The kill/loss ratio for the tank destroyer arm was extremely favorable, particularly considering that American forces were usually on the attack. At one extreme, the 703d Tank Destroyer Battalion destroyed ten tanks or SP guns for every TD it lost in action.52 More typical numbers were good but lower. The 634th Tank Destroyer Battalion between 29 June 1944 and 8 May 1945 destroyed sixty-eight tanks and SP guns in exchange for twenty-eight M10s and one M8.53 The 628th eliminated fifty-six panzers for the loss of eighteen TDs.54
Overall, the tank destroyer battalions in the ETO had suffered far lower human casualties proportionately than other front-line units. One study indicated that on average a TD battalion could expect monthly losses of 6 percent of T/O strength. One out of four battle casualties did not require evacuation, according to the study, while one out of three men evacuated returned within sixty days.55 To give an idea of absolute numbers, the 634th Tank Destroyer Battalion between 29 June 1944 and 8 May 1945 lost seventy-six men killed and one hundred seventy-five wounded.56 From D+3 to VE Day, the 702d Tank Destroyer Battalion lost sixty men killed in action.57 The 601st Tank Destroyer Battalion, which had been in actual combat five hundred forty-six days from North Africa to Bavaria, suffered six hundred eighty-three casualties, including one hundred ten men killed.58
But tanks had done well, too. Patton noted in a 19 March 1945 letter that tanks had destroyed the majority of the 2,287 panzers his men had knocked out after becoming operational on 1 August 1944.59 Moreover, the line between the tank and the destroyer in combat had become so blurry as to be nearly impossible to see. Patton had been right when he predicted the TD would become just another tank.
The ETO’s General Board studying tank destroyers concluded that the trend toward tanks with the same fire power and mobility as the TDs, and the incorporation of adequate antitank defenses in the infantry divisions, rendered the tank destroyer superfluous. The board recommended that the Tank Destroyer Force be dissolved.60
And so it was done.
Appendix A
601st, 701st
601st, 701st, 776th, 805th, 813th, 894th, 899th
601st (the 636th and 813th also sent elements but were not officially credited)
601st, 636th, 645th, 701st, 776th, 805th, 894th
601st, 636th, 645th, 701st, 776th, 804th, 805th, 813th, 894th, 899th
679th, 701st, 804th, 805th, 894th
679th, 701st, 804th, 805th, 894th
603d, 607th, 612th, 629th, 630th, 634th, 635th, 644th, 654th, 702d, 703d, 704th, 705th, 774th, 801st, 802d, 803d, 813th, 818th, 821st, 823d, 893d, 899th, (1st Tank Destroyer Brigade)
602d, 603d, 607th, 609th, 610th, 612th, 614th, 628th, 629th, 630th, 631st, 634th, 635th, 638th, 644th, 654th, 691st, 702d, 703d, 704th, 705th, 773d, 774th, 801st, 802d, 803d, 813th, 814th, 817th, 818th, 821st, 823d, 825th, 893d, 899th, (1st Tank Destroyer Brigade)
601st, 636th, 645th
601st, 602d, 603d, 605th, 607th, 609th, 610th, 612th, 614th, 628th, 629th, 630th, 631st, 634th, 635th, 636th, 638th, 643d, 644th, 645th, 648th, 654th, 656th, 661st, 691st, 692d, 702d, 703d, 704th, 705th, 771st, 772d, 773d, 774th, 776th, 801st, 802d, 803d, 807th, 808th, 811th, 813th, 814th, 817th, 818th, 820th, 821st, 822d, 823d, 824th, 825th, 827th, 893d, 899th, (1st Tank Destroyer Brigade)
601st, 602d, 603d, 607th, 609th, 610th, 612th, 614th, 628th, 629th, 630th, 631st, 634th, 635th, 636th, 638th, 643d, 644th, 645th, 654th, 691st, 692d, 702d, 703d, 704th, 705th, 772d, 773d, 774th, 801st, 802d, 803d, 807th, 808th, 809th, 811th, 813th, 814th, 818th, 820th, 823d, 824th, 827th, 893d, 899th, (1st Tank Destroyer Brigade)
601st, 602d, 603d, 605th, 607th, 609th, 610th, 612th, 614th, 628th, 629th, 630th, 631st, 633d, 634th, 635th, 636th, 638th, 643d, 644th, 645th, 648th, 654th, 656th, 661st, 691st, 692d, 702d, 703d, 704th, 705th, 771st, 772d, 773d, 774th, 776th, 801st, 802d, 803d, 807th, 808th, 809th, 811th, 813th, 814th, 817th, 818th, 820th, 821st, 822d, 823d, 824th, 825th, 827th, 893d, 899th, (1st Tank Destroyer Brigade)
Appendix B
1st Infantry Division Provisional Antitank Battalion converted to 601st Tank Destroyer Battalion on 15 December 1941. Company C of the original battalion consisted mainly of Battery D, 5th Field Artillery, the only Army unit with a continuous history from the Revolutionary War. Arrived at Gourock, Scotland, on 9 April 1942. Reconnaissance Company landed at Oran, Algeria, on 8 November as part of Operation Torch, and rest of battalion arrived in December. Fought in Battle of Kasserine Pass in February 1943 and at El Guettar in March. Converted to the M10 at end of North Africa campaign. Participated in invasion landings at Salerno, Italy, on 9 September. Made third D-day assault at Anzio on 22 January 1944 and entered Rome in June. Conducted fourth assault landing in southern France on 15 August. Advanced to German border in the Vosges region. Participated in reduction of Colmar Pocket in February 1945, then converted to the M36. Battled along the Siegfried Line until crossing the Rhine on 22 March. Helped capture Nurnberg in April and ended the war occupying Hitler’s retreat at Berchtesgaden in Bavaria. Attached to: 1st Armored Division; 1st, 3d, 9th, 34th, 36th, 45th, 103d Infantry divisions.
2d Infantry Division Provisional Antitank Battalion converted to 602d Tank Destroyer Battalion on 15 December 1941. Equipped with M10s, then M18s before leaving the States. Arrived in Scotland on 29 July 1944 and at Omaha Beach on 26 August. Committed to battle along Moselle River on 9 September. Supported operations leading to capture of Metz, France, in November. Transferred to Belgium during Ardennes Offensive, arriving at Neufchateau on 21 December. Supported operations against the Bulge in January 1945. Fought through Siegfried Line in February. Returned to Moselle River area in March, crossed Rhine River at Boppard on 26 March.
