Hold the Westwall: The History of Panzer Brigade 105, September 1944 (Stackpole Military History Series) by Timm Haasler

Author:Timm Haasler [Haasler, Timm]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HIS014000 HISTORY / Europe / Germany
ISBN: 9780811744942
Publisher: Stackpole Books
Published: 2011-07-31T21:00:00+00:00

Development of the Situation in the Münsterbusch—Büsbach Area on 16 September 1944

The attack on Büsbach had hit the 2./Grenadier-Ersatz- und Ausbildungs-Bataillon 473 especially hard in the area of the Hostetstraße and Bauschenberg. A platoon leader of the company was wounded and wound up in captivity with the majority of his platoon. Another 10–12 soldiers of the company were captured in the area of Hostetstraße—Höhe. Other soldiers obtained civilian clothes and disappeared.

The 2nd Platoon of the 2./Panzer-Pionier-Ersatz- und Ausbildungs-Bataillon 16 defended in the western portion of Büsbach in the area of Obersteinstraße—Peitschenweg—Wilhelmbusch. The young soldiers, who were armed only with rifles, hand grenades and a few Czech machine guns had no chance against the advancing American tanks.

The exposed positions on Peitschenweg were rolled up initially, before the Americans eliminated the bunkers on the Wilhelmbusch one after the other by means of aimed fire into the firing ports. Only a few of the soldiers employed there were able to escape from the bunkers; the majority of them were mown down in the bunkers or while trying to escape from them. Among the casualties were the platoon leader of the 2nd Platoon and a squad leader, both of them had also been surrounded in the bunkers. Later on, seven dead German soldiers were evacuated in the area of Wilhelmbusch—Atzenach.

The 1st Platoon had gone into position in the area of the current Konrad-Adenauer-Straße—Hostetstraße. A section of about 15 men in a barn near Konrad-Adenauer-Straße 73 prevented the Americans from advancing on Peitschenweg.

At 1100 hours, a radioed report arrived at Hauptmann Schemm’s location from the headquarters of Panzer-Brigade 105 that the brigade’s liaison officer was en route with two Panthers. The two tanks arrived at the command post of Bataillon Schemm at 1200 hours and were directed by the commander to cover the Münsterbusch—Büsbach road. The antitank gun there was then pulled back to the northern outskirts of Münsterbusch and went into position in the vicinity of the building at Prämienstraße 20.

It was not until 1210 hours that the daily logs of the 9. Panzer-Division noted the American attack on Büsbach. According to the logs, the German forces had pulled back to the line of dragon’s teeth. At 1215 hours, the 3rd Company of Bataillon Schemm identified an enemy column consisting of 20 tanks, personnel carriers and self-propelled artillery advancing from the south from Brand along the Eilendorf—Münsterbusch road.

In the meantime, the 83rd Armored Reconnaissance Battalion had reached the dragon’s teeth by advancing northeast with two combat teams from the church at Büsbach. One team moved along Peitschenweg, while the other proceeded along the Atzenach road. The German defenders were able to knock out one of the American tanks there by means of handheld antitank weapons.

Shortly after this, another group of Americans advanced from Dorff toward Büsbach with individual tanks and infantry. German infantry continued to hold out in a few bunkers south of Büsbach. It should be noted that although there were bunkers that were part of the Westwall south of Büsbach, the row

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