Just like so many battles, the battle of Singling
hardly gets mentioned, but none the less it was an incredibly interesting tank on tank
battle where Sherman tanks of the 4th Armoured Division would fight against the Panther tanks
of the German 11. Panzer Division. For months the 4th Armoured division had had
to fight in the most trying of conditions. Heavy rain kept the planes on the ground and
turned the roads into quagmire. The Division of Major General Hugh Gaffey,
who took command on the 3rd of December 1944, just 3 days before the battles of Singling
and Bining, had already suffered terrible casualties against the well-entrenched German
defenders. The battle of Singling, which was fought on
the 6th of December 1944 by B company of the 37th Tank battalion and B company of the 51st
Armoured Infantry Battalion was the farthest advance northeast made by the 4th Armoured
Division in its difficult advance towards the German border which had commenced nearly
one month prior, on the 10th of November. Singling in itself is just an ordinary agricultural
village but, it was incorporated in the famous French Maginot line. This meant that next to the various stone
houses the town was also littered with bunkers and pillboxes. In the valley to the east of Singling were
Rohrbach and Bining. These towns were surrounded by high ground
and thus made it difficult for the Americans to attack. The ridge to the north however was of tactical
importance and the XII corps ordered the capture of the ridge. The primary objective for the XII corps was
Sarreguemines, a relatively large city on the Sarre river and the German border. A railroad and one of the main motorways east
out of Sarreguemines to Germany passed through Rohrbach and it was the task of the 4th Armoured
Division to capture the locality while the 35th Infantry Division would attack Sarreguemines
itself. Next to the important motorway towards Germany,
Rohrbach was also an important link where various local roads passed through, including
the roads out of the large forest area to the east, which was then under command of
XV corps, 7th army. The 4th Armoured Division was however faced
with a problem if they wished to attack Rohrbach. The main road leading east to north into the
town, and which was the easiest approach wasn’t suited for an attack as it had several small
ridges over which the tanks had to drive. Quickly an alternative was sought and the
ridge to the west of the Vallée d’Altkirch was considered. But Singling command the approach, so did
the several hills to the east. Both routes were found to be dissatisfactory
as on both routes the Tanks would be seen well in advance by the German defenders. Eventually it was decided that taking the
west side of the ridge would provide the most protection of flanking fire and that route
was picked. Singling however had to be captured in order
to take Bining and Rohrback. The trouble wasn’t over yet for the men
of the 37th Tank battalion and 51st Armoured Infantry Battalion which were picked out for
the task. Due to the configuration of the ground and
the appalling weather which had caused so many problems the days before, the attacking
force was compelled to come up from the east of Singling and then make a 90 degree turn
southeast on the high ground into Bining. If that wasn’t enough, Singling itself was
dominated by a ridge a kilometre away to the north which was in the main defences of the
Maginot Line. The Americans had a first taste of the difficult
nature of the fighting on the 5th of December 1944, when Lieutenant-Colonel Creighton W.
