818th Tank Destroyer Battalion - Ardennes and Germany

Ardennes and Germany

The 818th supported the 5th Division in fighting around Saarlautern until 19 December, when it was ordered to disengage and move into reserve in response to the German attack in the Ardennes. It was assigned to join the 26th Infantry Division on 21 December; this division had been held in reserve near Metz to refit, and was now being sent north to hold the southern flank of the German offensive as part of III Corps. For the next ten days, the battalion pressed north, with the companies split up among the divisional infantry regiments, until they came to a standstill in Luxembourg at the end of the month. They remained in the line until 27 January, when the division was relieved and returned to the Saarlautern bridgehead.

This proved to be a quiet sector; whilst remaining in defensive positions, the crews were able to rest and repair their equipment, There were no significant attacks through February, with most activity coming from indirect fire missions and from firing at pillboxes on the far side of the Saar. In February, new M36 GMC tank destroyers arrived, and the battalion re-equipped with the new vehicles. The M36 was a development of the M10; it used the same hull and engine, but mounted a larger turret housing a substantially more powerful 90mm gun; in some situations, it was capable of destroying an enemy tank at more than two and a half miles (around 4 km).

In early March, the division moved to Saarburg, and began its attack along the Siegfried Line on 13 March. As had become routine by this point, the companies of the 818th operated separately, in close contact with the division's infantry regiments; they broke through the line on 18 March, and pressed eastwards towards the Rhine. During the later stages of the advance, the battalion headquarters formed an ad-hoc group (Task Force Hail) to screen the southern flank of the division, commanding the battalion reconnaissance company and an infantry company from the division. They reached the Rhine on 25 March, and crossed the same night; the advance continued unbroken for several days. Moving ahead by leaps and bounds, the battalion had approached the Czech border by 16 April, turning south towards Austria and the Alps. In the last days of the war, the forward elements entered Linz and moved north into Czechoslovakia itself.