818th Tank Destroyer Battalion The 818th Tank Destroyer Battalion was a tank destroyer battalion of the United States Army active during the Second World War . It first saw combat in July 1944 , when it deployed into the Normandy beachhead in preparation for the breakout into France by Third Army . Working closely with the 5th Infantry Division , it moved through northern France up to the Moselle region , where it was involved in the Battle for Metz through September , October and November . In December , it disengaged from defensive positions along the German border and was moved north to fight in the Battle of the Bulge with the 26th Infantry Division . After securing the Allied flanks and mopping up the Bulge , it refitted for two months before fighting south along the Siegfried Line and crossing the Rhine in March . In April and early May , it rushed through southern Germany into Austria and Czechoslovakia , where it ended the war . After a brief spell of occupation duties , it was returned to the United States and disbanded in November . During the European campaign , the battalion lost a total twenty - six men and eight tank destroyers in combat . Formation . The battalion was activated on 15 December 1941 , in line with the reorganization of the anti - tank force , at Fort Sill , Oklahoma . It was formed from the 18th Provisional Anti - Tank Battalion , which had been drawn from the 77th , 142d and 349th Field Artillery Regiments , and the 71st , 72d and 83d Field Artillery Battalions . It moved to Camp Bowie , Texas , early in the following year , and in June moved to the Tank Destroyer Center at Camp Hood . Whilst training there , it detached a cadre to form the 820th Tank Destroyer Battalion . After a series of training posts in Louisiana , Virginia and New Jersey , the battalion was shipped out of New York aboard the USS " Fairisle " in October 1943 , to be stationed in Northern Ireland . In May 1944 , as part of the buildup to the Normandy landings , they were moved to a transit camp in Wiltshire , south - west England . The unit was organized as a self - propelled battalion , equipped with M10 GMC tank destroyers . France . The 818th landed in Normandy on the evening of 14 July , coming ashore at Utah Beach , and were attached to the 5th Infantry Division , which had arrived in Normandy a few days earlier . The first companies moved into line on 16 July , relieving the crews of the 635th Tank Destroyer Battalion , and fired their first shots in the early morning of 18 July . The battalion had its first fatality the next day , when an NCO was accidentally shot by a guard . Limited supporting fire missions continued through the month , with one company deployed in close support of an infantry attack on 26 July . This was the opening of Operation Cobra , the breakout from Normandy ; whilst the 5th Division was deployed on the far left of the US lines and was not directly involved in the offensive , it began to move forward quickly as the German lines retreated . On 1 August , the division was withdrawn from First Army , which was turning to flank the German forces , and assigned to Third Army , which was assigned to the wide sweep through France . Moving forward with the offensive , the battalion supported the capture of Angers on 11 August , and on 13 August liberated a camp of over a hundred American airmen who had been shot down over France and evaded or escaped captivity . They supported the capture of Chartres , to the south of Paris , on 15 August , and continued to push east , reaching the River Seine on 27 August . The battalion then crossed the River Marne and arrived at Reims on 30 August , resting for a short while before resuming the advance . In early September , the 5th Division probed through Verdun towards Metz ; Company C of the 818th supported an unsuccessful attempt to bridge the Moselle at Dornot , but was held in reserve and did not see significant action before the bridgehead was withdrawn . A second attack , at Arnaville south of the city on 10 September , was supported by B Company ; the M10s were held back on the western bank of the river , placed on a bluff with good views over the bridgehead to the east . From here , they could support the infantry directly . Two platoons were brought over the river on a temporary bridge the next day , the first armored support available to the attack . After the bridgehead was safely established , the 5th Division moved against Metz in the first phases of the Battle of Metz . After supporting an attack on the outer fortifications was beaten back on 27 September – the 818th discovering to its cost that its guns were ineffective against large - scale fortifications – they remained in defensive positions here until early November , with a brief break in late October to re - equip and rest . The 5th Division and elements of the 818th began the final attack on Metz on 10 November , clearing the city by the end of the month and moving east across the German border . Ardennes and Germany . The 818th supported the 5th Division in fighting around Saarlautern until 19 December , when it was ordered to disengage and move into reserve in response to the German attack in the Ardennes . It was assigned to join the 26th Infantry Division on 21 December ; this division had been held in reserve near Metz to refit , and was now being sent north to hold the southern flank of the German offensive as part of III Corps . For the next ten days , the battalion pressed north , with the companies split up among the divisional infantry regiments , until they came to a standstill in Luxembourg at the end of the month . They remained in the line until 27 January , when the division was relieved and returned to the Saarlautern bridgehead . This proved to be a quiet sector ; whilst remaining in defensive positions , the crews were able to rest and repair their equipment , There were no significant attacks through February , with most activity coming from indirect fire missions and from firing at pillboxes on the far side of the Saar . In February , new M36 GMC tank destroyers arrived , and the battalion re - equipped with the new vehicles . The M36 was a development of the M10 ; it used the same hull and engine , but mounted a larger turret housing a substantially more powerful 90mm gun ; in some situations , it was capable of destroying an enemy tank at more than two and a half miles ( around 4 km ) . In early March , the division moved to Saarburg , and began its attack along the Siegfried Line on 13 March . As had become routine by this point , the companies of the 818th operated separately , in close contact with the division ' s infantry regiments ; they broke through the line on 18 March , and pressed eastwards towards the Rhine . During the later stages of the advance , the battalion headquarters formed an ad - hoc group ( Task Force Hail ) to screen the southern flank of the division , commanding the battalion reconnaissance company and an infantry company from the division . They reached the Rhine on 25 March , and crossed the same night ; the advance continued unbroken for several days . Moving ahead by leaps and bounds , the battalion had approached the Czech border by 16 April , turning south towards Austria and the Alps . In the last days of the war , the forward elements entered Linz and moved north into Czechoslovakia itself . Demobilization and later service . Following VE - Day on 7 May , the battalion was tasked with guarding German prisoners , slowly transitioning to more general occupation duties before being withdrawn to Germany in late July to prepare for demobilization . The battalion was eventually shipped to New York three months later , where it was finally inactivated on 30 October . During its 297 days on active service , it had lost twenty - three men killed on active service , along with eight tank destroyers ( four M10s and four M36s ) . In return , it had destroyed twenty - three German tanks ( one a Tiger heavy tank ) and ten self - propelled guns , along with a large number of light vehicles and fixed positions , this was around average for a tank destroyer battalion , with perhaps lighter than usual casualties . During the war , men of the battalion were awarded nine Silver Star s and seventy - two Bronze Star s , whilst two more men were awarded the French Croix de Guerre . The battalion as a whole was mentioned in the Belgian Army orders of the day for its service in the Ardennes , whilst the Distinguished Unit Citation was awarded to the 1st Platoon , Company A , for its service . The battalion was redesignated the 323d Mechanized Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron in early 1947 , and activated as part of the Organized Reserves ; it was later reorganized as the 1st Battalion , 300th Armored Cavalry Regiment , and stood down from reserve status in 1950 . It was later redesignated the 818th Tank Battalion , and assigned on paper to an inactive armored division in the Regular Army .