@218@SINGLING: AN OUTSTANDING TANK ATTACK@4@

@218@SUBJ: TACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR @4@6 Dec. 1944

@218@AMERICAN OPERATIONS:@4@
    As the Lorraine Campaign draws to a close, 4th Armored division will finish clearing the approaches to the Westwall.
    You are in command of a company sized Combat Team detached to attack the village of Singling and protect the flank of the main attack of the Task Force.

@218@AMERICAN UNIT DISPOSITIONS:@4@
    For this operation the following forces will be engaged in the American sector:
 - Combat Team B, 37th Tank Battalion, /Task Force Abrams, /CCA/4th Armored Division.

@218@GERMAN OPERATIONS:@4@
    Elements of Panzer Lehr Division are preparing to be relieved by elements of 11th Panzer Division. Small kampfgruppen will hold the front until the relief is completed.
     You are in command of a company sized kampfgruppe. Your objective is to hold the village of Singling.


@218@GERMAN UNIT DISPOSITIONS:@4@
    For this operation the following forces will be engaged in the German sector:
 - mixed elements of Panzer Lehr Division.

@218@WEATHER:@4@ Clear Skies


@218@AFTER ACTION REPORT @4@
    General der Panzertruppe Fritz Bayerlein, Panzer Lehr divisional commander, was on a hill north of Singling on the morning of 6 December, as tanks of the 4th Armored division broke across the open hills to the south in an attack on the town. After the war he remembered the sight as "an outstanding tank attack, such as I have rarely seen, over ideal tank terrain." The Battle at Singling had little importance except at the local level, and of course to those involved. Singling does demonstrate that by December 1944 the Americans had mastered the art of small level combined arms combat that used to belong solely to the German panzers.
