Lone Sentry: Tankers in Tunisia: Preface [original introduction and contents]

HEADQUARTERS
ARMORED REPLACEMENT TRAINING CENTER

Fort Knox, Kentucky 31 July 1943

Subject : What American Tankers have learned in battle.
From : Armored soldiers at the front in Tunisia.
To : Men of the Armored Replacement Training Center.

Armored soldiers at the front in Tunisia are trying to help you by what they say in these pages. Many of them answered this question: "What have you learned that will help a younger brother just entering the Replacement Center at Fort Knox?" They told these stories to BRIGADIER GENERAL T. J. CAMP, my assistant, at the front in Tunisia the first half of April, when the going was hard.

LIEUTENANT GENERAL DEVERS, at that time Chief of the Armored Force, included in his order to GENERAL CAMP, "Get first-hand information. Get the story at the front. Go to the enlisted man. See what he knows." I ordered him, "Find out if our replacements are in condition and are trained right for battle. Check them all the way from General Headquarters to the units and from the gang plank to the battlefield." Army Ground Forces also gave him a broad mission and GENERAL EISENHOWER appointed him his personal representative. GENERAL CAMP visited all American Armored Units in North Africa which had been in action up to that time.

The talks were informal, occasionally the enemy interrupted. No one had a chance to see the record of his talk, usually he didn't know the conversation was being written down in longhand.

The men who talk to you in this book won the hard way; heart and soul they hope you will learn from them how to win easier than they did. You had better learn now to kill or be killed or else you'll learn the hard way in battle.

C. L. SCOTT Major General, U.S. Army, Commanding

American Tankers on a captured German Mark III Tank

Only the Army has gasoline in North Africa

TABLE OF CONTENTS

		Page
1.	FOREWORD by Major General C. L. Scott	I
2.	MAP OF TUNISIA showing all places mentioned	VI
3.	INTRODUCTION by Brigadier General T. J. Camp	1
4.	Sergeant R. DuHamel, Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 60th Infantry, Djebel bou Douaou, 3 April 1943	13
5.	Colonel Stack, Commanding the 6th Armored Infantry, 14 April 1943	14
6.	Sergeant William Keith, Company "G", 6th Armored Infantry, Maknassy, 5 April 1943	14
7.	Sergeant William T. Etritge, Company "I", 6th Armored Infantry, Maknassy, 5 April 1943	14
8.	Sergeant Leland A. Sutherland, Company "G", 6th Armored Infantry, Maknassy, 5 April 1943	16
9.	Staff Sergeant Seaborn Duckett, 6th Armored Infantry, Maknassy, 5 April 1943	17
10.	Private Jack Moore, Company "L", 60th Infantry, Maknassy, 5 April 1943	17
11.	Captain Gail H. Brown, 60th Infantry, Maknassy, 5 April 1943	18
12.	Lieutenant Colonel L. V. Hightower, Executive Officer, 1st Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Division, 1 March 1943	19
13.	Lieutenant H. F. Hillenmeyer, Company "H", 1st Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Division, 1 March 1943	24
14.	Sergeant Baskem Bennett, Company "H", 1st Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Division, 1 March 1943	25
15.	Sergeant James H. Bowser, Company "H", 1st Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Division, 1 March 1943	27
16.	Sergeant Swatzlander, Company "I", 1st Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Division, Maknassy, 4 April 1943	28
17.	Sergeant Becker, Company "G", 1st Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Division, Maknassy, 4 April 1943	28
18.	Sergeant Sipes, Company "G", 1st Armored Regiment	29
19.	Staff Sergeant Kermit Jackson, Company "D", 1st Armored Regiment, Krerouf, 11 April 1943	31
20.	Sergeant Decker, Company "D", 1st Armored Regiment, Krerouf, 11 April 1943	32
21.	Lieutenant Lasell, Company "D", 1st Armored Regiment, Krerouf, 11 April 1943	32
22.	Lieutenant McCracken, 2nd Battalion, 1st Armored Regiment, Krerouf, 11 April 1943	32
23.	Lieutenant Boresh, Commanding Officer, Company "E", 1st Armored Regiment, Krerouf, 11 April 1943	32
24.	Lieutenant Parker, 2nd Battalion, 1st Armored Regiment, Reconnaissance Officer, Krerouf, 11 April 1943	33
25.	Staff Sergeant William Hagler, Company "E", 1st Armored Regiment, Krerouf, 11 April 1943	33
26.	Private Habar, Headquarters Company, 1st Armored Regiment, Krerouf, 11 April 1943	34
27.	Captain A. R. Moore, Company "F", 1st Armored Regiment, Krerouf, 11 April 1943	35
28.	Lieutenant Harry T. Holtzman, Company "D", 1st Armored Regiment, Krerouf, 11 April 1943	35
29.	Sergeant Lasley, Company "G", 1st Armored Regiment, Maknassy, 4 April 1943	37
30.	Sergeant Neal, Company "I", 3rd Battalion, 1st Armored Regiment, Maknassy, 4 April 1943	39
31.	Sergeant Butler, Company "I", 1st Armored Regiment, Maknassy, 4 April 1943	40
32.	Lieutenant Colonel Ringsok, 6th Armored Infantry, 14 April 1943	40
33.	Sergeant Frank Sabin, Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 6th Armored Infantry, 14 April 1943	41
34.	Sergeant George Cleland, Company "D", 6th Armored Infantry, near Sidi bou Zid, 14 April 1943	42
35.	Sergeant John D. Mahoney, Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 6th Armored Infantry, 14 April 1943	43
36.	Lieutenant Kenneth D. Warren, Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 6th Armored Infantry	43
37.	Sergeant Pudimat, Company "E", 6th Armored Infantry, Sidi bou Zid, 14 April 1943	44
38.	Captain Lawrence Pugh, Company "D", 6th Armored Infantry, near Sidi bou Zid, 14 April 1943	44
39.	Staff Sergeant Fred W. Erdwins, Headquarters Detachment, 2nd Battalion, 6th Armored Infantry	47
40.	Private Blair H. Conard, 6th Armored Infantry	47
41.	Sergeant Norman Annenberg, Battalion Headquarters, 3rd Battalion, 6th Armored Infantry, Maknassy, 5. April 1943	47
42.	Lieutenant William S. Norman, Company "H", 3rd Battalion, 13th Armored Regiment, near Sidi bou Zid, 14 April 1943	48
43.	Staff Sergeant Wilbur R. White, Company "H", 13th Armored Regiment	49
44.	Staff Sergeant Lewis Shelton, Company "I", 13th Armored Regiment	50
45.	Lieutenant George Dempsey, Company "I", 13th Armored Regiment, near Sidi bou Zid, 19 April 1943	50
46.	Lieutenant Colonel Louis A. Hammack, 751st Tank Battalion (M), Fondouk, 13 April 1943	50
47.	Lieutenant Thomas B. Rutledge, 751st Tank Battalion (M), Fondouk, 12 April 1943	52
48.	Private James Pasek, Company "A", 751st Tank Battalion (M), near Fondouk, 12 April 1943	54
49.	Corporal Stephen J. Siracusa, Company "B", 751st Tank Battalion (M), near Fondouk, 12 April 1943	54
50.	Private Raymond Christy, Company "C", 751st Tank Battalion (M), near Fondouk, 12 April 1943	55
51.	Lieutenant Colonel McPheeters, Commanding 91st Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 1st Armored Division, near Lessouda, 17 April 1943	55
52.	A British General Officer of the widest tank experience, Tunisia, 16 April 1943	56
53.	Captain Henry C. Tipton, Parachute Infantry, Aide to Brigadier General T. J. Camp, Krerouf, 10 April 1943. Log of Advance by Combat Command "A" of the 1st Armored Division	57
54.	Index	61

