6.Arm. 19.ID, IR74, PzJägAbt 19, Asse, 18/05/1940

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WEISWEILER
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6.Arm. 19.ID, IR74, PzJägAbt 19, Asse, 18/05/1940

#1

Post by WEISWEILER » 21 Jan 2008, 13:25

Peter Taghon's Mei 40 tells about May 1940 Belgium. Asse, near Brussels: Major Cockayne-Frith and several Troops of the British Expeditionary Force were waiting with orders to slow down the German attack, after which it could retreat behind the River Dender. As Cockayne-Frith and the 3rd, 4th and 5th Troop tried to surprise the Germans, their commander gave the order to surround the B.E.F. Already a dozen (?) of Mark IV B-tanks had been put out of order by the raging fire of the Germans. The Pz. Jäger Abt. 19, and I.R. did well, their FlaK proving far superior to the Mark IV B-Tank, thus appearing a standard and fast though too lightly armoured model. Behind the lines a radioman tried to reach the British Major. However, it was too late. Cockayne-Frith and his comrades were defeated, and all that remained of the British Exp. Force in the town of Asse, together around twenty Bren-carriers and 48 tanks, and their crews, had fallen into enemy hands.

I'm looking for the German OoB.

Pz. Jäger Abt. 19
I.R. 74

including names.

Thanks for your help.

/W

The original title of the thread has been edited.
Last edited by WEISWEILER on 21 Jan 2008, 20:59, edited 1 time in total.

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#2

Post by WEISWEILER » 21 Jan 2008, 18:50

Heeresgruppe B (v. Bock)

6.Armee (Reichenau)

IX.A.K. (Gen. der Inf. H. Geyer) - Transfer 17/05/1940 to 18.Armee.
56.I.D. (Gen.Maj. K. Kriebel)
30.I.D. (Gen. der Inf. K. von Briesen)
19.I.D. (Gen.Maj. O. von Knobelsdorff)

XI.A.K. (Gen. der Inf. J. von Kortzfleisch)
7.I.D. (Gen.Lt. E. von Gablenz)
14.I.D. (Gen.Lt. P. Weyer)
31.I.D. (Gen.Lt. R. Kaempfe)

IV.A.K. (Gen. der Inf. T. Ruoff)
18.I.D. (Gen.Lt. F-K. Cranz)
35.I.D. (Gen.Lt. H-W. Reinhard)

XXVII.A.K. (Gen. der Inf. A. Wäger)
253.I.D. (Gen.Lt. F. Kühne)
269.I.D. (Gen.Maj. E. Hell)
4.Pz.D. (Gen.Maj. J. Stever)

6.Armee - Reserves
61.I.D. (Gen.Lt. S. Haenicke)
216.I.D. (Gen.Lt. H. Boettcher)
20.I.D. (Mot) (Lt.Gen. M. von Viktorin)
3.Pz.D. (Gen.Maj. H. Stumpf)
I.A.K. (Gen. der Inf. K-H. von Both)
1.I.D. (Gen.Lt. Ph. Kleffer)
11.I.D. Gen.Lt. H. von Böckmann)
223.I.D. (Gen.Lt. P-W. Körner)



19. ID
I.R. 74

As the 19. seems to be transferred the day before the battle, the OoB should be deduced from the 18.Armee.

Was Pz. Jäger Abt. 19 a part of 19. ID or of 4.(?) Pz.D? I would say ID had no Pz. or am I wrong?

As you can see I have no experience in this stuff...

Thanks for any comment. :roll:

/W
I've edited because my search quickly had some more results and the first ed. was confusing.


Andreas
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#3

Post by Andreas » 21 Jan 2008, 19:15

A Panzerjägerabteilung is an anti-tank gun battalion. Each infantry division had one. Panzerjägerabteilung 19 and IR 74 were part of the 19. ID:

http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=1423

All the best

Andreas

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#4

Post by WEISWEILER » 21 Jan 2008, 19:26

Many thanks, Andreas.

I think we can focus now to elaborate the following OoB. (Funny, I just realise I have a Dienstglas that very well could have belonged to these men.)


This is what the AH Factbook says.

