Composition of TF Wall, 6th Armd, January 1945?

[Sirocco]

I'm putting a scenario together at the moment, based around the fighting between TF Wall from 6th Armored Division and the HJ during January, 1945. I've been looking for details on the composition of TF Wall without finding much information to clearly identify it's makeup. Does anyone have any information on this unit?

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"He belongs to a race which has coloured the map red, and all he wants are the green fields of England..."

- Joe Illingworth, Yorkshire Post War Correspondent

[jasoncawley@ameritech.net]

TF Wall was based on the 50th Armored Infantry Battalion. If was the left-hand task-force in CCB, 6th Armored, in the attack out of Bastogne eastward, and also called TF 50. CCB was also on the left, CCA on the right, so TF Wall was the left flank TF of 6th Armored. The adjacent sector to its own left, was supposed to tie with the 101st Airborne.

It was named after Lt Col Arnold R. Wall, CO of the 50th Armored infantry. CCB at that time consisted of the 50th Arm Inf Battalion and the 68th Armored battalion, plus an armored field artillery battalion, I believe the 212th.

Wall was wounded by nebelwerfer fire on January 2 and evacuated, which may be one source of confusion, or of accounts not refering to the TF by that name. He was no longer in command of it. I haven't found out who was.

Here are two maps of the dispositions of the 6th Armored at that time -

http://members.aol.com/super6th/hist6th/map15.gif

http://members.aol.com/super6th/hist6th/map16.gif

The first covers the period through January 3, and the second carries that forward to January 15. The location of TF Wall is on the map, as TF 50. You will see that on the 1-3 period, it was on the left of TF 68 (built around the armored battalion from its combat command).

TF 68 was attacking Mageret, then Arloncourt, while TF 50 was moving through woods on its left flank. TF 50 got almost as far as Michamps. If it had reached that, it would have cut the road from Bourcy to Arloncourt, which would in turn have helped TF 68 take Arloncourt.

But it ran into the main German defenses and was stopped, was thrown back to the line of departure, and then counterattacked. This is when Wall was wounded. The counterattack was stopped when 212th Arm Fld Art fired 500 rounds 105mm in 20 minutes, in support of TF 50.

Between the 3rd and the 5th, the Germans counterattack. 12th SS and 340 VG enter the fight. TF 50 is defending Mageret in this period. TF 68 is also fighting, but withdrawn to reserve after losses.

Later when the U.S. resumes the attack, TF 69, another one based on a tank battalion, takes the place of TF 68 in the team, and switches to the left of TF 50. Jan 13-15 they drive side by side back to Arloncourt.

What was its composition? It was an infantry-heavy team of 6th Armored. I can say what that *usually* means, but I can't confirm that it actually meant that on a given day in this period. I do have some thoughts on that question too, which I will share. But first the "vanilla" answer.

You'd expect it to have 1 company of Shermans, 2 companies of infantry in halftracks, a platoon of engineers also in halftracks, a platoon of tank destroyers (probably M-10s), and a platoon of Stuarts as its scouting component. Plus 3x105mm FO, 1x81mm FO.

The mix of Shermans would be 1-2x105mm, 3-4x76mm, 12x75mm or thereabouts. Compared to a regular infantry battalion, the armored infantry would not have towed 57mm AT guns, dismounted .50 cals, or 60mm mortars, but would have many bazookas and MMGs, plus the MGs on their 'tracks.

But there are two provisos to the above. #1, the overall unit it was part of was around 90% of TOE when the fight began, but tank strength dropped in the course of the fight. The 50th was paired with the 68th tank battalion, which lost about half its strength in this period. But before the 13th and the new attack then, it was paired with a less-depleted tank battalion.

So the tank and TD strength should vary with the date of the fight. 90% of the above totals around January 1. Dropping to more like 40% of those numbers at the low point, probably around January 10. Then jumping back before January 13, to around 70% probably, when it is paired with the 69th, and the 68th pulls out to refit.

The second proviso is that during the first attack period from January 1 to January 3, the task force attacked through a wooded area to cover the flank of TF 68. It almost certainly did so, mostly dismounted. In this period it is not clear the armored infantry were armored (meaning, had their halftracks), or had tanks with them *up front*, at all. Their vehicles were probably around Bizory. When they were pushed back on January 2 and 3, it was probably back to their vehicles - those as well as the artillery probably stopped the attack.

