US OOB 12 corrections/suggestions (v.6)

[DRG]

As noted I added a formation that allows a single Pershing to be bought as that really should be how they are bought........one at a time, even the platoon is going too far. That said I have.......for now..... "decided" to put that Hvy tank Coy into the Misc section for " what if". ( subject to changing my mind about it )

[MarkSheppard]

Originally Posted by DRG

As noted I added a formation that allows a single Pershing to be bought as that really should be how they are bought........one at a time, even the platoon is going too far. That said I have.......for now..... "decided" to put that Hvy tank Coy into the Misc section for " what if". ( subject to changing my mind about it )

I did some research.

From Zaloga's "Pershing vs Tiger: Germany 1945", Hunnicutt's "Pershing" and Hanger's "The M26 Pershing: America’s Forgotten Tank - Developmental and Combat History":

During the active portion of combat, at least three batches of Pershings arrived in the ETO during active combat:

The first batch (20 tanks) arrived February/March 1945.

Distribution was:

3rd Armored -- Deployed them starting 25 February 1945 for Operation LUMBERJACK; 10 tanks total to 3AD, with 32nd and 33d Armored Regiments getting 5 tanks each. The tanks were distributed as follows:

32nd Armored Regiment -- D, E, G, H and I Companies: 1 Pershing Each
33nd Armored Regiment -- D, E, F, H, and I Companies: 1 Pershing Each

9th Armored -- The 9th got 10 tanks and they were divided amongst the 14th and 19th Tank Battalions at 5 tanks each, with the following distribution:

14th Tk Bn -- Heavy Tank Platoon attached to A Company
19th Tk Bn -- One tank in A Company, two in B Company and two in C Company.

NOTE: In early April, the 14th Tank Battalion's Pershings were traded to the 19th Tank Battalion for Shermans.

The second batch of Pershings (40 tanks) arrived in late March 1945, and 2d Armored Division got 22 while 5th Armored Division got 18.

The third batch (30 tanks) arrived April 1945 and went to the 11th Armored Division.

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EDIT- According to “After-Action Report, Third United States Army, 1 August 1944 - 9 May 1945,” Record Group 156, Entry 894, Box J367, National Archives, p. 27. --90 x M26s were allocated to Third Army, and 40 were allocated to the 11th Armored Division, with the remaining 50 held in Third Army's Main Combat Vehicle Pool.

--

On 6 May 1945, the ETO had 108 Pershings in units, and 202 more in the theater being pushed forward through the system.

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Past this -- information is hard to come by for the later periods -- April onwards -- because everyone goes to the "Easy to find" history stuff in NARA II RG156 Entry 646A -- stuff that was carefully collected by Ordnance Corps for post-war histories with emphasis on the Zebra Mission, with the heaviest emphasis on Jan/Feb/March 1945.

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EDIT: RG156 Entry 646A Box 776, "Analysis of Conclusions and Recommendations contained in General Barnes’ report of Mission to European Theater of Operations" dated 10 April 1945 says:

"The M4 tank production program has been cut back in order to accelerate the M26 program. Four hundred M26 tanks will be enroute to European Theater of Operations by the end of April."

[MarkSheppard]

Fold3.COM has a June 1945 USFET Report on redeployment that gives us an inventory of the US ETO stockpile circa Mid-Summer 1945:

https://www.fold3.com/image/287322875/287322894
https://www.fold3.com/image/287322875/287322897

7,636 x M4 Shermans (75/76) in ETO; with 1,172 obligated for occupation forces, and 469 scheduled for redeployment, and 686 already shipped out.

1,468 x M4 Shermans (105) in ETO; with 164 obligated for occupation forces, and 86 scheduled for redeployment and 28 already shipped out.

295 x M26 Pershings in ETO; with zero (0) being scheduled for redeployment.

So it looks to me as soon as "Big Army" knew that Germany was done and dusted; they immediately put a screeching halt to any further shipments of Pershings to ETO and pushed everything towards the Pacific Ports.

I kept digging further and found something related to the 781st Tank Battalion on Fold3 dated 12 Feb 1946 that was the Unit History from 1 Jan 1946 to 19 Feb 1946:

https://www.fold3.com/image/313748320

Apparently on 31 December 1945; 2nd Army made the TO&E of the 781st Tk Bn in CONUS to be:

Company A: Medium Tank Company
Company B: Heavy Tank Company
Company C: Deactivated -- Was a Medium Tank Co; men transferred to other companies, bringing them up to strength.
Company D: Light Tank Company

This didn't last long as on 4 Feb 1946, the Battalion was ordered inactivated, and was accordingly deactivated on 19 February 1946.

PS: I went further into the rabbithole on the 781st and found this:

https://www.fold3.com/image/313748459

Higher headquarters making every attempt to get armor to the infantry across the Neckar River equipped Company "A" [of the 781st] on the 6th of April [1945] with ten(10) DD (floating tanks) and company personnel received intensive training in the use of these tanks for one day prior to use.

"You've got one day of training on these DD tanks! Now do a forced river crossing with them the next day!"