The Battle of Singling - 4th Armored Division Vs. 11. Panzer Division
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ส.ค. 2024
- Hello, and welcome to The AceDestroyer! It has been quite a long time since I last uploaded a video, but finally here’s the latest one. It’s a 30 minute long documentary about the battle of Singling. Although the battle of Singling was only a small fire-fight it still is a very interesting battle to cover. During the fight for Singling the tanks of B company, 37th tank battalion of the 4th Armoured Division clashed with the Panther tanks of the 11th Panzer Division. You can find out all about it in this video… Enjoy! Don’t forget to like and subscribe, and do leave a comment down below! Cheers!
INFORMATION:
history.army.m...
FOOTAGE:
American First Army - Aachen to the Roer river • AMERICAN FIRST ARMY - ...
36th Infantry Division • 36TH INFANTRY DIVISION
True glory, the • TRUE GLORY, THE
German newsreel excerpts • GERMAN NEWSREEL EXCERPTS
American Ninth army - Aachen to the Roer river • AMERICAN NINTH ARMY - ...
All above by PublicResourceOrg [ / @publicresourceorg ]
Die Deutsche Wochenschau 739 of November 2nd 1944
MUSIC: All from TH-cam audio Library [www.youtube.co...]
Flecks of light
For we are many
Dreaming in 432Hz
Chasing time
Omonia
That one guy does these mini-documentaries - the attention to detail; unit symbols; detailed maps - I have to say I'm impressed!
Thank you very much! It truly means a lot to me! I'm very happy to see that you enjoyed it!
At 30 minutes, and with this amount of information the word "mini" really doesn't do it justice though. :-) Thanks, AceDestroyer. Enjoyed this very much.
@@exharkhun5605 I'm very pleased to hear that! Thank you!
G'day,
Yes.., indeed.
All that, and as an extra added bonus..., he finishes High School this year.
Happily his Final Examinations do not conflict with the Headstone Dedication Ceremony which the British War Graves Commission has invited him to attend - because he was one of the (3..., ?) Researchers who collaborated to put a Name to one of their hitherto "Known Only Unto God..." type of WW -1 War-Graves.
This is an EXCELLENT little YT Channel...!
Have a good one.
;-p
Ciao !
Acedistroyer You do history and documentaries proud. I thoroughly enjoy every video you post. Keep up the fantastic work. Stay safe.
This guy is unbiased, intelligent and has an excellent grasp of all his subject matter. A commentator of the highest quality. I've subscribed and would like to see him doing mainstream television documentaries. Nice work.
Wow! Thanks Steve! It truly means a lot!
I like your GERMAN accent! God Bless GERMANY!
Mainstream television doesn't deal in truth.
@@sander7165 are u from WALES?
@@TheAceDestroyer We don't pronounce it left-tenant. It's lew-tenant.
Ace Destroyer, you are doing what no one else to my knowledge is doing: Giving us a look back at the fighting in Europe at a TACTICAL level, punch-by-punch. It is far more valuable than yet one more flatulent re-telling of the Battle of the Bulge, a operational/strategic mentioning generals but skipping the muddy, bloody firefights that actually moved the lines forward (or in some cases back, like here!). or Keep up the good work!
Agreed!
Agreed.
There were 1 star generals too. They ran the battles.
I met Charlie Wilson, he was in the 4th. They also found Dacca #2. He is still living in Carlisle Ky. Fascinating to hear him talk about his time in the 4th.
This was particularly interesting to me as the US Army provided training material around 1979-1980 on how to defend a town from mechanized assault using Singling as an example, updated with the current weapons. There was, because of the incorporation of Singling into the Maginot line defenses, a tunnel between two of the buildings which permitted an observer team or machine gun teams to be posted there without having to run the gauntlet of fire, so after taking a row of houses, the Germans were able to infiltrate teams behind the line of buildings that the US had taken. The buildings were individually assessed as to construction, fields of fire, and observation.
