Hamilkar
06-05-2006, 04:40 AM
Hi Everyone!
In the recent weeks one WW2 story really caught my attention.
I spent some research looking for pictures.
This story is quite overlooked by the other actions in WW2.
What really caught my fascination is that this story is fully covered by pictures and a video.
This story is set in Cologne, Germany in early March, 1945.
A lone Panther was sitting in the Cathedral square in Cologne, and the Americans tought it was knocked out. 2 Shermans were aproaching the square when the Panther suddenly knocked out one of the M4A1.
3 men died in that tank.
No much later a Pershin tank of the 3rd Armour was sent to destroy the Panther. It aproached it from the flank and took it out with 3 shots.
Jim Bates interview (photographer)
"I was born may 14, 1916 in Bolder Colorado and moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado where I started working for the Alexandria Film Company in high school. I had seven years experience when I entered the U.S. Army as a Cinema photographer. I was a Sergeant Technician and became a member of General Eisenhower's Newsreel Team.
General Gavin asked me to volunteer as a Combat Photographer for the invasion, And then sent me to jump school. I was in the second plane on D-Day 1944 and the second man out with a full load of photographic equipment. I landed in a canal and almost drowned. All my equipment was ruined so I turned into a combat soldier. I blew up a command car with a grenade, and later stumbled in a large pillbox where almost a hundred Germans soldiers surrendered and piled up their weapons.
In January I hitched a ride as a bow gunner on a Third Armored Division Sherman tank. outside of Langlier. I used the machine gun to hit a German with a bazooka. I baled out of the tank when it got stopped and got hit with shrapnel and spent several days in the hospital but came back at the end of the Ardennes and joined up with the 82nd. Airborne Division.
The greatest part of my life was in Cologne, Germany. It was my finest moments as Combat Photography when I joined the Third Armored Division in its capture of Cologne, Germany, for which action earned me a Bronze Star Medal to go with my Purple Heart. It was the tanks backed by the 36th. Armored Infantry Regiment that did the house to house fighting and clearing the area.
In the center square in front of the Cathedral was a German Tank that a Sherman tank thought was disabled but the tank put a shell through the Sherman and killed three men in it. A Tank Commander named Robert Early from E Company 32nd. Armored Regiment went on foot to investigate. I asked to go along and we went on the mezzanine of a building and saw the tank. He told me to stay there and he would come back in his tank and try to put the German tank out of commission and I could photograph it. He had one of the new M-26 Pershings with a ninety-mm gun. Sgt. Early said he would turn into the square under me, stop and fire at the German tank. When his tank came in the square under me the German tank began to traverse the gun. Cpl. Clarence Smoyer the gunner, did not wait for his tank to stop but fired before the gun was aimed at him. His first shot hit the German tank in the bottom and cut off the commander's legs. After the next shot, three of the crew bailed out but the shrapnel had got them. My pictures show the tank commander burned up with the tank, which was still smoldering next morning. The driver got to the back of the building where he fell. The bow gunner fell over a bicycle and lay there. The gunner went down nearby. All had been killed. I was proud to meet Maj. Gen. Rose the Commander of the Third Armored Spearhead Division Today there is a Hospital in Denver, Colorado named after him."
Cpl. Clarence Smoyer (GUnner of the Pershin)
"
We were fortunate to have our M-4 Sherman replaced with the M 26 PershingsTank with the ninety mm gun.. We had been on a drive to capture Cologne and we were near the center of the square in front of the Cathedral when one of our Sherkans M-4 tanks approaching the center square, was knocked out by a German Mark V Panther, killing three of the crew. When this happened, our crew was ordered to go down the adjacent street and destroy the German tank.
We were told to just move into the intersection far enough to fire into the side of the enemy tank, which had their gun facing up the other street. However, as we entered the intersection, our driver had his periscope turned toward the Germans and saw their gun turning to meet us. When I turned our turrent, I was looking into the Mark V gun tube; so instead of stopping to fire, our driver drove into the middle of the intersection so we wouldn't be a sitting target. As we were moving, I fired once. Then we stopped and I fired two more shells to make sure they wouldn't fire at our side. All three of our shells penetrated, one under the gun shield and two on the side. The two side hits went completely through and out the other side.