19. Infanterie-Division was redesignated 19. Panzer-Division 1 Nov 1940.

Commanders
Generalleutnant Günther Schwantes (1 Sep 1939 - 1 Feb 1940)
General der Panzertruppen Otto von Knobelsdorff (1 Feb 1940 - 1 Nov 1940)

Area of operations
Poland (Sep 1939 - May 1940)
Belgium (May 1940 - Nov 1940)


Holders of high awards
Holders of the Knight's Cross (4)



Order of battle

59. Infantry Regiment

73. Infantry Regiment

74. Infantry Regiment

19. Artillery Regiment

1. Battalion

2. Battalion

3. Battalion

1 / 55. Artillery Regiment

19. Panzerabwehr Battalion (mot)

19. Reconnaissance Battalion

19. Feldersatz Battalion

19. Signals Battalion

19. Pioneer Battalion

Supply Troops



Honorary regimental Chiefs
Chef des Infanterie-Regiment 73: Generalfeldmarschall Werner von Blomberg (13.03.1937)



Reference material on this unit
Rolf Hinze - 19. Infanterie- und Panzer-Division

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#5

Post by Christoph Awender » 21 Jan 2008, 19:27

Hello

This is what I have for this day
19.Inf.Div.:

05:15 AT-guns attack enemy positions and bunkers on the heights south of Borght opposite of Vilvoorde. The 8.(M.G.)/I.R.73 fires from houses and makes enemy soldiers to leave their positions. I./Art.Rgt.19 and the s.I.G. platoon fire on enemy positions in Borght and in the rear area.

05:45 6., 7./I.R.73 bring their dinghies into the water. They just find dead or wounded enemies on the other side. Borght is taken at 06:30. 6., 7./I.R.73 advance of bicycles on the road to Grimberghen. Enemy forces west of Grimberghen are attacked by the 7./I.R.73 of Lt.Westhofen. 200 enemies surrender. In the meantime the II./I.R.73 and II./I.R.74 crossed the canal and advance to Brusseghem where they rest. At 10:00 the Vorausabteilung Oberstlt.Marcks takes the lead.

13:00 Inf.Rgt.73 continues to advance via Assche towards the Dendre-sector. Vorausabtl. Marcks rejects an enemy counter attack with tanks from the south.

In the afternoon I.R.73 regroups to advance in broad formation to clean the area down to the Dendre-river. I./73 right, II./73 left and III./73 left behind advance on both sides of Teralphene towards the Dendre.

17:45 7./I.R.73 reaches Teralphene at first at reaches the Dendre very fast but fails to cross the river because of enemy resistance. The platoon leader Lt.Hahn is KIA at the river.
The attack across the Dendre has to be stopped. The III./I.R.73 takes positions at the Bellebeek to the southeast.


\Christoph

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#6

Post by WEISWEILER » 21 Jan 2008, 19:58

Many thanks, Christoph.

This action must have contained the actual battle. Quote:

"13:00 Inf.Rgt.73 continues to advance via Assche towards the Dendre-sector. Vorausabtl. Marcks rejects an enemy counter attack with tanks from the south.

In the afternoon I.R.73 regroups to advance in broad formation to clean the area down to the Dendre-river. I./73 right, II./73 left and III./73 left behind advance on both sides of Teralphene towards the Dendre.

17:45 7./I.R.73 reaches Teralphene at first at reaches the Dendre very fast but fails to cross the river because of enemy resistance. The platoon leader Lt.Hahn is KIA at the river.
The attack across the Dendre has to be stopped. The III./I.R.73 takes positions at the Bellebeek to the southeast."

Further:

"The III./I.R.73 takes positions at the Bellebeek to the southeast."

Do you know what happened next?

/W

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#7

Post by WEISWEILER » 21 Jan 2008, 20:45

The work of Taghon (Mei 1940, Tielt, 2000, pp. 141-145) that I have used to open this thread in fact is a commented photo book. Elaborating the subject I would like to share these sources for the photos that illustrate Chapters 18 (Brussel bezet) and 19 (Intermezzo aan de Dender) showing the events or shortly after. Many photos during this campaign were taken by the Propaganda Kompanien (PK).

Photo's used by Taghon
ECPA 119L02 (Asse, BEF tank after battle)
(ECPA ?, PK ?) (Asse, idem, brick wall on the background)
(ECPA ?, PK ?) (Asse, BEF Carrier, parked in a field)
R. Potie, Belgium (Teralfene, 2 BEF tanks and some other vehicles, near the railway bridge and the Dender)
(ECPA ?) PK (Teralfene, IR 73 crossing the Dender river)


/W

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#8

Post by WEISWEILER » 22 Jan 2008, 11:01

About: Westhoven
Mentioned above as the leader of 7./IR 73.