Abrams’ 37th Tank battalion attacked from Schmittviller. The orders were simple, advance as far as
possible into the German lines. Miraculously Abrams’ tanks reached to within
900 metres from Singling until they were checked by the difficult terrain, heavy artillery
fire and thick fire from Singling itself. 14 Sherman tanks were lost that day, 5 of
which were hit almost as soon as they crested the ridge to the south of the small village. The battalion had been reduced to an effective
strength of 2 medium companies and was compelled to fall back and regroup near hill 349. During the night, Combat Command A received
their orders for their attack of the 6th. Task Force Abrams, which for the most part
consisted of the 37th Tank battalion and the 51st Armoured Infantry battalion, was to attack
Bining and Rohrbach and they were to reconnoitre the high ground to the north of both villages. The other Task Force of Combat Command A,
Task Force Oden was to push on from the Eichel river bridgehead at Domfessel in order to
take Dehlingen and Rahling from where Oden would be in an excellent position to support
Task Force Abrams. Combat Command B was ordered to take Singling
but on Colonel Abrams’ recommendations, changes were made. Lieutenant Colonel Creighton Abrams asked
Combat Command A if he was allowed to take Singling as well. He had his doubts about the initial plan since
Combat Command B was still at Voellerdingen and Schmittviller and that they wouldn’t
make it in time to conform with his line. Abrams heard nothing of his desired changes
so he presumed that the original plan had to be carried out instead. Two companies were selected for the assault,
B company of the 37th Tank battalion under Captain James Leach, and B company of the
51st Armoured Infantry Battalion under 1st Lieutenant Daniel Belden. When both company commanders briefed their
platoon commanders no attention was given to Singling which was meant to be an objective
of Combat Command B. The assault force was heavily undermanned. Only 14 tanks could be mustered, one of which
was a headquarters 105mm Sherman tank. The 51st Armoured infantry battalion had a
combat effectiveness of 180 and 57 of those were assigned to the attack. On the 6th of December it quickly became clear
that it wouldn’t be an easy task. The muddy ground proved to be too sticky for
the half-tracks of the infantry, so they had to be left behind. The infantry subsequently mounted up the rear
decks of the Sherman tanks to proceed with the assault. The time was 08h35am, and they were already
behind schedule. A company of the 37th Tank Battalion which
was at the head of the column started to take heavy fire from Singling itself and their
advance bogged down. 2 batteries of the 94th armoured Field artillery
battalion started to drop smoke shells to provide cover but in spite of the best of
efforts, the German fire continued to be incredibly fierce. During the hour that followed, no attempt
to advance was made. Several opportunistic shots were fired at
the hardly visible defenders in the town, but it was to no avail. Lieutenant Colonel Abrams seeing no progress
of Combat Command B which was supposed to be on his left took matters into his own hands… He ordered Team B, consisting of B companies
of both battalions to take the town and attempt to hold it while the remainder of Task Force
Abrams was to swing east and capture Bining. Team B had no time to make new plans and they
were literally thrown into the fight. Captain Leach quickly informed 1st Lieutenant
Belden, but he on his turn couldn’t inform his platoon commanders as they were riding
on different tanks. For both the tank commanders and the infantry
commanders, uncertainty reigned due to the promptness of the new orders. Many were convinced throughout the day that
they were fighting for Bining, while in fact they were fighting for Singling to the west. Captain Leach quickly deployed his tanks. 2nd platoon under 2nd Lieutenant James Farese
was put on the left while 1st platoon of 1st Lieutenant William Goble was put on the right. 3rd platoon under 1st Lieutenant Robert Cook
was in support. Leach in the meantime moved between the three
platoons under his command. All the infantry were riding on the Sherman
tanks of 1st and 3rd platoon and the command tank and artillery observe tank was also used
for the infantry. This left 2nd platoon infantry-less. By 10h15am, the attack was underway. A company of the 37th Tank battalion in the
meantime moved further eastward and they covered the Singling-Bining road. The tanks of B company raced across the fields
after the artillery had lifted. The planned formation was however rapidly
broken. Sergeant Joseph Hauptman of 2nd platoon had
