818th Tank Destroyer Battalion - France

France

The 818th landed in Normandy on the evening of 14 July, coming ashore at Utah Beach,and were attached to the 5th Infantry Division, which had arrived in Normandy a few days earlier. The first companies moved into line on 16 July, relieving the crews of the 635th Tank Destroyer Battalion, and fired their first shots in the early morning of 18 July. The battalion had its first fatality the next day, when an NCO was accidentally shot by a guard. Limited supporting fire missions continued through the month, with one company deployed in close support of an infantry attack on 26 July.

This was the opening of Operation Cobra, the breakout from Normandy; whilst the 5th Division was deployed on the far left of the US lines and was not directly involved in the offensive, it began to move forward quickly as the German lines retreated. On 1 August, the division was withdrawn from First Army, which was turning to flank the German forces, and assigned to Third Army, which was assigned to the wide sweep through France. Moving forward with the offensive, the battalion supported the capture of Angers on 11 August, and on 13 August liberated a camp of over a hundred American airmen who had been shot down over France and evaded or escaped captivity. They supported the capture of Chartres, to the south of Paris, on 15 August, and continued to push east, reaching the River Seine on 27 August. The battalion then crossed the River Marne and arrived at Reims on 30 August, resting for a short while before resuming the advance.

In early September, the 5th Division probed through Verdun towards Metz; Company C of the 818th supported an unsuccessful attempt to bridge the Moselle at Dornot, but was held in reserve and did not see significant action before the bridgehead was withdrawn. A second attack, at Arnaville south of the city on 10 September, was supported by B Company; the M10s were held back on the western bank of the river, placed on a bluff with good views over the bridgehead to the east. From here, they could support the infantry directly. Two platoons were brought over the river on a temporary bridge the next day, the first armored support available to the attack. After the bridgehead was safely established, the 5th Division moved against Metz in the first phases of the Battle of Metz. After supporting an attack on the outer fortifications was beaten back on 27 September – the 818th discovering to its cost that its guns were ineffective against large-scale fortifications – they remained in defensive positions here until early November, with a brief break in late October to re-equip and rest. The 5th Division and elements of the 818th began the final attack on Metz on 10 November, clearing the city by the end of the month and moving east across the German border.