Very unknown tank battle in Rocourt...

[Mike_Fiz]

In the book "Panzerwrecks #6" the pages 80-81 shows 4 Panzer IV of the 6.SS-Pz.Rgt.1 destroyed in Rocourt, Belgium in the night of 7/8 september 1944, but nothing on the US unit which caused such damage, only "US Forces"...

In the internet the wikipedia (french version) says about :

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bataille_de_Rocourt

Une autre bataille, de moindre importance, est connue sous le nom de bataille de Rocourt. Elle est s'est déroulée le 7 septembre 1944, à l'occasion de la retraite allemande. Une colonne de 9 chars allemands fut attaquée par trois tanks et un half-track américain, seul un blindé allemand parvint à s'enfuir[1].

The footnote leads to thes page :
http://users.skynet.be/bs802199/FILES_E ... ite_E.html
this page includes testimony of a local resident, an Mr. Jean Dengis.

Nine german tanks were apparently ambushed for three american tanks... and only one Pz IV escapes...


Anyone with information about the allied unit/units involved?, and/or of the german side? or any circumstances about this encounter?

[Mike_Fiz]

Ok, after some research other data emerged...


A friend tells me that in the book of Peter Taghon, "Belgique 44 : la libération", form the page 179 to 182 there are some references to the fighting in Liege-Rocourt area, and references to a combat between german and american tanks in the 7-8 september.

This picture is of a Pz IV destroyed in these combats :


And the text of Taghon is :

"A cause des barrages routiers américains érigés autour de Liège, beaucoup de matériel lourd fut perdu.
Dans la nuit du 7 au 8 septembre 1944, les Allemands attaquèrent le barrage du Combat Command R, sur la Place Reine Astrid, à Rocourt. Les G.I. mirent sept chars hors de combat. cette photo fut prise après la Libération.
Ce PanzerKampfwagen IV. ausf.H a déjà été pillé. L'écoutille, sur la plage avant, tout comme les plaques de blindage latérales, ont disparus. Il s'agit probablement d'un char de la 116e Panzer, qui évacua ses positions entre Herstappe et Rocourt, le 7 septembre et se replia pendant la nuit derrière la Meuse".

My French it's not very good, but I understand that a group of German tanks ran into a road block from "Combat Command R" in Rocourt in the night of 7-8 september 1944.

The 3 Armored division was the unit that liberated the city of Liege, then searching in the history of the 3AD I find this :

http://www.3ad.com/history/wwll/dugan.p ... elgium.htm

On 8 September Combat Command A mopped up the north side of Liege. Meanwhile Combat Command B cleared the south of the city. Two more German general officers were accounted for with one killed and one captured.

The division engineers constructed a 510 foot treadway bridge across the Meuse.

Much enemy equipment was destroyed trying to force road blocks that day and night. The personnel of one road block in Combat Command B zone accounted for 35 enemy vehicles, killing a lieutenant general as he tried to run the block in a high powered staff car; another, manned by Division Reserve, got seven MK IV tanks.

And that was the "Combat Command R" or "CCR", in another part the history of the 3AD says :

Combat Command A (Hickey) swept forward in two columns and got off to a good start. Then the fast-moving tankers were hit by counterattacking Germans near Ranes. The enemy closed on all sides and surrounded the combat command, isolating it from the Division. This was not unusual for the front-running tankers, and CCA coolly fought its way forward. At this point the Division Reserve (also called CCR) went into action. In the 3rd Armored the Division Reserve consisted of the detached battalions not with CCA or CCB.

Then, the "US Forces" mentioned in "Panzerwrecks #6" were almost certainly part of the "CCR" or "Combat Command R" of the 3AD...


Anyone has more information about this encounter?...

[Timm Haasler]

Hi Mike,

Sorry to reply that late, but I'm checking this part of the forum only sporadically.