engine trouble and lagged behind, while Staff Sergeant Max Morphew of 3rd platoon had a
broken radio. Morphew stayed behind in order not to bring
the others in peril. 3rd platoon kept suppressing the Germans inside
the town until they were ordered to cease fire as not to bring the attacking platoons
in danger. So far, the German tanks inside the town held
their fire and as B company approached the small village, 1st platoon swung east while
2nd platoon swung west. 3rd Platoon in the meantime moved in through
the gap. This move led to a line of 13 tanks being
in more or less a straight line moving up on Singling. Only 2nd Lieutenant Farese of 2nd platoon
was notably further than the others. Farese moved up the hillside south of the
village and turned left into an orchard. As he crested the ridge his tank was hit three
times by Armour piercing shells, probably coming from a Panther tank parked beside a
stone barn. The tank was immediately set on fire and 2nd
Lieutenant Farese and his loader were killed. Sergeant John Parks on seeing the disaster
quickly moved up and parked his tank behind the rise from where he radioed Hauptman not
to advance. 2nd Lieutenant Farese had unfortunately ran
into a cluster of German tanks, towed guns and defensive emplacements. At least three Panzer V Panthers, two self-propelled
guns and one towed anti-tank gun were in the village doing their very best to keep the
Americans back. Sergeant Sowers and Sergeant Parks found that
if they even tried to crest the ridge they were met by heavy anti-tank fire. The advance of 2nd platoon grinded to a halt. At that time only the two sergeants were aware
of the dangerous presence of the German Panther tanks. Until then, only one tank and one gun were
accounted for, but as Captain Leach was informed of the loss of one of his platoon commanders,
leach was preoccupied in dealing with a Self-propelled gun to his front. As the tanks of 1st and 3rd platoon arrived
at the southern edge of Singling, the infantry under 1st Lieutenant Belden dismounted and
B company of the 51st Armoured Infantry Battalion was quickly reorganized into three platoons. 2nd Lieutenant William Cowgill was the first
to assemble his men. He was ordered to take the left side of the
town. 2nd Lieutenant Theodore Price was ordered
to take the right side while 1st Lieutenant Norman Padgett on his turn was ordered to
support Cowgill. Nobody knew the town and nobody knew that
they were up against nearly 4 times their own numbers. The infantry was to clear house by house,
street by street. Although a good many were reinforcements,
all men had had battle experience and they quickly set about clearing the village. Inside the village were elements of the four
companies of the 1st battalion, 111th Panzer Grenadier Regiment. Their strength was up to 3 or 4 times that
of B company, 51st Armoured Infantry battalion. They were supported by two Self-propelled
guns and a handful of Panther tanks. Aiding them in the defence were multiple artillery
guns. The 111th Panzer Grenadier Regiment of the
11th Panzer Division had been fighting Combat Command B of the 4th Armoured Division for
a few days before they were seen retreating. In fact the Panzer Grenadiers had been ordered
to pull back in order to prepare the defence of Singling. While several tanks and a battalion of Panzer
Grenadiers was holding on the Singling, Bining was only defended by one single company, the
1st company of the 61st Antitank battalion of the 11th Panzer Division. The 50 men strong detachment was armed with
8 old 75mm anti-tank guns mounted on the chassis’ of Panzer IV’s. Near Bining a further two companies of the
2nd battalion, 111th Panzer Grenadier Regiment were deployed. The men of Team B were clearly facing the
bulk of the German defences in the area, armed with several heavy weapons. 2nd Lieutenant Cowgill, the commander of the
3rd infantry platoon was the first to set foot in the town. He quickly noticed one of the self-propelled
guns next to a burning house [No44] in the town square. Cowgill was quick to warn the Sherman tanks
which were following up to stop their advance. Captain Leach dismounted his tank and proceeded
on foot, ahead of his tank. Upon seeing the German commander in his hatch,
the American platoon and company commander opened fire forcing the German commander to
withdraw in his tank which quickly moved back. More and more GI’s were by then entering
the town. As 1st Lieutenant Belden arrived on the scene
he was annoyed at how his infantry was crowded up on the street. Soon word spread that a machinegun nest was
holding back the infantry and not long after, Sergeant Kenneth Sandrock of 1st Tank platoon