This apparently was the famed ghost division, the 11th Panzer that won the incredible pyhric victory at the Battle of Chir River under Gen. Hermann Von Baulk in southern Russia. The 4th armored acquitted themselves well, especially when considering the lopsided casualty count and the fact that they were attacking a considerable stronger force.
the 11th panzer would been a shadow of what it once was, russia was a meat grinder or the entire Wehrmacht
In that battle they lost zero tanks when rolling up the Soviet column. That detachment included rear elements of 6th Army, not trapped in Stalingrad.
Very impressive! One of the few high quality WW2 channels on youtube. Keep up the great work!
Thanks! It means a lot!
AceDestroyer gives a very good, comprehensive account of the battle of Singling in early Dec. '44 in this video.
As usual you are on your game. The scripting is excellent and efficient and knowledgeable The presentation is clean and well presented. Thank you for your time and efficient accurate video. Thoroughly researched and accurate. Always a wonderful pleasure.
Thanks mate! Always happy to see you in the comment section! I'm pleased to see that you enjoyed it!
The AceDestroyer is amazing. The way he describes all the details on a long-forgotten battle like Singling makes me believe he was there, among the soldiers who fought their asses out of the craziness of combat. These documentaries are so good, they could be broadcasted by Deutsche Welle, BBC, RAI, or TV5. You are great, man. We all love and appreciate your work. Keep going.
Thank you very much! It truly means a lot!
Another great video! The narrators story telling ability is fantastic. I feel like I’m re-living the battle.
Those men on both sides suffered very much. They all deserve great respect. General Abrams was Chief of Staff of the US ARMY, when I came in US ARMY during Vietnam. Great man.
The most impressive thing about your series is play by play,man by man and unit involved.
You give your viewers s greater depth of intensity of each battle.
My father was in this battle in the 37th Tank battalion, 4th Armored. His Diary does not even come close to matching this fantasy portrayal of yours for these battle.
Good Job! I never knew about this Village-Battle, it would be much appreciated of you'd make more vids like this.
Love that you have accurate closed captions. Love half dozing off being able to read when I can't really understand what your saying because I have to keep volume kind of low. Good doc on a battle I'd never had heard of otherwise. I've read a few battles like this in books I have but they really come to life in this form.
Man finally another great video and this is 30 minutes long...Can't wait to watch it...keep them rolling!
Great job. My grandfather, Giles Hayward was a tank commander in the 4th Armored Division and whose tank was destroyed in the Battle of Singling. I've waited for a long time for a video/documentary to reveal this battle. Great job!!
Did he at least survive the engagement?
Thanks for your time and effort showing what these men on both sides had to endure.
Love these shows. You manage to show footage of WW2 that I have never seen before. I always wondered why I only saw things like the jeep that is on fire, and dodging a tree. Which I have seen used for both the European conflict, and the Pacific. And I now avoid watching the iconic video, of the Normandy invasion, where the GI gets killed just after leaving the landing craft. Now I almost cry thinking of those who loved him and would never see him again, the grand parents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and wife and children if married. God bless all the Vets, family of fallen, and bless their family line...
Excellent graphics, impressive detail and depth of the report. Keep em coming.
Your maps remind me of the strategic board games made by Avalon Hill that I used to play in the early 1980:s such as Squad Leader . Thanks for another excellent episode .
14 tanks lost on the approach and 5 tanks lost within the town - and they only realized the situation when they captured the field kitchen?! Thats fog of war for you i guess. O_O
@HaB22 Lol...bloody vegans.
@@lieshtmeiser5542 ,,, As "Homer Simpson." would say.. Mmmm,, "Vegans" ... LOL
The forces at hand were enormous in scale and professionalism. The fighting was so sharp in so many places that such engagements could not last for years on end because both sides would eventually be bled dry. I would also note that it wasn't just Germans on the Axis end, and it wasn't just British on the Allies end. I always hated BOB, and thought SPR was a far more accurate portrayal of an isolated engagement. The Axis powers were superb, and they were matched off against the same sort of mentality and material. I think the East released a lot of false propaganda when this front closed. If Bradley had gone along with Patton and created a joint wester force. Man. Throwing humbleness to the wind, I think that force could have been a 20th Century Mongol Army.
