Chapter 8
Eisenhower approved Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery's bold plan to leap-frog to the Rhine plains in northern Germany by seizing a series of key bridges through the Netherlands by means of airborne attacks, code-named Operation MarketGarden. For a moment, it seemed as though the Wehrmacht was on the brink of collapse and that the war might be over by Christmas. But once the German army was back on native soil, its morale improved, and many newly formed units were rushed into combat. The revival of the German army after its crushing summer defeat was dubbed the "Miracle on the Westwall." The Market-Garden
operation proved to be too ambitious, and after its failure, Allied momentum soon slowed because of lack of supplies.
Until a major port like Antwerp could be opened, the Allies had to limit their offensive operations. Hitler's main concern was not the British advance in the Netherlands, which could be easily contained because of the terrain, but Patton's advance in Lorraine. Patton's Third Army had made the deepest penetrations of the summer and was on the verge of linking up with the Franco-American 6th Army Group advancing from southern France. Patton's spearheads appeared to be aimed for the Moselle gate, the gateway into the heart of Germany. Germany's newly created panzer brigades were rushed to Lorraine for a massive panzer counterstroke. Instead of a coordinated strike, however, the panzers were committed piecemeal and were ground to bits in a disjointed series of skirmishes. Even though the Lorraine panzer offensive was a complete flop, it represented the most concentrated tank-versus-tank fighting that the U.S. Army encountered until the Battle of the Bulge that winter.
The commander of the 7th Armored Division, Maj. Gen. Lindsay Silvester, is seen in Verdun on 1 September. His armored car is partly covered with chalked markings, a popular activity of French and Belgian civilians during the summer campaign to give thanks for the liberation.
Strangers in a strange land. A group of GIs from the 7th Armored Division have an impromptu lunch on the streets of Verdun on 1 September while curious French onlookers gawk at their unexpected visitors.
An M4 with an infantry squad aboard advances in France on 1 September.
A German armored column retreats through Belgium during the retreat. The vehicle in the foreground is a damaged Sd.Kfz. 250/9 half-track reconnaissance vehicle that is missing its front wheel assembly.
An M4A1 (76mm) of the 3rd Armored Division passes by the burning wreck of a German truck in Aubencheul-au-Bac near Cambrai on its way to the Belgian frontier.
French townspeople swarm over an armored column from the 3rd Armored Division in Mauberge near the Belgian frontier on 2 September. The tank at the right is one of the new M4A1 (76mm). The following day, the division reached Mons in Belgium, setting the stage for the encirclement of the Mons pocket.
An M8 light armored car leads the way over the French-Belgian border on 2 September. The rapid advance into Belgium trapped many German units that had previously escaped encirclement at Falaise and on the Seine.
An M4A1 medium tank, fitted with a Culin hedgerow cutter on the bow, passes through Aubencheil-Aubac near the French-Belgian border on 2 September. The town had been captured only hours before, and a dead German soldier still lies on the pavement.
An M5A1 light tank passes through a town on the French-Belgian border on 2 September. It is fitted with a Culin hedge cutter and sand-bag protection. It carries the typical Allied air-recognition star on the turret roof.
An M8 armored car from C Troop, 113th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mechanized), 113th Cavalry Group, conducts a patrol in the Netherlands on 2 September. The vehicle commander is manning the .50-caliber heavy machine gun.
Following the collapse of the German army in France in August, the Allied armies raced into Belgium and the Netherlands. Each cavalry reconnaissance squadron had an assault-gun troop equipped with the M8 75mm howitzer motor carriage, a derivative of the M5A1 light tank with a short-barreled 75mm howitzer in an open-topped turret. Here, a pair of M8 75mm howitzer motor carriages conduct a fire mission on the outskirts of Vic-sur-Aisne in September. The Belgian townspeople frequently chalked greetings on the side of tanks and other armored vehicles after they were liberated, as seen here.
A column of M4 and M4A1 (76mm) tanks of Company I, 33rd Armored Regiment, 3rd Armored Division, advances toward the Belgian village of Ghlin on 3 September.
The 33rd Armored Regiment column reaches the outskirts of Ghlin. This town is in the northwest suburbs of Mons, and the fighting was part of the encirclement of a large number of German troops in the Mons pocket.
Another view of Company I, 33rd Armored Regiment, during the fight against entrenched German infantry in the Mons pocket near Ghlin on 3 September. The tank in the center is one of the M4A1 (76mm) medium tanks received prior to the start of Operation Cobra.
