Makos - Spearhead: The World War II Odyssey of an American Tank Gunner

Some stories begin with a roll of the dice.

It was a Sunday morning in 2012 when I approached a brick row house in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The working-class neighborhood was quiet and no one paid me any notice.

I had come chasing a story.

My former college classmate Pete Semanoff had given me a lead on a World War II veteran living here in relative obscurity. Pete said this veteran had a tale to tell, maybe a book in the making. Supposedly, he had been a tank gunner in one of the wars most legendary tank duels, and an army cameraman had filmed the whole thing.

But did he want to share his story? And would anyone want to read a book about tanks? This was before Brad Pitt strapped on his three-buckle boots for the filming of Fury, and before World of Tanks became all the rage.

And there was another question looming in my mind. The veteran had served in the 3rd Armored Divisionthe Spearhead Division. Most history buffs know of the Screaming Eagles. The Big Red One. Pattons Third Army.

But the 3rd Armored Division?

The only 3rd Armored soldier I knew of had joined them during the Cold War. His name was Elvis.

I checked the house numbers against the address I had noted on my phone. This was the place.

I knocked, and Clarence Smoyer answered. He was eighty-eight and surprisingly tall, dressed in a simple blue polo shirt that stretched over a robust stomach. His thick glasses made his eyes seem small. Clarence welcomed me inside with a chuckle and pulled up a chair for me at his kitchen table. There, Id make a discovery.

It was true. All of it.

This gentle giant held the keys to one of the last great untold stories of World War II, and he was ready to talk.

Ive always visited the battlefields before I write about them. A Higher Call took me to a dusty airfield in Sicily. Devotion led my team and me into the misty mountains of North Korea.

To bring you the deepest level of historical detail for this book, we went to new lengths in our research. This time, we traversed the battlefields of the Third Reichwith the men who made history.

In 2013, Clarence Smoyer and three other veterans traveled to Germany and allowed us to tag along, to interview them on the ground where they had once fought. We recorded their stories. We recorded what they remembered saying and hearing others say. Then we verified their accounts with deep research.

We drew from four archives in America and one in England. We even traveled to the German Bundesarchiv in the Black Forest in search of answers. And what we found was staggering. Original orders. Rare interviews between our heroes and war reporters, conducted while the battle was raging. Radio logs of our tank commanders chatter, allowing us to time their actions to the minute. Daily weather reports. And much more.

Prepare to mount up.

In a few short pages youll find yourself behind enemy lines with the 3rd Armored Division, a workhorse unit, one of the most aggressive American divisions, and arguably the best in the armor business.

Even General Omar Bradley saw something special in Clarence and his comrades. When asked to gauge the personality of his units, Bradley wrote that Pattons tankers adopted his flair. Simpsons in the Ninth Army were known for their breeziness. And the 3rd Armored? They led the fighting march across Europe with a serious and grim intensity.

Serious. And grim. Thats who youll be riding with.

But this is not a story about machines, how one tank stacked up against another. This is a story about people.

Well drop you inside the tanks with Clarence and his fellow crew members, strangers from across America who became family.

Well lift you outside, into the elements and enemy fire, with an armored infantryman fighting to clear a path for the armor.

And well explore the other side, stepping into the boots of a German tanker and into the shoes of two young fruleins caught in the crossfire.

Ultimately, well see what happens when these lives collide, leaving aftershocks that still shape the survivors more than half a century later.

Is the world ready for a book about tanks?

Theres one way to find out.

Shut the hatches.

Tighten your chin strap.

Its time to roll out.