The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1943-02-04
Libby Man In
Toughest Of
All Units


est fighting outfit in any mans
army. Their proud boast is that they
begin where Commands and Rang
ers leave off. Andy Sauer, former
Libby man, is member of the
Black Painters, as they are called I
For that reason, the following ar F
ticle, written by James Cullinanet
NEA staff correspondent, will in /
terest many local people:
WASHINGTON. = Rivalry be-
tween two groups of American
fighters who for sheer. brutal tough
ness bow to no man or machine
and never to each other-is nearing
a showdown in North Africa.
Somewhere around Bizerte and
Tunis, probably. the tankers and
the tank-busters-although support
ing each other against the enemy
are competing to prove which are
the more fearsome fighters.
The Tank Destroyer Corps IS one
of the newest but proudest branch
es of the United States Army It's
attitude toward the heavily arm
ored crawlers is openly displayed
by its shoulder Insignia black
panther crushing a tank in its Jaws,
along with the words Seek
Strike Destroy.
"A SIur, Sir.'
Before he left the United States
to lead the arnored forces in Africa
flinty, Maj. Gen. George S. Patton
tolerantly remarked that the Tank
Destroyer Corps would have to start
fighting in tanks if it wanted to
learn to destroy them.
This burned up the Tank Destroy
er men, who have developed abou.
the same feeling toward tanks that
they have regarding medieval
shields and lances Tanks were all
right in their day, they say, but
they have no place IN modern
war-unlcss. of course. they ride
along behind friendly tank destroy
ers
The tank hunters are SO tough
that they claim to start their train
ing where the Commands and
Rangers leave off. Not only do the
busters shoot from the hip. but they
hurl their socks through the sides
of tanks.
Really Under Fire
The Black Panther troops also
train under the fire of live am
munition AT Camp Hood, Texas,
machine guns fire two feet above
the ground as the destroyer men
roll out Of slit trenches and crawl
through barbed wire entanglements
across an open field
A 25-mile hike is regarded merely
as d constitutional by the destroyer
men-they clip off nine miles in
two hours They're the only U. s.
troops who are taught to shoot from
the hip in good old Western style
They have target practice in a pitch
black tunnel and they aim at sounds
"a rattle of bayonet scabbard Oh
a whisper
In the dark, with tommy gun
and AS caliber revolvers, the de
stroyers hit their unseen targets 81
per cent of the time. In the day
light, firing at targets which appear
unexpectedly at windows and il
doorWays, they are 30 per cent ac-
curate. In addition, they learn L
fire machine guns, anti-aircraf
guns, 75-mm cannon and l05-mm
hoWitzers.
The howitzors arc mounted on tn
MS tank destroyer, one Of tn
Army's newest weapons. The Ms
i built on the chassis of tank
sacrifices armor for speed and me
bility Its job is to Turk in ambus
for tanks, hurl shells and race ava
before the enemy can close for bal
tie
) Once enemy tanks have been spot
ted, the buster gives them no res
Each battalion has company {
stalkers who work at night. Whe
the enemy bivouacs, the huntei
creep in armed with tWo-edge
knives TO silence sentries.
The hunters fill their socks wi
dynamite, dip them in bucket
tar or some other sticky substanc
insert a 36zsecUnd fuse and hu
them against the sides of tank
A sock sticks to the tank until
explodes and blasts a hole in Il
armor Into this opening, the d
stroyers dash a Molotoff cocktail,
a bottle of blazing gasoline. TIL
bnua pfhar ca1linu cards fo0 n