Here, an M4 from the 3rd Armored Division burns in the outskirts of Mons, Belgium, while M5A1 light tanks push ahead in a race for the German border.
Belgians wave to the crew of an M8 light armored car of the 113th Cavalry Group in Rongy, a border town on the FrenchBelgian frontier south of Tournai.
An M4 from Task Force Taylor enters the Belgian town of Le Cateau on 4 September as part of the V Corps' drive into Belgium that eventually trapped retreating German units in the Mons pocket.
A U.S. First Army mechanized column led by an M3A1 half-track passes through Namur on 5 September while Belgian civilians wave.
The commander of the VII Corps, Lt. Gen. J. Lawton "Lightning Joe" Collins studies a map while his M20 armored utility vehicle is parked in the town square of Beaumont, Belgium, on 4 September. Collins was one of the most successful American corps commanders during the September fighting, having led the capture of Cherbourg in June and the Cobra breakout in July.
This is Panzerzug 32, a German armored train captured on 7 September by French troops in the station of St. Berain-sur-Dheune. This artillery car carries a Chennilette Lorraine converted into a self-propelled howitzer using a Soviet 122mm M30 howitzer.
An M4 tank crosses a treadway pontoon bridge over the Meuse River in Belgium near Namur on 8 September during the rapid advance to the German frontier.
An M18 76mm gun motor carriage (named Big Gee) on the streets of Brest, France, on 12 September during the final stages of the siege. While most of the U.S. 12th Army Group was fighting along the German frontier, a force had remained behind in Brittany to conduct the siege of Brest, a critical seaport in Brittany that the Allies hoped to capture. It fell only on 19 September after the Germans had thoroughly demolished the harbor facilities.
A detailed view of the gun tube of an M15A1 combination gun motor carriage. The twin .50-caliber machine guns were usually used to bring the target under fire and range it, after which the more powerful 37mm automatic cannon was engaged.
An M18 76mm gun motor carriage (I Don't Want A) near a ruined home in the outskirts of Brest on 12 September. The extensive collection of backpacks, bedrolls, and other stowage on the turret was characteristic of the M18, as the vehicle's interior was too cramped to permit much stowage of the crew's equipment. This vehicle is fitted with a Culin hedgerow cutter as well.
An M12 155mm gun motor carriage (named Aiming Post Annie) fires on targets in Germany from its position in Belgium along the Moselle on 8 September. The M12 was the first American artillery weapon to fire on Germany in 1944.
The crew of an M12155mm gun motor carriage load a projectile into the breech. The 155mm GPF used a two-part round, with the propellant being loaded as separate bag charges.
By the autumn of 1944, tank destroyer units were increasingly used to support infantry units. Here, infantry of the 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry, hitch a ride on an M10 3-inch gun motor carriage during operations near Mabompre, Belgium, on 8 September. This is a late-production M10 with the duckbill turret counterweights. The stub of a wading trunk is still fitted at the vehicle's rear.
Although many American accounts mention encounters with Tigers in 1944, there were in fact very few engagements with this legendary tank since it was so uncommon in the summer and autumn fighting. A few damaged Tiger tanks were captured aboard a transport train near Braines, France, on 8 September by the 468th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion, and one is seen here being inspected by members of the French resistance.
The Tigers captured near Braines on 8 September were probably on their way back to Germany for repair and so escaped the encirclement battles at Falaise. In spite of the controversy about the Allied failure to close the Falaise gap, many units that escaped Falaise only ended up becoming trapped during the Seine encirclement in August and the Mons encirclement in early September.
A view of the train at Braines carrying a few Tigers. These were probably from the British sector near Caen, where most of the Tigers operated in the summer of 1944.
A troop of M8 75mm howitzer motor carriages from the 113th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron prepare to conduct a fire mission near Heure-le-Reman, Belgium, on 9 September. The vehicle in the foreground is still fitted with the Culin hedgerow cutter from Operation Cobra in late July.
An M4 medium tank of the 746th Tank Battalion supports the infantry of Company I, 60th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division, during fighting near the Belgian border on 9 September. This tank still has a Culin hedgegrow device on its bow. It was usual U.S. Army practice to attach a separate tank battalion to infantry divisions in combat in 1944, and this battalion stayed with the 9th Division through 1945.
A Dragon Wagon tank-evacuation vehicle recovers an M7 105mm howitzer motor carriage east of Paris on 10 September.
