by Harry Yeide
46. History, AAR, 823d Tank Destroyer Battalion. Reardon, 126. Interview with Lt Leon Neel, “30th Inf Division, Mortain Counterattack, 6-12 Aug 1944.”
47. General Freiherr Von Gersdorff, “The German Counterattack Against Avranches,” MS # B-725, Historical Division, Headquarters United States Army, Europe, 1946. National Archives. (Hereinafter Von Gersdorff.)
48. History, AAR, 823d Tank Destroyer Battalion.
49. Reardon, 132.
50. History, 823d Tank Destroyer Battalion. Interview with Lt Leon Neel, “30th Inf Division, Mortain Counterattack, 6-12 Aug 1944.” Reardon, 128 ff.
51. “30th Inf Division, Mortain Counterattack, 6-12 Aug 1944.”
52. Interview with Lt Francis J. Conners, “30th Inf Division, Mortain Counterattack, 6-12 Aug 1944.”
53. Northern France, CMH Pub72-30 (Washington, DC: U.S. Army Center of Military History, not dated), 15. (Hereinafter Northern France.)
54. “30th Inf Division, Mortain Counterattack, 6-12 Aug 1944.”
55. General der Panzertruppe Freiherr Heinrich Von Lütwitz, “Questions for Heinrich von Lüttwitz, Commanding General of the 2d Panzer Division Until September 1944,” MS # A-904, Historical Division, Headquarters United States Army, Europe, October 1945. National Archives.
56. Von Gersdorff, 42.
57. Gill, 157.
58. Chester Wilmot, The Struggle for Europe (Ware, England: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 1997), 401-402. Griess, 335. (Hereinafter Wilmot.)
59. Sparks, Victory TD, 36-37.
60. Allen, 83ff. Griess, 336.
61. Griess, 337.
62. Gill, 62. Medal of Honor citation, Sgt. John D. Hawk.
63. AAR, S-3 journal, 773d Tank Destroyer Battalion. Hand-written account of the actions of Company C, contained in the records of the 773d Tank Destroyer Battalion. Medal citations for Lt Delbert G. Reck and S/Sgt. Edward J. Land.
64. Lt Harold H. Eby, Tank Busters, 607 Tank Destroyer Battalion “Battle with the Jerries” (Munich, Germany: 607th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 1945?), 17-18. (Hereinafter Eby.)
65. Spearhead in the West, 76ff. AAR, S-3 Journal, 703d Tank Destroyer Battalion.
66. Wilmot, 424.
67. Guderian, 299.
68. Spearhead in the West, 81.
69. Calvin C. Boykin, Jr., Gare La Bête (College Station, Texas: C&R Publications, 1995), 35. (Hereinafter Boykin, Gare La Bête.)
70. Capt Roy T. McGrann, The 610th Tank Destroyer Battalion (No publication information provided), 48. (Hereinafter McGrann.)
71. Boykin, Gare La Bête, 39-40.
72. Dunnagan, 171.
73. AAR, 635th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
74. Frankel and Smith, 39-40. Wissilok and Smith, 3.
75. Wissilok and Smith, 25.
76. History, 702d Tank Destroyer Battalion.
77. Griess, 342.
78. Southern France, CMH Pub72-31 (Washington, DC: U.S. Army Center of Military History, not dated), 12-15. (Hereinafter Southern France.)
79. Ibid., 7.
80. Josowitz, 34.
81. AAR, 645th Tank Destroyer Battalion. Southern France, 14.
82. AAR, 636th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
83. Ibid. Southern France, 17.
84. Southern France, 9.
85. Ibid., 16.
86. AAR, 636th Tank Destroyer Battalion. Sherman, 98-99. Southern France, 22-23. Von Wietersheim, “The 11th Panzer Division in Southern France (15 August – 14 September 1944),” MS # A-880, Historical Division, Headquarters United States Army, Europe, 1946. National Archives, 9.