This is what happened from the German point of view:

On 08.09.44, 116. Pz.Div. reported that an armored reconnaissance troop of the division which had been sent to LIEGE had skirmished with an enemy tank unit at ROCOURT (4 km north of LIEGE) at 01.00 hrs. The reconnaissance troop was made up of eight tanks and was dispersed during the engagement. Pictures taken after the battle testify at least the loss of five Panzer IV at ROCOURT. After the war the divisional commander of 116. Pz.Div. accused an officer of the Waffen-SS with being responsible for the loss of quite a number of tanks. According to him the officer had tried to transfer 15 out of 30 tanks to his division which he had just taken over at LIÈGE. Unaware of the overall situation the officer ran the tanks directly into the enemy. The rest of the tanks had been taken over by 116. Pz.Div. according to General Graf von Schwerin. The story is quite strange, as von Schwerin doesn’t mention the ROCOURT incident in his after action report at all. As we already know only 16-17 Panzer IV were allocated to 116. Pz.Div. / 1. SS-Pz.Div. during the first week of September. Surprisingly the company commander of 6./ SS-Pz.Rgt. 1 mentioned in his diary that his tank was destroyed during the night 07./08.09.44 near LIÈGE. The rest of his tanks were blown up the same night. At the break of dawn, Ostuf. Benoni Junker crossed the MEUSE and was questioned by the commander of II./ Pz.Rgt. 16, Major Brühl the next day on the orders of General Graf von Schwerin. First of all these entries in the diary clearly show that 6./ SS-Pz.Rgt. 1 was still attached to 116. Pz.Div. although the tanks should have been already handed over to 116. Pz.Div. three days before. What really happened during the evening at ROCOURT on 07.09.44 is reported by a tank driver of 6./ SS-Pz.Rgt. 1:

In support of the troops retreating from France we were operating to the west of LIÈGE. We were resting in camouflaged positions on the reverse slope of a road when around noon approximately 30 American armored vehicles drove by in the direction of ROCOURT on the road in front of us. They drove by unhindered and vanished in the next village. In the afternoon we received the order to advance on the same road in the direction the Americans had taken. On the outskirts of the village we met the first jubilant villagers shouting “Vives les Américaines”. Inside the village the Americans who had been forewarned by the villagers were firing at us from the back streets. As we were low of fuel we retreated through back roads and the adjoining gardens. When it became dark all the serviceable tanks were blown up. In a nearby narrow lane I met two other members of my company and we continued our withdrawal to the East on foot carrying only small arms and some food, trying to bypass each village en route.

It remains unclear why the company didn’t attack the advancing Americans from their ideal position in the afternoon. Later it was claimed that Ostuf. Junker was sleeping in the back of his car when the Americans arrived.

Another member of the company added that it was already between 20.00 and 21.00 hrs when they reached the little Belgian town. His tank received a direct hit and started to burn. As the turret was blocked he wasn’t able to leave the tank through the turret and therefore he bailed out through the bottom hatch of the tank. He reached a bridge over the MEUSE on foot the same night. When the Americans had driven by earlier the company was in danger of being encircled. The first platoon leader, Ustuf. Karl-Heinz Asmussen, acted on his own authority and drove with six of his tanks to the East bypassing ROCOURT. It was later said that he reached 116. Pz.Div. without further losses.

It seems to be obvious that Ostuf. Junker didn’t try to transfer the tanks to 1. SS Pz.Div. as claimed by General Graf von Schwerin. It mitigates in favor of Ostuf. Junker that he was sent back to his division on 11.09.44, a free man after the investigation by Major Brühl. He reached LOHMAR via DÜREN the same day, where he joined the staff of SS-Pz.Rgt. 1. Ostuf. Junker makes no further mention of the incident or is there any indication that he was court-martialed over the ROCOURT incident. Other members of his company that survived the engagement at ROCOURT had arrived in the SIEGBURG area by mid September after an odyssey via AACHEN, COLOGNE and KOBLENZ.

Hope that helps
Timm

[Mike_Fiz]

I am very sorry for not being able to answer before.

And of course, this information is very useful, many thanks mr. Hassler In December I bough his book about the Panzer Brigade 105, and has literally tons of info



Then, on this particular encounter, the german tanks were of the 6./ SS-Pz.Rgt. 1, at that time assigned to the 116. Pz. Div. Of the seven Pz IV lost, surely one tank was hit by American fire (for the testomony of one crewman), of the others, no one knows how many more shared is fate or were blow by his crews...