German General Sent 58 Brand New Panthers to Stop Patton… 8 Came Back | www2
On September 18, 1944, General Hassan Montufil stood in his command post near the German border, poring over maps that promised a victory he had nearly forgotten. At 51 years old, Montufil was not a fanatic but a seasoned pragmatist, a master of armored warfare who had fought in both Russia and North Africa. He had witnessed the collapse of armies and understood the dire state of the Wehrmacht, stretched thin across two fronts. Yet on this day, he believed he held a winning hand.
Under his command was the 113th Panzer Brigade, equipped with 58 brand new Panther tanks—the deadliest tanks on the Western Front. These were not the battered remnants of previous campaigns; they were fresh formations sent directly from the factories, with crews still learning the intricacies of their machines. Montufil calculated that the American Sherman tank, while reliable, was no match for the Panther’s superior firepower and armor.
The Plan for Victory.
Montufil devised a bold plan to slice into the exposed right flank of General George Patton’s Third Army. Patton’s forces were overextended, their fuel lines stretched thin across 400 kilometers, and their tanks scattered over a wide front. Montufil aimed to concentrate his 58 Panthers and strike directly at the American Fourth Armored Division, cutting off Patton’s spearheads, destroying them in detail, and creating a crisis that would force the Americans to halt their advance.
By all conventional military logic, this plan should have worked. The Germans had superior tanks and concentrated numbers, and the element of surprise was absolute. The Americans had no idea a fresh panzer brigade was assembling in the fog and forests of Lorraine. However, Montufil was making a critical miscalculation, one based on outdated assumptions about warfare.
The Fog of War
At 7:30 AM on September 19, the lead elements of the 113th Panzer Brigade began their approach march toward their assembly areas. A thick, heavy fog rolled across the Lorraine fields, reducing visibility to mere yards. Tank commanders peered through their periscopes, but they could barely see the tanks in front of them. Montufil’s greatest advantage—the long-range killing power of the Panther’s 75 mm cannon—evaporated in the mist.
Meanwhile, Colonel Bruce Clark, commanding an American combat command just 15 kilometers away, received reports of heavy engine noise and large formations moving west. Clark was not panicking; he understood that the fog was an equalizer. If the Germans could not see at 2,000 yards, their superior guns would be rendered ineffective. He recognized that this would soon become a close-quarters fight.
As the German column advanced through the fog, the first Panther suddenly erupted in flames. The turret exploded outward, followed by a second and a third. Panic ensued among the German crews as radio discipline collapsed. They frantically searched for the source of the fire, but there were no visible enemy targets. Instead, they were being picked off from the flanks by American forces.
The Hellcat Advantage
Enter the M18 Hellcat tank destroyer. To a German tanker, the Hellcat was almost a joke. It had minimal armor and an open top, making it vulnerable to shrapnel and grenades. By German standards, which valued protection above all else, it was a death trap. However, the Hellcat possessed an incredible power-to-weight ratio. Weighing only 17 tons and powered by a radial aircraft engine, it could achieve speeds of up to 55 mph—faster than any tank in the world.
In the fog of Lorraine, this speed became a decisive weapon. While the German Panthers advanced in a rigid formation, designed to support each other, the Americans operated like a pack of wolves. They were not bound by proximity but coordinated through radio communication. As the German tanks rolled past, Hellcat crews executed ambushes, firing high-velocity rounds into the vulnerable sides of the Panthers before swiftly retreating to new positions.
This clash of philosophies was stark. The Germans built tanks as armored fortresses, heavy and protected, designed to withstand hits. In contrast, the Americans designed vehicles to avoid being hit altogether. The Hellcats fought with speed and agility, darting in and out of cover, while the Panthers, unable to see through the fog, became easy targets.
The Turning Point
As the fog began to lift, Montufil received reports of stalled attacks and mounting losses. He ordered his commanders to push harder, believing that the Americans could not hold out forever. But as the sun burned off the mist, the second part of the American trap closed in. American artillery, specifically the 66th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, was executing a tactic known as “time on target.”
In traditional warfare, artillery units fired sequentially, allowing the enemy to react and take cover. However, the Americans employed a centralized fire direction center that calculated the flight time of shells from multiple batteries. This meant that when the artillery fired, every shell arrived at the target simultaneously, creating a devastating effect.
When the fog lifted, American spotter planes identified the German tank columns below, calling down coordinates for artillery strikes. The result was catastrophic. The air above the German forces erupted in explosions, decimating the Panzer Grenadiers who had been riding on the tanks. The blast waves were lethal, stripping the Panthers of their infantry support.
Without their eyes and ears, the German tanks were isolated and vulnerable. Montufil’s elite brigade was not engaged in a battle; it was being processed by a machine. The Americans had transformed from a disorganized force into a well-coordinated fighting machine, executing maneuvers that left the Germans bewildered.
The Collapse of the 113th Panzer Brigade
By the afternoon of September 19, the battlefield was littered with burning Panthers. The most shocking statistic was not just the number of tanks destroyed but the sheer number that simply stopped functioning. The 113th Panzer Brigade had entered the battle with 58 Panthers, but within 24 hours, they had lost 30. By the end of the week, only eight remained operational.
In contrast, American Combat Command A reported total losses of approximately 25 tanks and tank destroyers, losses that were rapidly replaced. Patton was not just defeating Montufil with tactics; he was defeating him with a supply chain that extended across the Atlantic and back through American factories.
Montufil’s perfect hammer was rendered useless due to a lack of fuel. When American forces lacked fuel, they could turn off their engines and wait for trucks to arrive. When German tanks ran out of fuel, they were abandoned, their crews forced to dynamite their own vehicles to prevent capture.
The Aftermath
On September 22, Montufil issued orders for the 113th Panzer Brigade to disengage and retreat. The great counterattack had failed. The Americans had effectively turned the tide in the battle, demonstrating that superior logistics and coordination could overcome even the most advanced armored vehicles.
The battle of Arakort is often overshadowed by larger operations like D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge, but it serves as a crucial lesson in understanding why Germany ultimately lost the war. It was not just a matter of courage; both sides displayed bravery. The difference lay in the systems they employed. The Germans built tanks as armored fortresses, while the Americans created a logistical machine that could move swiftly and adapt to changing circumstances.
General Montufil survived the war and later wrote memoirs about the battle, acknowledging that American artillery and the mobility of tank destroyers had made traditional panzer tactics obsolete. The battle of Arakort revealed the truth beneath the surface: it wasn’t individual bravery that won the war, but the triumph of a system that prioritized speed, mobility, and coordination.
In the end, the battle proved that the Americans had transformed from a disorganized force into a formidable fighting machine in just a matter of weeks. The lessons learned in Lorraine would resonate throughout the remainder of the war, shaping the strategies that would lead the Allies to victory in Europe.
