Today I came across something very weird...
As I read the memoirs of Helmut Ritgen I came across this section: ,,On 18 June the 7th Green Howard
Battalion attacked the 3rd Company of the 130th ALA in Longraye after a
strong mortar preparation. The company withdrew, but was able to create the
prerequisite for a counterattack to restore the old line with the support of an
eight-wheeled armored car, light infantry guns and the engineer platoon. The
3rd and 4th Companies of the 130th ALA conducted this counterattack with
such surprise and motivation, together with the 12th SS Panzer Division
Begleit Company, that the enemy was actually overrun. The enemy battalion
commander, Lieutenant Colonel Williamson, his staff and 120 men were
captured. He alone was able to escape some time later."(THE WESTERN FRONT 1944: Memoirs of a Panzer Lehr Officer, P.51)
The weird part is that the History of the 12th SS Vol. 1 states something entirely different: ,, The enemy had broken through southwest of Tilly on 18 June. In
the afternoon, the Divisionsbegleitkompanie received orders to
counterattack. The Kompanie chief, Obersturmführer Fritz Gun-
trum, issued this order to the Schützenzug and the light Infanterie-
Geschütz-Zug and determined 20.00 hours as the start of the attack.
Considering the strength of the enemy, an immediate attack would
have been pointless, in particular as a counterattack was expected.
Our only chance was an unexpected surprise attack, and this
seemed only possible during the evening. So we moved into our
assembly area and observed the terrain ahead of us throughout the
afternoon. The front line ahead of us at the breakthrough point was
completely dissolved. Time and again, individual soldiers and even
whole squads of the Panzer-Lehr-Division appeared, retreating. We
questioned them on the enemy’s locations. When they heard of our
intention to counterattack, they looked at our small group of twenty-
nine men unbelievingly, and hurried on." (THE 12th SS, VOLUME ONE, P. 292)
Why does Helmut Ritgen states that this counterattack was conducted by the 3rd and 4th company of the 130th ALA with HELP from the Begleitkompanie while the 12th SS History states that the Begleitkompanie attacked entirely alone with just 29 men!?
This seems very odd to me... Does someone have more Information about this counterattack? That would be extremely helpful
