705th Tank Destroyer Battalion - France

France

The battalion sailed for Normandy in July, and was landed at Utah Beach on the 18th, equipped with M18 Hellcat tank destroyers. After two weeks of being held in reserve, they were moved to the front line on the 31st and attached to a task force of Third Army which was assigned to capture the ports along the north coast of Brittany; it pushed through Avranches and turned westwards towards Brest; from 6 to 16 August B Company was attached to the 83rd Infantry Division. On 17 August, the battalion liberated the town of Paimpol, on the north coast of Brittany.

On 23 August, one company (B) was assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division, fighting in the Battle for Brest; it was released on 19 September. Meanwhile, the remainder of the battalion was employed fighting on the Crozon Peninsula to the south of the port through September. A shortage of M18s in the supply chain – most battalions in France were equipped with M10s at the time – led to the battalion being assigned a number of M4A3 Shermans, which carried the same 76mm gun, as temporary replacements.

The battalion regrouped in late September, and trained replacements, before moving to the Moselle River. The battalion was attached to the 95th Infantry Division on 15 October, and deployed to relieve the 818th Tank Destroyer Battalion in the Pagny bridgehead on the 20th. It withdrew from the bridgehead in early November, after providing indirect fire support, and was released by the 95th Division on 2 November. It crossed the Moselle again and moved northeast, crossing the border into Germany near Merschweiler on 18 November.