France
The battalion landed in Normandy on 30 July, equipped with M10 Wolverines. After a brief period in camp, it was attached to the newly arrived 5th Armored Division, and began operations on 2 August, with first contact with an enemy force on 4 August. In order to co-operate more closely with the 5th Armored, the battalion was split up, with one company going to each of the division's Combat Commands.
The force moved south through Avranches and then southwest to Le Mans, before pushing north on 10 August to help close the Falaise Pocket. On 11 August a Panzer IV was destroyed, the first of the battalion's tank kills, and the same night, the rearguard of Company A encountered a German column, and in a close-range action accounted for eight vehicles and 240 enemy troops; a sergeant of the company received both the Silver Star and the Croix de Guerre for this action, giving the battalion its first tank kill and its first combat decoration on the same day.
The battalion headed eastwards on 15 August, briefly crossing the Eure River on the 17th. The commanding officer, Lt. Col. Hernandez, was killed on 20 August whilst observing indirect fire, and succeeded by his executive officer, Major Gallagher; in the same action, two Panzer V tanks were destroyed for the loss of one M10, the first tank destroyer lost in action by the battalion. After operating along the Seine for several days, the battalion withdrew southeast to rest on the 25th.
On 27, 5 August Armored was detached from the XV Corps and ordered to drive east to the Belgian border; the battalion left camp on the 30th and, passing through Paris, arrived on the border late on the night of 2 September. The battalion was reorganized and attached in its entirety to Combat Command R, before the division moved south to Sedan and eastwards to Luxembourg, crossing the border on 9 September and arriving at the German border on the 11th.
Read more about this topic: 628th Tank Destroyer Battalion
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