company of the 2nd SS Das Reich who returned from the east in April of 1944. Commanded by Untersturmbannfuhrer Weiss and including a large number of volksdeutsche from Rumania the unit was to endure the agony of Normandy around Hill 112 from July 10th until being redeployed in early August.
On the night of July 9/10 freshly promoted Obersturmbannfuhrer Weiss and the first elements of Schwere SS Panzerabteilung moved into the area of St. Martin losing their first two tanks to air attacks on the morning of the 10th. Hill 112 with its dominating position roughly 15km south-west of Caen which allows it to control the Odon and Orne river valleys is know as “the back door to Caen” and “the key to Normandy.” Its bare slopes devoid of cover except for a small wood just below the summit and scattered corn fields would prove deadly for anyone attempting to hold or attack the area. Those woods known as the “crown of thorns” to the British and “the wood of the half trees” to their German Counter parts and the small village of Maltot on the southern slope would be the focal point for the carnage.
On the morning of July 10th 1944 the British opened Operation Jupiter with the 43rd (Weesex) Division attacking Hill 112 with the 129th Infantry Brigade consisting of the 5th Dorsetshire, 4th Somerset Light Infantry, and 5th Wiltshire supported by the Churchills of the 7th RTR. They ran into tenacious resistance from the three Panzer Mk IV tanks of the 5.kompanie./SS-PZ.RGT.10 under Hauptscharfuhrer Borrekott who where in picket positions. As roughly 25 Churchills overwhelmed the picket platoon Obersturmfuhrer Kurt Leven with three more Mk IV tanks advanced to the picket line and where also destroyed. The sacrifice of theses six crews and the stubborn resistance by Hauptsturmfuhrer Karl Keck’s 16.kompanie./SS-PZ.GR.RGT.21 belonging to the 10th SS Frundsberg in the wood of the half trees allowed reinforcements to be deployed into a powerful counterattack.
Hauptsturmfuhrer Endemann in Tiger 221 led his 2.kompanie into the attack with 7 Tigers from St. Martin towards Hill 112. As the smoke from the British Trommelfeuer lifted the Tigers advanced with the main effort directed towards the wood of the half trees and the battered 16.kompanie pioneers still fighting for their lives. Untersturmfuhrer Schroif`s platoon advanced on the right and Untersturmfuhrer Ratsack`s on the left. Three British tanks and several anti tank guns where destroyed. Despite stiff British resistance the Tigers of 2.kompanie had cleared the east section of Hill 112 but not without loss. Tiger 213 had been damaged by an anti-tank gun and Hauptsturmfuhrer Endemann was missing. British artillery concentrations would driver the Tigers undercover but it would not keep the hill in English hands. Another British attack with Churchill support would successfully take the northern section of the woods. A night attack with the 2.kompanie and grenadiers of SS-PZ.GR.RGT.21 would result in a bloody stalemate that would last until the next day. At the same time Tigers of 1.kompanie under Hauptsturmfuhrer Kalls were ordered to clear up the situation in Maltot. Advancing in a blitz attack to avoid British artillery Hauptscharfuhrer Baral’s platoon was ordered to protect the right flank and reached the village only to come under heavy fire from British tanks and anti tank guns. At a range of less than 200 meters Baral’s Tigers including the soon to be ace Unterscharfuhrer William Fey in Tiger 134 engaged the British tanks and infantry of the 130th Brigade and 9th RTR. Fey would claim two kills in this point blank melee. Fighting around Maltot would continue on into the night as Baral`s platoon would be used as a spearhead for an infantry assault by the SS-PZ.GR.RGT.20 of the 9th SS Hohenstaufen. The Tigers of the 1.kompanie would succeed and Maltot would be in German hands. The 9th RTR would report 12 Churchills lost in Maltot by 2235 but only seven British tanks and 8 anti tank guns where claimed.
During the 11th Tigers of the 2.kompanie supporting grenadiers from the SS-PZ.GR.RGT.22 of Frundsberg attacked the half tree wood from the south-east and Tigers of the 3.kopanie with SS-PZ.GR.RGT.19 of Hohenstaufen attacked from the south-west. Once again the British where evicted from the wood with five more Shermans destroyed. After their retreat the British once again advanced taking the wood. This time Tigers of 1.Kompanie with Stug support from 2.kompanie./SS-PZ.RGT.9 and grenadiers of SS-PZ.GR.RGT.20 that would reclaim the woods. For the loss of three Stugs destroyed and three damaged the British where forced out of the wood. They left behind 93 bodies. One Grenadier later wrote:
“The site was beyond all imagination. The dead, friend and foe, lay in masses on the open ground right up to the little wood. The air was putrid with the smell of decomposing corpses.”
By the end of July 11th the battalion was down to 14 operational Tigers, with 12 in short term repair and 13 long term repairs. They went into Normandy with 45 Tigers they would leave with none. From July 10 through August 1 the battalion was in constant action. It successfully held its ground through stubborn resistance and vicious counterattacks supporting elements of the 9th and 10th SS Panzer Divisons. They suffered from air attacks and the trommelfeuer of artillery. Despite being outnumbered they held firm in their duty to support the German infantry even as it was decimated in the Verdun of Normandy.
References
In the Firestorm of the Last Years of the War, by Wilhelm Tieke
Sons of the Reich, by Michael Reynolds
Tigers in Combat II, by Wolfgang Schneider
Tiger I on the Western Front, by Jean Restayn
