Description

717th Tank Battalion — On Record
• World War II •
80 pages scanned. Instant PDF download.

Document Overview

Assembled by the battalion’s own editorial board, this unit history follows the 717th Tank Battalion from its 1943 activation at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas, through testing duty at the Fort Knox Armored Board, and on to combat in early 1945 attached to the 79th Infantry Division — the “Cross of Lorraine” division — crossing the Rhine and fighting through the Ruhr Pocket before occupation duty and the trip home. This listing is a digital download of a scanned copy of the original book.

Campaigns: Rhineland, Central Europe

Commanders: Lt. Col. Raymond W. Odor (Battalion Commander, activation through combat), Lt. Col. Edward E. Cruise (Battalion Commander, post-war)

Unit newspaper: unknown

Table of Contents

Camp Chaffee, Arkansas
Fort Knox and the Armored Board
Camp Swift, Texas
Overseas to England
Attached to the 79th Infantry Division
The Rhine Crossing
The Ruhr Pocket
Occupation Duty
Going Home

“See those tankers. They’re the best damned tankers I ever saw.”
— A 79th Infantry platoon sergeant, in the Ruhr Pocket