That battle took place in Lorraine / Lothringen (part of the german empire). Sarreguemines has for real name Saargemünd. Most of locals are german speaking people with german names and roots (torn between france and germany)...
Saarland
@@kennygottlieb3628 fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singling
Im a Vietnam Vet and an avid student of everything WW2 related,ive been on TH-cam 6 years,how am i just finding this kick ass channel after being subbed to the Mark Felton Productions channel for years ,im subbed now .
Thank you very much and welcome to the channel!
Great video if you can make more videos on the more obscure battles like this one, I would watch every one of them.
I enjoy more obscure videos noone else is making this type of video, on lesser known battles that never the less are just as interesting to me, as the first time I watched a video on say kursk or Stalingrad there are 101 videos out there about them and there all the same thing basically. But this type of thing is for me much more interesting because I've never even heard of it before...
Thanks for the videos man, good work
My pleasure! Happy to see that you enjoyed it! Yeah I like these lesser known battles as well. It's one of the reasons why I decided to make this channel.
I'm not really the type of guy that asks TH-camrs about what they should make next, but I might have an interesting proposal, the Third Battle of Kharkov February - March 1943, or only the fight for the city 11-15 March. In my opinion its way more interesting then, for example, the battle of Kursk. Just look it up, some call is the last major German victory on the Eastern Front. Beside all that, there aren't any real documentaires focused on this battle, you could be the first here as far as I know. Its also more interesting for me personal then any other battle because a relative of mine was KIA during this operation.
Just my thoughts and tips. Doe ermee wat je wil ;), goede videos!
Thank you very much for the suggestion, but for me the Battle of Kharkov is a bit too large to cover. I usually only focus on the smaller battles where I can really go into detail. Oh really, wow, I hope he has a known grave somewhere?
Nog eens bedankt voor de suggestie, maar ik denk niet dat ik een video zal maken over Kharkov, maar je weet maar nooit.
@@TheAceDestroyer Ik snap je volledig, omdat dus een familielid van mij erbij was heb ik ook onderzoek gedaan naar de slag om Kharkov, het is voor mij bijna onmogelijk om elke eenheid te volgen tijdens dit gevecht, veel te uitgebreid. En ik weet hoeveel tijd het kost voor onderzoek + editing van zulke videos. Wat je dan nog zou kunnen doen is alleen het gevecht bespreken om de stad zelf, en niet wat er vooraf gebeurde. Maar dat laat ik natuurlijk aan jou over.
Hij was eerst tijdelijk begraven tijdens de slag in 1943, en na de oorlog verplaatst naar een Duitse begraafplaats in Oekraïne. Ik weet niet hoe dat is gelopen toen der tijd, maar ik heb het geluk dat hij wel netjes is verplaats naar een officiële militaire begraafplaats, veel van die tijdelijke en snel gemaakte begraafplaatsen van en door de Duitsers zijn vaak door de Russen vernietigd toen het land weer heroverd werd.
@@DeltaSniperZRR So sad for your relative being killed in action.
May he rest in heavenly peace !
Hey Ace, your pronunciation of words in so many languages is so spot on. Just wanted to mention Creighton Abrams first name is pronounced "Cray-ton." Keep up up the great work on these obscure engagements. Love your work!
Thank you! Oh, thank you very much, I didn't know that!
Excellent footage.Sad to see entire village destroyed by two opposing armies.
Talk about the chaos of war can't imagine how much worse it was being there amazing how one could advance under such confusion
My granduncle Georg served with the 11 Panzer Division, 15. Panzer-Regiment. Started with Panthers, but they ran out of them by the end of the war. I think he stated he was on a StuG or Ausf. J at the surrender.
Wow I am first second time in less than a day! I love your videos and your a great narrator! TH-cam has made it so accesible to hear these stories from the German side.
Haha! Thanks! I'm very happy to hear that!
Excellent presentation. No drama, no 'expert' speculation, just a clear concise depiction of the events. Well done! 👍
Just a brilliant breakdown and really appreciate the explanation of why this battle was so important. 1 of the best parts of what you do is talk about the individual soldiers and situations they faced.