was ordered up to deal with the situation. Instead of following his platoon into an orchard
on the eastern part of the village, Sandrock moved up the south street where he found no
machinegun. He fired a few pot shots at the church steeple
before falling back behind a house where he remained for the rest of the day, cut off
from the rest of his platoon. The German self-propelled vehicle had been
able to turn. This however didn’t stop Leach from emptying
a Thompson magazine into the German vehicle. But in so doing, he accidentally blocked his
own tank from firing and destroying the German piece of equipment. The Self-propelled weapon eventually managed
to escape. By then, Captain Leach heard about what had
happened to Farese. Leach thought it wiser to try to flank the
retreating tank rather than trying to catch it. He subsequently ordered up his 3rd platoon
to head to the west end of the town. Leach placed his own tank close to the village
square where he could command the situation more easily. He called up 1st Lieutenant Cook of 3rd platoon
and his two tanks. Sergeant Haywards’, and the Sherman 105
of Sergeant Grimm. In front of the three advancing Sherman tanks
was a large farm building which obstructed the view drastically. 1st Lieutenant Cook moved to the right of
the farmhouse and moved between it and a burning house opposite the farmhouse. Nearly overturning the tank, Cook proceeded
with his advance, closely followed by Haywards and Grimm. The three tanks founds themselves in a dangerously
exposed position and Cook intended on crossing the road. Just in time 2nd Lieutenant Cowgill arrived
with his infantry to warn Cook of the presence of several German tanks just down the road. Cook ordered Grimm with his 105mm to cut a
hole through the corner of the house but in so doing, they attracted the fire of the Germans
tanks down the road. Cook decided to reconnoitre on foot. After having established the location of the
German tank, Cook went back to his Sherman but despite the best of efforts of both Cook’s
platoon and the 2nd platoon no direct line of sight with the German tank could be established. In the meantime, 2nd Lieutenant Cowgill’s
platoon of infantry spotted several Germans in the valley to the north, without hesitation,
the GI’s opened fire and the Germans quickly dispersed after taking a few casualties. Under the cover of 2nd Lieutenant Price’s
platoon, several GI’s tried to work their way down to the valley, but they were soon
stopped by a thick barbed wire fence. The platoon’s wire cutters had been entrusted
to a man who had been evacuated just two days before. So, their path was blocked. But, thanks to the continuous machinegun fire
of Cook’s tanks and the small arms fire of 2nd Lieutenant Price’s platoon the Germans
in a pillbox in the valley below were seen surrendering. They had had enough of the high explosive
shells and machinegun fire. The Germans came out of the pillbox and surrendered
to Price’s men. The situation up north was dealt with. But, at that precise moment, German mortar
fire came raining down in the village. As the shells came crashing down the town
square, 4 men of Price’s platoon were hit and wounded. The rest of the platoon quickly sought cover
in the houses along the square, where they remained for the rest of the day. To the east, 1st Lieutenant Padgett saw 7
tanks on the ridge to the northeast. He also saw a rocket-launcher firing to the
west of Welschoff Farm. Fortunately for Padgett, the 4 tanks of 1st
platoon under 1st Lieutenant Goble arrived on the scene. The German tanks on the ridge, how daunting
they may have been, were too far away to pose threat. In the town itself, like in many city battles,
a good coordination was sometimes difficult to find. When an inhabitant was asked whether there
were Germans inside the inhabitant said no, the Americans got suspicious after seeing
an antenna and entered anyway. Inside the house they captured 2 officers
and 28 other ranks without resistance. On the western side of the village, 2nd Lieutenant
Cowgill was still trying his utmost to establish the number of tanks the Germans had in the
village. As he finally found a commanding spot inside
an attic, he saw the outlines of 3 German tanks. He immediately went back to Cook to spread
the bad news. The situation for the GI’s had drastically
worsened. Next to the 2 self-propelled weapons, there
were now an additional 3 panzers. 1st Lieutenant Belden was quickly informed. As that was not enough, more and more reports
arrived at the company headquarters of the difficulty in dislodging the Germans from
their defensive positions. The initial success of entering the town was
