628th Tank Destroyer Battalion
From 11 April to 5 July, it operated three marshaling camps in southern England, providing accommodation and administration for combat troops of the 1st and the 29th Divisions being prepared for the Normandy landings.
The force moved south through Avranches and then southwest to Le Mans, before pushing north on 10 August to help close the Falaise Pocket.
On 11 August a Panzer IV was destroyed, the first of the battalion's tank kills, and the same night, the rearguard of Company A encountered a German column, and in a close-range action accounted for eight vehicles and 240 enemy troops; a sergeant of the company received both the Silver Star and the Croix de Guerre for this action, giving the battalion its first tank kill and its first combat decoration on the same day.
The battalion came under a strong counter-attack on the 17th, with Lt. Rennbaum of B Company receiving the Distinguished Service Cross for his work in evacuating his platoon under heavy fire.
The 19th saw further intensification of the fighting, with artillery fire rising to the point where it was decided to withdraw all units back across the river into Luxembourg; the last element of the battalion left Germany at 5 am on the 20th.
On the 8th, plans were made to pull the battalion out of the line to prepare for a crossing of the Roer River, with companies B and C remaining in action for the time being.
On 11 January the battalion was attached to the 75th Infantry Division, but left them on the 16th, without having made contact with the enemy, and moved into XVIII Airborne Corps Reserve.
On 30 March the companies were assigned to combat commands in preparation for offensive operations, and crossed the river on the 31st, over a pontoon bridge at Wesel; the final breakout had begun.
In order to counter this threat, the division moved west, leaving Combat Command A (with Company A) to cover the Elbe.
By the end of the war, the Battalion had accounted for 60 tanks and self-propelled guns, as well as 30 pieces of artillery and over a hundred other vehicles, with over 1200 enemy killed and 1500 prisoners taken.
