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W estfield ManIn Tank CombatJoe Banks With Tank Destroyerci1With the Tenth Armored “Tiger Division in Germany.—This is the story of one tank destroyer platoon and its accomplishments in a 31-hour period during the Tenth Armored Division’s drive on Trier. The platoon, commanded by Est Lt. William N. Fudge (2831 Booser Ave., Harrisburg, Pa.), is in Company B of the Tenth Armored’s 609th Tank Detroyer Battalion. Lt. Fuch tells the story himself:“I assumed command of the 2nd Platoon at 1700, 27 February, one mile west of Irsch, Germany. We moved north with Team Haskell (commanded by Major Warren B. Haskell, Lee, Maine) of Combat Command “A”, 10th Armored Division. On the night of 28 Febru* ary we moved into position atop a hill two miles south of Filsch. All during the night we received air-bursts from what was believed to be a battery of guns on our right flank.“At 0499, 1st March, I was called to the Team command post and asked to fire on these guns. I moved up two destroyers commanded by Sgt. Earl L. Miller (Green Bay, Wis.) and Sgt. Joe Banks (Westfield, Iowa). Sgt. Miller fired one round and in the flare of the hit on one gun he discovered two more. He continued firing and destroyed three German 88’s, five 20mm. AA multiple gun units, and an antiaircraft fire direction center which included range finders and detectors. Ten rounds were fired during this action.“At daylight on the same day, our Team was fired on by direct fire from a battery of four German 88’s from a position on the next hill to the east. The Krauts succeeded in hitting three half-tracks and one medium tank, setting them afire. Amid the confusion of attempting to move the vehicles back to a defiladed position, I tried to get in contact with my destroyers in order to return the fire. But Sgt. Miller, without awaiting orders, had moved tc a hull-defilade position and had commenced firing. He destroyed ofte’.enemy .gun with six rounds at a range of 4,00.0 yard?, and. silenced a second gun with four more rounds. Meanwhile, our column had re-(See Westfield Man, Page Four)I
Newspaper Details
Le Mars Semi Weekly Sentinel
Le Mars, Iowa, US
Tue, Apr 17, 1945
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 17 Apr 2017
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