Book suggestion U.S. tanks in ETO

Dear all, I am looking for a good read about the U.S. tank, most likely the M4 Sherman, in Europe. It would be great if the book has some info about the 741st and 745th Tank battalions. Thanks!!

 

I enjoyed Zaloga's 'Armoured thunderbolt' on the Sherman in WW2. Solid stuff.
Would have to check if it mentions your units of interest though.

 

Harry Yeide's 'Steel Victory' covers the ETO tank battalions. It doesn't go in depth on any individual one but has some passages for each.

Informal history of the 741th. http://www.taxyman.info/images/booklet/TheStoryOfVitaminBaker/VitaminBaker.htm

History of the 745th. http://digicom.bpl.lib.me.us/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1022&context=ww_reg_his

 

I would avoid Copper's "Death Traps"

http://www.amazon.com/Death-Traps-Survival-American-Division/dp/0891418148

 

Edit:

One of my unrelated tangents. I enjoyed this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Treat-Em-Rough-American-1917-20/dp/0891413545

 

I can't completely agree with avoiding Cooper's Death Traps. What he witnessed first hand is accurate and gives a good picture of what his job entailed.

I do however have 2 major problems with his book. When he begins writing 2nd or 3rd hand gossip and complaints as if it's fact or at least having those who read it accept it as fact. However my biggest problem is that if the reader has no grounding in WW2 knowledge they don't realize that this is not a balanced perspective of what was happening in the ETO. If you ask a mechanic at a Ford dealership about his job he'll tell you all these stories about broken down Fords. This doesn't mean that Chevy's are perfect cars that don't break down. Just that he doesn't see them.

So taken as a memoir it's good. Taken as a history of the Sherman tank it's unbalanced and ....well, just never take it as a History.

 

It was inevitable Death Traps would crop up.
Avoid like the plague. Bad history, and a bad memoir as distorted by the filter of a bad historian.

 

That's a good post. I'll skim it again sometime with the memoir angle in mind

 

I haven't read Cooper but from discussions of his book one simply has to keep in mind where he was, what he was doing, and that it was written well after the fact. In particular his unit lost a lot of tanks and he was responsible for taking care of them. As others have stated it's a memoir I wouldn't call it bad as such but it's one persons view through a fairly narrow window.

In regards to the IP. It would help if we knew a little more about what you were looking for. Stories of individuals or small units, technical details, the flow of the campaigns, etc?

 

Thank you all for your replies! I was about to order Cooper's book, but I guess I will pass on this one.

What I am looking for is an overview of campaigns/battles. My main subject of interest is the U.S. 16th Infantry Regiment. The 741st and 745th Tank Battalions were attached to this unit at some point in the war. The regiment also got support from the 3rd Armored Division. Although I know a lot about the 16th Infantry, I have little knowledge about tank warfare, especially tanks in support of infantry.

 

While I admit I haven't read it if you are really interested in Shermans especially in Western Europe I think I would go ahead and read it. Just keep in mind what it is and that no book is perfect. There are also some good stories and books on the net. A book I've seen refered to (but again haven't read), that is also somewhat controversial but from the other direction is When Odds Were Even.

You can also find quite a bit of information here:
http://www.history.army.mil/
and at hyperwar. Including full books.

 

Here's a review of Death Traps that goes into considerable detail and seems fairly balanced as far as I've read (haven't read it all yet)
http://tankandafvnews.com/2015/01/29/debunking-deathtraps-part-1/#more-62

*** edit for ***
After reading a bit more of it, it definely concentrates on the weak points of the book.

 

I would suggest Yeide's book The Infantry's Armor: The US Army's Separate Tank Battalions in WWII. It discusses both the 741st and 745th a fair amount. Steel Victory and Zaloga's book are also good suggestions.

If you like reading AARs and unit journals, CARL has a few documents for both tank battalions:

Unit Journal, 741st Tank Battalion - June 1944

AAR 745th Tank Battalion - June-Dec 1944

Report After Action Against Enemy, 745th Tank Battalion - Jan-May 1945

 

How about a gratuitous, self-indulgent plug:

http://www.amazon.com/Duty-Before-Self-Story-Battalion/dp/0764343408/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1435243857&sr=8-1&keywords=duty+before+self

 

You left out "shameless".

 

THAT was the word I was looking for.....

 

I'm here to help.