We don't have that onboard yet!

[herosrest]

Hi, James...........

[herosrest]

What's going on, guys............ High altitude shootdown. 

I watched last quarter of the London NFL game waiting for Rodgers to throw another prayer but he ran into batman. Great game of two halves, apparently. Then..................... the web went to hell. I was hunting to see what is to be seen about thrust deflection technology and ended up watching an F9F Panther simulation. The next link led me to that given above and then... being slightly flatulent I hooked up the duck, Duck search 

The top hit, I hit, was ht tps :// vk.com › wall 433670319_14704 - I've broken the URL syntax so it isn't a link.

It turns out, that vk.com is accoording to Wiki - 'VK (short for its original name VKontakte; Russian: ВКонтакте, meaning InContact) is a Russian online social media and social networking service based in Saint Petersburg.VK is available in multiple languages but it is predominantly used by Russian speakers.VK users can message each other publicly or privately, create groups, public pages, and events; share and tag images, audio, and ...

Google pops out the same few hits for the search. A small cluster of hits and the first link I gave of ATC traffic. Oddly odd.

[quincannon]

With reference to that link HR. Pinch yourself as hard as you can. If it hurts you are still alive. Fear mongering. I hope the bastard scared himself so bad that he craped his own pants, and is fresh out of laundry detergent.

[herosrest]

No comment.


Topo St. Vith Click anywhere on the map for terrain height.

The little stack button towards top right alters to various presentations. Click the color ribbon check box for color. Zoom in and out. 

The related web site - tap in location names to see if they are on file. link  

Let's try............. Malmedy? Yey  

Houffalize  

Regards. 

Added - Bumped into this - link

[herosrest]

I am hunting for the 703rd TD batt's WW!! record, but it isn't leaping forth. I have found 628 TD which also  worked with 82nd. link 
There used to be a ton of these on Archive but..... strange. Victory TD: History Of The 628th Tank Destroyer Battalion: in training and combat by United States. Army. Tank Destroyer Battalion, 628th, Publication date 1945. Picture os a Mark IV Tiger Royal on page 44. The images are remarkable and possibly not seen for.... who knows.

Yup - they do exist............ link On the hunt..................... Wam  

[quincannon]

That link is super HR. I could kiss your sorry ass.

See what I can find out for you on the 703rd TD, but it won't be until tomorrow.

The 628th still exists as the 103rd Armor Regiment, of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. Trained with them a number of times, and happened to be at Fort Knox, on an unrelated matter, when I ran into the battalion commander of the 3-103 Armor at the Brick Mess. He was there in advance of his battalion, and they flew in on a Friday night from PA, fired their tank tables all Saturday, through most of the night and into Sunday morning, then flew back to PA late Sunday afternoon. He invited me to the ranges to observe, and it was about the noisiest weekend I ever spent in my life.

[quincannon]

HR: The 703rd Tank Destroyer Battalion was activated at Camp Polk, Louisiana in December of 1941. It was deployed to Europe where it participated in all five of the northern European campaigns. It was cited in the Belgian Army Order of the Day twice, once for BELGIUM (period 3-13 Sept 44) and ARDENNES (period 20 Dec 44 - 31 Jan 45. Taking those later dates it appears that the battalion entered the Bulge a few days after the German offensive started on 16 December and stayed in the Ardennes until the campaign closed at the end of January.

The battalion was inactivated at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey in January 46. It was redesignated the 809th Tank Battalion allotted to the Army Reserve and assigned to the 21st Armored Division, and activated in Michigan. It was again redesignated as the 703rd Tank Battalion and reassigned to the 70th Infantry Division in 1952. The battalion was disbanded in 1959.

I should note that in the U S Army to "inactivate" means that the unit is reduced to zero strength but remains on the rolls of the Army, as a candidate for future activation. To "disband" means that the unit is reduced to zero strength and removed from the rolls of the Army. I mention this because our rules and terms are a little different from the British Army, and I was not sure if you were aware of that.

It might also interest you to know that the TD battalions in the 600 series were created from the anti-tank assets of division artillery. For instance the 628 was formed by combining all of the anti-tank assets of the 107th, 108th, and 109th Field Artillery Regiments. Concurrently those three regiments were broken up and the smaller field artillery battalions were formed from them with the same numerical designations.

The 700 series were activated from scratch as TD battalions.

[herosrest]

Thanks.

I wonder how involved they got with 82nd Airborne, in the fighting in the north. It'll turn up.... link

  I just locked onto 634th TD....  link.

Added - That is one hell of a gun on that 703 M36 ??.......... BFG............ Dec 1944. Ardenne.

I've put the image up........... 

[herosrest]

The US First and Ninth Armies used M36s to re-equip tank destroyer battalions attached to armored divisions. The 703rd Tank Destroyer Battalion began re-equipping on 30 September 1944. That's per the Wiki.... I wonder if they were pumpin Peiper.

Youtube. 1 minute in, 703 footage 13 Jan 1945. link

[quincannon]

I think it is fair to say that most of the TD battalions that had M10's and M36's were using mixed equipment in those last days of 1944. Eventually the M10 was retired, because the M36 was so much better.

[herosrest]

This seems so with shipments arriving and being 'organised' into combat as battalions rotated off front lines.

Operational Reports 703

Jul. 1-31, 1944................7 Pages (Includes casualties & awards. Some areas poor)
Aug. 1-31, 1944..............6 Pages (Includes casualties & awards. Some areas poor)
Sep. 1-30, 1944.............11 Pages (Includes casualties & awards. Some areas poor)
Oct. 1-31, 1944...............5 Pages (Summary. Some areas poor)
Nov. 1-30, 1944..............6 Pages (Includes casualties & awards. Some areas poor)
Dec. 1-31, 1944............11 Pages (Includes casualties & awards. Some areas poor)
Dec. 20, 1944-Jan. 1, 1945.....5 Pages (Oper. w/82nd Airborne)

I have a line on action reports and hope to find them. I'm interested in the time with 82nd Airborne from 20 Dec. which was pretty crucial.

Regards.

[herosrest]

Good lord - warfarehistorynetwork.com/lt-col-joachim-peiper-grisly-death-after-battle-of-the-bulge/

[quincannon]

There is an excellent wartime history of the 82nd that I have in my downstairs library (which is a very positive spin on a cluttered basement. I think it is called "All American" I will look for it tomorrow and give you the proper name, author, and publisher. Best airborne history though id "Rendezvous With Destiny" and it covers Bastogne quite well. Two I really like though have nothing to do with airborne but are really down in the foxhole stories of the Bulge. "Alano in the Ardennes" by John McManus tells the story of the troops in front of Bastogne, namely the 110th and 112th Infantry along with a combat command each of the 9th and 10th Armored Divisions. As you know I am sure, their delaying action made it possible or the 101st to reach Bastogne in time to dig in and hold it. The other is "The Key To The Bulge" by Stephen Rusiecki. It concerns the battle for Losheimergraben, up on the northern shoulder, and the actions of primarily the right flank of the 99th "Checkerboard" Infantry Division. You would like both of them.

By the way I think your apparent focus on St Vith is warranted. Bastogne got all the headlines, but it was the defense of St Vith and the subsequent actions in that zone, along with the 2nd and 99th Infantry Division on the northern shoulder that stopped the Germans. Bastogne was an inconveience. 

[quincannon]

The Book is: "ALL AMERICAN ALL THE WAY - A combat history of the 82nd Airborne Division in World War II" by Phil Nordyke

[herosrest]

Thank you.

I have a l'il question which you have probably resolved. Why did what worked in 1940 fail in 1944. Don't mind me - go as deep as you like.