A mechanized column passes through St. Hubert, Belgium, on 9 September, led by a jeep and followed by an M20 armored utility vehicle.
A group of half-tracks from the 3rd Armored Division passes through Theux, Belgium, on 10 September. The lead vehicle is an M4 81 mm mortar motor carriage, but it is unusual in that the crew has reversed the side armor panels, and now the access door is on the rear. Note also the bazooka lashed on over the driver's armor plate.
An M4 with M1 dozer is seen clearing a road near Harze, Belgium, on 10 September. Belgian citizens have chalked their names and greetings all over the tank, a popular activity during the liberation of Belgium by Allied forces.
This is a forward-observer tank of the 440th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 7th Armored Division, which would travel with lead elements of the division and radio back information to the howitzer batteries for fire missions.
In anticipation of encounters with bunkers along the Siegfried Line, elements of the First Army were provided with flamethrowers. Four E4-5 flamethrowers were fitted to M4A1 (76mm) tanks of 70th Tank Battalion on 11 September. These tanks had previously fought in the Belgian campaign, and the chalked inscriptions of Belgian civilians can be seen on the hull side during this training exercise on 13 September. Two of these tanks were temporarily attached to the 741st Tank Battalion and were used to attack a German pillbox three days later. This configuration was found seriously inadequate as the tank had to approach to within twentyfive yards of the pillbox, and even after using up its fuel, the pillbox was not knocked out.
This view looks down into the hatch of an M4A1 (76mm) of the 70th Tank Battalion fitted with the E4-5 flamethrower in place of the front hull machine gun. As can be seen in the upper right, the small flame gun is very difficult to distinguish from the usual machine-gun barrel.
A crew from the 70th Tank Battalion tests an E4-5 flamethrower mounted on an M4A3 (76mm) during trials in Belgium.
This interior view shows the configuration of the E4-5 flamethrower mounting inside the tank.
The 70th Tank Battalion demonstrated the E4-5 flamethrower to several units in September as seen here, and two were attached to the 741st Tank Battalion later for attacks against German pillboxes along the Siegfried Line.
The M6 medium armored car, better known as the Staghound, was a rare case of a mass-produced American armored vehicle that never saw combat service with U.S. units. It was supplied to Britain under Lend-Lease. This is a Canadian Staghound of D Squadron, XII Manitoba Dragoons, in Blankenberge, Belgium, on 11 September. It is fitted with the shrimp netting for camouflage on the turret. NATIONAL ARCHIVES CANADA
Belgian citizens wave at the crew of an American M3A1 half-track as it passes through Vise on 11 September.
An M8 75mm howitzer motor carriage from a divisional cavalry reconnaissance platoon from the 30th Division scouts along a road near Vise, Belgium, on 11 September. The two GIs behind the vehicle are probably from an accompanying infantry unit as cavalrymen were armed with the M1 carbine, not the M1 rifle.
Jubilant Belgians greet the crew of an M2 half-track (named Alabama) of the 2nd Armored Division in the town square of Soignies to the northeast of Mons on 12 September.
This M4A3 (76mm) of the 749th Tank Battalion was disabled near Charmes on 12 September during the fighting between the U.S. 79th Division and the German 16th Infantry Division. An antipersonnel mine has gone off under the second bogie assembly, severing the track. This particular version of the Sherman did not begin to appear in any significant numbers in the ETO until September 1944.
An M4A1 (76mm) of the 3rd Armored Division gingerly moves down an embankment on to a treadway bridge erected over pontoons on the Meuse River near Liege, Belgium, on 12 September while local citizens watch. The pontoon bridge was erected alongside the ruins of a bridge demolished by the retreating Germans as can be seen by the abutment to the right. This is the tank of Sgt. Lafayette Pool, who at the time was one of the highest-scoring tank aces in the U.S. Army; he is the standing figure in the photo.
An American bazookaman advances under the watchful eye of an M4A1 (76mm) of the 66th Armored Regiment, 2nd Armored Division, on a road near Haaselt in Belgium on 12 September. On the side of the road is an overturned German staff car left behind during the retreat.
An M2A1 half-track crosses a treadway pontoon bridge over the Meuse in Liege on 12 September as Belgian civilians look on.
A pair of M3A1 half-tracks of the 2nd Armored Division moves through the streets of Winterslag on 14 September. The half-track in the foreground is named Daring.
