Ardennes Battle 15cm Grille Relic.

[Falschirmjager]

This is one of my favourite relics and thought id share. This particular piece was found by a guy named Dirk who lives near Dillingen in the Belgian Ardennes area whilst he was out searching for wood one morning not far from his home. He noticed something sticking out of the ground partially and realising it was obviously something from the fighting of the winter of 1944 decided to investigate it further. After contacting his son they went back later and dug the relic out of the ground. After some cleaning Dirk noticed it still had some traces of original paintwork and set about restoring the paint job. The piece is very heavy at around 76 lbs and is solid steel with screw threads on the reverse side. After some experts examined the piece it was concluded it came from the breech section of a 15cm Infantry Support weapon known as the Grille-this was basically a Self Propelled 150-mm gun used in the infantry support role and was one probably either destroyed in the Ardennes fighting or was blown up by its crew to prevent it falling into Allied hands. Dirk kep this item for some time before offering it for sale. A guy from Lincoln bought it from Dirk who then had it shipped free of charge to the UK in a consignment of other items from a German based company where Dirks wife worked-imagine the costs of shipping otherwise!! I bought it from guy at Lincoln and had to drive up from Worcestershire to collect it. It now resides on top of our very sturdy solid wood bookcase. Any further info on the Dillingen or Dillingerbruck area during the Ardennes battle would be welcome as i cannot find much info at present.Attachment 755782

[Walkwolf]

A great relic to own. The new paint will at least
keep it from rusting further.........

[big ned]

Interesting item. Here's a bit of info regarding the vehicle.

Grille (artillery) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Regards, Ned.

[Martin Bull]

Great relic and a nice story !

References to actions at the Dillingen Bridge over the Sure River are rather fragmentary ; it was at the Southern edge of the Ardennes sector. During the attack phase, the bridge was used by the German 988th Regiment and in the retreat, by the 276 Volks Grenadier Division who came under heavy bombardment here from artillery of US XII Corps, and also P-47 Thunderbolts.

The bridge is mentioned very briefly in Pallud's Bulge book and there are several references in Hugh M Cole's official US history.

[Paul D]

Great relic mate , the Grille 15 cm sIG 33 infantry gun was a superb Infantry support weapon , the crews were very heavily involved in the action , one od the Grille commanders from 13 SS Pz Gren Regt 2 , LAH that i know Werner Kindler won the NKiS in Gold !!

[LizardKing]

Nice SPG... I have a lot of kills with that one on World Of Tanks!!!

[Falschirmjager]

Thanks loads guys for your valued input on this one i have tried putting "Likes" on all the comments but for some reason they are not showing??? The Grille relic was £120 by way so not bad price wise though it weighs a ton and is a pain to move around during decorating as my wife Paula will testify Cheers loads guys. Tim