Yeah, I kind of had enough of the normal documentaries only mentioning divisions or armies. It's the individual soldier that does the fighting and I wish to tell their story. I'm very happy to see that you enjoyed it!
I loved this video! It was an eye opening experience as it gave me a really good view of what the soldiers were seeing as they fought. Seeing the town laid out, the terrain, and all that... the confusion, the fog of war, it all became clearer how that impacted events and how commanders made their decisions.
TLDR; I really loved the well forumalted video and its focus on granular details that are often overlooked or not well presented.
I would help if we could visualize the topography of the battlefield, where the hills and valleys are . Hard to visualize on a flat map.
I did that in my older videos, but I found that using topography, the map becomes far too crowded and I didn't find it enjoyable to watch. That would also mean that I would have to change my unit symbols, and I quite like them the way they are know. I'm still trying to figure out a way where I can have both. The only downside is is that I have to use powerpoint to make the maps, so that limits it a bit.
@@TheAceDestroyer to bad there is not a way to use Google earth to show the battlefield, I might be changed now, but perhaps the hills and valleys? Just a thought .
Yes terrain is essential to understand what soldiers do; it would be easy to blend your map (1:26) with terrain, not represented with topo lines, but shadows, as a lightmapped heightmap. Drop a note if you want to get some for any WWII battle you'd need.
I enjoyed this small battle. Came to watch it because the area is full of Maginot bunkers, and a bit later in January 45 this is where gen. Leclerc at Gros-Rederching stopped the 17SS StossGruppe Kaiser attacking during the Nordwind operation, encircled it and later used a stolen JagdPz IV. I might come one of these days to scan the terrain with a drone.
How about having terrain detail as a sub layer or semi transparent way?
I live in Rohrbach and I can tell you that the surroundings of singling are not propitious to an attack of the village, the lines of sight are very open all around the village and I can only understand the difficulty it was to take the village, the small church is still there tho, that's incredible to see the footage, thank you for your work !
Served with A Company, 1st Battalion, 37th Armor from 1971-1974, Katterbach, Germany. Thanks for your video.
this fella knows how to present a thorough documentary!!...he has tremendous detail on all his presentations
Very happy to see that you're enjoying the content!
GREAT STORY !!!! SUPER INTERESTING !!! THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU BRING TO US !!👍👍
To me the battle for singling was a nightmare. No one knew the german strength, where they were at, the weather was atrocious with mud for the men everywhere. Just really miserable conditions with the men just wondering in to bad positions.
Another well done video !! Thanks for covering the lesser known battles !!
I love your attention to details and play by play of both sides.
Excellent perspectives from both sides you cover.
You give your viewers greater understanding of the intensity of each battle.
Bravo.
Top notch, very well done.
My Dad was an M4 tanker in the 4th armored, severely wounded there, decorated for heroism
My grandfather drove a Sherman tank in the Battle of Bulge 4th Armored Division I got his War medals here 5 Battle Stars
Was a platoon leader in the 51st AIB of the 4th AD in the mid 1950's. Believe most of the infantry during this documentary were in the 51st AIB and read the unit history of the day by day action in the battalion while OD in company Hqs. Fascinating to actually see the ground pounders as they swept the field & towns of enemy personnel in conjunction with the 37th tank battalion led by Col. Abrams.
Extremely detailed, well researched. Explained so that the non-military of us can understand the matter-of-fact brutality of war. Well done sir!
Thanks! I'm very pleased to see that you enjoyed it!
Thank you. Intricate detail is appreciated .
Outstanding and informative, quality second to none...a pleasure to watch. Thank you for your work sir.
I'm very happy to hear that! Thanks!
Amazing Research, Thank You for sharing 👍
I enjoyed this longer episode for its extra detail , a plus as far as I'm concerned.
Such detail suggests immense research. You continue to impress. Well done.