On 13 September, Task Force X of the 3rd Armored Division penetrated the Siegfried Line near Roeten to become the first American troops into Germany. Here, one of the division's M4 tanks drives through some dragon's teeth, the first layer of the Scharnhorst Line.
Elements of Task Force X of the 3rd Armored Division found a gap in the Siegfried Line defense belt. It had been designed to permit German troops to pass through but had not been properly sealed up after the retreat. This is a view two days later on 15 September as one of the unit's M4 dozer tanks moves through the gap in the dragon's teeth.
Another view of a 3rd Armored Division M4 carrying troops of the 36th Armored Infantry Regiment while moving through border defenses near Roeten on 15 September.
A pair of M10 3-inch gun motor carriages fire on Wehrmacht positions near the German border on 14 September.
An M3A1 half-track leads a column through St. Vith, Belgium, on 13 September with Wehrmacht road signs still evident at the crossroads. The 7th Armored Division would later return to this town during the Ardennes battles in December.
On 15 September, after penetrating through the Siegfried Line, the 8th Infantry Regiment began a motorized advance on the Schnee Eifel ridgeline. Supported by M4 tanks of the 735th Tank Battalion, the spearhead came under fire near the town of Roth.
Another view of the same M4 tank of the 735th Tank Battalion inside the town of Roth, with GIs from the 8th Infantry Regiment using the local terrain to provide cover from snipers.
The crew of an M8 light armored car is greeted by friars from a local monastery in Maarland, the Netherlands, in September.
An M12 155mm gun motor carriage in full recoil as the crew braces themselves. This vehicle was widely used during the autumn 1944 campaign for attacking German pillboxes and fortified positions along the Siegfried Line.
A composite-hull M4 (named Dodo) of Company D, 66th Armored Regiment, 2nd Armored Division, crosses a treadway bridge over a stream during operations along the German frontier.
A battery of M12 155mm gun motor carriages from the 991st Field Artillery Battalion conducts a fire mission near Bildohen on the approaches to Aachen in September. The vehicles have been driven up improvised ramps to get greater elevation for their guns. The limited elevation of the 155mm gun was one of the main drawbacks of this weapon. The gunner to the right is carrying one of the propellant bag charges for the gun.
The northern flank of the U.S. First Army extended into the Netherlands. Here, an M4A1 (76mm) of Company F, 66th Armored Regiment, 2nd Armored Division, passes through a medieval arch in the town of Valkenberg on 17 September.
A Panther tank of the 2nd Battalion, Panzer Regiment 33, knocked out during the fighting with the U.S. 3rd Armored Division in the Gressenich-Dieplinchen area of the Stolberg corridor on 16 or 17 September.
During mid-September, the U.S. First Army began launching attacks up the Aachen-Stolberg corridor in the hopes of capturing the heavily fortified border city of Aachen. The 9th Infantry Division reached Schevenhutte before being counterattacked by the newly arrived German 12th Infantry Division on 17 September. A task force of the 3rd Armored Division intervened, and a pair of their M4A1 (76mm) tanks is seen in front of St. Josef church on September 22.
To better coordinate fighter-bomber strikes, the 9th Tactical Air Force dispatched pilots like this one to serve as forward observers in tank units to help call in air strikes against key German targets along the Siegfried Line.
The two rear panels on the lateproduction M10 tanks destroyers could be folded forward if necessary for the crew to enter or exit the vehicle.
One of the shortcomings of the M10 tank destroyer was the lack of overhead roof protection. In September, the 813th Tank Destroyer Battalion had its maintenance personnel attach improvised fiveeighth-inch steel folding covers over the turret roof on about half of its M10 tank destroyers in order to provide a measure of protection against small-arms fire. The M10 tank destroyers with the lateproduction turret had a full kit added, which included folding armored flaps over the rear of the fighting compartment, as seen here.
A burned-out M4A1 tank is recovered by an M25 Dragon Wagon on 22 September. This tank shows the wider mantlet adopted on the M34A1 gun mount on later-production M4A1 tanks.
A pair of M3A1 half-tracks of the 3rd Armored Division in the ruins of Stolberg, Germany, during the initial fighting along the German frontier.
During September, the Allies staged a massive airborne mission called MarketGarden in the Netherlands to capture the Rhine River bridge at Arnhem. Although primarily a British operation, the campaign involved the U.S. Army's two airborne divisions. This is a British Sherman Firefly knocked out in the fighting around Erf while supporting American paratroopers. The Firefly was armed with an extremely potent 17-pounder gun, which had much better antitank performance than the Sherman's usual 75mm gun.