1940 - At the end of 1940 the 19. ID (Knobelsdorff) is reformed to PzDiv.
1943 - A Westhoven (Franz D.) served as a general under Otto von Knobelsdorff in the Battle of Kursk in 1943, in Hoth's 4. Pz Armee (2.Armee). By than Knobelsdorff is a corps commander and Westhoven division commander. 1944 - A Franz Westhoven was briefly the commander of the 2.PzDiv (5-27 May 1944)

Is this gen. Franz Westhoven the man from the West campaign in 1940?

After the war, Knobelsdorff and Franz Westhoven became authors:
Knobelsdorff, Geschichte der niedersächsisischen 19. Panzer-Division.
Westhoven, Geschichte der 3. Panzer-Division

/W

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#9

Post by WEISWEILER » 22 Jan 2008, 12:09

This is what happened further at the Bellebeek and Dender:

IX.A.K.: (moved from 6.Armee to 18.Armee this day)

19.Inf.Div.: During the night 18./19. enemy artillery fire on German positions around Teralphene. In the early morning recon reports that the enemy is not building up stiff resistance and the division commander orders to attack across the Dender.

I., II./I.R.73 advance to the river and come under heavy enemy artillery fire. German artillery forces the enemy to withdraw from the positions along the canal. He goes back to Denderleeuw.

II./73 finds no location to cross the Dender and evades to the sector of the I./73 north of the canal-knee. 5./73 under Olt.Seyrl is the first company that gets across followed by Major Köhler the Btl. commander. Under enemy fire the soldiers embark the dinghies and cross the canal. Major Köhler breaks into Denderleeuw with two groups and the company group of 5./73 and is involved in heavy house to house fighting. Some British tanks appear in the streets but are rejected by the 5.Kp. In the western part of the town Major Köhler is wounded but stays with his unit. The 2./I.R.73 under Oberstlt. v.Lersner breaks into Denderleeuw from the north. The raising pressure pushes the enemy out of Denderleeuw. The I./73 pursues the retreating enemy who sets up a defence line after on kilometer. The I./73 overruns the enemy there.

The remaining parts of the regiment follow and reach the line Kerkxken – Klein-Herlinckhove at 14:35. At once heavy equipment follows to strengthen the bridgehead. Inf.Rgt.73 stays alone with open flanks on the other side of the Dender. 14./I.R.73 secures the flanks. Engineers start to build a bridge.

In the late afternoon Vorausabt. Marcks arrives in the bridgehead.

20:30 verst.Inf.Rgt.73 builds a marching group Menkel (I./A.R.19, I./A.R.55, 3./Pz.Jg.Abt.19, Tle. N.A.19, 3./Pi.Btl.19, one battery II./A.R.60 (10cm)) and continues to pursue the enemy via Audenhoye to Roosebeeke where the regiment arrives around midnight without enemy contact.

After the crossing of the Dendre of this day the III./Inf.Rgt.73 is regrouped as a bicycle Btl. with “organized” bicycles.


This way, new names come to surface.

/W

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#10

Post by WEISWEILER » 22 Jan 2008, 12:24

About: Lt Hahn

Hahn, Oberlt Werner ?

(Source: http://www.afterthebattle.com/atb.pdf )

/W

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#11

Post by Ypenburg » 22 Jan 2008, 16:16

WEISWEILER wrote:About: Lt Hahn

Hahn, Oberlt Werner ?

(Source: http://www.afterthebattle.com/atb.pdf )

/W
No:
Zum Gedenken

F1158871
Nachname: Hahn
Vorname: Kurt
Dienstgrad: Leutnant
Geburtsdatum: 25.09.1918
Geburtsort:
Todes-/Vermisstendatum: 18.05.1940
Todes-/Vermisstenort:
Kurt Hahn ruht auf der Kriegsgräberstätte in Lommel(Belgien).

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#12

Post by Ypenburg » 22 Jan 2008, 16:20

And I've added some info here to help you out: http://gliederungundstellenbesetzung.blogspot.com/

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#13

Post by Jan-Hendrik » 22 Jan 2008, 17:05

Interesting Blog!!!

Jan-Hendrik

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#14

Post by WEISWEILER » 22 Jan 2008, 18:01

Just great.

/W

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#15

Post by WEISWEILER » 23 Jan 2008, 09:06

Bellebeek

View of the rivers Dender and Bellebeek. The lake, as well as the industrial installations, are post WWII. The bridge over the Dender is just e few hundreds of meters to the NW.

It's an interesting spot. Many war has been fought there. The east bank (Essene and Asse) is a hight (appr. 60-80 m.) containing substrata from an MA castle (Castro, knights of Essene) and of a Roman complex, which is believed to be a Castrum Romanum (Roman army camp). Both to defend the Dender pass.

/W
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