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

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Makos Spearhead: The World War II Odyssey of an American Tank Gunner
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Spearhead: The World War II Odyssey of an American Tank Gunner: summary, description and annotation

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From theNew York Timesbestselling author ofA Higher Callcomes the riveting World War II story of an American tank gunners journey into the heart of the Third Reich, where he will meet destiny in an iconic armor duel--and forge an enduring bond with his enemy.
When Clarence Smoyer is assigned to the gunners seat of his Sherman tank, his crewmates discover that the gentle giant from Pennsylvania has a hidden talent: Hes a natural-born shooter.
At first, Clarence and his fellow crews in the legendary 3rd Armored Division--Spearhead--thought their tanks were invincible. Then they met the German Panther, with a gun so murderous it could shoot through one Sherman and into the next. Soon a pattern emerged:The lead tank always gets hit.

After Clarence sees his friends cut down breaching the West Wall and holding the line in the Battle of the Bulge, he and his crew are given a weapon with the power to avenge their fallen brothers: the Pershing, a state-of-the-art super tank, one of twenty in the European theater.
But with it comes a harrowing new responsibility: Nowtheywill spearhead every attack. Thats how Clarence, the corporal from coal country, finds himself leading the U.S. Army into its largest urban battle of the European war, the fight for Cologne, the Fortress City of Germany.
Battling through the ruins, Clarence will engage the fearsome Panther in a duel immortalized by an army cameraman. And he will square off with Gustav Schaefer, a teenager behind the trigger in a Panzer IV tank, whose crew has been sent on a suicide mission to stop the Americans.
As Clarence and Gustav trade fire down a long boulevard, they are taken by surprise by a tragic mistake of war. What happens next will haunt Clarence to the modern day, drawing him back to Cologne to do the unthinkable: to face his enemy, one last time.

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Copyright 2019 by Adam Makos All rights reserved Published in the United State - photo 1
Copyright 2019 by Adam Makos All rights reserved Published in the United - photo 2
Copyright 2019 by Adam Makos All rights reserved Published in the United - photo 3

Copyright 2019 by Adam Makos

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

B ALLANTINE and the H OUSE colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

All interior maps by Bryan Makos of Valor Studios, Inc.

Photo credits can be found on .

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Makos, Adam, author.

Title: Spearhead: An American tank gunner, his enemy, and a collision of lives in World War II / Adam Makos.

Other titles: World War II odyssey of an American tank gunner

Description: New York: Ballantine Books, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018039460 (print) | LCCN 2018042694 (ebook) | ISBN 9780804176736 (Ebook) | ISBN 9780804176729 (hardcover: alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Smoyer, Clarence, 1923 | United States. Army. Armored Regiment, 32ndBiography. | Tank crewsUnited StatesBiography. | United States. ArmyOfficersBiography. | World War, 19391945CampaignsWestern Front. | World War, 19391945GermanyTank warfare. | M26 (Tank)History. | Panther (Tank)History. | World War, 19391945GermanyCologne. | World War, 19391945Regimental historiesUnited States.

Classification: LCC D769.3055 32nd (ebook) | LCC D769.3055 32nd .M34 2019 (print) | DDC 940.54/1273092 [B]dc23

LC record available at lccn.loc.gov/2018039460

Ebook ISBN9780804176736

randomhousebooks.com

On the cover: This colorized frame, taken from the film of cameraman Jim Bates, shows the Pershing crew in Cologne on March 6, 1945. Left to right: Smokey Davis, Bob Earley, Woody McVey, Clarence Smoyer, John DeRiggi.

Book design by Simon M. Sullivan, adapted for ebook

Cover design: Bryan Makos

Cover images: National Archives (tank crew), Margaret Bourke-White/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images (Cologne Cathedral), Shutterstock (parchment)

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Contents
INTRODUCTION

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.

CHAPTER 1 THE GENTLE GIANT September 2 1944 Occupied Belgium during World - photo 4
CHAPTER 1 THE GENTLE GIANT

September 2, 1944

Occupied Belgium, during World War II

Twilight fell on a country crossroads.

The only sounds came from insects buzzing in the surrounding blue fields, and something else. Metallic. The sound of hot engines ticking and pinging, decompressing after a long drive.

With silent efficiency, tank crewmen worked to rearm and refuel their tired Sherman tanks before the last hues of color fled the sky.

Crouched behind the turret of the leftmost tank, Corporal Clarence Smoyer carefully shuttled 75mm shells into the waiting hands of the loader inside. It was a delicate jobeven the slightest clang could reveal their position to the enemy.

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