By: meyer levin i write this account of my war experiences after forty two years. I was thirty three at the time, already an old guy amongst twenty and twenty three year olds. This is my story of c company, 1 st platoon, 25 th tank battalion, 14 th armored division, when i served in staff sergeant leonard shelton 39 s tank as cannoneer or loader. I joined the company as a replacement after their heroic battle at rittershoffen and hotten in january 1945. Knox, i was trained to be a tank mechanic and was placed with the maintenance platoon. I was to replace the cannoneer that was wounded in the same tank that paul garrett was in. That very same night, with a flashlight in hand, garrett took me out to the tank to show me what my duties would be.

In ten minutes, i received instructions on how to fight in a tank for the first time. It 39 s forty two years later now that i 39 m trying to recall the events that took place at that moment. The infantry we supported was caught in an open field and pinned down by mortar fire. In the morning, i saw our dead, tied on stretchers and being brought back by choremen. We were still receiving mortar fire and i learned from other men to dive under our tank when hearing the familiar swoosh sound. I see large fountains of black earth erupting between tanks, up ahead and on each side of us.

There are sounds of explosions and i suddenly realize that the enemy artillery is shelling us. It was a cold winter day and when it was over, my body was so perspired that even my outer garments were soaked. He 39 s very angry and would like to kill me for sure, but my buddies come to my defense in no uncertain terms. March 18th, we found ourselves in the town of phaffenhoffen and we occupy the tallest building, a leather factory.

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How can i ever forget the look in the eyes of a gi whose jaw was blown away? we cross the lauter river and roll into schweigenhofen. They come out of the sky and i get the impression that there are hundreds of insane women, in wild disorder, flying at us. One of our tanks, refitted with 60 rocket tubes, was immediately christened buck rogers. Now they can listen to our screaming mimis! these rockets leave the tank in less than two minutes and the germans don 39 t know what hit them. We fired them into a town that was occupied by the enemy and immediately rode into the town to find the german soldiers in a daze.

Next morning, while climbing a ridge north of kapsmeyer, approaching the dragon 39 s teeth, our tank overturned due to a heavy artillery shell dropping near us. The 75mm shells slipped halfway out of the tubes and were on my chest, pinning me down. I hear garrett shouting, levin is still in there! get levin out! i reach the partly open hatch and hands grab my shoulders and yank me out. Our crew of five, t/5 john prince mdash driver, pfc irwin busby mdash bow gunner, s/sgt. Arthur paul garrett mdash gunner, and i pfc meyer levin mdash cannoneer, run for shelter to a dugout vacated by the infantry.

With five of theses weapons slung over my shoulders, i try to cross this open ground. With each oncoming shell, i hit the ground and after each eruption, i get up and run again. When i finally ask them what that was all about, they say, the way i ran, i looked like a ruptured duck. When we escaped the tank, the engine was still running and gallons of gasoline were spilling over the side. Can you picture each of us running the distance of a half block to the tank, with two gas cans, hitting the ground each time a shell came crashing into the streets? we were lucky.

That night our engineers blew a hole in the dragon teeth and although the germans laid down a concentration of fire, we managed to get through. We were afraid of them climbing onto the tank and throwing hand grenades through an open hatch. Whenever a round exploded in the street, there would be a flash where i could see our infantrymen through small prism windows. In spite of it, or because the mind can 39 t take anymore, i dozed off on the ice cold steel floor of the tank.

Just before we cross the rhine river at worms and move into hitler 39 s domain, we attack the town of schaidt. It is said that in north africa, they would crawl through the lines at night and feel for combat boots. Anyhow, they came in with tables, chairs, washing machines, and even refrigerators tied in the backs of their tanks. On the 19th of april, on the road to gloggelsbruk, a mark vi tiger tank firing 88 mm shells had the crossroad zeroed in. Our tank received a shot and i pictured the green giant hitting us with a massive sledgehammer. The rivets inside the tank tore loose and for a split second, zinged every which way.

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Shelton hit him on the head with his hand mike and yelled at him here 39 s your god dam head! this snapped garrett out of his panic and he was very angry at shelton and he said so. I jumped out and saw that our 75 mm gun barrel was sheared off including part of the gun shield. I yelled at them to move their turret a bit and their hatches were now free to open. Now we were in a wooded area because, when we were hit, john prince drove the tank off the highway into a deep ravine. In a few minutes he came running and shouting that the woods were full of krouts.

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From that day on, we referred to that event in the history of the 25th tank battalion, as 88 junction. Evidently, the germans crossed the road and were now in the forest firing away at us. Garrett laid a line of 30 caliber machine gun fire about thee feet off the ground. I fed belt after belt of ammo until the bark of the trees around us was shot away and just white wood showed. Suddenly, there was a tapping on our tank and when i looked out, there were seven of our black infantry men asking where at am them krouts? these were brave men and into the woods they went. We could see the black puffs of smoke in the sky and shell fragments were raining down on the tank. John prince drove along the gully knocking down trees as we climbed back onto the road.

Others dug into a hill and we faced a camouflaged concrete wall with gun turrets. We find out that what appears to be a country cottage is really a concrete bunker on which windows were painted. The 14thamored division is at least 10 miles long on the road and the medics are way back somewhere. When they sped up to the house, they find and capture women behind an anti tank gun.

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Towards the end, the german army was recruiting men in their 60 39 s, boys 15 and 16 years old and young women. We were ordered to proceed to dachau concentration camp, not too far from munich. I get out of the tank and follow a group that is moving towards a building nearby. My diet is tomato juice and i 39 m told to walk down the hallway to an office a few times a day for a spoonful of bismuth and paregoric. I notice that the other sickies are running with cans of water to the open windows. The g.i.s on our floor are dangling candy bars from strings just out of the reach of those below and while they jump to snatch the candy, other g.i.s are dousing them with these cans of water.