Panzer Crushers - The Heavy Hitting Tank Battle of Arracourt - WW2

when the german atlantic wall was breached after the invasion of normandy in june of 1944 the vermont knew that it was a matter of time before they had to withdraw from france underpowered and ill-trained german ghost divisions fought desperately against overwhelming odds as american forces were eager to take the fight into the heart of berlin [Music] as a counteroffensive to recapture the allied occupied lorraine region in northeastern france german forces clashed with american troops in the battle of aerocourt during september of 1944. the battle confronted two world war one veteran who specialized in tank warfare u.s colonel bruce clark and his fourth armored division faced the relentless fifth pinezer army of general hasselhof and montoyfel although the german general knew that hitler's idea of a renovated offensive was unsupportable by then he opted to fight bravely by surprising the americans with an unexpected armored attack the encounter became the most significant armored confrontation between us and german forces up to that point in the war having initially undervalued their opponent the americans were obliged to reorganize and use creative strategic tactics if they wanted to outmaneuver the feared nazi punsers [Music] liberating france on june 6 1944 after months of planning one of the most ambitious operations of all time american british and canadian forces stormed the normandy beaches in northern france to begin the liberation of europe establishing beach heads proved a costly ordeal for the invading forces the us army rangers suffered many losses at the utah and omaha beaches machine gun fire from german pillboxes ravaged the coasts with tremendous effectiveness although german units stationed in france to protect the atlantic wall were no longer the powerful blitzkrieg forces that they used to be the bunkers and coastal defenses were tactically placed to deal maximum damage on the enemy after weeks of intense firefights in towns and villages around the area the allied command was satisfied with the operation but the atlantic wall breached a second amphibious landing was planned to take over the south of france and flank the germans from all sides forcing them to flee the country operation dragoon was launched on august 15 1944 allied forces were able to secure vital ports along the mediterranean coast including toulon and marseille the strategy opened supply lines and helped the troops fighting in the north as they were running out of fuel ammunition and food by mid-september the vermont forces realized that they were being encircled and cut off from their communication lines and eventual reinforcements so they escaped and retreated from dijon and southern france but the fight was not over yet and german forces began to plan for a counter-attack hitler and his generals believed that they could land a crushing blow on the allies and retake france the attack would be a risky proposition as the here had already lost more than 300 thousand men when they were in circles in the filets gap in northern france just one month before german forces had also suffered a heavy blow in the eastern front during the soviet's operation bagration general george s patton's third army was spearheading the allied advance into the region's lorraine near the german border the germans planned to launch a massive armored counter-offensive with recently formed plunger brigades to encircle the allied forces opposing forces hitler chose general hasso van manteufel to lead the bold counter-offensive in lorraine the general was a world war ii cavalry officer and an expert in armored warfare mantiful came with an admirable record in his book lorraine 1944 author stephen jay zaloga wrote that mentorfill had commanded an infantry battalion in general aarov and rommel's seventh ponder division in france in 1940 a regiment in moscow in 1941 and a brigade with the africa corps in 1943. although montoya had no experience as a punjab commander hitler trusted him with the ambitious task montoyful had rightfully earned a knight's cross and an oak leaf after five long years of continued armored combat the german units that would participate in the counter-offensive were not highly experienced according to author zeloga none of them were rated at comfort one and the units were a mix of veteran troops underage cadets and old men conscripted to follow the ranks of fallen men montoya had less than 400 artillery devices on hand and his ponzo grenadier divisions had no armor at all but the tanks at montef's disposal made for a formidable fighting force the new pines brigades consisted of about a hundred new tanks including tigers and panthers overall montoya had 300 tanks to push forward on enemy lines but his crew had no combat experience the allied invasion in lorraine was commanded by legendary general george s patton a controversial american hero with a long family military tradition who earned the distinguished service cross in world war one but even though he was known for his aggressive mobile warfare tactics he was not very familiar with tank technology colonel bruce clark who would eventually be put in charge of the american defense and confront montoya face to face in the rain but later say of general patton quote patton knew as little about tanks as anybody i ever knew colonel clark's u.s forces were at full combat strength motivated equipped and with plenty of artillery support although older than those of the enemy the us army had more than 800 functional tanks