Visiting the locations of the Pfaffenheck-Battle

[WeyAx]

Hey Chris,

after having visited the Pfaffenheck-region with our cars, we decided to have a closer look to the old emplacements of the Nord.

Our Meeting-Point once again was the Heldenfriedhof in Pfaffenheck:





After a hot summer-period the weather in our region was very bad, rainy the whole day and only 10 Degrees.



A dark atmosshere between the graves of the 6.th. Nord





But a few flowers formed a lovely touch through the rain
And the chief of the task-force could rest in this summer-time








We drove through the little village Pfaffenheck besides the famous Hunsrück-Höhen-Straße



and drove on a narrow street to the SchiebigEichenhof, in our days a modern little farm



in those days here Günther Degen was shot in his head and died



From the barn, we made our way into the woods where a former MG-Stellung
blocked the way up from the Mosel-Valley and the Hunsrückhöhenstraße

#


Old trenches on top of the shale-hill



Adjudant Steiner in a deep and wide bomb-crater of the P47 which attacked these
MG-Groups in March 1945



Still you can see the MG-emplacements in the hard and stony bottom



Of course we hoped to find something especially from the Division Nord but except
from some cartridges we only found an iron-ring, perhaps an remnant of an rifle-stock




A little bit disappointed and soaked of the steady rain we marched back to our
car and rushed to our next aim

cheers

Alex

[don_kihotis7]

Thanks for posting more photos Alex. Pity you didn't find any relics with the metal detector. It would be awesome to find a SS helmet

[WeyAx]

Yes Donki, but we did not give up and made our way to the Schafkopf-hill just
above the Mosel-Valley:



That was the last bastion which blocked the road up from the Mosel to the Hunsrück and down the Rhine-valley, after the Americans had built their bridge over the Mosel near Löf/Hatzenport



Here an overview:



The Mosel-River on the left, the way up from Alken to the Hunsrück, the woods of the Schafskopf
which dominates the way up and the road to Pfaffenheck and the 8,8 Flaks in Udenhausen.









Very old roadsigns on an overgrown forest-path on to the Höhe 371, the Schafskopf







We scanned our way up to the top of the hill








Feldwebel Steiner is searching tireless in the rain





digging for some treasures??? No remarcable finds, but we find some cartridges of an colt
and I remembered the story of the Chief of this first company of the Nord Fritz Gehring who fought on the Schafberg:
"Wir gehen die letzten 50 m auf einem dämmrigen Waldweg zum Berg hinab. Plötzlich stehen wir vor einem schweren Maschinengewehr und neun schlafenden Amerikanern in Schlafsäcken. Ich glaube, wir sind bleich geworden, doch handeln wir rasch.
Im Nu sind die Amis aus ihren Träumen wachgerüttelt und nach rückwärts geschafft. Die 1. Kompanie geht zum Angriff über und kämpft weitere Widerstandsnester nieder. Die anderen Kompanien schließen sich an. Der Berg ist unser. Leider fällt dabei als erster unser eigener Artilleriebeobachter (VB) im Nahkampf.



Perhaps cartridges left from this event???




a piece of old metal with a holder for something




An old Wehrmacht 200L fuel barrel used as a furnace of the foresters




We searched and searched oround the MG-Foxholes but the Kampfmittelräumdienst made a good work in the 50th. and we found..........
nothing from the Waffen-SS.


Down the hill passing this remembering-cross we went back to our cars







and took the road down the Mosel-River which in March 1945 the Americans
came up the Hunsrück







After showing my adjudant Steiner the famous castle of Thurandt,










we went up again into the Hunsrück, passed Nörtershausen into the direction to Udenhausen, where the heavy Flak and anti-tank barrage of the Nord was implaced on the meadows



Back again a view to Pfaffenheck from the side the Americans attacked




A little summary of our finds of this battle-terrain:



Nothing great, no traces of the 3000 men of division Nord, who lost 100 men plus the
300 Americans KIA.

It was a long, rainy and cold day, we were wet and exhausted but not killed and strafed by P47,
but a little bit we could feel like the people who fought there in march 1945.

After this interesting day in the woods we drove back to our homes and parked our command-cars in our vehicle-park until the next adventure:





Cheers Alex

[Bredan]

Nice Trip and pictures ... ;-)

Greets Olli

[WeyAx]

Ja Olli B. u. vor allen Dingen kann man hier mal solche Trips u. Bilder eistellen, ohne gleich in eine Ecke gedrängt zu werden!!!!!

[don_kihotis7]

Looking forward to your next trip Alex
Cheers
Chris.

[Kraychete]

nice... thanks to share1

[WeyAx]

Adding a few pictures of our latest trip on to the Schafberg and Pfaffenheck:

Meeting-point of the trip was the pittoresque little village Löf besides the Mosel-river.



With its famous castle Thurandt on top of the Hunsrück-hills.



Our target, the Schafberg, where the Nordland fights against the Americans bridging the Mosel-river.



Just to the top of the Schafberg we took a narrow street up.



We searched a little rest-room for our cars in the woods



parked in a shady disposal position



and walked up to the steep hill

[WeyAx]

Looking araound the old MG-Stellungen and listening to the original after action reports of the Nord
we walked araound the Schafberg.



Back to the cars


we started to the cemetary of the Nordland near the village of Pfaffenheck besides the Hunsrückhöhen-Street





Visiting the grave of Günter Degen the commander of the Nordland-Batallion which fights here



Then our trip continued to the Schibig-Eichen-Farm, where Degen was shot in the head and died on his
Gefechtsstand near the farm.



We made a little march through the woods besides the farm, where the foxholes of the Nord were lying



After trying to get out of the wood,




we decided to conquer a market, because our little Kampftruppe needs a little bit of supply, :

[WeyAx]

After a little brain-storming



and studying an old map in a big scale, I decided to search again a little spot, which I had
never found during my last two trips in that region



So we started and took our way down to the Rhine-River



taking a narrow road through an old Tunnel,



which was a strategic point of the retreating-route of the Nord down to the Rhine.



and here I found it not far besides the road in a little wood.



The grave of five men of the Nord, perhaps men of the Tunnel-Sicherung, who died there in March 1945