December 25, 1944: The heroic sacrifice of Corporal Richard Wiegand at Christmas.

 December 25, 1944: The heroic sacrifice of Corporal Richard Wiegand at Christmas.

At Christmas 1944 the 2nd SS Panzer Division "Das Reich" advanced on Manhay and Grandmenil. From there, the advance should continue west.

 Eight german Panther tanks drove from Manhay towards Érezée.

 After about three kilometers the tanks reached a curve called Trou de Loup, "Wolfs Hole". 

There were the men of the K-Company, 289th Infantry Regiment, 75th Infantry Division.

Among them was Corporal Richard F. Wiegand. 

Wiegand had positioned himself in a wooded area to the right of the curve. 

He waited until the first panther had passed him and fired his bazooka at the rear of the tank.

 Corporal Wiegand was able to destroy the tank but paid with his life for it. How Corporal Wiegand died is not exactly known.

 His corpse was missing arms and legs, so it is assumed that either 1. he was too close to the Panther when it was hit by his bazooka, or 2. one of the other Panther tanks shot Wiegand.

The destroyed Panther blocked the narrow road to Érezée, which stopped the entire attack of the 2nd SS Panzer Division.

The place where Corporal Wiegend knocked out the Panther is almost unchanged today. 

Photo 1 shows roughly the position where the Panther was disabled in the Trou de Loup curve, there is also a memorial that commemorates Corporal Wiegand (photo 2).

 Wiegand was buried in the Henri Chapelle American Cemetery (photo 3).

 The last photo shows a German Panther, this tank can be seen in Grandmenil, very close to Trou de Loup. All photos were taken by me.

I used the website www.grandmenil.com as the source for this article.

 There the fighting around Manhay and Grandmenil is described in great detail, a visit to the site is highly recommended.