The 744th Tank Battalion (Light) was a light independent tank battalion that participated in the European Theater of Operations with the United States Army in World War II. The battalion landed on Utah Beach in Normandy on 30 June 1944 and entered combat on 26 July with the 2nd Infantry Division. The battalion participated in combat operations throughout northern Europe until V-E Day, primarily attached to the 113th Cavalry Group and, despite its small size and relatively light firepower, was at various times responsible for tying in the army group boundary, defending army logistical assets, and was attached to or received attachments from British, Belgian, and Dutch military formations. After the war, it was briefly engaged in occupation duties and, upon return to the United States, it was inactivated at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia on 2 November 1945.
Organization Light tank battalions were a relative rarity in the United States Army during World War II, due to the light armor and inadequate armament of the M5 Stuart light tank to engage German armor, and the 744th was one of only two light tank battalions remaining in the U.S. Army in Europe by V-E Day in May 1945.Zaloga, pp. 81-83
The 744th Tank Battalion (Light) followed the standard organization of a U.S. Army light tank battalion during World War II.Zaloga, pp. 23-26 It consisted of a Headquarters and Headquarters Company, a Service Company, and three light tank companies (Companies A, B, and C).
The Headquarters Company included the battalion headquarters staff, both officers and enlisted men; an assault gun platoon, consisting of three M8 HMC variants of the M5 Stuart armed with a short-barreled 75 mm assault gun; a mortar platoon, equipped with three half-track-mounted 81 mm mortars; a reconnaissance platoon with five quarter-ton "peeps" (jeeps); and the headquarters tank section consisting of three tanks.
The Service Company included a headquarters section; a maintenance platoon; and a battalion supply and transportation platoon, with over fifteen trucks to provide logistics for the battalion.
Companies A, B, and C – the tank line companies followed a common table of organization. Each company consisted of a headquarters section which, along with a small headquarters staff, included two tanks for the company commander and executive officer; three five-tank platoons; and an organic maintenance section, which included an additional M5 Stuart which effectively operated as a tank recovery vehicle. The companies were equipped with M5 Stuart tanks.
When the 744th transitioned to M24 Chaffee light tank in early 1945, the three M8 HMCs were replaced with three M4 Sherman Assault Guns equipped with a 105 mm howitzer in the turret instead of the usual 75 mm gun. Additionally, the three line companies received one Assault Gun each, reflecting the organization of the medium tank companies rather than the standard light tank company organization.Zaloga, pp. 23-26CARL, AAR 744th Tank Bn, February 1945CARL, AAR 744th Tank Bn, March 1945
World War II
Activation and deployment
The 744th Tank Battalion was activated at Camp Bowie, Texas on 27 April 1942 as the 744th Tank Battalion (Light),Sawicki, pp. 318-319 drawing its cadre from the 755th Tank Battalion. It departed Camp Bowie on 21 August 1942 for Camp Hood, Texas where it trained against the tank destroyers at the Army's Tank Destroyer School. In July 1943, the battalion departed for Louisiana to participate in the Louisiana Maneuvers with the Third Army. On 21 September 1943, the battalion moved by train to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, where they made final preparations for overseas deployment).VE Day Reminiscence, p. 4
On 20 November 1943, the 744th departed Fort Jackson for Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts, awaiting transportation to England. On 28 December, the battalion embarked aboard the USAT George S. Simonds, departing the following day. The Simonds arrived in Liverpool on 9 January 1944.
The battalion arrived first at Cwrt-y-Gollen, Wales, which served as its home base, then conducted gunnery training at Castlemartin on the south coast of Pembrokeshire and field exercises with the 82nd Airborne Division at Strawberry Hill near Mansfield, England. The 744th left Cwrt-y-Gollen for good on 1 May 1944, moved to a staging area at Ludlow, where they waterproofed vehicles and equipment, then to a concentration area near Minchinhampton, and on to Weymouth, where they boarded LSTs and LCTs bound for France on 29 June 1944.VE Day Reminiscence, p. 5
Combat in France Coming ashore at Utah Beach on 30 June, the 744th Tank Battalion (Light) was under the operational control of the First Army and moved inland from the slowly growing beachhead and reached Cerisy-la-Forêt, where, on 16 July, they were attached to the 2nd Infantry Division. The 2nd Infantry Division further attached the battalion to the 9th Infantry Regiment, where Company A was attached to the 1st Battalion, Company B to the 2nd Battalion, and Company C was held in regimental reserve, while the assault gun and mortar platoons were place in operational control of the regimental artillery.