87. AAR, 645th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
88. Southern France, 25.
89. AAR, 645th Tank Destroyer Battalion. Jeffrey J. Clarke and Robert Ross Smith, Riviera to the Rhine: United States Army in World War II, The European Theater of Operations (Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1993), 177. (Hereinafter Clarke and Smith.)
90. AAR, 636th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
91. Ibid.
92. AAR, Company C, 753d Tank Battalion.
93. Sherman, 113.
94. AAR, 645th Tank Destroyer Battalion. Southern France, 29.
95. Smith, et al, 105.
96. Southern France, 30.
97. Spearhead in the West, 86-87. Griess, 351. Blumenson, Breakout and Pursuit, 682-684.
98. Griess, 352.
99. Northern France, 25.
100. Boykin, Gare La Bête, 43-44.
101. Northern France, 25. McGrann, 51.
102. Spearhead in the West, 95-96.
103. AAR, 703d Tank Destroyer Battalion. Charles B. MacDonald, The Siegfried Line Campaign: United States Army in World War II, The European Theater of Operations (Washington, DC: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1993), 74. (Hereinafter Blumenson, The Siegfried Line Campaign.)
104. MacDonald, The Siegfried Line Campaign, 76 ff.
105. AAR, 636th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
106. Josowitz, 36.
107. Hugh M. Cole, The Lorraine Campaign: United States Army in World War II, The European Theater of Operations (Washington, DC: Historical Division, Department of the Army, 1950), 211-212. (Hereinafter Cole, The Lorraine Campaign.)
108. Oberst iG Von Kahlden, Chief of Staff, Fifth Panzer Army. “Fifth Pz Army (15 Sep – 15 Oct 44),” MS # B-472, Historical Division, Headquarters United States Army, Europe, not dated. National Archives, i-ii, 4ff. Cole, The Lorraine Campaign, 214. (Hereinafter Von Kahlden.)
109. Von Kahlden, 8, 18. Cole, The Lorraine Campaign, 201.
110. Cole, The Lorraine Campaign, 221.
111. History, 704th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
112. Cole, The Lorraine Campaign, 221.
113. Buchanan, et al, 43.
114. Capt Kenneth Koyen, The Fourth Armored Division: From the Beach to Bavaria (Munich, Germany: Herder Druck, 1946), 56. Interview with Lt Jerome J. Sacks, “4th Armd Div, Crossing of the Moselle Near Nancy, 12-22 Sep,” combat interviews, NARA, box 24092.
115. History, 603d Tank Destroyer Battalion.
116. Wissolik and Smith, 84. Cole, The Lorraine Campaign, 223.
117. Von Kahlden, 18.
118. Cole, The Lorraine Campaign, 224. Wissolik and Smith, 31. AAR, CCA, 4th Armored Division. Interview with LtCol Hal Pattison, “4th Armd Div, Crossing of the Moselle Near Nancy, 12-22 Sep,” combat interviews, NARA, box 24092.
119. Wissolik and Smith, 83. Interviews with Lt Edwin T. Leiper and Capt William A. Dwight, “4th Armd Div, Crossing of the Moselle Near Nancy, 12-22 Sep,” combat interviews, NARA, box 24092.
120. Gill, 70-71.
121. Buchanan, et al, 46.
122. Wissolik and Smith, 83. AAR, CCA, 4th Armored Division. “4th Armd Div, Crossing of the Moselle Near Nancy, 12-22 Sep,” combat interviews, NARA, box 24092.
123. Buchanan, et al, 46.
124. AAR, CCA, 4th Armored Division.
125. Interview with Lt Marvin E. Evans, “4th Armd Div, Crossing of the Moselle Near Nancy, 12-22 Sep,” combat interviews, NARA, box 24092.
