Men of Armor

The History of B Company, 756th Tank Battalion in World War II, Part Two: Cassino and Rome

Jeff Danby

• Publisher: Casemate
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9781636240169
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: African History
• Index: History

Winner, 2022 Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Awards, Unit History
This second volume follows on from the first in recounting the WWII history of B Company, 756th Tank Battalion in vivid detail. The outfit, since upgraded from M5 light tanks to M4 'Sherman' mediums, claws through some of the toughest battles of WWII—from a horrific stalemate at Cassino in February 1944, through the bloody Operation Diadem May breakout, to the stunning capture of Rome on 4 June 1944. This unique multi-volume history covers the full spectrum of experiences of the men in one tank company from inception in June 1941 through the occupation of Germany in 1945. An American tank company in WWII consisted of only five officers and approximately 100 enlisted men—all living, traveling and fighting in seventeen tanks, two jeeps, one truck, one half-track and one tank retriever. Uniting the official record with the rich, personal accounts of the participants, the reader is swept along a highly detailed and shocking journey chronicling the evolution of American armor doctrine and tank design from June 1941 through VE Day. The B Company tankers often fought at a disadvantage—struggling to survive a myriad of battlefield challenges and triumph against enemy armor better armed and better protected. What was once envisioned as a warfare of sweeping armored formations managed by West Point lieutenant colonels and ROTC captains quickly devolved into small unit street fights relying more and more on the initiative, resourcefulness and cunning of lowly OCS lieutenants and combat-seasoned sergeants. The journey is long, unforgiving and brutal, and 47 tankers would be lost along the way.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• List of Maps
• Chapter 1 - Cassino, First Attack: 2 February 1944
• Chapter 2 - Cassino, Second Attack: 3 February 1944 to 5 February 1944
• Chapter 3 - The Big Push: 6 February 1944 to 8 February 1944
• Chapter 4 - The Jail: 9 February 1944 to 12 February 1944
• Chapter 5 - Exhaustion: 12 February 1944 to 14 February 1944
• Chapter 6 - A Monumental Tragedy: 15 February 1944
• Chapter 7 - Relief: 16 February 1944 to 22 February 1944
• Chapter 8 - Retrospection: 22 February 1944 to 23 February 1944
• Chapter 9 - Regroup: 24 February 1944 to 5 April 1944
• Chapter 10 - Custermen: 6 April 1944 to 11 May 1944
• Chapter 11 - Cracking the Gustav Line: 11 May 1944 to 13 May 1944
• Chapter 12 - Castellonorato: 14 May 1944 to 15 May 1944
• Chapter 13 - Bursting Through: 16 May 1944 to 21 May 1944
• Chapter 14 - Living the War with the French: 21 May 1944 to 31 May 1944
• Chapter 15 - Race to Rome: 1 June 1944 to 3 June 1944
• Chapter 16 - Liberators: 4 June 1944 to 5 June 1944
• Chapter 17 - Chase North: 6 June 1944 to 10 June 1944
• Chapter 18 - Summer Respite: 11 June 1944 to 24 June 1944
• Appendix 1 - Glossary, Phonetic Alphabet, and Military Clock
• Appendix 2 - 756th Tank Battalion Casualties Day-By-Day at Cassino 1944
• Appendix 3 - 34th Infantry Division Effective Strength Table, 9 February 1944
• Appendix 4 - Allied Forces Chain of Command, Cassino, Italy, January 1944
• Appendix 5 - Order of Battle, II New Zealand Corps, February 1944
• Appendix 6 - 10 February 1944 S-3 Operations Overlay, 168th Infantry Regiment
• Appendix 7 - 13 February 1944 Disposition of Battalions Overlay, HQ 133rd Infantry Regiment
• Appendix 8 - 756th Unit Journal Map of North Cassino
• Appendix 9 - Cassino 756th Tank Losses Listing
• Appendix 10 - B Company, 756th Tank Battalion, Roster for 11 May 1944
• Appendix 11 - Lt Col Rogers’s Castellonorato Map, 15–19 May 1944
• Appendix 12 - Lt Col Rogers’s Rome Map, 3–4 June 1944
• Special Acknowledgments
• Bibliography
• Endnotes
• Index