43rd Tank Battalion, 12th Armored Division

© Picture ~ Copyright Michael V. Drachman 2014 ~ All rights reserved

Ray W. Stillman

Private First Class, U.S. Army
43rd Tank Battalion, 12th Armored Division
Service /ASN #: 33298284
Entered the Service From: Pennsylvania
Enlisted: October 22, 1942, Erie, Pennsylvania, USA
Rank @ ToE: Private
Branch: B/I Warrant Officers
Nativity: West Virginia, USA
Education: 4 years of high school
Occupation: Semiskilled occupations in production of industrial chemicals
Marital Status: Single w/o dependents

Date of Death: April 09, 1945, between Diedesheim and Wurzburg, Germany

Burial: Section D Row 03 Grave 25
GPS: 49.122941,6.715565
Lorraine American Cemetery & Memorial
Department de la Moselle
Saint Avold, Lorraine, France

Citations and Awards:
Not Known: Suspect a Purple Heart but I have no confirmation.

12th Armored Division, 43rd Battallion excerpts, order of battle
March 28, 1945 ~ April 13, 1945

Hellcats crossed the Rhine early March 28, 1945. Four days previously the division had reverted to Seventh Army and now was to spearhead Gen. Patch's forces across southern Germany into the heart of the Nazis' vaunted National Redoubt. After reorganizing near Diedesheim, the 12th spanned Germany's principal river on two bridges erected at Worms. Operating under XV Corps and later under XXI Corps, the Hellcat Division pointed its guns towards Wurzburg and began another swift drive that swept aside all resistance.

Amorbach, Beerfelden, Tauberbischofsheim, Hettstadt, Oschenfurt were buttoned up. CC A, with the 222nd Regt., 42nd Inf. Div., attached, moved into Marienburg, across the Main River from the much-bombed Wurzburg.

Stoutly defended by infantry forces concealed in the ruined buildings, Wurzburg, presented a formidable obstacle. Led by 1st Lt. Thomas F. Johnson, New York City, a platoon of light tanks from Co. D, 43rd Tank Bn., moved against the positions, shifting from one section of the city to another as needed. Tankers left piles of enemy dead throughout the city. One of the strongly defended areas was the Wurzburg cemetery.

Also aiding Rainbow Division doughs was Capt. Ivan D. Wood's medium tank company, 43rd Bn. The city was cleared after two days of fighting.

After CC A slipped through the city and swung north to clear the way for the 42nd Div., it assisted in the capture of Schweinfurt, German ball bearing manufacturing center. Meanwhile, other combat commands of the 12th moved south and east of Wurzburg, taking a bridge and airport at Kitzingen. Large enemy areas were surrounded and cleared by the fast moving task forces, supported by the 101st Cav. Group, now attached to the division.

The 12th's advance turned southeast towards historic Nuremberg, gateway to Bavaria, April 13. Enemy resistance stiffened as the division approached the Redoubt, although many towns surrendered without a fight to save their buildings from destruction by Hellcat guns. The city of Neustadt surrendered to CC A's Task Force Scott only a few moments before the tanks were to open fire.

History of the 43rd Tank Battalion (WWII) listing PFC Stillman among those killed in combat.