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intervals between vehicles up to several hundred meters. The road march was nearly 450 kilometres (280 mi) in distance, but took the battalion six days to reach the battle area. By the time the battalion has reached its designated assembly area during the night of 12 June 1944, it had suffered total casualties of twenty-seven, including nine killed. The long road march had also caused many mechanical problems and failures to the Tigers; of its theoretical strength of fourteen tanks, the 1st company ended with eight tanks; and the 2nd company, six. The 1st company assembled at Noyers (8 kilometres (5.0 mi) northeast of
Villers-Bocage); the 2nd company assembled in a defile south of Montbrocq (2 kilometres (1.2 mi) northeast of Villers-Bocage); the 3rd company was still held up farther to rear; von Westernhagen's battalion command post was established at Baron-sur-Odon. The battalion was immediately ordered to cover the left flank of the I. SS Panzer Corps, the crews had no rest.
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Panzergruppe Peiper evacuated
Stoumont and Cheneux in the early evening hours of 21 December 1944 and withdrew his entire battle group to La Gleize, the small village thus became the center point of the pocket. The breakout began at 0200 hours on 24 December 1944; of the approximately 3000 men of Panzergruppe Peiper, 850 of them who could still walk, including wounded, assembled to begin the breakout. Among them were Westernhagen and other members of the battalion. In the morning hour of 25 December 1944 he and his group has reached the Leibstandarte Division's command post in Wanner after a 33 hour march.
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actually participated in the initial advance of
Kampfgruppe Peiper. Due to the blitzkrieg action KG Peiper needed as the spearhead of the offensive, considering the 68t Tigers could sustain a speed of only 38km/h, and with rough terrain and road conditions, the Tiger battalions were placed to the rear of the march column from the beginning, forming the rearguard. However, after leaving the hilly section of the offensive zone the Tiger Battalion was to be moved forward and spearhead the breakthrough to the Meuse.
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648:, engaged the British with a lone Tiger tank first along N175 as he advanced towards Villers-Bocage, and later in the town itself, until his Tiger was immobilized from an antitank gun. The British withdrawal indicated the end of the post D-Day "scramble for ground" and the start of the a grinding attritional battle for Caen. Westernhagen then went on a convalescent leave to deal with the aftermath of his head wound.
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to the railway network northwest of Paris. Initially, the Tigers drove through
Gournay-en-Bray to Les Andelys. The bridge at Les Andelys to cross Seine was badly damaged, the battalion had to move through Paris. In an effective bit of propaganda, the Tigers rolled along the Champs-Elysées, passing the Arc de Triomphe to Versailles. The march continued on to
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On 6 June 1944, the battalion was at
Beauvais, 70 kilometres (43 mi) north of Paris. On that day in the early morning hours of 0600, it was placed on alert. Between 0200 and 0300 hours on 7 June, the Tiger battalion set off for the invasion front, under its own power, due to the extensive damage
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On 21 November 1944, Westernhagen returned to the battalion, now designated as the 501st SS Heavy Panzer
Battalion. The plan for the Ardennes Offensive was to deliver a powerful blow and to regain the initiative on the Western Front. The main attack would be led by the 6th Panzer Army advancing from
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on 19 July 1943. Further treatment of his head wound and subsequent participation in a training course for battalion commanders at the
Armored Forces School in Paris delayed his arrival until 13 February 1944. The 101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion was heavily engaged during the Normandy campaign, and
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Westernhagen's unit was to operate in the southern sector of the planned operation. The
Assault Gun Battalion LSSAH commanded by Westernhagen was part of reinforced 2nd Panzergrenadier Regiment LSSAH; he sustained a head wound in the first day of the operation, on July 5. Westernhagen was evacuated
682:
The 501st SS Heavy Panzer
Battalion was at full strength except for the 4th (Light) Company. Each panzer company possessed 14 Tiger IIs, gave a total strength of 45. However the battalion was plagued with maintenance problems and mechanical breakdowns, it is probable that only around 30-35 Tigers
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The entire road march was an arduous and strenuous journey, in the area of Allied air superiority; starting from day one the march was often strafed by Allied fight-bombers and casualties mounted. Tigers could only move at night with a single tank movement, that is one tank at a time with lengthy
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On 16 December 1944, due to 12th
Volksgrenadier's (VG) slow progress in breaking through the American lines thus opening a gap for Route D, the Tiger battalion just started to roll out from its assembly area at Tondorf. Wessel's 1st Company was in the lead, which was brought up from the rear.
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Monschau to Losheim, crossing the Meuse on both sides of Liège and then advance on Antwerp. The advance roads were assigned to the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte and the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend. Leibstandarte was to use Roads D and E, Hitlerjugend Roads A, B and C.
