1940-1949

Sixty four years ago, the U.S. Army’s 11th Armored Division captured a strategic icon: the world’s most famous race track. Objective the Nürburgring

  When soldiers of the 11th Armored Division arrived at the Nürburgring Start/Finish area on March 8, 1945, they found a 200-bed German military hospital and some displaced civilians taking shelter in the Sport Hotel and under the grandstands, shown here at the start of a race in late 1930s (PIC 1)

  When recounting the Allies’conquest of Western Europe during World War II, most historians say that General George S. Patton’s Third Army “raced” across the Continent. Perhaps no other soldiers in that famous group deserve that description more than the GIs of the 11th Armored Division—who swept by four of Europe’s legendary race tracks on their way to victory.

  Activated on August 15, 1942, at Camp Polk, Louisiana—now Fort Polk—the unit was nicknamed the Thunderbolt Division. They departed for Europe from Staten Island on September 29, 1944, aboard troopships that were part of the largest Atlantic convoy of the war, and landed in England two weeks later. After training on the Salisbury Plain in southern England, the Division deployed to the Continent in early December via Cherbourg, where its initial mission was to clear out the last vestiges of enemy activity in western France.

  In four months and two weeks of combat, the Thunderbolt Division fought through France, Belgium, Germany, a corner of Czechoslovakia, and Austria in one of the fastest advances in military history. Here, (PIC 2) tanks of the 11th Armored move past troops of the 26th Infantry “Yankee” Division near Langenselbold, Germany, on March 30, 1945.

  The Battle of the Bulge, the German’s surprise attack into Belgium that began on December 16, 1944, changed that plan. In response, the Thunderbolts began a grueling forced march on December 20, covering nearly 500 miles across France and Belgium. On December 21 the Division made a brief pit stop for maintenance, fuel, and supplies in Le Mans, site of the 24-hour sports-car endurance race, then skirted Reims, home of the Grand Prix de la Marne—and, on occasion, the French Grand Prix.

  The unit arrived in the area of the desperate battle on December 23 and played a crucial role opening a vital supply line to the besieged town of Bastogne. Three weeks later, the Division advanced to within tem miles of Spa-Francorchamps, the traditional venue of the Belgian Grand Prix.

  On February 13, 1945, the Thunderbolts mounted an attack to crack the defensive positions along the vaunted Siegfried Line on the Belgian-German frontier, a slow process because of stiff resistance. However, when the Thunderbolts crossed the Kyll River at Gerolstein, Germany (about twelve miles southwest of the Nürburgring) on March 7 as part of Operation Lumberjack, enemy defenses began crumbling so quickly that the unit was ordered to arrive on the western banks of the Rhine River the next day, a distance of some 40 miles. That assignment would have been impossible against any sort of organized defense.

  Accordingly, the Division’s Combat Command B (CCB)—consisting of tanks, mechanized infantry, artillery, and supporting units—attacked to the northeast, roughly along present-day Highway B257, through the towns of Kelberg, Müllenbach, and Kempenich. Dead center on that route of advance was the Nürburgring.

  Despite the historical significance of this phase of the operation, there is surprisingly little information regarding what happened that day (and over the next two months) at the legendary track. However, unit after- action reports and a few popular accounts—some of them contradictory —enabled us to piece together some of the details. (In the case of conflicting information, precedence was given to official accounts.)

  At noon on March 8, in freezing rain and snow flurries, the CCB destroyed a self-propelled assault gun and two pillboxes, and took nearly 200 prisoners near Kelberg, a critical road junction on one of the highest ridges between the Kyll and Rhine River valleys. About three hours later, the Thunderbolts reached the village of Müllenbach on the southern tip of the Nürburgring.

  The track, constructed between 1925 and 1927, originally included three distinct circuits that could be used individually

or in combination: the famous 14.2-mile North Loop (Nordschleilfe), the 1.4-mile Start and Finish Loop (Start - und - Zeilschleilfe)—where the pits were located—and the 4.8-mile South Loop (Südscheilfe), roughly on the site of the current Grand Prix Circuit (Müllenbachscheilfe).

  In Müllenbach the lead battalion moved its M4 Sherman tanks onto the Südscheilfe using an access road adjacent to the main road through the village. Although we could not find any record regarding how many tanks the battalion had that day, considering the fact that it had been in combat for two months, it’s safe to say that the unit did not have its full complement of 76 tanks. Advancing north, some vehicles proceeded on the western side of the track in the race direction (clockwise) and others advanced on the eastern portion of the road… which would have been against racing traffic.

  Meeting at the northern part of the now-defunct circuit—today a portion of it leads to parking lots for the Grand Prix track—they drove along the Start/Finish straightaway to the huge main grandstands and the Sport Hotel. There they

discovered a 200-bed German military hospital and some civilians from the area who had been displaced by air raids.

M4 Hot Lap

  Since they drove on a portion of the Nordschleife, albeit in the wrong direction, it’s only natural to wonder how fast a 33-ton M4 Sherman tank could get around the track. Taking into consideration its 20-mph top speed on level terrain and the topography of the circuit, a well-maintained Sherman should able to lap the 14.2 miles

in… oh… about an hour and 25 minutes.

  By comparison, Alberto Ascari aboard his Ferrari Formula 2 car qualified on the pole for the 1950 German Grand Prix at 10:39.5. Three-time World Champion Niki Lauda holds the Formula 1 lap record at 6:58.6, set when the Austrian was qualifying for the 1975 German Grand Prix. Which means if they started out together, Lauda would lap the Sherman a dozen times while the tank completed one lap. :-)

  The battalion then advanced northeast on the Nordschleife—against the race direction—about four miles to Pflantzgarten,

where it made a right turn to leave the track and join what is now Highway B412, continuing its push through Kempenich and on to the Rhine. The CCB reached the river’s western banks near Brohl shortly after noon the next day.