As for the German tank crew, I spent many years wondering if they survived. Only recently, after receiving the Bates' tape, did I find the answer. The tape revealed that three died outside of the tank. A letter from another soldier who looked through one of the shell holes said he saw one burned to death inside the tank. Apparently none of them survived the ordeal. The M 26 Perishing Tank with the 90 mm gun was the best tank we had during the war. We kept it till the end of the war; however, we were hit twice with panzerfausts at Paderborn and had to have repairs done"
THe Cathedral
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a393/MagnosAchos/Panther%20in%20Cologne/CologneCathedral.jpg
The Sherman APproaching on a street towards the Square
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a393/MagnosAchos/Panther%20in%20Cologne/part1.jpg
Right after the Panther Fires
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a393/MagnosAchos/Panther%20in%20Cologne/part2.jpg
The Panther after the battle seen from the knocked out sherman
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a393/MagnosAchos/Panther%20in%20Cologne/part3.jpg
The Panther seen from the Cathedral after the engagment
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a393/MagnosAchos/Panther%20in%20Cologne/1092677170_overview.jpg
The Panther right after the engament, smoldering
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a393/MagnosAchos/Panther%20in%20Cologne/Panther2turretunmoved.jpg
The Panther after a couple of days
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a393/MagnosAchos/Panther%20in%20Cologne/PZV.jpg
A paratrooper checks the tank(NOTE: The muzzle break was porbably taken as a souvenir)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a393/MagnosAchos/Panther%20in%20Cologne/Panther2.jpg
A colour photo of the tank (NOTE: The tank has been moved to the front of the cathedral)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a393/MagnosAchos/Panther%20in%20Cologne/PantherinCologne.jpg
And last but not least, is the Jim Bates video, the final moment of the panther
http://media.putfile.com/Panther-in-Cologne
I hope you liked the story as much as I did.
In the recent weeks one WW2 story really caught my attention.
I spent some research looking for pictures.
This story is quite overlooked by the other actions in WW2.
What really caught my fascination is that this story is fully covered by pictures and a video.
This story is set in Cologne, Germany in early March, 1945.
A lone Panther was sitting in the Cathedral square in Cologne, and the Americans tought it was knocked out. 2 Shermans were aproaching the square when the Panther suddenly knocked out one of the M4A1.
3 men died in that tank.
No much later a Pershin tank of the 3rd Armour was sent to destroy the Panther. It aproached it from the flank and took it out with 3 shots.
Jim Bates interview (photographer)
"I was born may 14, 1916 in Bolder Colorado and moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado where I started working for the Alexandria Film Company in high school. I had seven years experience when I entered the U.S. Army as a Cinema photographer. I was a Sergeant Technician and became a member of General Eisenhower's Newsreel Team.
General Gavin asked me to volunteer as a Combat Photographer for the invasion, And then sent me to jump school. I was in the second plane on D-Day 1944 and the second man out with a full load of photographic equipment. I landed in a canal and almost drowned. All my equipment was ruined so I turned into a combat soldier. I blew up a command car with a grenade, and later stumbled in a large pillbox where almost a hundred Germans soldiers surrendered and piled up their weapons.
In January I hitched a ride as a bow gunner on a Third Armored Division Sherman tank. outside of Langlier. I used the machine gun to hit a German with a bazooka. I baled out of the tank when it got stopped and got hit with shrapnel and spent several days in the hospital but came back at the end of the Ardennes and joined up with the 82nd. Airborne Division.
The greatest part of my life was in Cologne, Germany. It was my finest moments as Combat Photography when I joined the Third Armored Division in its capture of Cologne, Germany, for which action earned me a Bronze Star Medal to go with my Purple Heart. It was the tanks backed by the 36th. Armored Infantry Regiment that did the house to house fighting and clearing the area.
