September-October - Air Defense Artillery

FROid THE FIGHTING FRONTS
crion, a towed 3-inch AT gun had been emplaced to
er the junction, and in the triangle where the roads
t there was another 3-inch AT gun. At the crossroads
')C Infantry had made a large square house on the south
e of the main road its strong point. Two ]\11-51'sof Bate
were scheduled to be emplaced, but had not yet
\ed. Some engineers had occupied dug-in positions
r the road junction, but during the n!ght they were
nt to another area.
I In this situation, Gunner Cpl. Humphry organized his
e\\'and prepared to fire Gun No.2 at 0700 against a tank
entified as German by its characteristic boxey, clanking
und, which had left the crossroads and was idling across
he fifty-yard stretch toward him. The tank opened fire
rst,using both its machine gun and artillery pieces. The
en in the gun pit were unable to determine the tank's
rget,and not until daylight did they find it-by the holes
their M-4 tractor.
Lt. McGuire, listening to the sound of the tank's firing,
ncluded that it was probably a Mark IV or other light
nk, for the gun sounded as though it were a 75mm.
hen thiS.tank changed its direction to come directly toward
e 3-inch gun between Gun No.2 and the road junction.
The 3-incher engaged the tank, which returned fire with
(11 its weapons, driving the crew from their piece.
Only when this heavy action took place did Lt. Mc-
IGuireand the AA gun crew realize that the enemy was not
light Mark IV, but a Mark VI Tiger, which apparently
'as undamaged by opposing fire, and came to within fif-.
!eenfeet of the AT gun to destroy it by point-blank action.
In re-emphasizing the unfavorable conditions for AT
action, it must be pointed out that although this vigo~ous
firetook place within thirty yards of Gun No.2, because of
thefog and darkness, exact information had to be relayed
o the gun pit from outpost men much closer to the scene.
For some reason still unkn'own, whether it was in search
( oftime out, breakfast, or just waiting instructions, the Ger-
ImanMark VI Tiger, after its destruction of _the AT guns,
Imovedoff farther into the fog, and remained stationary for
twenty-five to thirty minutes. During this interval, Gun
~Commander Sgt. Sarnowski and his crew strained their
Ieyesto make out the outlines of the target. Knowing their
enemy was a Tiger, they wanted to be reasonably sure of a
killing shot before revealing their position to his murderous
return fire. However, before visibility improved, the tank
Imoved on, and they had missed their chance.
Shortly after the Mark VI had pulled away, an Infantry
officercame down to the gun pit, and began talking to Sgt.
Sarnowski about a volunteer to knock out a tank. All that
Pfc.Roland Seamon heard of the conversation was the word
"\,olunteer." "But" as Seamon said, "it sounded like some
action, so I said I'd volunteer to go with him."
It developed that the lieutenant wanted two men as voIunteers,
and Pvt. Albert Darago put in his bid to go with
.Seamo~. The officer explained to the two that there was a
German tank sitting at the road junction just a few yards
from the square house which he had made a strong point.
He wanted this tank knocked out with bazookas, and al.
though neither of his volunteers had ever even held such a
weapon before, they said they were willing to try. They
moved under small-arms fire coming their way, and through
the fog, safely to the corner stronghold. So far, so good.
Inside the strong point house Seamon and Darago
found they were in the company of at least ten infantrymen.
Although this discovery was a surprise to the AA
men, due to the nature of their mission, the simplest conclusion
to reach was that their general antitank assignment
peculiarly fitted them, in the mind of the Infantry lieutenant,
for this particular knockout job, and he proceeded
to e:\:plain to them that against a tank such as the Tiger
Royal, it would do no good to strike with a bazooka anywhere
but in the rear through the engine compartment.
Handing the two tubes ready for action to Seamon and
Darago, he told them tersely to "Go get the bastard."
\Vith this short orientation, Seamon and Darago left the
house to meet with a line of machine-gun fire that zipped
and \,'histled on all sides.
The diagram below helps to explain their position.
Ammo H-T
In shed
nO
o
G~Z
1JH'~
/ .0"
AT Gun ~ I
;r " -
/" r---- c
Route 01 lC
Seamon (Darogo/
They left the house (1\), turned left, and crawling,
circled under the thin fence (B) and up to the hedgerow.
They saw what Darago called, "One helluva sight!"
Confronting them was no single German tank, but four
-and all big ones-two Tiger Royals and two Mark V's.
The one farthest on the left (No.1) faced north up the
main road. The two tanks immediately to their front, Nos.
2 and 3, Mark V's, faced east directly away from them. The
one on their right, No.4 tank, faced north~est, its 12-foot
gun pointing straight toward them. Tanks Nos. 2 and 3
presented their broad rear ends to Seamon and Darago
about 15 to 20 feet away, with the others lying 15 to 20
yards distant.
Faced with this bulk of armament, Seamon and Darago
held a conference. vVhat to do? Go ahead and fire, and
draw the return fire of ta~k No.4, which they could never
knock out with a frontal shot, or go back and get some help?
They were afraid their targets would move away while
they crawled around gathering support, so they agreed to
fire at onee and take the consequences .
Darago said he'd take tank No.2; Seamon took No.3,
so poking the bazooka snouts through the hedgerow, they
aimed for the center of the engine compartments, and fired.
"Biggest goddam noise I ever heard," Seamon said. "Fire
burst out in the rear of both tanks."
A moment later, tank No. 4 opened fire with its machine
gun aimed at the smoke of the rocket propellant, but
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