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DAY OF THE PANZER: A Story of American Heroism and Sacrifice in Southern France

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DAY OF THE PANZER: A Story of American Heroism and Sacrifice in Southern France

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By: Jeff Danby

(12 customer reviews)

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EDITORIAL REVIEW

This is a rarely detailed "you are there" account of World War II combat, describing a brief but bloody tank/infantry action in August 1944. Based on six years of research-drawing from interviews, primary documents, and visits to the battlefield-"The Day of the Panzer" transports the reader into the ranks of L Company, 15th Regiment, Third Infantry Division, and its supporting M4s of the 756th Tank Battalion as they grapple head-on with the Wehrmacht.

L Company was nearly wiped out during the bloody Anzio breakout of May 1944. Under the fiery leadership of Captain James "Red" Coles, the unit was rebuilt and molded into a tough, colorful bunch in preparation for "Operation Dragoon." On August 15, 1944, they hit the beaches in southern France, joined by the tank crews of 2nd Lt. Andrew Orient's 3rd Platoon, all veterans of Cassino.

After overcoming pockets of resistance along the coast, the tanks and infantry swept inland, nipping at the heels of the retreating German Nineteenth Army. A sudden German artillery salvo dispatched six L Company men and left Lt. Orient dead. 1st Lt. Edgar Danby, an armor instructor (the author's grandfather), was flown in from Italy to replace him.

Despite logistics problems, the Third Division forged north through the Rhone River valley until they found the Germans holding fast, L Company and its supporting tanks leading the regimental charge. In the haste and chaos of the day, they managed to slip the German rearguard and unwittingly attacked the German LXXXV Armeekorps headquarters in the small town of Allan. Both sides were shocked by the ferocity of the battle.

Led by a rampaging Panther tank, the Germans counterattacked, knocking out the Sherman of Lt. Danby while threatening to cut L Company's positions in half. Surrounded and facing annihilation-but steeled by the courageous leadership of Captain Coles and others-L Company held fast despite dead and wounded on all sides and 13 men captured. The seemingly unstoppable Panther, stalking the battlefield like some black knight from a Teutonic fantasy, continued to hold off American reinforcements in the morning, until the Armeekorps headquarters executed a withdrawal.

In this book, the minute-by-minute confusion, thrill and desperation of WWII combat is placed under a microscope, as if the reader himself were a participant. In this small but singular battle, the courage of US troops in their liberation of France is given full due.

REVIEWS

"Danby resurrects the forgotten campaign of World War II in this excellent popular history... a sprightly and evocative tribute to the troops of Operation Dragoon." Publishers Weekly, 05/2008

"...one of the most interesting and absorbing battles histories that this reviewer has ever read...remarkably realistic and personal..."History Book Club, 06/2008

"...clearly written, pacey and exciting whilst giving a clear account of the sequence of events, a first hand perspective and a "flow" that keeps one keen to thumb over the next page."Military Modeling (UK), 07/2008

"a powerful, punchy story...outs the reader in the middle of a raging battlefield populated with humans who far transcend the one dimensional paper soldiers often found in military history..."Bill Stone, 07/2008

"...well-written and entertaining book capturing the chaotic nature of combat for the average infantryman."AFV Modeler, 09/2008

"... a gripping story of initiative and confusion (on both sides) competently told and one that shows the details of extensive research... delivers the nitty gritty..."Magweb, 12/2008

"Through his well-wrought prose, Danby paints a detailed picture of deadly fighting and stunning victory." WWII History, 03/2009

"...riveting...very well done and gives the reader a much broader vision of the "forgotten" Invasion of France". IPMS 04/2009

PRODUCT DETAILS

Publisher: Casemate
Pub. Date: 30th April 2008
Catalog: Book
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Pages: 350
Ean: 9781932033700
Isbn: 193203370X

ABOUT THIS BOOK

USER REVIEWS

Little events become are the patchwork of history
~ Written on Oct 19, 2009. out of users found this review helpful.

This little book is one that jumps up and grabs you with an integration of personal stories and unit histories from World War II. The author, in searching for circumstances of his grandfather's death in his first day of combat, uncovers a rich heritage of common soldiers who made the U.S. Army of World War II great. He has researched in depth the unit history and brought it down to the individual level by personal interviews of the survivors. The focus point is an unremembered skirmish with retreating Germans which was a major event to those militarily few who were there but likely never made the press. The author's writing skills are extremely communicative, particularly to combat veterns. I probably read a dozen World War II era biographies or unit/event histories a year and this one stands out as the star of 2009.

Outstanding book
~ Written on Jul 7, 2009. out of users found this review helpful.