126. AAR, CCA, 4th Armored Division.
127. AAR, CCA, 4th Armored Division.
128. AAR, CCA, 4th Armored Division. Buchanan, et al, 46.
129. Von Kahlden, 22ff. Generalleutnant Wend Von Wietersheim, “The 11th Panzer Division in Southern France (15 August – 14 September 1944),” MS # A-880, National Archives, 1946, 2-3.
130. Generalleutnant Wend Von Wietersheim, “The Employment of the 11th Panzer Division in Lorraine,” MS # B-364, Historical Division, Headquarters United States Army, Europe, 10 January 1947. National Archives, 12. (Hereinafter “The Employment of the 11th Panzer Division in Lorraine”.)
131. Oliver, 11.
132. Von Wietersheim, “The Employment of the 11th Panzer Division in Lorraine,” 14-15.
133. Von Kahlden, 24. Von Wietersheim, “The Employment of the 11th Panzer Division in Lorraine,” 13.
134. Cole, The Lorraine Campai
gn, 241. AAR, 602d Tank Destroyer Battalion. Oliver, 12.
135. AAR, 813th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 29 September 1944.
136. Cole, The Lorraine Campaign, 242. Griess, 361-362.
137. Study of Organization, Equipment, and Tactical Employment of Tank Destroyer Units, 2. AG 322 x 475 OpCG, 29 September 1944.
138. McGrann, 65, 116.
139. The American Arsenal, 60. Mesko, 17. “90mm Firing Tests.” Memo from HQ, 703d Tank Destroyer Battalion to Commanding General, First Army. 15 December 1944.
140. McGrann, 55.
141. Gabel, 53. Gill, 74. AAR, 703d Tank Destroyer Battalion.
Chapter 8: The Battle for the Border
1. “Defense of the West Wall.” ETHINT-37. Historical Division, Headquarters United States Army, Europe. This is an interview with Major Herbert Büchs, aide to Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, 28 September 1945. National Archives.
2. Charles B. MacDonald, The Battle of the Bulge (London: Guild Publishing, 1984), 62.
3. Wilmot, 478-9. MacDonald, The Siegfried Line Campaign, 31 ff. Griess, 355.
4. MacDonald, The Siegfried Line Campaign , 34-5.
5. AAR, 702d Tank Destroyer Battalion, October 1944.
6. History, 823d Tank Destroyer Battalion.
7. Macdonald, The Siegfried Line Campaign, xi.
8. “Documentation of Siegfried Line,” memo in records of 803d Tank Destroyer Battalion, 12 October 1944.
9. AAR, 803d Tank Destroyer Battalion.
10. AARs, 803d Tank Destroyer Battalion.
11. Griess, 362. Stephen E. Ambrose, Citizen Soldiers (New York, NY: Touchstone, 1997), 153.
12. Macdonald, The Siegfried Line Campaign, 263ff.
13. Rhineland, CMH Pub72-25 (Washington, DC: U.S. Army Center of Military History, not dated), 15. (Hereinafter Rhineland.)
14. History, AAR, summaries of medal citations, 823d Tank Destroyer Battalion.
15. Macdonald, The Siegfried Line Campaign, 291-292.
16. “1st Inf Div, Battle of Aachen, 8-22 Oct 44,” combat interviews, NARA, box 24012.
17. “1st Inf Div, Battle of Aachen, 8-22 Oct 44.”
18. “1st Inf Div, Battle of Aachen, 8-22 Oct 44.” G-3 Report of Operations, 1st Infantry Division. MacDonald, The Siegfried Line Campaign , 310.
19. Combat Lessons Learned Number 6. (U.S. War Department, 1945), 18-19.
20. “1st Inf Div, Battle of Aachen, 8-22 Oct 44.” AAR, 634th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
21. “1st Inf Div, Battle of Aachen, 8-22 Oct 44.” Rhineland. 15.
