US Tank and Tank Destroyer Battalions in the ETO 1944-45 by Steven Zaloga

Author:Steven Zaloga
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: US Tank and Tank Destroyer Battalions in the ETO 1944–45
ISBN: 9781472800015
Publisher: Osprey Publishing

A T1E1 Rhinoceros hedgerow cutter fitted to the front of an M10 3in. GMC in preparation for the Operation Cobra breakout. (MHI)

Sgt. Curtis Culin subsequently developed a better hedge-buster, and local production of the “rhino” was undertaken by First US Army ordnance units to equip several hundred tanks prior to Operation Cobra. The breakthrough tactics varied from unit to unit. For example, the 741st Tank Battalion supporting the 2nd Infantry Division developed a tactic called a tank sortie. The infantry remained under cover along the line-of-departure and an assault zone about 500 yards deep was beaten down by divisional artillery firing airburst rounds. The tanks crunched through the bocage using the rhinos, and the artillery kept the German defenders in their trenches while the tanks attacked them. After the tanks penetrated 500 yards in about 20 minutes, some returned to the line-of-departure to escort the infantry to rout out any remaining defenders. The process then continued and the German defenses were systematically overcome.

The new tactics were instrumental in the first few days of fighting when Operation Cobra began on July 26. Although the infantry penetrations of the German defenses were not as deep as had been hoped, they so disrupted the German defenses that the corps commander decided to commit his two reserve armored divisions to begin the breakout and exploitation phase. Cobra was a resounding success and the US Army finally fought its way out of the constricted terrain of Normandy towards the open terrain on the approaches to Paris. A total of 12 separate tank battalions were used during Operation Cobra, and they suffered relatively modest losses of only 49 tanks in a week of fighting due to the improved tactics.

The mobile campaign that followed in August was a complete contrast to the two months of hard fighting in the enclosed terrain of Normandy. Tank tactics were improvised, and many units formed small task forces consisting of a platoon or more of tanks supporting their infantry battalions, with the infantry forming assault groups that would ride the tanks to speed up the assault.

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