#3rd armored division

[carbone14]

Un chasseur de chars Jagdpanzer IV/70 détruit par la 3e Division blindée américaine ‘Spearhead’ – Bataille des Ardennes – Décembre 1944

Ca ne marche pas, je l’ai eu. Dommage – Spearhead

[stone-cold-groove]

Peace is America’s most important business! U.S. Army recruitment ad - 1947.

[macks-mechas]

My next finished tank is a kit from the company Italeri.

I built their M4A1 76(W) Sherman tank. The kit came as part of an infantry set, destined to replicate the battle for Cologne. So I decided to find some images of the 3rd Armored Division and replicate one of their tanks.

As such it has the requisite stowage, extra logs and sand bags found on one of their M4A1 tanks seen in a photograph with two destroyed M4A3 75 tanks. It had bullet ricochets along its assistant driver’s side and, like many other tanks, was subjected to heavy weapons fire and supposedly destroyed later before the Pershing tank was placed in front to lead the pack during operation Spearhead.

[walkingthroughthisworld]

[carbone14]

Un char léger Stuart M5A1 appartenant à la 3e Division blindée américaine (3rd Armored Division) à La Vauterie, hameau de Saint-Fromond – Bataille de Normandie - Manche - Normandie - France - Juin-juillet 1944

©National Archives and Records Administration - 191237-SA

©Colorisation par Royston Leonard

[carbone14]

Deux soldats de la 3e Division blindée américaine tués dans le secteur de Rânes et de Fromentel – Bataille de la poche de Falaise – Bataille de Normandie – Rânes – Fromentel – Orne – Normandie – France – 14-19 août 1944

©National Archives and Records Administration

[walkingthroughthisworld]

(via 3rd Armor Division "Spearhead" | Vehicles belonging to the 3… | Flickr)

From the Original Poster:

“Vehicles belonging to the 3rd Armor Division "Spearhead" in late fall 1944 during the Rhineland Campaign.

The tank in the foreground is a Stuart M5 variant belonging to the 33rd Armored Regiment.

The jeep on the right belongs to the 83rd Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, also attached to the 3rd Division. We are not sure about the "1 1/2" bumper marking on the front bumper driver side. This number is typically the vehicle identification number - perhaps the motorpool gents, used to playing with heavy stuff in the armored division, felt that the jeep only deserved 1/2 a number émoticône wink

There is an Ford-built M8 Scout Car (aka "Greyhound") and a half track behind the Stuart. Also note the Harley WLA in the background near another jeep.

The grim faces reflect the intense fighting these troops had seen since landing at Normandy on July 4, 1944. The 3rd Armor Division fought all the way to Dessau in Germany, which they took on April 23, 1945. Interestingly, Dessau was famous for the Bauhaus College of Architecture and the design movement it inspired.

Photo Credit: National Archives

Date: Fall, 1944

Location: ETO”

[walkingthroughthisworld]

(via 'Hero of Cologne' receives bronze star during surprise ceremony | Article | The United States Army)

“Clarence Smoyer, 96-year-old former 3rd Armored Division tank gunner, never bragged about the five tanks he destroyed in the war, including an infamous Nazi tank he leveled during a dramatic duel in war-torn Cologne, Germany.

“He didn't ask for anything, either. To Smoyer, he was just doing his job to protect the men he considers family.”