Hellcat News, (Godfrey, Ill.), Vol., No., Ed. 1, September 1989 Page: 33 of 38
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Abilene Library Consortium and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the The 12th Armored Division Memorial Museum.
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PLEASE CLIP AND MAIL
Enclose Annual Dues-12th Arm'd Oiv. Assoc. $ 10.00
12th ARMORED HELLCAT BOOSTER DONATION5
TOTAL
September 1 989
HELLCAT NEWS
Page 33
■□•□■□■□■□•□■a
("TAX DEDUCTIBLE)
(CONTRIBUTIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE)
Name
Co.
Bn.
Address
City
State
Zip
Make oil checks payable to the 12th Armored Division Assoc.,
Mail to: 1913 Jerome Drive, Godfrey, IL 62035
Annual Membership Fees in the 12th Armored Division Association
are MO.OO. Return this completed form with your remittance.
Membership fees ore due and payable on or before January 1st.
★ ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
PLEASE CLIP AND MAIL
Enclosed Lifetime Membership Dues $100.00
Name
Co.
Bn.
Address
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State
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Make all checks PAYABLE to the 12th Armored Division Assoc.,
Mail to: 1913 Jerome Drive, Godfrey, IL 62035
★ ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
"Force #4 (23 Tk plus B/56)
attacked at 111020A and ad-
vanced about 1200 yards to the
N in their zone*** Due to
heavy anti-tank fire, artillery
and mortar fire, the 23rd Tk
Bn was forced to withdraw S of
the railroad tracks to their
original position. (Oberstmuhl
(649479). 'The Battalion Com-
mander was a casualty during
this action' ".
With respect to the "Retreat
of CCA from Weyershiem", I
wonder if Mr. DeLuca realizes
that the "Backtracks" article
in the January 1989 issue of
the "Hellcat News" is a report
describing the actions of the
3rd Battalion of the 141st INF.
Regt., 36th Inf. Division on 3
February and not that of the
12th Armd. Division as he
seems to conclude. Yes, Mr.
DeLuca is correct in that
Colonel Harry Lardin did
gather together about five
tanks from the reserve of the
43rd Tank Battalion and they
acquitted themselves very well
against the Germans' South
flanking force. I was in com-
munication with Col. Lardin
when he took command of that
force and we coordinated our
actions against the enemy's
attack. At no time did he com-
mandeer tanks from the 714th.
At this time the 714th was cover-
Heads Up
Continued from back page
DeLuca in Cono Sideri's column
and the other by Mr. Joseph J.
Magrath, in a letter addressed
to you; alleging inaccurate facts
recorded in Dr. Brendan
Phibb's outstanding book, "The
Other Side Of Time".
It is not my intention here to
argue Mr. DeLuca's comment
concerning "The Lt. Col. Meigs
Story" because I believe he has
made his position quite forth-
right in that he doesn't know
what actually happened. Can
he then justify criticizing Dr.
Phibbs' version which was
taken from recorded notes of
interviews with the people in-
volved? CCA's after action re-
port for this action is quoted
for your information,
IT'S GREAT TO BE
A HELLCAT
12th Armd Div. Assn
rjj csj.rxoirr wco
CALL YOUR RHP.
ing a sector from the Weyer-
sheim Woods north to the east
of Bischwiller and then north
to Rohrwiller. (An approximate
front of Five miles) From these
positions the main efforts of the
Germans was repulsed. They
attacked about 1600 19 Janu-
ary with approximately thirty
tanks with Infantry mounted.
In the vanguard of their attack
were a number of US M-4
Tanks which caused us much
consternation because with the
poor visability it was difficult
to determine if these were our
own troops returning from the
previous attacks on Herrlisheim
or not. When they started to
fire at us there was not further
question! Their casualties in
both Infantry and tanks as well
as the return of the ground fog
forced them to retire from the
field.
The 714th remained in pos-
ition in direct support of the
36th Inf. Division until 23
January. The balance of the
12th Armd. Div. Except for the
Artillery, had been withdrawn
on the 19th of January.
Here, I would like to quote
from the After Action report of
CCA on the 19th of January,
"About 191630 enemy tanks
and Infantry attacked from the
north at (R190149). Our armor
held them off successfully until
about 191700 when they deplet-
ed their supply of "A" am-
munition. At this time the en-
tire line was forced to fall back
to WALDGRABEN RAU. The
(THIS - (for emphasis) with-
drawal was made in an orderly
manner and penetrations were
made by enemy armor, how-
ever, ALARM WAS GREAT
IN WEYERSHEIM (caps (for
emphasis) and service elements
of CCA HQ were evacuated to
the Vicinity of Wittersheim
(944202) but our forces held the
line along Waldgraben Rau at
the close of the period".
At this point, I will leave you
to draw your own conclusions
relative to the question of the
"Retreat from Weyershiem".
Addressing Mr. Joseph J.
Magrath's comments, I can
agree with his observations
that all combat soldiers did not
use the obscenities and crippled
grammar that is prevalent in
the book but there were just as
many who did!
I commanded the 714th Tank
Battalion (aka Task Force
Field) and C Company 56th
Armd. Inf., of which Mr.
Magrath was a member, was
part of that Task Force. Mr.
Magrath makes much of the
Infantry riding tanks into com-
bat. I for one would never allow
that type of tactics which ex-
posed my support infantry rid-
ing tanks to close combat and I
am certain that Dr. Phibb's
book does not intend to con-
strue his words to imply that
meaning. Mr. Magrath estab-
lishes that we certainly carried
infantry forward on tanks to
coordinate forward movement
with the tanks but under artil-
lery fire or upon reaching the
vicinity of the objective they
were dismounted.
Perhaps it would be well to
conclude these observations by
enunciating my position which
is that Mr. Magrath's judge-
ment that, "85% of the book is
fiction" is misguided. The After
Action Reports of the 714th
Tank Battalion (TF Field) as
well as that of CCB supports
Dr. Phibbs narrative.
I must applaud and congrat-
ulate Dr. Phibbs for a masterful
work which tells the story like
it was. His dedication to the
historical background of com-
bat actions as he relates them
and as they pertained to CCB
of the 12th Armored Division
is an outstanding example of a
factual story of the combat lives
of the brave men who made up
this superb fighting Command.
His book has been acclaimed
by infinitely more WW II vet-
erans than the scattered few
who have tried so unsuccessful-
ly to reveal imperfections. The
12th Armred Division's Veter-
ans owe a great vote of appreci-
ation and a deep debt vote of
gratitude to Dr. Phibbs for plac-
ing our Division in the public
arena in a much more impres-
sive manor then all the written
documents so far published.
This is intended as a rebutal
only and I would consider it
appropriate to suspend further
interchange of views on the
subject.
Sincerely,
Frederick P. Field
Colonel USA Ret.
cc Dr. Brendan Phibbs
So far the score stands: Cops 8;
robbers 2.
Once a Hellcat always a Hell-
cat!
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Twelfth Armored Division Association (U.S.). Hellcat News, (Godfrey, Ill.), Vol., No., Ed. 1, September 1989, newspaper, September 1989; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth410693/m1/33/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting The 12th Armored Division Memorial Museum.