Operation Cobra began on 25 July and the 744th went into action at 06:00 on the following day, attacking southward from Saint-Germain-d’Elle with the 9th Infantry toward Vidouville, Mouffet, Rouxeville and Saint-Jean-des-Baisants. Over the next three days, the battalion suffered 11 killed, 43 wounded and one missing in combat.The missing soldier, Staff Sgt. Leroy C. Cloud, was buried in the Normandy American Cemetery at Colleville, France below an “Unknown” headstone. Due to the efforts of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), Staff Sgt. Cloud’s remains were identified and returned to his family for burial in Taylor, Texas on 7 April 2024 On 29 July, the battalion was relieved by Company B, 741st Tank Battalion.CARL, AAR 744th Tank Bn, July 1944
On 30 July, the battalion was relieved from attachment to the 9th Infantry Regiment and the 2nd Infantry Division and attached to XIX Corps. The corps then attached the battalion to the untried 28th Infantry Division and the battalion moved to the division area of operations south of Saint-Lô near Le Mesnil-Herman as the division reserve.
The entire 744th was attached to the 28th's 110th Infantry Regiment, which led the division's attack south of Percy-en-Normandie toward Saint-Sever-Calvados and Champ-du-Boult as they entered the front lines in XIX Corps's sector. As the 28th's front expanded, the 109th Infantry Regiment passed through the 110th and the 744th began support of both regiments. As the 112th Infantry Regiment joined the line, elements of the 744th supported all three regiments as the 28th Infantry Division's axis of attack continued southeast from Champ-du-Boult toward Gathemo and Ger by 14 August. Progress of the 28th Division was initially slow due a combination of its newness to combat, the difficult bocage terrain, and the last gasp of organized resistance by the Wehrmacht.Blumenson, pp. 302,448 Due to the inexperience of the 28th Division working with tanks and the light tanks’ vulnerability to antitank fire, the tanks were frequently held in reserve, to transport the infantry, or serve as road blocks in the division rear area where the infantry had already bypassed German resistance.CARL, AAR 744th Tank Bn, August 1944Yeide, pp 72-89 As German resistance collapsed over the following week, the battalion broke out into open country and advanced 120 km from Beauchêne on 19 August to La Ferté-Vidame on 21 August. The 744th continued to race across northern France through Cintray and Le Neubourg until it was relieved of attachment to the 28th at Sailly on 27 August and reverted to XIX Corps control, where it became the corps reserve.
The XIX Corps placed the 744th under the operational control of the 7th Armored Group along with the 99th Infantry Battalion. Under the 7th Armored Group, the battalion continued the rapid advance, covering over 125 km through Amblainville and Bray-sur-Somme on 2 September to Guignies, Belgium on 3 September. Once in Guignies, the gathering fuel and supply shortage resulting from the breakout and the lengthening supply chain caught up with the 744th.CARL, AAR 744th Tank Bn, September 1944MacDonald, The Siegfried Line Campaign, pp 11-14 On 4 September, Company C was attached to the 125th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron but, due to fuel and ration shortages at the front, remained in place until it was released from attachment to the 125th on 6 September. It was instead detailed by XIX Corps to move to Valenciennes to guard fuel barges on the Scheldt River. Reflecting the priority placed on fuel supplies, on 8 September, First Army took over direct responsibility for securing the fuel barges, creating Task Force Rau (TF Rau), consisting of Company C and the 99th Infantry Battalion, to guard the fuel supplies and to conduct rearguard security and screen a 30 km line between Cambrai, France and Tournai, Belgium to prevent infiltrating German troops attempting to retire eastward from seizing or destroying the fuel dump. On 13 September, Company C was relieved from TF Rau and returned to the 744th main body, which had meanwhile relocated to St. Truiden, Belgium.
Belgium and Holland
On 15 September, the 744th received orders to move to a new assembly area northeast of Tongeren, Belgium. At the same time, Company B was attached to the 99th Infantry Battalion, which was itself attached to the 2nd Armored Division to provide division rear area security as the Second Armored Division crossed into German territory and closed on the West Wall near Geilenkirchen. On 18 September, the 99th Infantry was relieved from the 2nd Armored Division and attached directly to the First Army, where it screened the army's left flank and tied in with the right flank of the Second British Army, which was in the final stages of planning Operation Market Garden, between Eysden, Belgium and Maastricht, Holland while guarding the crossings over the Zuid-Willemsvaart canal.
On 19 September 1944, the 744th was attached to the 113th Cavalry Group and moved first to Beek, Holland, then to Sittard, receiving attached companies from the 702nd Tank Destroyer Battalion and the 246th Engineer Battalion in preparation for relieving elements of the 2nd Armored Division between Limbricht, Holland and Tüddern, Germany the following day. The battalion patrolled to the north and elements were engaged in several small-scale skirmishes. On 22 September, the battalion sector was extended westward to the Maas (Meuse) River and reinforced with two platoons of engineers and a platoon of M4 Sherman tanks from the 2nd Armored Division.