Tank Killers

Lessons From the Italian Campaign. 15 March 1945.

97. AAR, 601st Tank Destroyer Battalion.

98. The American Arsenal, 58.

99. Richard R. Buchanan, Richard D. Wissolik, David Wilmes, and Gary E.J. Smith, general editors, Men of the 704th: A Pictorial and Spoken History of the 704th Tank Destroyer Battalion in World War II (Latrobe, PA: Saint Vincent College Center for Northern Appalachian Studies, 1998), 25. (Hereinafter Buchanan, et al.)

100. Oliver, 8.

101. Buick advertisement reproduced in Gill, 81.

102. AARs, 813th Tank Destroyer Battalion.

103. Oliver, 10.

104. AAR, 636th Tank Destroyer Battalion.

105. Sherman, 91.

Chapter 6: Storming Fortress Europe

1. Buchanan, et al, 9.

2. Normandy, CMH Pub72-18 (Washington, DC: U.S. Army Center of Military History, not dated), 21. (Hereinafter Normandy.)

3. Normandy, 26-32. Griess, et al, 295.

4. History, 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion.

5. Study of Organization, Equipment, and Tactical Employment of Tank Destroyer Units, 1-2.

6. Ibid., 24.

7. Ibid., 1-2.

8. Ibid., 2.

9. Ibid., 2, 13, 15.

10. History, 702d Tank Destroyer Battalion.

11. Griess, 318.

12. AAR, 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion.

13. Normandy, 36.

14. Battle honors memo, 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 6 September 1944.

15. Ibid. AAR, 801st Tank Destroyer Battalion.

16. Normandy, 36.

17. Griess, 316.

18. Griess, 256.

19. Combat Lessons Learned Number 4. U.S. War Department pamphlet, 1944.

20. Normandy, 34.

21. Study of Organization, Equipment, and Tactical Employment of Tank Destroyer Units, 13.

22. “Panzer Tactics in Normandy,” Historical Division, Headquarters United States Army, Europe, 11 December 1947. This is a record of an interview conducted with General der Panzertruppen Leo Freiherr Geyr von Schweppenburg, who was commander of Panzer Gruppe West from 1943 to 5 July 1944 and Inspector of Panzer Troops from August 1944 to May 1945. National Archives. (Hereinafter “Panzer Tactics in Normandy”.)

23. AAR, 803d Tank Destroyer Battalion, July 1944.

24. “Panzer Tactics in Normandy,” 3.

25. Study of Organization, Equipment, and Tactical Employment of Tank Destroyer Units, 13.

26. 746th Tank Battalion Report, 10 July, 83d Div G-2, G-3 Journal File, cited by Martin Blumenson, Breakout and Pursuit: United States Army In World War Ii, The European Theater Of Operations (Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 1993), 132. (Hereinafter Blumenso, Breakout and Pursuit.)

27. AAR, 6th Armored Group.

28. AARs, 743d Tank Battalion.

29. “Report of the 803d Tank Destroyer Battalion,” memo to the First Army antitank officer, 6 July 1944.

30. Ibid.

31. St. Lo, facsimile reprint of CMH Pub 100-13 (Washington, DC: U.S. Army Center of Military History, 1983), 36ff. (Hereinafter St. Lo.) Battle Honors Citations of Companies A and C, 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 11 December 1944.

32. Battle Honors Citations of Companies A and C, 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 11 December 1944. Medal citations, 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion. Gill, 57. St. Lo, 38.

33. St. Lo, 36ff. Battle Honors Citations of Companies A and C, 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 11 December 1944.

34. Medal citations, 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion. Gill, 57.

35. Medal citations, 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion. Gill, 58.

36. St. Lo, 40.

37. Study of Organization, Equipment, and Tactical Employment of Tank Destroyer Units, 17.

38. Ibid., 14.

39. Bronze star citation for Lt Wilfred C. Ford. S-3 journal, 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion.

40. AAR, 635th Tank Destroyer Battalion.

41. History, 801st Tank Destroyer Battalion. AARs, 801st Tank Destroyer Battalion.

42. AAR, 802d Tank Destroyer Battalion.

43. AAR, 635th Tank Destroyer Battalion.

44. AARs, 801st Tank Destroyer Battalion.

45. AAR, 821st Tank Destroyer Battalion, July 1944.

46. Study of Organization, Equipment, and Tactical Employment of Tank Destroyer Units, 2, 10, 15.

47. AAR, 802d Tank Destroyer Battalion.

48. Michael Green, M4 Sherman. Osceola (WI: Motorbooks International Publishers & Wholesalers, 1993), 102. (Hereinafter Green.)

49. Study of Organization, Equipment, and Tactical Employment of Tank Destroyer Units, 2.

50. S-3 journal, 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 16 July 1944.

Chapter 7: Armored Thunder

1. Col Robert S. Allen, Patton’s Third Army: Lucky Forward (New York: Manor Books Inc., 1965), 70-71. (Hereinafter Allen.)

2. Edward Jablonski, Wings of Fire. Garden City (NY: Doubleday & Company, 1971), 97-98. Griess, 330.

3. Blumenson, Breakout and Pursuit, 181.

4. Heinz Guderian, Panzer Leader (New York, NY: Ballentine Books, 1972), 265.