Endgültige Verteidigung (Camden, SC)

For this event we are portraying the members of Nr. 5 Kompanie, Gren. Regt. 89 / 12th Volksgrenadier Division during the fight in the Ruhr Pocket.  The 12.Volksgrenader-Division was formed on October 9, 1944 from the 12.Grenadier-Division that was destroyed in July, 1944.  The newly formed 12.Volksgrenadier-Division served under the I.SS-Panzerkorps during the Ardennes Offensive of December 1944. American Intelligence called it the best formation in the 6.Panzerarmee at the time. 

On 1. April 1945 the Ruhr area was encircled by American troops at Lippstadt.  Inside the “Ruhr pocket” about 320.000 German soldiers of Army Group B as well as 4 million civilians had been encircled.  While the main battle events of the “Western Front” gradually became transferred to northern and central Germany, American troops compressed the Ruhr pocket to a few kilometers.  It was this time frame we were portraying.