First to Fight the Germans

The first group of U.S. soldiers to see action against the German army returned to home base at Fort Knox last week. Bronzed, full of quiet, unique pride, behaving like veterans, they had fought for a month with the British in Libya, got out of Tobruk just two days before Field Marshal Erwin Rommel arrived.

They had volunteered for an unspecified mission. In Libya, most were homesick the first week. But they forgot their homesickness in the rush of battle. Their score: nine German tanks disabled or destroyed; three out of three American M35 still intact. How did they feel under fire? "Well, sir," said one of the new veterans, "you don't have time to feel physically afraid." They had no casualties in battle, but one broken ankle on the trip home.

Though their riveted M35 sustained some shell hits, no rivets bounced about inside. Main fault in the tanks: an incendiary bullet, stuck in the pencil-thin crevice between the revolving turret and hull, froze the turret tight. The tankers unfroze the turret with an acetylene torch. (This defect has been corrected in the newer M-45, which have a collar over the crevice.)

They learned to brush their teeth, wash their faces, shave and rinse out socks in two inches of water in a mess kit. The mention of British service biscuits brought wry smiles to their faces. Said one hardy biscuit eater: "You could dunk them in water and they'd soak it up all right. Then they'd be just as hard as ever."

The Army wants it understood the men are not to be feted as heroes; they are to slip quietly back into their jobs, tell their stories "without embellishment" to their bunk mates in the Armored Force, preach the value of maneuvers. Their only reward, other than their experience: each was advanced one grade.

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