An M3 half-track serves as the platform for a loudspeaker of a psychological warfare unit of the 12th Army Group during a propaganda mission in Eilendorf, Germany, on 23 September. These vehicles would be used for a variety of roles, including warnings to German civilians to evacuate towns that were on the verge of being attacked. They were also used against encircled German garrisons to encourage enemy troops to surrender.
The American airborne landings during Market-Garden paved the way for the armored columns of the British 30 Corps. Here, two paratroopers of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division talk to the crew of a British Stuart light tank of the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry, 8th Armoured Brigade, which provided armored support in late September and early October.
This is a Panther command tank knocked out by a British Firefly supporting U.S. paratroopers near Erf. It is being inspected by one of the paratroopers on 23 September.
The various types of "rhino" hedge cutters remained on many tanks into the autumn campaign, like this example of a T1 Culin device on an M4 operating near the Luxembourg frontier in September. It is followed by an M10 tank destroyer.
While Hodges's U.S. First Army was advancing into Belgium, Patton's Third Army was advancing into Lorraine. In one of the more famous incidents in its distinguished combat career, the 4th Armored Division leapfrogged the Moselle River after the Germans had blown up the main bridges by finding a ford over the National Canal near Bayon. The Germans had thought that the canal was impassable to tanks because of the deep mud. The 8th Tank Battalion's crossing of the canal, however, was made possible by the low water level in several sections. This is evident here as several of the barges are left high and dry in the mud. The Sherman exiting the canal is one of the newer M4A3 medium tanks armed with the long 76mm gun. This action was instrumental in capturing the key city of Nancy on the way to the German border.
During a lull in the fighting in Belgium on 30 September, the crew of an M4A1 takes the opportunity to clean the gun barrel.
An M4 medium tank fords the Moselle on 15 September during Patton's drive toward the German frontier in Lorraine.
The crew of an M32 tank-recovery vehicle prepares an impromptu lunch using the tow shackle on the front of the vehicle as an improvised stove during the advance around Nancy in September.
A GI from the 90th Infantry Division inspects some of the German equipment captured by the division during the fighting with Panzer Brigade 106 near Mairy. These are both armed versions of the standard German Hanomog Sd.Kfz. 251 Ausf. D armored infantry half-track. An Sd.Kfz. 251/21 antiaircraft vehicle with a triple MG151 cannon mounting is seen to the left. Panzer Grenadier Battalion 2106 had ten of the Sd.Kfz. 251/9 Stummel assault guns armed with a close-support 75mm howitzer (seen on the right vehicle).
In mid-September, Hitler ordered that four of the new panzer brigades cut off the spearhead of the Third Army east of Nancy in a classic envelopment battle. Panzer Brigade 106, led by the legendary panzer commander Franz Bake, started off the Lorraine panzer counteroffensive on the night of 7-8 September, attempting to cut off the U.S. 90th Division near Mairy, France. The attack was a shambles, and by the end of the day, the brigade had lost most of its equipment, including 21 of its tanks and tank destroyers, 60 of its Sd.Kfz. 250 and 251 half-tracks, and more than 100 support vehicles. This is one of its Panther Ausf. G tanks abandoned after the fighting and left by the roadside west of Metz for a few weeks for improvised vehicle-recognition training for passing American troops.
American troops inspect a knocked-out column of armor outside Nancy on 10 September during the initial stages of the fighting for Lorraine. These are probably from the 6th Armored Division. The M3A1 half-track has been hit by a high-explosive round, which has caved in the side armor and set the vehicle on fire.
An M3A1 half-track of Combat Command B headquarters of the 7th Armored Division with a pair of German prisoners riding on the fenders.
An M3A1 half-track (named Lucille-B) of Combat Command B headquarters from the 7th Armored Division. The extra radio antennas typical of a headquarters vehicle are evident here. There is an air-identification panel adjacent to the machine-gun pulpit.
By mid-September, the Third Army had reached the Moselle and started efforts to make a crossing in force. The northern crossing of the Moselle took place near the town of Dieulouard. Here, an M4 bulldozer tank is used to create a roadway across a narrow tributary of the Moselle on 12 September.
A company of M4 medium tanks from the Third Army provide indirect fire support for operations near the Moselle in September.