703:(Volume Two), with almost daily activity account of 101st/501st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion, has clearly indicated that Westerhagen committed suicide after being relieved as battalion commander: "In fact, he shoots himself with his own pistol."
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entered Villers-Bocage. The advancement conducted without additional reconnaissance was a costly mistake for the British as they were oblivious to the presence of 2nd Company, 101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion. The Company commander,
498:, Westernhagen took part in the fighting in the Netherlands, Belgium and France in 1940. Afterwards, Westernhagen was transferred back to the Security Service (SD), returning to LSSAH in March 1941. During the
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on 1 October 1934 and assigned to a company of the Germania Regiment. In 1936, he took platoon commander training course at Dachau Training Area, where he became acquainted with
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lost virtually all its equipment in the retreat across France in August 1944. The remains of the unit were ordered to rest and completely refit with the new
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of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention. If notability cannot be shown, the article is likely to be
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assumed command. According to the official statement, Westernhagen was killed by an aircraft bomb, however Wolfgang Schneider in his book
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Please help improve this article by looking for better, more reliable sources. Unreliable citations may be challenged and removed.
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Cristal Kiesselbach (sister), Michael Kiesselbach (nephew), Wilhelm Kiesselbach (nephew), Rolf Von Westernhagen (brother),
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On 19 March 1945, Westernhagen received an order to leave the battalion and join the officer reserve; SS-Sturmbannführer
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Battalion. Westernhagen remained in this position until 5 August 1943 when he was appointed to command the
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that day, and later transferred to Berlin for additional surgery. The head injury sustained during
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as vital to the Normandy battle. When a 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) gap opened up between the
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Dietrich's Boys: The Leibstandarte (HITLER'S FIGHTING SS UNITS OF WORLD WAR II) (Volume 1)
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The wreckage of the British transport column, and an anti-tank gun, that Wittmann engaged.
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Westernhagen (in camouflage uniform) at a practice in May 1944 near east of Amiens, France
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Margry, Karel, ed. (2001). "After the Battle Number 112: The Four Battles For Kharkov".
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Thunder at Prokhorovka : a combat history of operation Citadel, Kursk, July 1943
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Tigers in the Ardennes: The 501st Heavy SS Tank Battalion in the Battle of the Bulge
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Men of steel : I SS Panzer Corps : the Ardennes and Eastern Front, 1944-45
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1049:(1st ed.). Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole. pp. 203–262.
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Battle of the Bulge : Hitler's Ardennes offensive, 1944-1945
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Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing
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Hitler's Warrior: The Life and Wars of SS Colonel Jochen Peiper
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1030:(1st Da Capo Press ed.). : Da Capo Press. p. 234.
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Joachim Peiper : a biography of Himmler's SS commander
1087:. Solihull: Helion & Company. pp. 42, 45, 48, 50.
964:(1 ed.). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
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passes a column of American GIs taken prisoner day of the
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992:(1st Da Capo ed.). Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press.
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Overlord : D-Day and the battle for Normandy 1944
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in 1929 with membership number 174562, and later the
1068:(1st ed.). Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books.
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983:(112). Battle of Britain International Ltd.: 10–41.
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482:. Afterwards Westernhagen was transferred to the
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432:(29 August 1911 – 19 March 1945) was a SS-
922:Cooke, David; Evans, Wayne (October 19, 2014).
540:plagued Westernhagen for the rest of his life.
543:Westernhagen was appointed commander of the
486:where he was adjudant to Reinhard Heydrich.
53:Learn how and when to remove these messages
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924:Kampfgruppe Peiper: The Race for the Meuse
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907:(1st ed.). Taylor & Francis Ltd.
484:Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst or SD)
1125:. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Military History.
1106:(1 ed.). Schiffer Military History.
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233:Learn how and when to remove this message
215:Learn how and when to remove this message
101:Learn how and when to remove this message
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945:(New ed.). London: Pan Books.
870:Schneider, Tigers in Combat, p. 218
795:Schneider, Tigers in Combat, p. 206
774:Schneider, Tigers in Normandy, p. 5
765:Schneider, Tigers in Normandy, p. 2
756:Schneider, Tigers in Combat, p. 213
747:Schneider, Tigers in Combat, p. 205
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1191:20th-century German nobility
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1045:Schneider, Wolfgang (2005).
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813:Hastings, Normandy, p. 166
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164:"Heinz von Westernhagen"
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825:Parker, Ardennes, p. 12
666:Tiger II tank from the
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587:in the following days.
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960:Lee Ready, J. (2014).
941:Hastings, Max (1999).
903:Buckley, John (2006).
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