In the center square in front of the Cathedral was a German Tank that a Sherman tank thought was disabled but the tank put a shell through the Sherman and killed three men in it. A Tank Commander named Robert Early from E Company 32nd. Armored Regiment went on foot to investigate. I asked to go along and we went on the mezzanine of a building and saw the tank. He told me to stay there and he would come back in his tank and try to put the German tank out of commission and I could photograph it. He had one of the new M-26 Pershings with a ninety-mm gun. Sgt. Early said he would turn into the square under me, stop and fire at the German tank. When his tank came in the square under me the German tank began to traverse the gun. Cpl. Clarence Smoyer the gunner, did not wait for his tank to stop but fired before the gun was aimed at him. His first shot hit the German tank in the bottom and cut off the commander's legs. After the next shot, three of the crew bailed out but the shrapnel had got them. My pictures show the tank commander burned up with the tank, which was still smoldering next morning. The driver got to the back of the building where he fell. The bow gunner fell over a bicycle and lay there. The gunner went down nearby. All had been killed. I was proud to meet Maj. Gen. Rose the Commander of the Third Armored Spearhead Division Today there is a Hospital in Denver, Colorado named after him."
Cpl. Clarence Smoyer (GUnner of the Pershin)
"
We were fortunate to have our M-4 Sherman replaced with the M 26 PershingsTank with the ninety mm gun.. We had been on a drive to capture Cologne and we were near the center of the square in front of the Cathedral when one of our Sherkans M-4 tanks approaching the center square, was knocked out by a German Mark V Panther, killing three of the crew. When this happened, our crew was ordered to go down the adjacent street and destroy the German tank.
We were told to just move into the intersection far enough to fire into the side of the enemy tank, which had their gun facing up the other street. However, as we entered the intersection, our driver had his periscope turned toward the Germans and saw their gun turning to meet us. When I turned our turrent, I was looking into the Mark V gun tube; so instead of stopping to fire, our driver drove into the middle of the intersection so we wouldn't be a sitting target. As we were moving, I fired once. Then we stopped and I fired two more shells to make sure they wouldn't fire at our side. All three of our shells penetrated, one under the gun shield and two on the side. The two side hits went completely through and out the other side.
As for the German tank crew, I spent many years wondering if they survived. Only recently, after receiving the Bates' tape, did I find the answer. The tape revealed that three died outside of the tank. A letter from another soldier who looked through one of the shell holes said he saw one burned to death inside the tank. Apparently none of them survived the ordeal. The M 26 Perishing Tank with the 90 mm gun was the best tank we had during the war. We kept it till the end of the war; however, we were hit twice with panzerfausts at Paderborn and had to have repairs done"
THe Cathedral
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a393/MagnosAchos/Panther%20in%20Cologne/CologneCathedral.jpg
The Sherman APproaching on a street towards the Square
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a393/MagnosAchos/Panther%20in%20Cologne/part1.jpg
Right after the Panther Fires
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a393/MagnosAchos/Panther%20in%20Cologne/part2.jpg
The Panther after the battle seen from the knocked out sherman
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a393/MagnosAchos/Panther%20in%20Cologne/part3.jpg
The Panther seen from the Cathedral after the engagment
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a393/MagnosAchos/Panther%20in%20Cologne/1092677170_overview.jpg
The Panther right after the engament, smoldering
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a393/MagnosAchos/Panther%20in%20Cologne/Panther2turretunmoved.jpg
The Panther after a couple of days
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a393/MagnosAchos/Panther%20in%20Cologne/PZV.jpg
A paratrooper checks the tank(NOTE: The muzzle break was porbably taken as a souvenir)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a393/MagnosAchos/Panther%20in%20Cologne/Panther2.jpg
A colour photo of the tank (NOTE: The tank has been moved to the front of the cathedral)
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a393/MagnosAchos/Panther%20in%20Cologne/PantherinCologne.jpg
And last but not least, is the Jim Bates video, the final moment of the panther
http://media.putfile.com/Panther-in-Cologne
I hope you liked the story as much as I did.