gradually turning into tough house-to-house, close quarters combat. A meeting was set up by the various commanders
on the field. It was decided that artillery was the only
option if they wished to dislodge the staunch German defence, but 1st Lieutenant Guild,
the artillery observer thought it unwise since there were still a lot of GI’s in the village. He opted for mortars, but these were left
behind since there were no men left to carry them. Eventually it was decided that infantry armed
with bazooka’s would be the most safe and effective way in dealing with the multiple
German tanks in the West of the village. The dangerous task of knocking out the German
panzers was given to 2nd Lieutenant Cowgill. While Cowgill and his bazooka-men were trying
to deploy, the situation for the Americans inside the town was slowly getting from bad
to worse. To the north, multiple panzers were seen heading
east while artillery shells were continuously raining down on the village. At the same time the German Panzers in the
west of the village were showing an increased interest in the Sherman tanks of 2nd platoon
which were still in the area. Trying to deal with the recent threat coming
from the north, 1st Lieutenant Cook quickly moved his tank to a better position. All out of a sudden, on the west side of the
town, a white signal flare went up and shortly after artillery of all sorts, including rocket
fire was crashing down on the village. The tanks of 2nd platoon were forced to withdraw
to the orchard road as a result of the intense shelling. After the shelling had lifted, the tank of
Sergeant Hauptman was hit and destroyed after an armour piercing shell ricocheted off of
the ground and went straight into the right side of his turret, killing Hauptman’s loader. The two remaining Sherman tanks of Sowers
and Parks were quickly ordered back into hard cover behind 3rd platoon. In the meantime, Sergeant Grimm, armed with
his 105 came face to face with one of the Panther tanks to the west of the village. Fortunately for Grimm, the 75mm shell whizzed
past giving Grimm the time to move back into cover. As Grimm was hurriedly moving his tank back
into cover a shell hit the sprocket of Sergeant Hayward’s tanks crippling it. Another four shells quickly followed and Hayward’s
tank started to burn. In the unfortunate event Hayward’s gunner
and bow-gunner were killed while the other crewmembers managed to escape. Sergeant Grimm successfully managed to extricate
himself and his tank out of the perilous situation, but as he had broken contact with the German
tanks, his Sherman got bogged down due to the thick mud. It took Sowers’ tank to pull him out. In a matter of minutes two Sherman tanks were
lost and it was getting ever clearer that the infantry hadn’t the numbers to punch
through the staunch German defence. All the infantry could do was hold their positions
and wait it out until Combat Command B would arrive and take over the battle, which had
been their objective from the start. But by that time, no forces of Combat Command
B were seen although Captain Leach had been informed by Lieutenant Colonel Abrams that
reinforcements were on their way. While the infantry hunkered down, the German
tanks to north were still causing a potential problem. Runners were sent to inform 1st Lieutenant
Goble of 1st platoon, but his platoon and him had no direct contact as a large hedge
obstructed the view. 1st Lieutenant Padgett had had enough and
he decided to seek for the artillery observer himself, unaware that the main road was enfiladed
by German fire from the west, it took him four attempts to cross the main road. But as he couldn’t find 1st Lieutenant Guild
he went back to his headquarters in the late afternoon. Guild had however beaten Padgett to it and
Captain Leach had already been informed of the armoured threat to the north. Goble figured that should the Germans decide
to attack, they would come straight down the road, or at least straight towards the houses
to his front, so he sent Sergeant Robert Fitzgerald to the right from where the Sergeant could
observe the Germans’ moves to the northeast. The first German tank to appear however, didn’t
come from the ridge to the north. It was suddenly spotted between two houses
less than 150 metres across the main road. The Panther tank started to traverse its turret,
but Fitzgerald was the first to fire. His round, fired at point-blank range connected
and the Panzer V Panther was starting the burn. One of the crewmembers hopped out of the burning
tank, but Fitzgerald quickly pumped two more rounds into the burning carcass. Sometime later, more German tanks were spotted
to the northeast. Sergeant Fitzgerald tried to move to a better
