Tank Crew Nicknames

Uploaded with ImageShack.us


Picture taken september 1944 in Valkenburg aan de Geul (8 kilometres from Maastricht)

Light Stuart Tank with the name Astoria. Tank supposted to be of elements of the 2nd Armoured Division "Hell On Wheels"

 

hi i was told my grandpa was called basterd bill and it was on the side of his tank .im acutaly trying to fing info about him his name is William John Milligan born 1919 in penslvania his wife pauline i know very little i have one story to share with my child and would love to know more abou him ive checked alot of ancestry sites to no avail thank you

 

You might want to post a thread on this over on the information request sub forum. Several people on this forum seem to specialize in finding or helping find this sort of information.

 

Does anyone have a reputable source on this? I find this to be a fascinating idea and I would love to write an article about this for the wiki I work on.

 

hi! i am new to the group. my grandfather served with the 7th AD 129th Ord Maintenance Bn

 

Don't know about US tank names but speaking as a British tank crew member my favourite tank name was "Semper in Excretum" which is dog Latin for "Always in the S##!t"

My own particular tank was a Stuart Mk 111, turret-less and known as a "Honey"

My tank commander was the Sqn SSM and we certainly had no name on the side!

Ron

 

I'm a grateful New Member here. I found this valuable forum here while researching my next book, when my Google search on tank names led me to your specific post here. I am researching my Great Uncle, Corporal Pete Snoich, KIA 11-28-1944. We think he was the driver or asst. driver for his tank. I have yet to find his tank's name, hence my search! However, I started working from the letters he wrote that survived. Once I deciphered his handwriting, I was able to identify his outfit via his return address. Apparently they were all required to put their ASN#, Rank and Assigned Outfit.

As an example, in this way I discovered that Pete was in the 2nd Armored Division "Hell on Wheels". 66th Regiment "The Iron Knights" His first company assignment was HQ, Headquarters while in North Africa. By Sicily he was transferred into the Reconnaissance Company for the 66th and remained there until his death in Germany. His letters return addresses allowed me to reconstruct these facts.

. Yesterday, I just received a WW2 memoir-history of the Iron Knights I ordered, link here: Amazon.com.

This paper Book has photos of tanks and tank names from soldiers' photos/letters/diaries.

66th Regiment's TANK NAMES & PHOTOS I found in this book SO FAR:


Astoria & Alamo, confirmed Co A.
Dodo, to confirm D
El Celeste - named for Tank Commander's Wife
Hawkeye, Houdini, Homesick
Loretta II. there is no L company, see below, so another mystery...
None of these are my Uncle as none of them were in Recon Company.

El Celeste has a touching story in the book: Lt. Lewis Sasser, tank commander, eventually KIA, writes to his wife Celeste often. He when his tank was killed but all 5 of his crew escaped but El Celeste is killed. Sasser started in HQ company, but not sure when he jumped on El Celeste yet.

Regarding 66th Armored Tank Regiment specifically: I just research today out of this book so its fresh in my notes & mind: on 6/14/1944 the 66th Reg reorganized its remaining Battalions in this way after landing on Normandy (beginning on DDay+3 or 6/9/1944).

6-14-1944 REORG: 1st Battalion: Companies C, F, I. 2nd Battalion: Companies A,D,E. 3rd Battalion: Companies B,G, H.

It seems this book outlines that these companies remained independent outside the 3 Battalions, as they were in service to all 3 Batts: HQ Headquarters, RECON Reconnaissance (my uncle Pete) Maintenance, Service. They took such heavy losses once they hit Normandy's Gold Beach that the tanks dwindled away like the soldiers. Think they were down 2/3 for this regiment.

So thank you for creating your post a few years back, as it has helped me uncover so much here in 2023!

 

Hi Erica,

If your Great Uncle was assigned to Reconnaissance Company, 66th Armd, then he was not in a tank. The Armored Regiment Reconnaissance Company did not have tanks.

The 66th Armd did not land over GOLD even though that is what the Wiki entry says. They landed over OMAHA as part of CCA.

Yes, the Wiki also says the battalions were reorganized on 14 June, which is also incorrect. They had experimented with that organization in Sicily and confirmed it in the task organization of the three battalions as they were loaded and landed for Normandy.

 

I will return to look at this in more detail as I ran out of time tonight. Think I was working out of Iron Knights book, but will return to review...

Cheers,
EE

 

Hi Erica,

Yes, Blaker is an excellent secondary source for the 66th Armored.

Pete as Armored Force enlisted would have had driver training and tank familiarization but if he was assigned to the Reconnaissance Company, 66th Armored Regiment, he would not have driven a tank, since the company did not have tanks. If he later did drive a tank in combat, then he was transferred from Reconnaissance Company to one of the tank companies of the regiment. That is just how it works.

The "Operations Report Second Armored Division Combat Command 'A'", which Blaker used, gives additional details of the landing of CCA. The Commanding General of CCA, Brigadier General Maurice Rose, landed on OMAHA from the SS Charles Sumner at 1830 7 June and set up an advanced headquarters near the headquarters of the Provisional Engineer Brigade near St Laurent sur Mer. Advance elements of CCA, including Reconnaissance Company, 66th Armd arrived off OMAHA and began landing at 1200 9 June and by 2400 9 June had closed in an assembly area near Mosles, which is directly south of Colleville-sur-Mer. By then, the elements of 66th Armd asshore were Company D, Company E (-), Reconnaissance Company, Service Company (-), and Maintenance Company (-). None of it landed over GOLD and by 9 June there was little chaos on the beaches.

The Reconnaissance Company did not perform missions requiring multiple languages, although his language skills would have been useful. Reconnaissance for the Army was a multi-layered affair. Strategic reconnaissance was primarily aerial reconnaissance, operational reconnaissance for the army and corps was done by the Cavalry Reconnaissance Group, Mechanized, and tactical reconnaissance was done in the armored division by its Armored Reconnaissance Battalion (2d and 3d Armd Div) or Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, Mechanized (all other armored divisions) and by regimental and battalion reconnaissance elements.

Note that after July 1944 the 2d and 3d Armored Division were the only divisions to retain the original 1942 organization with their tank elements organized as regiments with a reconnaissance company. All other armored divisions were reorganized eliminating the regimental organization, which also eliminated the armored regimental reconnaissance company.

The Armored Regiment Reconnaissance Company provide information directly to the Regimental Headquarters and was particularly focused on route reconnaissance: condition of roads, capability of bridges, cover and concealment, as well as pinpointing the location and capabilities of enemy units. Whenever possible they did not fight for that information but could if needed. The Company was organized as a headquarters and three platoons, each platoon consisting of a scout section in four peeps (jeeps), an armored car section in four armored cars, and an assault gun section with one 75mm M8 Howitzer Motor Carriage. The lasy was a tracked armored vehicle, so was very tank like but was not technically a tank. It is possible that was his vehicle if he described it as a tank.