Company Stößer
| date | December 16-22, 1944 |
|---|---|
| place | Mont Rigi , Ardennes |
| output | Retreat of the Germans |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
Adolf Hitler (Commander in Chief) |
Dwight D. Eisenhower (Commander in Chief) |
| Troop strength | |
| 1200 soldiers | |
.svg){kind=small}
Prelude
Kesternich - Wahlerscheid
German attack
Losheimergraben - Clervaux - Stößer - Greif
Allied defense and counter-attack
Elsenborn ridge - St. Vith - Bastogne - Bure
German counterattack
base plate - north wind
The company Stößer was a commando company of the German Wehrmacht in the Ardennes during World War II .
Starting position
In support of the Ardennes offensive , German paratroopers jumped from behind the American lines in the Belgian Ardennes on the night of December 16-17, 1944 . Under the leadership of Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte , they were supposed to involve the Allied units in the rear of the front in fighting and to conquer supply depots and hold them until the ground troops arrived.
planning
According to the original plan from October 1944, 3,000 paratroopers were to be deployed, but ultimately only just under 1,200 could be made available for jumping. There were 150 transport machines ready to bring the soldiers to the landing zone. This was 11 kilometers north of Malmedy on an unwooded range of hills on the High Fens (French: Hautes Vagnes) in the Belgian Ardennes.
course
The company had a bad star from the start. Many paratroopers experienced their first jump mission here, hardly any of the pilots had previously experienced an enemy flight. However, it was still difficult to get all the machines to the landing zone. Shortly before the first paratroopers jumped out of the planes, a strong, constantly changing wind had come up. Many soldiers were therefore scattered over a wide area. Immediately after landing, the paratroopers had to unbuckle their parachutes to avoid being dragged away by gusts of wind.
Almost 200 paratroopers died that night as they were thrown against trees or other obstacles in the area by the wind, which reached speeds of up to 60 km / h, and only 140 soldiers gathered by day. Their number rose to almost 600 by December 19, 1944. Almost every second paratrooper had fallen, been dispersed or captured by the Allies. Due to the high losses, the association was practically incapable of fighting and fought back to its own lines by December 22nd.
literature
- Guido Knopp: The Liberation. End of the war in the west . 1st edition. Ullstein Tb, 2005, ISBN 3-548-36752-6 .
- Donald M. Goldstein: Nuts! The Battle of the Bulge: The Story and Photographs. J. Michael Wenger, Katherine V. Dillon. Potomac Books, 1994, p. 191. ISBN 978-0-02-881069-0 .