Having read over 80 WWWII personal narratives I was hesitant to buy this book as it was written by the grandson of one of the participants in this lightly chronicled campaign of the war. I expected it to be full of tidbits and generalities of stateside training, life on the front taken from letters sent home, effusive praise of the grandfather, and a segment of the European invasion that was not very interesting. It was just the opposite. He takes you through the individual life/death decisions the soldiers made. You will know where everyone is on the battlefield, what they were thinking, and what they did in the heat of battle. There were many heroes in this book. His grandfather was just one of them. A very well written book and and a fascinating story.

Terrific book following a tank-infantry unit in action in Southern France
~ Written on May 9, 2009. out of users found this review helpful.

This is a really well researched book about a small tank-infantry unit's advance with Patton's Army up Southern France.

I don't have much to add to the general praise for this book. I did want to comment on the story and the various reviews that others have written for this book - the story is much more complex than others have described, and I got a distinctly different take on the tale than several reviewers did.

The Germans were in the midst of what can best be described as a fighting retreat at the time the author's grandfather entered the town of Allan. Leaving one Panther tank and one Marder assault gun behind in town as a rear guard could hardly do much more than slow down the U.S. Army's advance. The engagement was not some sort of major German assault against a U.S. Army small unit, which is what the Amazon blurb about this book would seem to indicate.

The key story point of this book for me was that the author makes it clear that his grandfather, Lt. Danby, fresh from his job as a tank crew training instructor, and eager to get into combat, simply did not have the real-life tank experience to not get himself and his crew killed in his first ever major combat engagement. Lt. Danby was advised by the other tank commander with him not to drive straight into town, but as this guy was a non-com and junior in rank, Danby brusquely chose to ignore this advice.

There was no "rampaging Panther" in this engagement as described in the Amazon review. All that happened was that Lt. Danby drove his tank straight into an ambush, pure and simple. In hindsight, it was pretty obvious that the Germans might have the approaches to the town covered with anti-tank weapons. And so it was the stupidest thing any tank commander could have done to drive in without scouting these approaches first, and doing so got him and two other crew members killed.

The author also states that nobody even clearly saw which of the two German AFV's in town fired the fatal shot, that about half the witnesses thought it was the Marder, and half thought it was the Panther. In his reconstruction of the story, most of the witnesses could not even clearly identify the German tank as a Panther, only that it was a "big German tank", with most thinking it was a Tiger tank (the author figured out that it was a Panther from other military records). In any case, neither German AFV had enough infantry or other support to be viable for long against the much larger U.S. force, and both were knocked out shortly.

In combat, size matters, getting the first shot matters, and good judgement matters. Throughout this engagement, small groups of soldiers from both sides would run into larger or better armed units and get wiped out or captured. That was the nature of the sort of chaotic small-unit engagements that characterized much of the battle for France.

As far as combat tactics with an M4 Sherman goes, you can learn a lot about the quirks of the M4 by reading Dmitriy Loza's "Commanding the Red Army's Sherman Tanks". Loza knew well enough never to drive his tank around a corner or into any new place without first scouting ahead, sometimes getting out on foot himself to do so if he didn't have infantry with him. German anti-tank weapons by 1944 had developed to the point that they could knock out almost any tank, and the M4's thin armor provided little protection against an ambush.

All in all, a superbly written book, and a terrific read. I just seem to have read a somewhat different book than some of the other reviewers.

A nice snapshot from a little-known campaign
~ Written on Mar 28, 2009. out of users found this review helpful.

The Second World War was filled with big battles, all of which have received some sort of literary and/or celluloid treatment. However, there were thousands of little battles as well, many of which are mere footnotes to what went on in a larger campaign. The author was trying to find out how his grandfather died in the war, and in the course of his research he came across a story which he felt compelled to tell. It's the story of a few small units and the combat they faced during the invasion of Southern France in 1944.

This invasion has never gotten the literary coverage of the Normandy invasion, but it was important in the grand Allied scheme of winning the war. While the book doesn't present a complete "big picture" view of the invasion, it does provide a nice little snapshot of what a few small units went through. The narrative flows really well and is filled with various recollections of some of the men involved. If small unit actions are what you like, this will be a book you'll enjoy

Great Book For World War II Buffs
~ Written on Feb 2, 2009. out of users found this review helpful.

As the Webmaster of the Society of the 3rd Infantry Division website ([...]) I have met George Burks and Richard Guimond and wondered about their experiences in WWII. These men like many of their generation didn't talk about their time in battle even at the Society Reunions unless you really pressed the point. My own Dad was a war photographer with the 3rd Signal Company of the 3rd Division in WWII and I had seen photos ([...])of the carnage and fighting but never heard the about terror that was involved. This book by Jeff Danby is a fantastic story of one of the battles in Southern France that the 3rd Division was involved. History and World War II buffs will find "Day of the Panzer" extremely satisfying.

DAY OF THE PANZER: A Story of American Heroism and Sacrifice in Southern France

EDITORIAL REVIEW

PRODUCT DETAILS

ABOUT THIS BOOK

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