Good work as always! I mentioned it in the comment section of another from ur videos, that it’s very nice to hear about the “smaller” battles, because they reflect the fierce of fighting during an offensive or special period. But this video now has another important aspect: The battle of Germany.
Sure, there are many videos or documentaries, but they sum up multiple battles like Aachen - Köln - Ruhrkessel pressed in a 45 min docu.
Due to this, the character of the Battle for Germany isn’t shown correctly because some of the battles were short but others were harsh with many losses on both sides, like the fierce street fighting in Aachen (so called American small Stalingrad) or in the Hürthgenwald were the fighting went for a couple of weeks/months and the Americans had several battalions which went from battle hardened down to green again. With all these stories u keep up the remembrance of all these brave men on both sides, who gave their lives in the last months of the war.
Also your style of presentation and even the pronunciation of german names is on a high level.
Keep it up, greetings from Germany 🇩🇪 ✌🏻
Thank you very much Hans! It means a lot to me!
My dad was there. Master Sgt. Tom,,, he loved those guys,,, upset when released later as a Tech Sgt. with the 6th armored.
A brilliant video. 30 minutes flew by. Great detail and visuals as always.
Thanks! I'm extremely happy to hear that!
Another excellent video ace, love the fact that you do videos about the lesser known battles, so many docs and books are about the famous battles, thanx dude
Great narration and beautiful footage! There must be a ton of research behind it!
Well, in this case I was lucky enough to have found some pretty detailed sources. Some other videos required much more research that this one.
The Chieftain channel has an excellent interview with a tanker who was in this battle. The video is from 2016. The tanker was in the 4th Armored Division. He was a Jewish-Hungarian who was not even an american citizen-upon enlisting but was able to serve.
I love long video about battlefield..
Thanks for your great works
Good Job Mr. Destroyer!!!!!!!!!!!!
Excellent Video, great telling of the Story. Thanks, mate!
Well, thank you! I'm very happy to see that you enjoyed it!
Simply amazing .love all your content it's all so informative.thank you
And thank you for watching! I'm very happy to see that you enjoyed it!
Very educational! Thank you 👍👍👍
This has to be one of the worst defense strategy the Germans ever applied. Loosing the Panther like that, not to mention all those offices just sitting in that house awaiting to get captured, almost unlike Germans way...All in all, good video.
Great combat history video, I would love to see topo maps though. As high ground is always so important in battles. Keep up the good work thanks again.
Yeah, someone else mentioned that as well. I did that in my older videos, but I found that using topography, the map becomes far too crowded and I didn't find it enjoyable to watch. That would also mean that I would have to change my unit symbols, and I quite like them the way they are know. I'm still trying to figure out a way where I can have both. The only downside is is that I have to use powerpoint to make the maps, so that limits it a bit.
@@TheAceDestroyer thanks so much for your answer no worries I'll keep watching and pay better attention, Aloha! from Maui
Outstanding story, we are lucky you have skill to do these. Thank you
Very interesting video..congratulations ..!
Thanks for sharing ...
Dan from Paris- France
If I'm not mistaken, that's a Hanomag 251 Ausf. D at about 40 seconds. The sloping rear marks it as a D
Yup, I just noticed that. I wonder if the paint on that big white star is still wet? lol
Fabulous reports. I love the emphasis on squad, platoon and company level actions.
Excellent work mate, well done and thanks👍🏻
My pleasure! I'm happy to see that you enjoyed it!
General Abrams was the commanding general in Vietnam when I was an infantry soldier there in '69-'70
What a difference when going for victory and not a war of attrition
Once again, you have put together a great and informative video!
I also wish to say thank you for giving details and names of the officers and men involved from both sides.
You give a professional and personal prospective to each.
Unlike other wannabe sites here that show broadstrokes you give a human touch.
Thank you for this.
I hope the Snowflakes on my country appreciate their sacrifice but doubt it.
By the way those newsreels you add really add a front roll seat to their struggle.
I like you👍...straight to the point with no missing around and with no bad language ... the level of detail makes your video really worth watching...man your videos are so cool...🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
I'm very happy to hear that! Thanks!