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

	Name	Page
1.	American Tankers on a captured German Mark III Tank*	II
2.	Only the Army has gasoline in North Africa	II
3.	Map of Tunisia showing all places mentioned	VI
4.	Captured German Mark II Tank now used in training at a North African Replacement Center*	12
5.	Outpost on Djebel bou Douaou — 3 April 1943	12
6.	Side view of the German 88-mm Gun*	20
7.	View of a German Mark VI Tank with its 88-mm gun turned to the rear*	23
8.	Front View of a German Mark II Tank and an American M5 Tank*	26
9.	Front View of a German Mark III Tank and an American M4 Tank*	29
10.	M10 TD emplacement looking toward Faid Pass. This TD crew had worked day and night to dig two such emplacements in the stony soil	34
11.	What a German Mark III Tank looks like against the background of North African terrain*	38
12.	This hospital was less than 30 minutes from the front	46
13.	The camouflaged German antitank gun put out of action by Lieutenant Rutledge	52
14.	Contact near Fondouk, 10 April 1943, between a peep of the 34th Infantry Division and a scout car of Combat Command "A" of the 1st Armored Division	58
15.	General Camp, some of the Africa Corps prisoners and General McQuillan — Krerouf, 11 April 1943	60

*These pictures were taken by a North African Replacement Center.  

SOLDIERS WHO HAVE                
                READ THIS BOOK SAY —

"IT IS ABOUT TIME THEY PUT SOMETHING LIKE THIS IN CLEAR TEXT THAT ALL MEN CAN UNDERSTAND. THIS IS BY FAR THE MOST INTERESTING BOOKLET I HAVE READ IN THE ARMY. IT IS NOT ONLY GOOD READING BUT ANSWERS MANY QUESTIONS THAT BOTH OFFICERS AND ENLISTED MEN WANT TO KNOW."

"THIS IS THE MOST INFORMATIVE, AS WELL AS ENTERTAINING, AUTHENTIC REPORT I HAVE EVER READ CONCERNING THE BATTLE OF AFRICA."

"IT ILLUSTRATES AND POINTS OUT THE VERY IMPORTANT FACTORS NECESSARY TO SURVIVAL IN BATTLE WHICH OUR TROOPS LEARNED THROUGH EXPERIENCE IN TUNISIA. THE BENEFITS OF THIS EXPERIENCE CAN BE GIVEN EVERY TRAINEE BY AN INTELLIGENT READING OF THIS BOOK."

"IT IS ALL THE MORE INTERESTING AND IMPRESSIVE BECAUSE THE COMMENTS ARE MADE IN THE ACTUAL LANGUAGE OF THE MEN."

"THE INTERVIEWS BRING OUT TRUE FACTS OF ACTUAL COMBAT, WHICH IS SOMETHING THAT WE, WHO HAVEN'T AS YET BEEN IN COMBAT, LIKE TO LEARN."

"MANY PROBLEMS IN MY MIND ABOUT ACTUAL WAR CONDITIONS WERE ANSWERED."

"THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING ARTICLES ON TANKS IN WAR THAT I HAVE EVER READ. IF IT IS AT ALL POSSIBLE, EVERY OFFICER AND ENLISTED MAN SHOULD READ IT."

A YOUNG WOUNDED OFFICER OF THE NORTH AFRICAN CAMPAIGN NOW AT FORT KNOX SAID: "THIS BOOKLET IS EXTREMELY VALUABLE, NOT ONLY TO THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SEEN ACTION BUT AS WELL TO THOSE WHO HAVE SEEN ACTION."