Towards Dunkirk - May 1940.

[tigre]

Hello to all ; a new topic to share and discuss..........

Infanterie Regiment 30 in the West - Walking to the Channel in May 1940.

The 18 ID was organized on October 01, 1934, led by Generalleutnant Hermann Hoth as Infanterieführer III (Chief of Infantry) at Liegnitz / Silesia with parts of the 3. and 4. Infanterie Divisions. At the beginning of the war its commander was Generalmajor Friedrich-Carl Cranz.

At the beginning of the campaign in the West the division was organized as follows:

• Infanterie-Regiment 30, Commander: Oberst Werner von Erdmannsdorff.
• Infanterie-Regiment 51, Commander: Oberst William Bohnstedt
• Infanterie-Regiment 54, Commander: Oberst Hermann Recknagel.
• Artillerie-Regiment 18, Commander: Oberst Hans Berger.
• I. / Artillerie-Regiment 54
• Panzerabwehr-Abteilung 18, Commander: Oberstleutnant Gleiniger
• Pionier-Bataillon 18
• Nachrichten-Abteilung 18, Commander: Maj Halder
• Sanitäts-Abteilung 18, Commander: Oberfeldarzt Dr. Holm
• Aufklärungs-Abteilung 18 Commander: Major Sigfrid Gerloff.
• Infanterie-Divisions-Nachschubführer 18
• Feldersatz-Bataillon 18

Source: Ich Kämpfte Mit. eBay auction. martes, 23 de marzo de 2010, 11:49:32
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/18._Infant ... Wehrmacht)
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gli ... .htm#Aufkl

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; more follows..........

Infanterie Regiment 30 in the West - Walking to the Channel in May 1940.

After the Polish campaign the 18th Infantry Division moved to West Germany and was subordinated to the IV AK within the 6 AOK in Heeresgruppe B under General Fedor v. Bock. The division headquarters was located at the Schloss (castle) Rurich. While the AA 18 was transported from Poland and was detrained in Neuss, being quartered in Grerenbroich. Later it was shifted to Palenberg.

On May 09, 1940 the Pz Jäg Abt 18 was alarmed and on May 10, 1940 at 03:45 hours occupied its readiness area. The task of the detachment (Pz Jäg Abt 18), organized as Vorausabteilung Gleiniger, was to advance beside the Bataillon zbV 100 by Brunsum - Robroek - Wijnandsrade - Elsloo – Daalgrimby towards the bridge of Elsloo and on the general area around Elsloo and establish a bridgehead west of Boorsheim.

Source: Ich Kämpfte Mit. eBay auction. martes, 23 de marzo de 2010, 11:49:32
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/18._Infant ... (Wehrmacht)
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gli ... .htm#Aufkl

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; more follows..........

Infanterie Regiment 30 in the West - Walking to the Channel in May 1940.

Fall Gelb.

On May 10, 1940, the 6 AOK marched with the 18th Infantry Division in the south of Holland. At 05:35 hours the Vorausabteilung Gleiniger crossed the Dutch border, at 07:15 hours crossed thru Heerlen and secured towards the river Meuse. So the road for the 18 ID was cleared.

Source: Ich Kämpfte Mit. eBay auction. martes, 23 de marzo de 2010, 11:49:32
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/18._Infant ... (Wehrmacht)
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gli ... .htm#Aufkl

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; more follows..........

Infanterie Regiment 30 in the West - Walking to the Channel in May 1940.

Fall Gelb.

The Juliana Canal and the Meuse were crossed already on the first day near Elsloo. Meanwhile, the AA 18 (Major Sigfrid Gerloff) crossed the Dutch border by Palenberg and then the river Meuse in Stein-Limburg. At dusk of that first day of the campaign the 18 ID had achieved the assigned objective, the plateau around Helwijk.

On May 11, 1940 was crossed the Albert Canal in the area of the destroyed bridge at Zutendaal. Under the watchful eye of the division commander, assault boat after assault boat were crossing to the other side under fire from machine guns, with the first waves crossed elements of the AA 18. For Bilzen the division continued in the direction of Demer sector in Tienen.

Source: Ich Kämpfte Mit. eBay auction. martes, 23 de marzo de 2010, 11:49:32
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/18._Infant ... (Wehrmacht)
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gli ... .htm#Aufkl

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; more follows..........

Infanterie Regiment 30 in the West - Walking to the Channel in May 1940.

Fall Gelb.

On May 13, 1940 the division forced the crossing of the Gette, the AA 18 crossed the stream and went on Racour.

The Dyle position, a line of defense in Belgium, was forced on May 15, 1940. The AA 18 forced the Dyle position where it fought for first time against hostile tanks. The advance continued further to Lille and then to the battlefields of World War I at Ypres. The pursuit continued to the Sennette and Dendre. On May 18, 1940 while approaching to the Ath, east of Lille, elements of the IR 30 had to fight with British infantry supported by tanks on the road Ath - Leuze.

Source: Ich Kämpfte Mit. eBay auction. martes, 23 de marzo de 2010, 11:49:32
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/18._Infant ... (Wehrmacht)
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gli ... .htm#Aufkl

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; more follows..........

Infanterie Regiment 30 in the West - Walking to the Channel in May 1940.

Fall Gelb.

On May 19, 1940 the Regiment Recknagel (IR 54) and at the same time the Regiment Bohnstedt (IR 51) reached the east bank of the river Scheldt. On May 20, 1940 continued the battles by Scheldt and Tournai. In the latter place the IR 30 had to fight hard against the Royal Scots who defended the place. The 11. / IR 30 advanced in wedge with a Platoon in front and two to its rear up to around 50 meters from the river Schelde and virtually without resistance as the British held their fire until the last minute and then all hell broke loose. After 18 hours of fighting the Royal Scots were forced to retreat.

