The Battle of St. Vith was an engagement in Belgium fought during the Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine in World War II. It was one of several battles on December 16, 1944 constituting the opening of Germany's Ardennes counteroffensive (more commonly known as the "Battle of the Bulge").
The German plan - LXVI Corps, 5th Panzer-Armee was assigned the capture of St. Vith.
The Ardennes area of Belgium and Germany just before the German Ardennes counteroffensive, December 15, 1944.
Sketch map of the first day of the attack of the German LXVI Corps. The furthest German advance has covered about five miles.
Progress of the German Ardennes counteroffensive, December 16–25, 1944.
XVIII Airborne Corps Sector Map, December 21–23, 1944. The final withdrawal of American forces from the St. Vith salient.
As the commander of CCB, I analyzed the situation and decided that the probable objective of the German attack was not just St. Vith or a bridgehead over the Salm River, but rather a decisive objective far to my rear, probably toward the English Channel. Therefore, I could well afford to be forced back slowly, surrendering a few kilometers of terrain at a time to the German forces while preventing the destruction of my command and giving other units to my rear the time to prepare a defense and a counterattack. Therefore, by retiring a kilometer or so a day, I was winning, and the Germans, by being prevented from advancing many kilometers a day, were losing – thus proving my concept that an armored force can be as effectively employed in a defense-and-delay situation as in the offensive.
American 3-inch M5 anti-tank gun near Vielsalm, Belgium, 23 Dec 1944.
American M4 Sherman tanks in defensive positions near St. Vith.
^ a b Samuel W. Mitcham: Panzers in Winter: Hitler's Army And the Battle of the Bulge, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006, ISBN 0275971155, page 122.
^ Trevor Nevitt Dupuy, David L. Bongard, Richard C. Anderson (Jr.), Richard Claire Anderson: Hitler's last gamble: the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944-January 1945, HarperCollins, 1994, ISBN 0060166274, page 155.
^ a b Edited by Walt Cross Foreword by Gen. Hasbrouck: From the Beaches to the Baltic: The Story of the 7th Armored Division in World War II, 2006, ISBN 0977192628, page 56.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z MacDonald, Charles B. (1985). A Time for Trumpets, The Untold Story of the Battle of the Bulge. William Morrow and Company, Inc. ISBN 0-688-03923-5.
^ von Luttchau, Charles V. P. "The German Counteroffensive in the Ardennes". U.S. Army Center for Military History.
^ a b Yeide, Harry (2008). Steeds of Steel, A History of American Mechanized Cavalry in World War II. Zenith Press, Minneapolis MN. ISBN 978-0-7603-3360-0.
^ "The Battle at St. Vith – Part II". The Army Pictorial Center: “The Big Picture”, 1965. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
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