  Able and Baker Companies of the Division’s 133rd Ordinance Battalion paused at the Müllenbach and Muespath track entrances respectively until March 12, when they advanced through the town of Mayen on their way to the Rhine.

  Here’s where the story gets a little fuzzy. According to folklore, tanks severely damaged portions of the South Circuit—but that would take time-consuming, deliberate actions to accomplish, because merely driving tanks on a paved road does not necessarily create “severe” damage. The Thunderbolt tankers had more pressing concerns than ruining a roadway that units following them could use, especially since many of the public roads in the area were in poor shape from the heavy rains and, in many cases, were clogged with damaged and destroyed enemy vehicles. Some sections of the track were damaged, but exactly who did it and how it was done remains unclear. Curiously, no mention of damage to the North Circuit was included in any of the accounts despite the CCB driving on the four-mile stretch of the Nordschlefe.

  Poor road conditions in the Eifel region made portions of the Nürburgring a valuable thoroughfare. The vehicle in the foreground is an 11th Armored Division M4 Sherman tank. (PIC 3)

Over the next two months, an American unit (the designation of which was not given in any of our sources) used the Sport Hotel as a headquarters. Some of the buildings in the Start/Finish area were demolished (people from surrounding towns used the materials to repair their homes and businesses); at least one burned to the ground, and the hotel was ransacked. Two months to the day after capturing the Nürburgring, the Eleventh linked up with Soviet units at Amstetten, Austria. In four months and two weeks of combat, the Thunderbolts had moved through France, Belgium, Germany, a corner of Czechoslovakia, and Austria—in one of the most rapid advances in military history. After the war, French forces occupied the area west of the Rhine, including the Eifel region in which the Nürburgring is located. In 1946 they directed that repairs to the track and its facilities begin immediately. Seven years of neglect resulted in parts of the three circuits being blocked with weeds, shrubs, and poplar trees growing through the roadway. In some areas, large tree branches had grown together, forming a canopy over the track. More than 300 workers converged on the place, clearing and resurfacing sections of the track and the surrounding access roads.

  On March 9, 1945, the day after the Thunderbolts captured the Nürburgring, these 11th Armored Division tankers of the 41st Tank Battalion were the first of George Patton’s Third Army to reach the Rhine River. Aboard the Sherman tank are Cpl William Hasse (Palisades Park, New Jersey), Pvt. Marvin Aldridge (Burlington, North Carolina), T/4 John Latimi (the Bronx, New York), Cpl. Vincent Morreale (Trenton, New Jersey), and Cpl. Sidney Meyer (the Bronx). (PIC 4)

  The first post-war race, the Eifel Cup for motorcycles, was run on the Südschleife on August 17, 1947, in front of 80,000 spectators—who, for their $1.25 admission, received coupons for wine, bread, and sausages. The Sport Hotel reopened in April 1949, and a month later the Nordschleife hosted the first automobile race held there since 1939. The German Grand Prix returned to the Ring in 1950, a Formula 2 race won by Alberto Ascari in a Ferrari 166 F2/50. And Toni Ulman finished fourth in a Veritas RS Spezial—powered by a BMW 328 engine—one lap behind Ascari.

How Many Spectators?

  Say something often enough, seemingly no matter how incredible, and it has a good chance of becoming an item of faith. Take the attendance figures at the Nürburgring, for example. Even before World War II, track officials routinely claimed that upwards of 300,000 people watched some races—at a time when not many Germans owned automobiles because of the dire economic conditions created by the Great Depression and runaway inflation in large part caused by sanctions and reparations imposed on the country after World War I. In more modern times, they claimed that 250,000 spectators regularly attended each year’s German Grand Prix in the venue which three-time World Champion Jackie Stewart dubbed “The Green Hell.” When National Speed Sport News publisher Chris Economaki was covering a German Grand Prix, those claims piqued his curiosity. “My colleagues and I made it a point to investigate the numbers,” the dean of American motorsports journalism once told Roundel. After talking to several crowd-control officials and observing the comings and goings of the fans, says Economaki, “We came to the conclusion that the two-lane country roads around the place would be hard-pressed to handle more than 100,000 spectators.” Those exact numbers just might have to remain yet another of the many legends about this magnificent race track.

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  In Memoriam

Beneath those white crosses, which as sentinels stand,

Majestically protecting them like the Almighty hand,

In a slumbering sleep beneath that blanket of stone,

Rest the heroes we've known who never came home.

The stars glitter like diamonds in the heavenly night,

Yet, their eyes cannot see them so that our eyes might,

Their snow covered crosses in the light of the moon,

Are symbolic of the comrades who have parted too soon.

How many the hearts that have been burdened with pain,

Praying and hoping for their loves to return,

No more will they answer the bugle's call,

Their battle is over, they have given their all.

There in the morning and spring of life,

Amidst the struggle and bitter strife,

They sacrificed their lives, so that we could be

Forever safe, secure and free.

Their dreams are now but like a fading light,

That was dimmed with time until its night.

And those memories slowly drift away,

Like the sunset of a closing day.

Where are the words that could thank those that would give,

Their lives, as a token so that we might live.

The most flowery verses could not justly say,

The thoughts in our hearts for those who there lay.

So like the Savior who died on the cross,

We'll treasure these men whose lives have been lost.

For there's nothing more noble in any land,

Than the life that was given for a fellow man.

Route taken by the U.S. Army’s 11th Armored Division