Spearhead: Armored Forces in Normandy

Spearhead: Armored Forces in Normandy M4 Sherman tank crew at Fort Knox, Kentucky, 1942. Courtesy of The Atlantic. Michael Kern Program Assistant, National History Day 1 “Rapidity is the essence of war; take advantage of the enemy’s unreadiness, make your way by unexpected routes, and attack unguarded spots.” - Sun Tzu, The Art of War 2 What is National History Day? National History Day is a non-profit organization which promotes history education for secondary and elementary education students. The program has grown into a national program since its humble beginnings in Cleveland, Ohio in 1974. Today over half a million students participate in National History Day each year, encouraged by thousands of dedicated teachers. Students select a historical topic related to a theme chosen each year. They conduct primary and secondary research on their chosen topic through libraries, archives, museums, historic sites, and interviews. Students analyze and interpret their sources before presenting their work in original papers, exhibits, documentaries, websites, or performances. Students enter their projects in contests held each spring at the local, state, and national level where they are evaluated by professional historians and educators. The program culminates in the Kenneth E. Behring National Contest, held on the campus of the University of Maryland at College Park each June. In addition to discovering the wonderful world of the past, students learn valuable skills which are critical to future success, regardless of a student’s future field: • Critical thinking and problem solving skills • Research and reading skills • Oral and written communication and presentation skills • Self-esteem and confidence • A sense of responsibility for and involvement in the democratic process Participation in the National History Day contest leads to success in school and success after graduation. More than five million NHD students have gone on to successful careers in many fields, including business, law, and medicine. NHD helps students become more analytical thinkers and better communicators, even if they do not choose to pursue a career in history. 3 What is the Normandy Scholars Institute? Established in 2011, the Normandy Scholars Institute is a program which teaches high school students and teachers about D-Day and the fighting in Normandy during World War II. The program is a partnership between National History Day and The George Washington University made possible by the generosity of Albert H. Small. Mr. Small is a veteran of the U.S. Navy who served in Normandy during World War II. He is passionate about history education and wants to ensure that the sacrifices of World War II veterans are honored and remembered by America’s youth. Each winter National History Day selects a group of teachers from across the country to participate in the program. Each teacher selects a student to work with during the institute. The teacher and student work as a team, learning side-by-side, making the institute a unique educational experience. Starting in spring, the team reads books on World War II and on D-Day, giving them a better understanding of the history and historical context of the campaign. Each student selects a soldier from their community who was killed during the war and who is buried at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. The team works with a research mentor to learn about the life of their soldier. In June, the teams travel to Washington, DC for several days of program events before flying to France to visit the historical sites where the teams’ soldiers fought and died. The trip culminates with a trip to the American cemetery where the student reads a eulogy in front of their soldier’s grave. After returning to the United States, the students and teachers share their experience with others by making a website about their soldier and giving presentations at their schools. In addition to getting to experience Normandy firsthand, students and teachers will: • Learn the true cost of war and the meaning of freedom and sacrifice • Improve research and problem solving skills • Attain a deeper understanding of America’s participation in World War II • Establish relationships with peers and colleagues from across the country 4 Table of Contents Introduction…………………………………………..6 Armor Combat, 1916-1941…………………………...7 The Armored Division………………………………..9 Armored Regiment and Tank Battalion……………...12 Armored Infantry Regiment or Battalion…………….17 Armored Field Artillery Battalion……………………21 Cavalry Reconnaissance Battalion or Squadron……..25 Tank Destroyer Battalion…………………………….29 Armor Combat in Normandy………………………...33 Resources…………………………………………….37 Bibliography…………………………………………43 5 Introduction This guide covers U.S. armored forces in Normandy. It should be a useful reference to students researching a soldier who served with any of the types of units listed below. This guide discusses the history, organization, tactics, and combat experiences of the men in these units. It is worth reading all sections of this guide regardless of the type of unit your soldier served with, because these units all worked together. • Armored Regiment or Tank Battalion • Armored Infantry Regiment or Armored Infantry Battalion • Armored Field Artillery Battalion • Cavalry Reconnaissance Battalion or Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron • Tank Destroyer Battalion M5A1 Stuart tank creeps through a French town, 1944. Army Signal Corps Photo. 