The 607th Tank Destroyer Battalion was a tank destroyer battalion of the United States Army active during the Second World War. They arrived in England during April, 1944, and entered combat in mid June, landing at Utah Beach. The unit fought across France and into Germany during the summer and early winter of 1944. In late winter, they were then pulled out and sent to Belgium near the end of the Ardennes Campaign and again fought their way into and across Germany, ending the war near the Czechoslovakian border. The 607th received credit for the Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace and Central Europe campaigns.
History
Early service
The battalion was activated on 15 December 1941 with personnel from the 7th Infantry Division Provisional Antitank Battalion. Additional personnel from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana were assigned in March, 1942. In December, 1942 and January, 1943, personnel from Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia replaced the losses of the preceding nine months. On 15 December 1943, it was reorganized, changing from a self-propelled to a towed battalion equipped with the 3in Gun M5 and the Reconnaissance Company being inactivated. Except for four and a half months training at the Tank Destroyer Center, at Camp Hood, Texas, the battalion received all of its precombat training in California at Sunnyvale, Hunter Liggett Military Reservation, Camp San Luis Obispo, Lost Hills, Desert Training Center and Camp Cooke. The unit deployed to the United Kingdom on 13 April 1944, sailing on the USS Wakefield (AP-21) and arriving on the 21st. The unit was stationed in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England for one month and then proceeded to Camp Barton Stacey, in southern England, where it made final preparations for the invasion, arriving on the beaches of Normandy, France on 17 June 1944.
Normandy
Two companies (Headquarters and A) landed in Normandy at 0130 on 17 June (D+11) at Utah Beach, with Companies B and C being unable to land due to rough water. Company A was committed to action in the Battle of Cherbourg on arrival, attached to the 9th Infantry Division. During this mission, Co A captured its, and the battalions, first prisoner. The battalion was relieved from attachment to the VII Corps and attached to VIII Corps on 19 June, with Company A attached to the 82nd Airborne Division until 4 July and the battalion, less Co A, to the 90th Infantry Division. The remaining two companies (B and C) landed on 23 June, with Co B joining the 357th Infantry Regiment of the 90th ID. Company C moved to the TD's secondary mission, indirect fire, in the vicinity of Cretteville and fired the first rounds from a 3" gun of the battalion on French soil. During the period of 7 to 27 July, the division advanced very slowly, especially in the areas around Foret De Monte Castro on Hill 122, on the approaches to Seves Island and at Beau Coudray. Following the bombing from St. Lo to the southwest toward Periers and the exploitation of the forced breakthrough, the enemy withdrew from the division front on the night of 27 July. During the month of July, 15,424 rounds were fired indirect. A breakthrough to the enemy's rear had been made.
Task Force Weaver, consisting of the 357th Infantry Regiment, 712th Tank Battalion, 344th and 345th Field Artillery Battalions and Co. A of the 607th, was organized and given the mission of securing the crossing of the Mayenne River, at Mayenne, and then proceed to Le Mans. On 5 August, the task force left La Condonniere, moving towards Mayenne and meeting light resistance. On the 6th the drive continued towards Le Mans, during which Co C destroyed an enemy half track, the first armored vehicle hit by the battalion. The task force arrived in Le Mans on the 8th.
On 11 August, units of the battalion began moving north with the 90th as the division sought to close in on the southern side of the pincer which closed the Falaise pocket. The battalion continued to support the infantry regiments, and helped repel several armored and infantry attacks in the areas around Le Bourg-Saint-Leonard, Chambois and St. Eugenie; between 16 and 21 August, they accounted for thirty-four tanks, twenty-three self-propelled guns, nine halftracks and sixteen artillery pieces destroyed or captured, with over five hundred prisoners taken and fifteen men awarded Silver Stars.