location and when he spotted a second Panzer, he suddenly found his tank engulfed with the
smoke and rubble of the rockets which were crashing down next to the Sherman tank. Fitzgerald quickly pulled his tank back and
left his tank to meet with his platoon commander when he spotted yet another Panther tank in
the valley below. Fitzgerald quickly hopped back into his tank
and headed east to take up a favourable firing position. The second round connected, knocking out the
Panther tank. He immediately had to switch his fire to yet
another Panther which was just over 700 metres away. Sergeant Del Vecchio, behind Fitzgerald was
already occupied with shooting at the Panzer, but despite the best of efforts, both the
75mm and the 76mm shells bounced clean off the sloped frontal armour of the Panther tank. Fitzgerald subsequently retreated. From his new position, Sergeant Fitzgerald
spotted a Self-propelled gun moving east, close to the Welschoff Farm. In order not to risk losing his tank he decided
to wait until the German Self-Propelled gun would emerge again, but it didn’t. Instead it had taken up a firing position
from where it could pummel the location of 1st platoon. Suddenly, two rounds hit 1st Lieutenant Goble’s
tank wounding the platoon commander and his gunner. The first round set the Sherman tank on fire
while the second round penetrated the turret and finished the job. Yet another Sherman tank was lost in a village
which wasn’t even their task to clear in the first place. Sergeant Fitzgerald was quick to take over
the command of the platoon and he ordered his tanks back to the safety behind the hill. While the 1st tank platoon had been hotly
engaged in fighting off several Panther tanks, 2nd Lieutenant Cowgill’s bazooka teams had
taken up positions in the attics in order to fire down onto the German tanks below. Of the two bazooka teams, one weapon failed
to fire so it was down to one bazooka to finish the job. Of the 5 rounds fired at the tank, only the
last one managed to hit it. Although it had done nearly nothing to damage
it, it had forced the crew to bail out. Two were immediately gunned down by the GI’s
covering the street. Hardly had the German crew jumped out, a Panther
tank drove up alongside the abandoned self-propelled gun and it started to fire at the infantry
below. As It was getting late in the afternoon, team
B which had to fight for Bining was still fighting it out in Singling, the objective
of the neighbouring Task Force B. The relief should already have taken place but the men
of Task Force Abrams were still hotly engaged within the village. It was shortly after noon on that 6th of December
that Lieutenant-Colonel Abrams had been ordered by Brigadier-General Herbert Earnest of Combat
Command A to switch from Singling to Bining and Rohrbach. During a meeting Abrams told Major Albin Irzyk
of the 8th Tank battalion and Major Alanis of the 51st Armoured Infantry Battalion that
he was ready to hand over Singling to them. Although heavy fire still came from the general
direction of village, both battalion commanders were of the assumption that the village had
been cleared by team B. Major Irzyk decided to commit his C company
together with B company of the 10th Armoured Infantry Battalion. 1st Lieutenant William Marshall, commanding
C company of the 8th Tank battalion was ordered to pick up the infantry and head into Singling,
establish contact with Captain Leach and take over outpost duties with the infantry and
tanks. They set of at about 14h00pm. As they reached the southern edge of the village,
the leading 1st tank platoon of 2nd Lieutenant George Gray swung northwest where they came
across the two wrecks of Farese’s and Hauptman’s tanks. Without suspicion Gray proceeded. After all his orders were to take over a village
which had already been cleared of all German opposition. As he cleared the corner of the large stone
house on the southern side of the town, Gray was hit by two armour piercing shells. Gray’s gunner was killed while Gray himself
was seriously wounded. As soon as 1st Lieutenant Marshall saw Gray
being hit, he ordered his second platoon under Staff Sergeant Edwin De Rosia to move east
in order to circle behind the German tank that had knocked out Gray. De Rosia didn’t have to move far before
he came under direct fire. With De Rosia also taking heavy fire, 1st
Lieutenant Marshall ordered his C company to retreat to the reverse slope of the ridge
to the south of Singling. 1st Lieutenant Robert Lange, in command of
B company 10th Armoured Infantry Battalion headed into town where he met up with Belden
and Leach. The three commanding officers decided that
B company of the 51st Armoured Infantry Battalion was to be relieved and Lange divided his small
