Tank Killers

and 5th Infantry divisions; French Expeditionary Corps; Brazilian Expeditionary Force.

899th Tank Destroyer Battalion⁶⁰

The 99th Antitank Battalion was redesignated the 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion on 15 December 1941. Arrived Casablanca 26 January 1943, where issued new M10s. Deployed to Gafsa-El Guettar sector, Tunisia, on 16 March 1943. Established first American contact with British Eighth Army on 7 April 1943. Arrived Naples area, Italy, on 10 November 1943. Almost immediately shifted to United Kingdom. Liaison personnel accompanied second glider lift of 82d Airborne Division during invasion of Normandy. Battalion proper landed at Utah Beach on D-Day. Helped capture Cherbourg late June. Supported Cobra breakout late July, advance through Mayenne. Entered Belgium 2 September, backed 9th Infantry Division operations in vicinity of Monschau and Hofen, Germany. Fought in Rotgen/Hurtgen Forest region in October. Elements deployed in first days of Battle of the Bulge to stop German advance, others remained in VII Corps area. Supported attack to capture Roer River dams in February 1945. Largely converted to M36s that same month. Crossed Roer River 28 February. Advanced to Rhine near Bad Godesberg, and first elements crossed to Remagen bridgehead on 8 March. Joined attack on Ruhr Pocket in April, then moved east into Harz Mountains. Moved to Mulde River for link-up with Soviet forces, achieved 27 April. Began occupation duty in Bernburg 3 May 1945. Attached to: 82d Airborne Division; 1st Armored Division; 1st, 4th, 9th Infantry divisions.

Note: Some small additions have been made on the basis of attachments as reported by divisions as compiled at the Center for Military History Online, http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/documents.

Glossary

AA Antiaircraft

AAR After-action report

AP Armor-piercing

AT Antitank

BrigGen Brigadier General

Capt Captain

CG Commanding General

CO Commanding officer

Col Colonel

Cpl Corporal ETO European Theater of Operations

ETOUSA European Theater of Operations, U.S. Army

Gen General

HE High-explosive

HVAP Hyper-velocity armor-piercing

Jeep 1/4-ton truck

KIA Killed in action

KO Knock out, destroy

Lt Lieutenant

LtCol Lieutenant Colonel

LtGen Lieutenant General

M3 TD armed with 75mm gun mounted on a halftrack, or Lee medium tank, or early Stuart light tank

M4 Sherman medium tank

M5 Stuart light tank

M6 TD with a 37mm gun mounted on a weapon carrier

M8 Six-wheeled armored car, armed with 37mm gun

M10 TD with a 3-inch gun mounted on a tracked chassis

M18 TD with a 76mm gun mounted on a tracked chassis

M20 Six-wheeled utility armored car

M36 TD with a 90mm gun mounted on a tracked chassis

Maj Major

MajGen Major General

MG Machine gun

MIA Missing in action

MLR Main line of resistance

OP Observation Post

Pfc Private First Class

Pvt Private

RCT Regimental Combat Team, an infantry regiment with attachments

S-2 Intelligence staff

S-3 Operations staff

Sgt Sergeant

SSgt Staff Sergeant

SHAEF Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force

SP Self-propelled

TD Tank destroyer

TF Task Force

WIA Wounded in action

A Galley of Photographs

^{A prototype M3 (T12) fires during training in August 1941 at Ft. Meade, Maryland, the first home of the Tank Destroyer Force. NA}

^{An early M3 tank destroyer at Camp Hood, Texas, in summer 1942. NA}

^{The M3 gun crew (left to right): gunner, loader, commander. NA}

^{The woefully inadequate M6 tank destroyer. NA}

^{A sign at the entrance to the tank destroyer section of Camp Hood, Texas, displays the black panther crushing a tank in its jaws that served as the TD symbol. Camp Hood became the home of the Tank Destroyer Force in September 1942. NA}

^{TD crews were commando-trained to seek out enemy tanks after the loss of their own vehicle and destroy them with Molotov cocktails and sticky bombs. In practice, they did not do so. NA}

^{Tank destroyers fire at a November 1942 Army war show in Texas. Many miles away, the first TDs were going to war. NA}