In other words, the action on 1-3 January was using the "infantry" part of armored infantry, to protect the flank of TF 68 and 6th Armored as a whole, by trying to secure the woods between the Bastogne-Bourcy railroad and the Mageret-Arloncourt road. That was right on the junction with the 101st Airborne. A battalion of the 101st was supposed to show up to help, but a snarled order kept them and the 50th went off alone.

Here is a little snippet about that in the official history -

"CCB, working in two task forces, aimed its attack on Bourcy and Arloncourt with an eye to the high ground dominating the German road net. The 6th Armored Division expected that troops of the 101st Airborne would extend the push on the left of CCB and drive the enemy out of the Bois Jacques north of Bizory, the latter the first objective for CCB's tank force. The previous afternoon the VIII Corps commander had ordered General Taylor to use the reserve battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry for this purpose, then had countermanded his order. Apparently General Grow (6th Armored) and his division knew nothing of the change. Communication between divisions subordinate to two different corps always is difficult, but in this case, with an armored and an airborne division involved, the situation was even worse. At this time the only radio contact between Taylor and Grow was by relay through an army supply point several miles south of Bastogne, but the two generals did meet on 31 December and the day following."

But it is possible, even likely, you are interested in the later period, either the German counterattack or the later U.S. advance in mid January. Then TF 50 would be back to the "formula". It would be that way whenever it was near a road, and be and infantry battalion minus one company, with strong artillery support, when it wasn't on a road.

I hope this is clearer than mud. If you specify the dates you are interested in, I might be able to refine it further, if what I've said above isn't enough. (LOL).

[Sirocco]

You have my grateful thanks for your help. Those details will be invaluable to me.

The scenario covers the period of 3/4 January, 1945, and through it I'm trying to capture the essence of the fighting over those two days as the 3rd Battalion of the 26th Panzer-Grenadier Regiment of the HJ attacked towards Bizory, with support from the 12th SS Panzerjager Battalion against TF Wall. I think the attack of the 3rd Bn might have fallen on both TF Wall and the 501st PIR, but I can factor that into the scenario.

Thanks again for your help in clarifying the position regarding TF Wall.

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"He belongs to a race which has coloured the map red, and all he wants are the green fields of England..."

- Joe Illingworth, Yorkshire Post War Correspondent

[jasoncawley@ameritech.net]

Great, that is a very interesting period indeed. I was able to come up with a few more details from the unit history of the 212th Armored Field Artillery battalion. That was the artillery component of CCB 6th Armored at the time, and the one that fired the 20 minute, 500 round shoot on the 1st.

Their history records the German counterattack on the 2nd, continuing on the 3rd and climaxing on the 4th. Local attacks continued through the 10th, but never reached the intensity of the 4th. 212th records that it fired in support of TF Wall the enourmous total of 8400 rounds 105mm over those 3 days.

There was another tidbit that reveals something, but it is unclear just how much, about the 50th's vehicles. The 212th had 2 FOs wounded during the fighting, up with the men of the 50th. One of these, it is recorded, was riding on the back of a tank at the time he was wounded by shellfire; the tank was said to be supporting the infantry in the woods. So some of the 50th's assigned tanks were definitely present. What isn't clear is how close this was to Bizory, as opposed to further into the woods. I suspect that the 50th's supporting tanks were centered at Bizory but fought some distance into the woods.

It is also recorded, in the 6th Armored's histories, that up to 9 battalions of artillery at a time fired concentrations to help break up these attacks. The 6th records the whole fight as the toughest it ever had, and attributes much of its eventually successful defense, to the scale of artillery support it received.

I hope this is useful.

[Sirocco]

That's very useful. I have a much clearer picture of the American defences now, which was quite vague to me before. The German attackers will have a very difficult task, which is as it's meant to be. Thanks again for all your help.

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"He belongs to a race which has coloured the map red, and all he wants are the green fields of England..."

- Joe Illingworth, Yorkshire Post War Correspondent