After the shocking fall of France in June 1940, the U.S. Army
embarked on a crash program to establish a new armored force. One
of the units formed was the 756th Tank Battalion (Light), activated
at Fort Lewis in June 1941. Because of severe equipment shortages,
the new battalion trained without tanks for several months, but by
early 1942 were equipped with new M3 light tanks. While companies A
and C took part in Operation Torch, B was withheld for lack of
cargo space in the transport ships and re-joined the battalion two
months later in north Africa. The units undertook reconnaissance
missions following the landings in Salerno. In December 1943 the
battalion was ordered to upgrade to a medium tank (Sherman) unit.
Given less than a month to reorganize and train in M4s, the
battalion was sent into the Mignano Gap on January 11, 1944 and
supported the 34th Infantry Division in the capture of Cervaro and
Monte Trocchio. Later in January B Company supported the troops of
the 100th Battalion on bloody but ill-fated attempts to cross the
Rapido river - finally at the third attempt the battalion
established a secure bridgehead across the Rapido. During the next
two days the nearby town of Caira was also captured, opening a
clear avenue for an attack on Cassino. Based on decades of
research, and hours of interviews with veterans of the 756th Tank
Battalion, Jeff Danby's vivid narrative puts the reader in the
turret of B Company's Shermans as they ride into battle.
Endorsements: "This is an excellent, in-depth, day-to-day account
of the operations of one tank company of a US independent tank
battalion, B Company, 756th Tank Battalion, in World War II... With
its focus on tank crew members and their commanders this is a
unique addition to the literature on WWII." --A. Harding Ganz,
Associate Professor Emeritus of the Ohio State University at
Newark, author of Ghost Division "It is very rare to find a book
that takes the reader down to the close and personal level of a
company of men in battle. We have seen that for paratroopers in
Band of Brothers and now we have it for a tank unit, in this case
Company B of the 756th Tank Battalion. And what a remarkable book
it is ... the book is very hard to put down and by the end of it I
found myself looking forward to reading the next volume." --Jeffrey
Plowman, author of Rampant Dragons: New Zealander's Experience in
Armour in World War II, Tank Attack at Monte Cassino: The Cavendish
Road Operation 1944 and The Battles for Cassino Then and Now
"[Danby] brings all his considerable skills to this unique
Battalion level history. No lead is left unfollowed and this adds
not only to the legitimacy of his work but also tells the personal
story of these valiant men ... It may be the best US armored unit
history ever put together so long after the conflict ... For the
small unit historian of the Armored Units of the Second World War,
I cannot recommend this book more highly." --Victor Failmezger,
author of American Knights, the Untold Story of the Legendary 601th
Tank Destroyer Battalion "Jeff Danby weaves an empathetic tale of
people in his history of Company B, 756th Tank Battalion. From the
very start, he frames portentous global events in terms of how the
young men who would fight the war would have seen them. Danby's
prose is punchy, visually evocative, and entertaining." --Harry
Yeide, author of The Tank Killers, The Infantry's Armor, and Steeds
of Steel "Danby introduces and develops an extensive cast of
personalities, average American soldiers, as they experience combat
and the quiet periods in-between, and gives the reader precious
insight in to why this unit was so combat proficient. Jeff has
written another great story which I recommend to everyone
interested in WWII and especially tank units in that war." --LTC
Timothy R. Stoy, U.S. Army, retired, served 31 years in the U.S.
Army as an Infantry and Foreign Affairs Officer. Historian for the
Society of the 3rd Infantry Division (2007-2017) and currently
Historian of the 15th Infantry Regimental Association since 1997.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!