22. AAR, 635th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
23. AAR, 821st Tank Destroyer Battalion, October 1944.
24. Ibid.
25. AAR, 773d Tank Destroyer Battalion.
26. Dunnagan, 81, 147.
27. Ibid., 147-148.
28. AARs, 645th and 636th Tank Destroyer battalions.
29. Commendation, from 183d Field Artillery Group to Commanding General, XII Corps Artillery, 29 October 1944.
30. S-3 Journal, 899th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
31. AAR, 601st Tank Destroyer Battalion.
32. Macdonald, The Siegfried Line Campaign, 381-389.
33. Clarke and Smith, 351, 361.
34. Ibid., 368ff. AAR, 813th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
35. Clarke and Smith, 371ff.
36. An Informal History of the 776th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 54. AAR, 813th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
37. AAR, 601st Tank Destroyer Battalion. Josowitz, 36.
38. Sherman, 139.
39. Cole, The Lorraine Campaign, 373.
40. Ibid., 266.
41. AAR, 773d Tank Destroyer Battalion.
42. Allen, 136. Cole, The Lorraine Campaign, 410-412.
43. Cole, The Lorraine Campaign, 468.
44. MacDonald, The Battle of the Bulge, 64-65.
45. Eby, 32-33. Cole, The Lorraine Campaign, 581.
46. Rhineland, 17. Bradley and Blair, 343.
47. Rhineland, 18-19.
48. Sparks, Victory TD, 47-49.
49. Rhineland, 21.
50. Macdonald, The Siegfried Line Campaign, 497.
51. Rhineland, 20.
52. Macdonald, The Siegfried Line Campaign, 530.
53. Von Senger und Etterlin, 200-201.
54. Houston, 310-313. Macdonald, The Siegfried Line Campaign, 531.
55. Houston, 314-316. AAR, 702d Tank Destroyer Battalion.
56. History, AAR, 771st Tank Destroyer Battalion. Medal citations for Lt George F. Killmer Jr. and Sgt. Walter F. Nedza.
57. Houston, 314-316. AAR, 702d Tank Destroyer Battalion.
58. GNMAR 321, 19 November 1944.
59. MacDonald, The Siegfried Line Campaign, 577.
60. Drawn from 614 Tank Destroyers WWII (no publisher listed), which describes the battle by quoting medal citations and commendations.
61. Wilmot, 621.
Chapter 9: The Battle of the Bulge
1. MacDonald, The Battle of the Bulge, 21ff.
2. Wilmot, 577.
3. Allen, 163, 165.
4. Griess, 371-372.
5. MacDonald, The Battle of the Bulge, 64-65.
6. Wilmot, 576.
7. Hugh M. Cole, Battle of the Bulge: United States Army in World War II, The European Theater of Operations (Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 1993), 98. (Hereinafter Battle of the Bulge.)
8. “801st Has Early Origin,” undated manuscript in the records of the 801st Tank Destroyer Battalion.
9. AAR, 820th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
10. Griess, 379.
11. AAR, 630th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
12. AAR, 803d Tank Destroyer Battalion.
13. Wilmot, 583-584.
14. Cole, Battle of the Bulge, 90-91.
15. AAR and S-3 journal, 801st Tank Destroyer Battalion.
16. Cole, Battle of the Bulge, 91.
17. AAR and S-3 journal, 801st Tank Destroyer Battalion. Cole, Battle of the Bulge, 94.
18. AAR and S-3 journal, 801st Tank Destroyer Battalion.
19. AAR, 630th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
20. AAR, 820th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
21. Recommendation for Unit Citation, Company C, 811th Tank Destroyer Battalion. History, 811th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
22. Cole, Battle of the Bulge, 104. History, 644th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
23. Cole, Battle of the Bulge, 109ff. 644th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 28. History, 644th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
24. Cole, Battle of the Bulge, 115.
25. History, 644th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
26. DSC citation, Lt Robert A. Parker. 644th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 28.
27. Interview with Capt Ralph H. Stallworth, “2d Inf Div, Battle of the Bulge, 16 Dec 44-16 Jan 45,” combat interviews, NARA, box 24017. Medal citation, Cpl. Henry J. McVeigh.