111-SC-191237-SA. Courtesy National Archives. 6 Armor Combat, 1916-1941 The tank was developed during World War I, first seeing combat during 1916. The first large-scale use of tanks occurred the following year, at the Battle of Cambrai. Germans soldiers were unable to resist the British tanks, creating a significant penetration in the German lines. Early tanks had very thin armor, could only move about three miles per hour, and tended to give their crews carbon monoxide poisoning. They were used in small numbers along the front line to support infantry attacks – a few tanks here, a few tanks there. By the end of the war, the Allies were learning to use tanks more effectively – the British Army launched a very successful attack at Amiens in August 1918 using tanks, infantry, artillery, and airplanes together, as part of a team. The German Army did not develop tanks until 1918; many German officers believed that the German Army’s lack of tanks was a major factor in its defeat. After the war, tank development moved quickly. Tanks became faster, better armored, more mechanically reliable, and more powerful in combat.1 During the 1920s and 1930s, a debate raged about the best way to use tanks. Some British Army officers argued that in the next war tanks should be used like they were used in World War I – as mobile bunkers to support infantry attacks. Other officers – most notably J. F. C. Fuller and B. H. Liddell Hart – believed that the tank made old ways of war obsolete. Fuller believed that in future wars infantry and artillery forces would create ‘harbors’ from which tank fleets could operate. The tanks would cruise out of their harbor, find the enemy’s tanks, and defeat them in battle. The British Army’s officers could not make up their minds about whose vision of war was correct, so the Army built two types of tanks – ‘infantry’ tanks that were slow but heavily armored and ‘cruiser’ tanks that were fast but poorly protected.2 The United States Army also experimented with tank units during the 1920s and 1930s, though American experiments were always modest, because of lack of funding. Nevertheless, forward-thinking Army generals like Adna Chaffee, Jr. and Daniel van Voorhis pushed the Army to create armored units and to develop tactics. The first post-WWI American tank unit was the Experimental Mechanized Brigade, formed in 1928. Chaffee used the brigade to develop new tactics for American tank units. Unlike the British experiments, Chaffee argued for a middle-of- the-road course. He believed that tanks were powerful weapons which could help bring victory on the battlefield, but only if they had help. Chaffee wanted a ‘combined arms’ armored force – units of tanks, infantry, artillery, and airplanes all working together as a team. The infantry 1 Tanks in WWI, Paddy Griffith. Battle Tactics of the Western Front: The British Army’s Art of Attack 1916-18. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994, 104-111; and 20s and 30s tank development, Williamson Murray and Allan R. Millett. Military Innovation in the Interwar Period. Cambridge, UK: University of Cambridge Press, 1996, 6-49. 2 British tank development and Fuller, Murray and Millet, 19-29; Liddell-Hart’s views, B. H. Liddell-Hart. Strategy: The Classic Book on Military Strategy. New York: Meridian, 1991, 187-206. 7 supported the tanks and protected them from anti-tank weapons. Artillery batteries bombarded enemy positions, weakening them so that the tanks could overwhelm them. Airplanes bombed particularly tough enemy positions so that the tanks could move past them. His dream was realized in 1936, when the Army created the 7th Cavalry Brigade (Mechanized), the first American combined arms tank unit.3 While the U.S Army was slowly building its tank forces and developing new ways of using them, the Germans were adapting and extending American methods. Determined to make good use of the tank in a future war, the German Army’s General Staff studied tank warfare extensively during the 1920s and 1930s and decided that the combined arms approach was the best way to use tanks. When the German Army launched its invasion of the West in 1940, its combined arms panzer units were the spearhead of its attack. German panzer divisions slashed through French and British defenses, destroying enemy units and surrounding or bypassing those it could not destroy. Using these blitzkrieg tactics, the German Army achieved stunning results. German panzer units raced across France, sweeping away all resistance in their path.

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