--Field Marshal Gerd Von Rundstedt
Not bad praise from the enemy. That statement typifies the action of the 12th Armored Division. Starting in early December 1944, the green Division made inroads into the Alsace countryside, crossing the Maginot Line and were proceeding toward the Rhine River. The troops were quickly learning the art of warfare, the tenacity of the enemy, and were exposed to the worst winter weather in the past fifty years.
The Division was bloodied at Herrlisheim, losing many tanks, tankers, armored infantrymen, combat engineers, and others. The Division was badly damaged (equipment and personnel), but the enemy sustained heavy losses and were stopped far short of their objectives. Strasbourg and Hagenau were spared recapture by the Germans and they only gained a few miles that were recovered in the following few weeks.
This second volume of personal memoir continues the thread begun in Hellcat Historian--stories from those who were there supplemented with research to put these young men s heroic actions into historical context.