![]() ![]() Smoyer was told he would receive the Bronze Star, but a few days later he ran afoul of a minor disciplinary issue that cost him his medal. The battle was captured on film and Smoyer became known as the “Hero of Cologne.” Smoyer, of Allentown, Pa., was part of a famous March 6, 1945, duel in Cologne, Germany, where his Pershing tank destroyed a German Panther tank about nine months after D-Day. Instead, he found a full Army color guard and ceremony awarding him a Bronze Star, almost 75 years after the battle that made him a hero. "Spearhead" was adopted as the nickname of the 3rd Armored Division in recognition of the division's role as the spearhead of many attacks during the liberation of France in 1944.WASHINGTON - When 96-year-old Clarence Smoyer came to Washington Wednesday, he thought he was heading to the Pentagon to sign copies of “Spearhead,” a recent book detailing his exploits as a World War II tank gunner. 3rd Armored Casualty FiguresĬasualty figures for the 3rd Armored Division, European theater of operations: The 3rd Armored Division was recognized as a liberating unit by the US Army's Center of Military History and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1985. ![]() Requesting help from the 104th Infantry Division, the 3rd immediately began transporting some 250 ill and starving prisoners to nearby hospital facilities. The division first arrived on the scene, reporting back to headquarters that it had uncovered a large concentration camp near the town of Nordhausen. On April 11, 1945, the 3rd discovered the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp. ![]() ![]() The 3rd Armored Division and the Liberation of Dora-Mittelbau In April, it advanced eastward into Thuringia and continued the push east until war's end. In March 1945, the 3rd Armored Division advanced into Germany, capturing the city of Cologne and crossing the Rhine River. During the German winter offensive into the Ardennes, the Battle of the Bulge, the division was redeployed to Belgium. The "Spearhead" division advanced rapidly eastward, reaching the German border by mid-September. 3rd Armored Division Campaigns during World War IIĬreated in 1941, the 3rd Armored Division landed on the Normandy beaches of France in late June 1944, just weeks after D-Day (June 6), the massive Allied invasion of western Europe. ![]()
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