And that's what I was laying on, when we got a shell. As I remember it, we saw a tank beside a barn in this edge of this town. But we were able to keep going.īut then, we got further in, and we were. And the first thing that happened, we hit a mine, and it blew, it flattened two bogies, and took the rubber off a number of the track treads. And we were going in line across the field. We were moving from Grand Sart, Belgium, to Sart, Belgium. It was around January, sometime about the 7th of January. They could only turn so far with their guns. You could out maneuver a German tank, and they didn't have 360 on there. Now the thing, we could move our turret 360 degrees, we could. And of course, with its 90 millimeter, and our armor. Only thing you could do is hope that you got the right shot at the right time, and couldn't penetrate. Does it make us feel real bad to think our people at home think we got the best equipment when we know we haven't?" We knew we didn't have the best equipment. And I remember Bob Burley saying, "Our tanks weren't the drop of hot water on a hot stove." And they said, "Chimed in Corporal Charles Millers. And it was in all the papers back home, and it said. We were interviewed in Cologne, by a lady, a correspondent. It's just about if you fought tank to tank. And until we got the T-26 with a 90 millimeter, we just dead ducks. Even when we souped up the 76, when they come out with a 76, it still wasn't effective. Unless you happened to hit on the side or in the back, or if they were up at an angle where you could hit them underneath, you couldn't penetrate with them. Of course, the 30 caliber, every so often, they had tracers in those. Which was the HE, which is the high explosive, and the AP, which was the ammo of piercing. We had one per company, and that was just the one that Bob Early had, and Smoyer. But I never had to mess with one of those because I was never in a T-26. But of course, when they got the nineties, that was quite a bit heavy head shell. They're fairly heavy, but I really couldn't tell you how much they weighed now. the assistant driver had a rack behind his seat, and he had to turn around and hand shells up to you through the basket. And Jenny, if you rack up your rack, you had to get it from either in the sponsor or from the. All three of you had to go out one hatch on the top, and so there was no way you could get rid of them except out the porthole. In that early tank that I was in, that first tank only had one hatch on top. And I had to keep loading that too.Īnd of course, then you, if you get in a real hot battle, you're going to have the turret floor covered with shells, and you have to, whenever you get chance, you have to eject those out, the porthole on the side. And of course, the 30 caliber machine in is mainly just to get range or hitting the infantry, or hanging around. Generally, if it's firing at a tank or anything that's armor, we use an AP or an APC. And then of course, that shell comes out, and I have to. And then, he lays on the target and fires. And the loader loads, whatever shell they put in there. And then they tell what kind of ammo you want to use in the 75. and he estimates the range and everything. And you hear them tell you, the gunner to lay on certain. You're wearing a helmet with earphone in it, and intercom. Well, the tank commander, initially, orders everything, and generally, it's over radio. And I was about one of the first And that was in Saint-Jean-de-Daye. The third Armored finally landed, and had their first action, and needed replacements. And then finally, they got the replacement pool set up, and I was pulled right out and sent. I landed nine days after D-Day, and I worked the beaches, picking up ordinance supplies, driving a truck for about a couple of weeks. And we waterproofed a bunch of tanks, and took them to Normandy. In England, I had been in the replacement pool, and I was detached to a 48 ordinance battalion. Well, I joined the 3rd Armored Division at Saint-Jean-de-Daye, France. Miller served as a tank loader, and eventually a tank commander, in World War II. Today, we’ll hear from Corporal Chuck Miller. Thank you for listening, and by doing so, honoring those who have served. Warriors in Their Own Words is our attempt to present an unvarnished, unsanitized truth of what we have asked of those who defend this nation. In partnership with the Honor Project, we’ve brought this podcast back at a time when our nation needs these stories more than ever. I’m Ken Harbaugh, host of Warriors In Their Own Words. If you like listening to Warriors In Their Own Words, check out our other show, the Medal of Honor Podcast.
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