including m5a1 light tanks m4s m10s and m18 tank destroyers [Music] clash of tanks on september 18th under heavy fog german armored units of the 111th panzer brigade attacked the town of lunaville the americans were caught by surprise and lost tanks during the fight when they were about to be surrounded by the northeast and southeast flanks reinforcements from the fourth and sixth armored divisions arrived with a company of tanks and tank destroyers [Music] the germans retreated one day later having lost more than two dozen ponzers and around one thousand men american losses were also in the hundreds u.s colonel clark realizing that his planned offensive had just turned into a defensive operation retained his artillery near a fortified perimeter and amassed all his units in our court he then sent quote quick forays out at night to hit the fortified enemy held towns and returned fast inside the perimeter the german fifth pinezer army having failed to take lunaville headed to aerocorp on the morning of september 19th to surround clark's troops punches began to gather south and east of clark's position waiting for additional units to initiate the engagement clerk ordered his units to immediately attack the outnumbered enemy forces two tank destroyer platoons and a company of sermons charged toward the plunzers american forces quickly flanked the germans and destroyed ten ponzers under the cover of intense fog however they suffered similar casualties under sustained fire from panther tanks nearby before withdrawing montoya ordered one more charge against american troops in aerocort if he could breach clark's perimeter he would take down the artillery emplacements that were attacking his punishers from afar during the offensive on september 20th u.s pilot major bazooka charlie carpenter aboard a piper cobb aircraft fired a dozen bazooka rockets in a series of passes towards the advancing german tank units he was credited with knocking out six tanks including a heavy tiger one [Music] by the end of the day armored units from the us 37th tank battalion had destroyed 16 enemy tanks across several villages and fields out of 180 panders of 111th 113 brigades that began the offensive montoya was left with barely 60 tanks the inexperienced german tank crews also inflicted heavy damage on the u.s tanks losing about the same amount but the cost was higher for the punzer units even though the eye-to-eye combat appeared to be even in shear strength the german formations lacked the resources to replace lost units during the following days mantive will seize control of the byzantine's forest area to advance through the village of lise and attack it from the north aided by 12 tanks panzer grenadiers destroyed four u.s steward tanks near the village of lay but hellcats from the tank destroyer battalion reached the area and blew out three pandas before retreating by noon on september 22nd german forces stood down in juveniles and laissez taking a breather from the fierce armored mobile warfare around them as mantoif's forces grew thinner with each passing day the americans only grew stronger colonel clark received air support from p-47 thunderbolts when the skies cleared and the aircraft began dropping ordinance on every german formation they encountered along the region by september 26th the battered german forces set their sights on chateau saline and almost defeated the american troops before air and artillery support forced the germans to retreat in one last effort to break the allied perimeter and keep control of hill 265 the fifth panzer army attacked us forces on september 29th but the germans were defeated and lost 36 tanks and around 700 men aftermath battle of arrow court ended in a stalemate and is regarded as one of the most embedded tank combats in history to hitler's dismay the german offensive only halted the american-led advance into southeastern france temporarily once general patton's forces received fuel supplies they advanced relentlessly into the heart of the german motherland if it wasn't for president dwight the eisenhower's recent deal with the soviet union on reaching a halt in the outskirts of berlin patton would have set foot in the city first [Music] the patent was an obstinate combatant who preferred to fight offensively this was later reinforced by general major friedrich van milington the fifth panzer army's chief of staff who wrote quote on september 21st it looked as though the americans were determined to force their way through to the tsar in the rhine and general patton might well have done so if he had been given a free hand at that time the west wall was still unmanned and no effective defense could have been made there [Music] meanwhile montefel's army was left with barely 25 functioning tanks after 11 days of continuous battle in aerocourt montefel's pines are formations and armored units were decimated by us artillery in tanks the remaining german forces withdrew from lorraine towards the siegfried line they would continue defending german territory until the wreck surrendered to the western front before the summer of 1945. [Music] you

Channel: Dark Docs

Views: 91,926

Rating: 4.9352102 out of 5

Keywords: panzer, tank, documentary, history, history channel, ww2, wwii, world war 2, world war ii, battle, army, us army, germany, german, america, american, world war 2 documentary, tanks, history documentary, world history, military history, short documentary, darkdocs, dark docs, tank battle

Id: PIl9e4-F5Ng

Length: 9min 57sec (597 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 28 2021