2nd Armoured Tank Crewman

The 2nd Armored Division landed at Omaha Beach in Normandy on 9 June 1944, three days after the initial Normandy landings , and operated in the Cotentin Peninsula , later forming the right flank of the Operation Cobra assault. The division encircled the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich and the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division Götz von Berlichingen around Roncey , ^[9] and destroyed most of their armored equipment. ^[9] At La Chapelle, a 2nd SS Panzer column was attacked at point blank range by 2nd Armored Division artillery. Over the course of two hours American artillery fired over 700 rounds into the column. The Germans suffered the loss of 50 dead, 60 wounded and 197 taken prisoner; material losses included over 260 German combat vehicles destroyed. ^[10] Beyond the town, the 2nd Armored engaged another column, killing 1,150 German soldiers and destroying an additional 96 armored combat vehicles and trucks. ^[10] The U.S. 2nd Armored Division destroyed 64 German tanks and 538 other German combat vehicles during Operation Cobra, ^[11] while itself losing 49 tanks. ^[11] The 2nd Armored Division inflicted over 7,370 casualties on the Germans, while suffering 914 casualties of their own. This is approximately an eightfold disparity. ^[11] The 2nd Armored blunted Operation Lüttich , the German counterattack on Avranches , then raced across France with the rest of the Third Army , reaching the Albert Canal in Belgium on 8 September. On 18 September it crossed the German border near Sittard and took up defensive positions near Geilenkirchen . On 3 October, the Division, now commanded again by Major General Harmon, launched an attack on the Siegfried Line from Marienberg , broke through, crossed the Wurm River , seized the town of Puffendorf on 16 November, and Barmen on 28 November.