force into two understrength platoons. In turn Captain Leach went out to look for
1st Lieutenant Marshall so he could arrange the relief of his own remaining tanks. As the day wore on, Lieutenant-Colonel Abrams
was starting to get worried and he wanted to pull his tanks back. A telephone call to 1st Lieutenant Cook really
didn’t improve his state as Cook told him that 5 Panzers were inside the town while
a handful of other tanks were spotted heading towards the village. A little while later, Abrams informed Cook
that he should organize the remaining tanks, pick up the 51st Armoured Infantry Battalion
and move out at once. In practice, the withdrawal took a half an
hour to commence in order to allow the relieving infantry to consolidate their new positions. As it was slowly getting dark, Cook finally
pulled his tanks out of Singling together with the tired GI’s of B company, 51st Armoured
Infantry Battalion. Most of the wounded had already been taken
back to safer lines by Sergeant Morphew’s tank, whose radio had died before the battle
commenced. As no evacuation vehicles were made available,
Morphew’s tank had to be used instead. As the three platoons of tanks fell back,
German artillery came crashing down amongst them, but fortunately for the GI’s, only
one man was slightly wounded because of the artillery. As the tanks retreated, blazing away at the
town, several return shots were fired by the German tanks still inside the village. Two rounds landed very close to Sergeant Del
Vecchio’s tank, but no damage was done. The Sherman tanks of 1st Lieutenant Marshall
took over the fight and the German tanks began to concentrate on them instead. The retreat of B company, 37th Tank battalion
however led to the fact that the relieving infantry was left alone for several hours
without any armour support. The Germans had used that time to get deeper
into the town. As they reached the broken down tanks of Farese
and Hauptman they tried to start the engines. The Americans inside the town believed that
they were the tanks which were promised to reinforce the lines. A reconnoitring party was sent out and they
were very surprised to see men with long overcoats on top of the tanks. The party quickly retreated and came back
several minutes later. Better armed, they managed to scare the German
infantry away. Further to the south, the American commanders
on the ground discussed the situation and pondered about if it was still reasonable
to hold on to Singling. One particular action in which the Americans
captured a German field kitchen full of hot soup for at least a full-strength company
convinced Major Irzyk of the 8th tank battalion that pulling back out of the village was the
best option. In order to cover the withdrawal, C company
of the 8th Tank battalion, then under Sergeant De Rosia as 1st Lieutenant Marshall was away
on other duties, was ordered to move back and forth on the reverse slope of the hill. This they did to convince the German defenders
that they were entering the town. B company, 10th Armoured Infantry battalion
successfully retreated, but their brief time in Singling had cost them five wounded. Singling was once again fully in German hands. The day’s battle had all been for nothing. During the night the 12th Armoured Division
took over the frontline and Singling was finally taken on the 10th of December, 1944. The battle for Singling was a small action,
but it resembled the incredibly difficult fighting at the border between France and
Germany during the winter of 1944. In total, 6 men were killed in the attack
on Singling and a further 16 men were wounded. 5 Sherman tanks were also lost during the
fight. In return, the known losses to the Germans
were 2 Panther tanks and a further 56 prisoners were taken, but as one can imagine, the Germans
also suffered multiple dead and wounded. The attack on Singling had to be made without
preparation and during the battle itself, the American GI’s had constantly been fighting
a numerically superior German battalion. While Team B was hotly engaged in the fighting
for Singling, other units of Combat Command A, namely the 1st battalion of the 328th infantry
and D company of the 37th Tank battalion had bypassed Singling and captured Bining, the
primary objective of the day. By probing the stiff German defensive line,
the attack of the 6th of December had opened the way for the 12th Armoured Division to
advance. This was The AceDestroyer, I really hope you
enjoyed this video. It was a longer and much more detailed video,
but none the less I hope you found it interesting. Don’t forget to like and subscribe, and
do leave a comment down below! Cheers!
