![]() Skorzeny brigade's assaults were successfully repelled by the U.S. This was agreed upon, so on 21 December his brigade tried to take Malmedy. As a consequence, on 17 December Skorzeny attended a staff conference at the 6th Panzer Army's HQ and suggested that his brigade be used as a normal Wehrmacht unit. However, when the 1st SS Panzer Division failed to breakthrough, Skorzeny realized that Operation Greif's initial aims were now doomed. Army unit and was to follow the breakthrough by the 6th Panzer Army and then push ahead to the bridges through the crossroads held by Heydte's Fallschirmjägers. ![]() Skorzeny created Panzer Brigade 150 of 2,500 to look like a U.S. ![]() A lack of language proficiency, vehicles, uniforms and equipment limited the operation and it never achieved its original aim of securing any of the Meuse bridges. Army uniforms and able to speak English using captured Allied vehicles, were to cause confusion in the rear of the Allied lines. German soldiers, wearing captured British and U.S. ![]() The operation was the brainchild of Adolf Hitler, and its purpose was to capture one or more of the bridges over the Meuse river before they could be destroyed. The second covert operation during the Battle of the Bulge was Operation Greif (Griffin) a special operation commanded by Waffen-SS commando Otto Skorzeny who had rescued Mussolini in September 1943. MHT walks the ground in the Bulge twice in 2021. The operation was a failure as many of the Fallschirmjäger assigned to Heydte had never jumped out of an airplane before and he later commented, "Never in my entire career had I been in command of a unit with less fighting spirit." The operation did succeed in tying down soldiers and vehicles who searched in vain for the reported large unit of paratroopers rather than reinforce the lines where they were needed. Heydte surrendered on December 23 and was held as a prisoner of war in England until July 1947. Realizing he was cut off, without supplies or adequate ammunition and pursued by the 18th Infantry, Heydte ordered his men to break through the Allied lines and only 100 reached the German lines. Heydte rounded up 300 paratroopers near Porfays and awaited the 12th SS Panzer Division that never arrived as it was defeated by the US Army units at the Battle of Elsenborn Ridge. Only 300 made it into the drop zone but the spread of enemy all over made the 1st Army use the 18th Infantry Regiment (3,000 men) along with an armored combat command of 300 tanks and 2,000 soldiers search for several days looking for a phantom German Fallschirmjäger Division. Model who had tried to persuade Hitler to attempt a less ambitious counterattack, replied that he gave the entire Ardennes Offensive less than a 10% chance of succeeding but was told it was necessary to make the attempt as Model said, "It must be done because this offensive is the last chance to conclude the war favorably."Īt midnight on 17 December, 112 Ju 52 transport planes with undertrained and inexperienced pilots flew with 1,300 paratroops took off during a powerful snowstorm with strong winds resulted in paratroopers dropped all over some behind the German lines and some not at all. On 13 December, Heydte visited Field Marshal Model's Army Group B Headquarters to complain that the resources allocated to him for the operation were wholly inadequate. The unit only competent small units were 150 men from Heydte's own unit, the 6th Parachute Regiment, in loyalty to their commander, disobeyed orders and joined him. Instead of contributing their best men as ordered, the regiments dumped their misfits and troublemakers. ![]() The German II Parachute Corps was tasked with contributing 100 men from each of its regiments. Instead, he was provided with a Kampfgruppe of 800 men. He wanted to use his own highly trained regiment, but this was forbidden because its movement might alert the Allies to the impending offensive. On 8 December, he was told to prepare for a mission. Heydte was an experienced Fallschirmjäger (paratrooper) Commander having led a battalion during the Battle of Crete. The operation was led by Oberst (Colonel) Freiherr Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte. Its objective was to take and hold the crucial crossroads at Belle Croix Jalhay 12 miles North of Malmedy until the arrival of the 12th SS Panzer Division on the 18 December. Operation Stösser (Operation Hawk) was a paratroop drop into the American rear in the High Fens area during the German Ardennes Offensive in World War II. MHT's Battle of the Bulge Coverage begins with the failed Wehrmacht Special Operations versus the US 1st Army. MHT Blog DecemBattle of the Bulge – Ardennes Forest, Belgium Blog - Battle of the Bulge – Ardennes Forest, Belgium ![]()
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