628th Tank Destroyer Battalion - Advance Into Germany

Advance Into Germany

On 11 January the battalion was attached to the 75th Infantry Division, but left them on the 16th, without having made contact with the enemy, and moved into XVIII Airborne Corps Reserve.

On 27 January the battalion was once again attached to its old partner, the 5th Armored Division, and joined them to rest and prepare for a crossing of the Roer River; Company A was detached to join the divisional artillery, and during the four weeks of preparations fired two thousand rounds of indirect fire. On 23 February the attack began, with Company B crossing the Roer at Linnich on the 25th, and the remainder of the battalion following the next day. The division then swung northwards through the Rhineland, reaching the west bank of the Rhine on 10 March. From the 13th to the 29th, the battalion fired 1500 rounds of harassing fire at targets in the Ruhr, on the far bank.

On 30 March the companies were assigned to combat commands in preparation for offensive operations, and crossed the river on the 31st, over a pontoon bridge at Wessel; the final breakout had begun. On 2 April, the division bypassed Münster, arriving at the Wesser River shortly thereafter and pausing until 8 April, when the river was crossed at Hamelin. The division moved north-east, passing to the south of Hannover and reaching the River Elbe on the 11th.

Whilst the division was consolidating its position on the west bank, intelligence reports suggested that the Clausewitz Panzer Division had broken out from the Berlin area, and was heading south in order to cut American supply lines and join up with other units in the Harz Mountains. In order to counter this threat, the division moved west, leaving Combat Command A (with Company A) to cover the Elbe. A divisional supply train was ambushed on the 16th, losing several vehicles; among them was a truck from the battalion, carrying the unit standard. This, however, was recaptured the next day. On the 23rd, a Panzer V tank was knocked out, the fifty-sixth and final tank destroyed by the battalion.

After two weeks of mopping-up operations, the region was deemed clear, and the companies reverted to battalion command on 25 April; the following day, the battalion moved to take up occupation duties in the Peine region of Lower Saxony, where it was located at the end of the war.

By the end of the war, the Battalion had accounted for 60 tanks and self-propelled guns, as well as 30 pieces of artillery and over a hundred other vehicles, with over 1200 enemy killed and 1500 prisoners taken.