Cheers! Excellent video, Ace, about a battle that deserves attention. Apparently American commanders disregarded the lessons of the Battle of Aachen.
I like this, keep it up Ace! Its like having an after action report narrated to me. Even better with the fact that its historical. Thank you.
Nicely done ! Thanks !
I like it a lot thanks.
Another quality video. I appreciate your efforts, the research, mapping and narration are awesome. Thank you! 👍
my pleasure! I'm very happy to see that you enjoyed it!
Can’t imagine having to do this day after day, in village after village, in miserable cold weather and muddy terrain. Added to the fact that both sides had to know the war was coming to an end would have made it even more unpleasant.
Once again a great, well researched effort. And thank you for providing the links to some of the reference material, so good for anyone who wants to learn more.
This is great. Love the detail and maps. I imagine there aren't the records to show this action from a German commanders perspective, such is history. Keep up the Ace output - you are truely destroying it:)
Thank you for the time and effort you put into your videos. They are miles ahead of anything else I have watched.
Thank you! It means a lot to me! I'm extremely happy to see that you enjoyed it!
my grandfather was in the 11.Pz-Division...
My uncle was in the 4th armored division.
@@raybruce9522 did your Uncle survive?
Wow! Is there more you guys could tell? Im super eager to know
@@stummstefan9735 my grandfather earned the iron cross and get then captured...he later works as a translater for the us army...i never met him because he dies when i was 2 years old...my father told me the story but i have the cross and the certificate....✌
@@thefisterfister6064 wow. Just amazing. Reguardless of which side he faught for, i salute and respect him. Es lebe die Deutschland ❤👍
Another great video & tons more diorama ideas!
Excellent video bud
Top rate, great production, on par with Army University Press for detailed information & maps.
Thanks! Yes it truly is a goldmine for good information.
Truly, your productions are as good as AUP, super impressive for a "one person team".
Great video Ace! Keep 'em coming
AceDestroyer, you have a unique talent to bring these neglected battles to life. I am always impressed both by your research and your delivery.
Thank you very! I'm very pleased to hear that!
I think it would also be instructive and helpful to your subscribers to understand how you choose the battles that you post videos about and the research methodology that you employ to get all these details. Not looking for any "trade secrets" but like I said before your work is remarkable for the detail that you put into it.
Your videos are getting better and I enjoy them immensely. I think you have produced a great blend of the right ingredients in editing, and the smaller battle focus gives one greater insight into the circumstances and conditions.
I find them riveting, and efficacious as I seek to constantly update and revise my own knowledge of armored and land warfare of WWII.
Kudos on your effort in obtaining sources, as I can only imagine the tedious work involved in making sure you have the most reliable sources.
Thanks! I'm very happy to hear that! Yeah, I often come across multiple different sources on a same battle each telling a different story. That's often the most difficult task, finding out which source is the most correct one.
This the first time I've seen this channel.Also the first time I've subscribed before watching the whole video.This is good stuff!
I'm very happy to hear that! Welcome to the channel!
excellent, thank you
sounds like one of the lads from liverpool doing the narration,, i like it !
Great job thanks for all your work!!
My pleasure! I'm glad to see that you enjoyed it!
Fantastic, informative video, love these. Great Job
Thanks! I'm very pleased to see that you enjoyed it!
Another awesome vid, thanks Ace and Cheers to you too!
My brain: its 4 oclock and you have classes in the morning
Also my brain: tank battlesssssssss
Of all the really good documentaries yours is the very best !!
Thanks! It really means a lot!
And ten days later came The Bulge. This was a prelude.
I read about this brawl in the book Tank vs. Tank by Kenneth Macksey. I highly recommend it.
Ben Laskowski - Same here, great book. There is also an Advanced Squad Lead Scenario using the Singling map. aslerb.com/.wp-plugins/singling_map.php
Well done, concise, accurate, facts instead of opinion. Keep em' coming!
Thanks! I'm happy to see that you enjoyed it!
Thanks ace an expertly crafted video production giving me, the audience, terrifying soldiers view of this small unit engagement.