28. Cole, Battle of the Bulge, 120.
29. Ibid., 109ff. 644th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 28. History, 644th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
30. History, 644th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
31. “Sixth Pz Army (16 Nov 44 – 4 Jan 45),” ETHINT-21. Historical Division, Headquarters United States Army, Europe, 1945. This is an interview with Generalmajor (Waffen SS) Fritz Kraemer, 8–9 August 1945.
32. “Sixth Pz Army in the Ardennes Offensive,” ETHINT-16. Historical Division, Headquarters United States Army, Europe, 1945. This is an interview with Generaloberst (Waffen SS) Josef “Sepp” Dietrich, 8-9 August 1945. National Archives.
33. Wilmot, 580.
34. Griess, 380.
35. Boykin, Gare La Bête, 71.
36. MacDonald, The Battle of the Bulge, 327, 468. Griess, 380.
37. MacDonald, The Battle of the Bulge, 466, 469-470. Boykin, Gare La Bête, 78.
38. MacDonald, The Battle of the Bulge, 479-480.
39. Cole, Battle of the Bulge, 402.
40. MacDonald, The Battle of the Bulge, 470-472. Boykin, Gare La Bête, 79.
41. AAR, 814th Tank Destro
yer Battalion. Cole, Battle of the Bulge, 405.
42. MacDonald, The Battle of the Bulge, 472-475.
43. Boykin, Gare La Bête, 80-81.
44. MacDonald, The Battle of the Bulge, 478-479.
45. Ibid., 482-483.
46. Boykin, Gare La Bête, 83.
47. AAR, 814th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
48. MacDonald, The Battle of the Bulge, 483.
49. Ibid., 485.
50. Boykin, Gare La Bête, 101-102.
51. Wilmot, 584-585.
52. Boykin, Gare La Bête, 105.
53. Wilmot, 592.
54. History, AAR, 823d Tank Destroyer Battalion.
55. “Operations with 82d Airborne Division, 20 Dec 44-1 Jan 45,” attached to AAR, 703d Tank Destroyer Battalion, for February 1945.
56. Study of Organization, Equipment, and Tactical Employment of Tank Destroyer Units, 19.
57. AAR, 609th Tank Destroyer Battalion. Telephone interview with John Pilon, September 2002.
58. AAR, 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
59. Recommendation for distinguished unit citation, 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
60. AAR, 609th Tank Destroyer Battalion. Telephone interview with John Pilon, September 2002. Gill, 96. MacDonald, The Battle of the Bulge, 490.
61. MacDonald, The Battle of the Bulge, 490-491. Telephone interview with John Pilon. AAR, 609th Tank Destroyer Battalion. Gill, 96.
62. Cole, Battle of the Bulge, 452-453.
63. Ibid., 453-454.
64. S-3 journal, 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion. MacDonald, The Battle of the Bulge, 498.
65. Cole, Battle of the Bulge, 455. MacDonald, The Battle of the Bulge, 499. Telephone interview with John Pilon.
66. MacDonald, The Battle of the Bulge, 500.
67. AAR, 609th Tank Destroyer Battalion. Recommendation for Unit Citation, Company C, 811th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
68. S-3 journal, 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
69. AAR, 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
70. AAR, S-3 journal, 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
71. Cole, Battle of the Bulge, 466.
72. AARs, 609th and 705th Tank Destroyer battalions. S-3 journal, 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
73. Cole, Battle of the Bulge, 468.
74. Ibid., 470. AAR, 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
75. Cole, Battle of the Bulge, 472-474.
76. AAR, 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
77. S-3 journal, 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion.
78. Memorandum dated 18 February 1945, “4th Armd Div, Defense of Bastogne, 17 to 26 December 44,” combat interviews, NARA, box 24102.