Source: Ich Kämpfte Mit. eBay auction. martes, 23 de marzo de 2010, 11:49:32
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/18._Infant ... (Wehrmacht)
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gli ... .htm#Aufkl

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; more follows..........

Infanterie Regiment 30 in the West - Walking to the Channel in May 1940.

Fall Gelb.

On May 21, 1940 at 07:30 hours Recknagel and Bohnstedt regiments crossed the Scheldt fighting against strong resistance.

A dense fog covered the banks of the river Lys that early May 24, 1940 when the battalion in the lead reached Harlebeke. On May 24, 1940 it was crossed the Lys, at which point the German forces were only about 15 kilometers from Dunkirk. On May 26, 1940 the III. / IR 30 with its 10. Company as spearhead advanced by Zillebeke to Trois Rois on the Ypres Canal. The bridges were found intact and the 10. / IR 30 reached the suburbs of Zillebeke and the rest of the regiment followed soon behind. On May 27, 1940 it was reached the WWI Memorial and the Germans reached the bank of the canal; at 11:00 hours the flag with the swastika waved over the towers of Ypres.

Source: Ich Kämpfte Mit. eBay auction. martes, 23 de marzo de 2010, 11:49:32
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/18._Infant ... (Wehrmacht)
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gli ... .htm#Aufkl

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; more follows..........

Infanterie Regiment 30 in the West - Walking to the Channel in May 1940.

Fall Gelb.

The enemy continued its retreat to Dunkirk; on May 28 was taken Freyberg and on May 29, 1940 the IR 30 had surpassed Poperinghe, by May 31, 1940 it reached the outskirts of Dunkirk itself. Here arose a dispute between Hitler and the German High Command (OKH) which led to a standstill on the attack of the German movement to Dunkirk, where was trapped the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). This allowed the organization of a defensive ring around Dunkirk by the allied forces, which until June 4, 1940 allowed the evacuation of 338,682 soldiers. In spite of this on June 1, 1940 the IR 30 relieved the IR GD on La Basse - Colme Canal and tried to cross the watercourse under the fire of Fort Bergues.

Source: Ich Kämpfte Mit. eBay auction. martes, 23 de marzo de 2010, 11:49:32
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/18._Infant ... (Wehrmacht)
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gli ... .htm#Aufkl

Cheers. Raúl M .

[tigre]

Hello to all ; the end..........

Infanterie Regiment 30 in the West - Walking to the Channel in May 1940.

Fall Gelb.

On June 4, 1940 the OKW reported in a special message that Dunkirk had been conquered by the IR 54 under Colonel Hermann Recknagel, who was awarded the Knights Cross for this capture.

Recknagel reached the rank of General der Infanterie during the war. He fell in battle on January 23, 1945, while withdrawing from Petrikau.

Source: Ich Kämpfte Mit. eBay auction. martes, 23 de marzo de 2010, 11:49:32
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/18._Infant ... (Wehrmacht)
http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Gli ... .htm#Aufkl

It's all folks. Cheers. Raúl M .

[Paul E]

Raúl,

Thanks for posting , do you know if it was the 18 ID that forced the crossing over the River Dyle at Gastouche on 15th May 1940 , whilst fighting against the 2nd Bn Durham Light Infantry ?

regards

Paul

[Prosper Vandenbroucke]

Hello,

To Paul:
It was the 82 I.R. (31 I.D.) who crossed the river Dyle at Gastuche (and not Gastouche) on the 15th of may 1940 in front of the 2nd Bn Durham Light Infantry
(source: L'enfer de la Dyle Mai 1940" Tome II by Robert Pied)

To Raül:
I don't think that the picture you posted on the 29th of april and which is showing a german infantryman was token in the Belgian city of Tournai. As you can see on the picture there is a plate which is showing the direction of the French town of Reims (18 kms)
There are still 223 kms between Tournai in Belgium and Reims in France.
The picture was token in a french town near Reims

Kindly regards from Belgium and apoliges for my poor english.
Prosper

[Paul E]

Prosper,

Many thanks for that information , does the book have any more details about the action fought there ?

It is of particular interest as it was this action that led to the award of the first Victoria Cross to a British army soldier during WW2 !!

regards

Paul

[Prosper Vandenbroucke]

Hello Paul,
I found some details in the book (in french language) and one of them is the story of second-lieutenant Richard Annand.
You will found a link to a wiki page in english here below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Annand
And here below you have an other link to Richard Annand:
http://www.lightinfantry.me.uk/vcrannand.htm
And here you have a link to the Durham Light Infantry Records
http://www.durhamrecordoffice.org.uk/Pa ... mID=165137
You will found under Ref: D/DLI 7/14/4-5 the whole story (in strips) of Richard Annand.
It was edited in 1974 into "The Victor Book for Boys"
I don't know if it's still available
Here below you have 3 extracts of my book.
In first, a reproduction of the strip

Annand1.jpg (45.49 KiB) Viewed 6543 times

In second a map of the DLI positions in Gastuche on the 15th of may 1940

Annand2bis.jpg (17.38 KiB) Viewed 6543 times

and at least a picture of the bridge over the Dyle river in 1991. As you can see it's not the same like into may 1940.

Annand3.jpg (25.42 KiB) Viewed 6543 times

Hope it helps and once again, apoliges for my poor english
Kindly regards from Belgium
Prosper

[Paul E]

Hello Prosper,

Nothing wrong with you English my friend !!

Many thanks for the update and map , Dick Annand was a friend of mine but we never knew exactly which German unit he was fighting when he won his VC , you have answered the question so many thanks indeed !!

regards

Paul

[Prosper Vandenbroucke]

All the pleasure was mine
Regards
Prosper