The Strange Tanks That Helped Win D Day

When allied forces landed on the Normandy beaches on D-Day, they did so alongside a fleet of bizarre tanks with very special roles – brought into life by an eccentric British commander.

On 19 August 1942, Allied armies put their plan for an invasion of Occupied Europe to the ultimate test – by landing troops on the beaches and trying to capture a French port.

Did any of the crewmen escape from the sinking tanks?

From the 70th Armor Battalion history:

At 0630 on 6 June, 1944, after 18 months of training in secret, the 70th Tank Battalion rolled off of their landing crafts and onto Utah beach with the 4th Infantry Division. One of the first of the 70th Tank's soldiers to make it on the French shore was LT Franklin Anderson and his team of radiomen and engineers. Anderson was wounded by shrapnel after leaving the landing craft but made it to the seawall and directed the engineers as they blew holes in the wall for dozer tanks to enlarge.

Although A and B Companies were supposed to have been in the first wave, due to a mix up in the rendezvous area, the first tank on shore was commanded by PFC Owen Gavigan of C Company. C Company arrived with 12 of its 16 tanks and, under artillery and rocket fire, cleared obstacles with HE and bull dozer attachments and took key gun emplacements under fire, allowing follow-on ships filled with troops and supplies to make it to the beach. A Company was not so lucky. Before the tankers could disembark, one of the LCTs hit a mine and was blown in two. Nineteen tankers of the twenty on board died. As the rest of A Company's tanks hit the beach, they took up firing positions where they could support the infantry that were landing behind them. Two more tankers died during this operation, but the infantry landed safely.

70th Tank battalion engineers blew the seawall in front of B Company as their tanks hit the beach, but they met little resistance other than dismounted Germans exiting a bombed-out pillbox. All 16 of their tanks landed safely and moved through the breach made by the engineers and secured the causeway leading off the beach.

D Company, equipped with light tanks, was assigned the mission of linking up with the 101st Airborne Division which had landed behind the enemy defenses during the night. D Company found the infantry broken up into small groups under pressure from pockets of German resistance. By the end of the day, D Company had found large elements of the 101st and consolidated for the next morning's attack.

By nightfall, all the companies of the 70th Tank Battalion had reached their objectives and had consolidated the Utah beachhead.

The battalion fought its way north toward Cherbourg, at the head of the Cotentin Peninsula. C Company broke through to the 82nd Airborne at Ste. Mere Eglise on 8 June 1944, and the battalion continued north, cleaning up pockets of resistance along the road north. The tankers fought continuously for days on end, doggedly clearing the last German resistance. The town of Azeville fell on 11 June. Montebourg followed on 19 June. Cherbourg itself was not taken until 26 June, three weeks of exhaustive combat after the D-Day invasion.

The 70th Tank's losses during D-Day were the largest for any single day in the war. During the "Longest Day", they had lost 16 tanks, with 22 men killed and 8 wounded. By the time the Eighth Infantry Regiment had cleared the Cotentin Peninsula, the number of lost tanks had grown to 32, with 29 men KIA, 31 MIA and 48 WIA. The 70th Armor Battalion earned another Invasion Arrowhead and a Presidential Unit Citation for its critical role in the invasion of Normandy.

I just knew that you would have something interesting to add. Thank you.

When I was in the 70th Armor in the 1960s, we'd sometimes have former WWII members of the unit visiting the Munich area swing by our barracks/kaserne and get photos of each other standing next to the unit messhall, headquarters, motor pool, etc. signs, all of which had the unit's *Strike Swiftly* crest and motto painted on them. And, sometimes, they'd come visit our [restricted area!] tank park, to get photos standing by *their old numbered tank,* though their original Shermans were long gone and we were up to the M60A1 by then. No matter; they were happy as could be to meet *their new crews,* the guys running the tanks now that carried the unit/company number they had back then. It got where it'd happen once or twice a month, as the word spread at 70th reunions, and our battalion commander spread the word LOUD AND CLEAR: these guys are not just honored guests- they're family, and when they showed up unescorted, they were to be IMMEDIATELY made welcome and treated as VIPs...which, of course, they were. One of our crewdawgs would make a run or call for the battalion staff duty officer or the colonel if he was available, and they'd be a mess guess for lunch or dinner at the very least. Neither was it very unusual for a former 70th Sherman driver to sometimes get *drafted* into taking one of our M60s for the short trip to our wash rack or fuel point, and if any of the MPs ever caught on that we had some sort of older, part-time crew members in the outfit, nobody ever said anything- they were qualified, after all, and just getting a little OJT refresher training.

But that was a long time ago. Now I'm one of the outfit's *old guys.* And when I swing by Ft Riley when the 70th is having its *organizational day* birthday celebration [founded 15 July 1940 at Fort George Meade, Maryland] guess how I'm treated. Yeah, we set the example, nearly 50 years ago, but the guys in now have honed it to a fine art. A few years back I went through a practice gunnery exercise in an Abrams, though they didn't let me drive.

But they let me shoot. Target, cease fire. Strike Swiftly.

Sgt. Maj. Brian Gentry (left), operations sergeant major with 2nd Bn., 70th Armor Regt., 2nd ABCT, 1st Inf. Div., and Command Sgt. Maj. Terry Vaughn (third from left), senior enlisted adviser of 2nd Bn., 70th Armor Regt., speak with retired and still-serving veterans of the battalion following its reactivation ceremony Oct. 9 at Fort Riley. Dozens of veterans of the unit were in attendance at the ceremony, which returned the battalion to active service after six years of deactivation.

Table Eight Gunnery 2014: ON THE WAY!

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.