The second unit to attack in Lorraine was Panzer Brigade 112, which deployed its Panther battalion in Dompaire on the night of 12 September. A combat command of the more experienced French 2e Division Blindee beat up the brigade on 13 September, and after two days of fighting, the brigade had only twenty-one operational tanks out of its original eighty. This Panther was captured by the French intact and for many years was displayed in Paris in front of Les Invalides in central Paris.
An M32 tank-recovery vehicle of the Third Army crosses the Moselle over a pontoon bridge on 13 September.
An M4A3 medium tank of the 737th Tank Battalion near Dombasle on 15 September 1944.
Patton's forces surrounded the provincial capital of Lorraine at Nancy, and the 4th Armored Division got over the Moselle near Bayon. Here, on 15 September, in support of the 320th Infantry, which was crossing a nearby canal at the time, an M4A3 medium tank of the 737th Tank Battalion fires on buildings near Dombasle, along the left flank of the advance. This is an early example of the M4A3 in combat in the ETO as the first batches began to arrive in this theater only in August.
An M7 105mm howitzer motor carriage of Battery B, 66th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 4th Armored Division, moves over a treadway bridge during operations along the Moselle in Lorraine. The crew has mounted a shelf over the transmission cover to hold personal gear.
The Wehrmacht responded to the Bayon crossing with a series of counterattacks, including a brief tank attack by Pz.Kpfw. IVs of the 15th Panzer Grenadier Division near Mehoncourt, in which one M4 medium tank of the 8th Tank Battalion was knocked out. It can be seen in the background while a medic tends to a wounded tanker in the foreground.
A Panther Ausf. G of Panzer Brigade 113 knocked out by the 704th Tank Destroyer Battalion during the fighting near Parroy.
On 19 September, Panzer Brigade 113 launched an attack against elements of the 4th Armored Division near Arracourt and first ran into the 704th Tank Destroyer Battalion near Rechicourt-laPetite. A short-range duel in the earlymorning fog led to the loss of several Panther Ausf. G's and M18 Hellcat tank destroyers. These are two of the Panthers knocked out during the skirmish.
In 1945, one of the veterans of the 704th Tank Destroyer Battalion returned to the Arracourt area and photographed several of the Panther tanks still lying abandoned around the battlefield. This is a Panther Ausf. A, most likely belonging to Panzer Brigade 113.
The commander of the 37th Tank Battalion during the Lorraine fighting was Maj. Creighton Abrams, and this was his command tank at the time, named Thunderbolt V.
Soldiers of the 704th Tank Destroyer Battalion inspected the inside of this destroyed Panther and found bits of uniform still inside. Additional Panthers can be seen littering the field behind.
An M4 of the 6th Armored Division tries to help pull another M4 out of the mud. One of the most serious shortcomings of the M4 Sherman was its poor floatation in soft soil, mud, and snow. By the late autumn, many Shermans began to be fitted with extended end connectors, sometimes called duck bills, which marginally improved traction in poor conditions.
Another of the Panther Ausf. G's knocked out in the Arracourt fighting in September near Rechicourt-la-Petite.
An M18 tank destroyer from the 603rd Tank Destroyer Battalion, CCB, 6th Armored Division, guards the intersection at Rue Carnot in Luneville, facing toward Frambois, on 22 September. Vehicles from this unit took part in the tank fighting in Luneville with Panzer Brigade 111 on 18 September.
The crew of an M4 medium tank commanded by Sgt. Timothy Dunn of the 37th Tank Battalion beds down for the night in a field near Chateau Salins to the northeast of Arracourt on the evening of 26 September. The crewman at the front of the tank is removing the Culin hedgerow cutter, no longer needed in the open terrain of Lorraine. This battalion was commanded by Maj. Creighton Abrams, after whom today's M1 Abrams tank is named.
Here, an M4 has its transmission serviced in a forested work area during the fighting in Lorraine in late September.
Another view of the Third Army's forested tank workshop, this time with the turret of an M4 removed for servicing the hull. The turret basket can be seen on the ground beyond the tank, while the turret itself is propped up on logs.
The commander of a heavily camouflaged M5A1 light tank peers through his binoculars. He is wearing the standard tanker's helmet, which was based on a prewar football helmet and so offered no ballistic protection.
Capt. J. F. Brady, commander of A Company, 35th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division, shortly after the Arracourt tank battle. This gives a good view of the standard tanker's helmet as well as the tank commander's intertank microphone. The helmet was not armored, so in some units, a normal steel helmet was worn instead when riding outside the tank.
