The unit was called into active military service as the 747th Amphibious Tank and Tractor Battalion at the start of the Korean War but did not deploy overseas.

[4][6] This inactivity also reflected the fact that although the infantry and tanks had practiced the beach landings together, there had been no training to fight together once they moved inland.

[7] After this extended period in reserve, the battalion supported the 29th Infantry Division as they advanced on Saint-Lô, with a platoon of Company C among the first units to enter the town on 18 July.

At this time, the light tanks from Company D were used for liaison and resupply missions for the infantry due to the large number of German infiltrators in the fluid combat situation.

[8] Continuing a rapid advance to the north with the objective of Brussels, the battalion passed to the west of Villers-Cotterêts and Soissons and through Laon.

This resulted in several sharp engagements on 2–3 September around Le Hérie-la-Viéville, Guise, and Landrecies, destroying some 50 enemy vehicles (many of them horse-drawn) while suffering only light casualties.

[9] With this threat under control, on 4 September Company A was detached from the battalion and joined the 22nd Infantry Regiment as they resumed the advance to the east, toward Rocroi.

The remainder of the battalion had repaired enough vehicles and found enough fuel to rejoin the composite company at its assembly area near Beho on the afternoon of 15 September.

The pause, even while the two regiments of the 4th Infantry Division pushed forward, represented the end of the breakout and pursuit which had begun less than two months earlier in Normandy.

German indirect fire and bad weather hindered the advance and after two days of fighting the Americans withdrew to their initial positions.

Resting briefly after these attacks, the battalion was once again attached on 26 September 1944 to the 29th Infantry Division, which had just returned to the Allied advance and was assigned to the XIX Corps after successfully reducing the German stronghold at Brest,[11] with orders to move into Holland, and then to Kinrooi, Belgium.

[9] Now under XIX Corps control, on 28 September 1944, Company B was attached to the 2nd Tank Destroyer Group in support of the Belgium Brigade.

[12][13][14] Intelligence reports had severely underestimated the German forces opposing them and the flat, open, marshy terrain poorly supported tank maneuver.

The attack bogged down in the first few days of October 1944, and Company B saw little further action with the Belgians and was mainly employed for indirect fire support, operating near Neeritter.

[15] The 113th Cavalry Group was tasked to attack northward along the eastern bank of the Maas River, opposite the Belgium Brigade, toward Wessem.

After reaching its local objective at Isenbruch [de], Germany, Company C was released from the 113th Cavalry Group on 5 October and reverted to battalion control.

The battalion supported all three infantry regiments of the 29th as they moved east along an axis from Merkstein to Siersdorf [de] to Aldenhoven to Jülich.

The advance was marked by sharp engagements in each hamlet and village along the route, with the infantry and tanks having to work closely together to overcome the German defenders dug into the basements and other strongpoints in each town.

In addition, the tankers had to be vigilant at night to prevent German infiltrators from moving back into the captured towns during darkness.

Now defending their homeland, German resistance was stiff, and it took the 29th Infantry Division a week to cover the ten miles to the western approaches to Jülich.

The 747th suffered heavy losses as well, with 18 medium tanks lost to enemy action and 38 men either killed or wounded, and another 3 missing.

[17][18][19] Although the 29th Infantry Division was a battle-tested veteran unit, having participated in the landings at Omaha Beach, the reduction of Brest, and numerous battles since, they found themselves in a quiet sector of the front during this period.

Although the attack was planned for 10 February, it was postponed[19] when the Germans destroyed the discharge valves on the Schwammenauel Dam [de], causing a steady but long lasting flooding of the Roer River.

[19] Despite the Germans’ skilled defense, the tankers noted the reduced resistance compared to their attack on Jülich and reached Mönchengladach on 1 March 1945.

Over the next three days, the 747th made some 1,400 round trip crossings, ferrying men and equipment forward, and casualties and prisoners back.

The battalion moved out on 20 April, passed through Uetze and arrived at Flettmar [de] with barely one-third of its combat strength due to mechanical breakdowns en route.

Within their assigned sector, they were responsible for rear area security, patrolling roads and setting up checkpoints, guarding bridges, rounding up displaced persons and released allied prisoners of war, and collecting abandoned and damaged German military equipment until V-E Day on 8 May 1945.

[29] The 747th participated in PHIBTEST, the largest amphibious training exercise conducted during the Korean War, at Coronado, California from June to October 1952.

[31] After the move to Fort Ord, the battalion began to return to a reserve status and was relieved from active duty in September 1953.

[32] Upon completion of the test, the 723rd and its attached elements departed the NTS and marched overland back to Camp Irwin, arriving on 9 May.