The Herrlisheim mystery: the disappearance of an American tank battalion in France

@DefAviation ES 4·15·2023 · 22:30 0

In the history of wars there are many examples that show that numerical superiority can be nullified by bad tactics.

Orlik, the Pole who destroyed ten German tanks using a tiny tankette
The story of four M4 Sherman tanks that slipped behind the German lines in WWII

An example that should be studied in all military academies occurred on the morning of January 17, 1945. The 43rd Tank Battalion of the 12th Armored Division of the United States Army arrived in the French town of Herrlisheim, located in Alsace and next to the border with Germany. The unit was under the command of Lt. Col. Scott W. Hall and had 29 Sherman tanks. Their objective was to go to support the 17th Armored Infantry Battalion , which had been surrounded by German forces in that town.

The unit was advancing through the eastern part of that town, with narrow streets and ideal for an ambush. Around noon, the command of the operation lost contact with the 43rd Tank Battalion. Its last sign of life was to communicate that his commander's tank had been destroyed. Its 29 tanks and their crews had mysteriously vanished. The paradox is that part of the 17th Battalion managed to escape from the German encirclement of Herrlisheim, but the 43rd Battalion that had come to its aid disappeared.

The next day, American forces located in Herrlisheim some destroyed tanks of the 43rd Battalion. However, 12 tanks from the Battalion and all their crews were missing. Search missions were unsuccessful. It was not known for months what strange fate had befallen those tanks and soldiers, although some intelligence reports indicated that the 43rd Battalion had encountered forces from the 10th SS Panzer Division Frundsberg. German radio confirmed that 50 tanks and 300 American soldiers had been captured in Herrlisheim, but the figures did not match the strength of the 43rd Battalion, so there was speculation that it was a hoax.

All those tanks and their crews did not disappear due to any paranormal phenomenon. The 43rd Tank Battalion fell victim to poor tactics as tanks deployed through narrow streets without infantry support. Because of this, German forces destroyed many American tanks using portable Panzerfaust grenade launchers. Finally it was learned what had really happened: a young Obersturmführer (equivalent to the rank of lieutenant) of the Waffen SS, Erwin Bachmann (he was only 23 years old at the time), took advantage of the streets of Herrlisheim and ambushed a column of 14 M4A3 Sherman tanks with only two Panther tanks.

The ambush consisted of destroying the first tank of the American column using a Panzerfaust, taking advantage of the fact that it was stopped on a local street. The Panthers fanned out to make a pincer move against the American column. One of the Germans destroyed the last tank in the column of the American 43rd Battalion. It was a perfect ambush and one that resulted in the remaining 12 Sherman tanks being trapped in a narrow street where they could not go. maneuvers and in which they were an easy target for the Panthers. The American crews surrendered and the Germans captured 12 Shermans intact and their 60 crew members.

As a result of that bold action, Erwin Bachmann was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Those 12 Sherman tanks were used by the Germans in the last months of the war, painted with the Wehrmacht's Balkenkreuz. Lieutenant Colonel Scott W. Hall and many of his men lost their lives in that ambush. That was a hard lesson for the United States Army, which showed that numerical superiority is useless if you don't manage your own forces well and launch an armored unit without infantry support to take a stand. town with narrow streets, which largely nullify the offensive capabilities of tanks.

The channel Yarnhub published yesterday an interesting video that recreates the capture on a computer of those 12 Sherman tanks in Herrlisheim: