It’s a cold, foggy morning on September the 19 th , 1944.
At an allied camp near the town of Arracourt, France.
2nd Lieutenant and Platoon Leader Ed Leiper waits anxiously by the command tent
alongside his Commanding Officer and Company Commander Tom Evans.
They’ve been told through the radio of urgent developments on the battlefield
and a liaison would arrive shortly with further orders.
Finally, the rumble of a car reaches their ears and a speeding Willys Jeep emerges through the heavy fog.
It stops by the men and a liaison officer Captain William Dwight states in a rush:
“There’s enemy tanks coming through Rechicourt, I swear I saw them!”
Evans knows only one platoon is ready for battle.
He looks at Leiper and tells him
“You take the platoon and hold on; I’ll get another and catch up as fast as I can.”
The two men share a nod before they run off separately.
A few moments later M-18 Hellcats from the C Company 3rd Platoon roll out of the base led by two Willys Jeeps.
Ahead is Captain Dwight and following him is Ed Leiper guiding his tank destroyers through the extremely heavy fog.
It’s an ominous scene,
Leiper can’t even see his second Hellcat in line,
he just guides the lead machine and hopes the rest follow as a light drizzle begins to fall from the sky.
They climb and the liaison officer states:
“They’re going to be coming through here”, as he brings his jeep to a stop, allowing the platoon to push ahead.
Leiper gets off his Jeep and walks the last stretch to the hilltop followed by one of his Hellcats.
He peeks over to the other side and his blood instantly runs cold.
Before him is the barrel of an enemy Panzer 4 sticking out from the fog just 30 feet or less than 10 meters ahead.
In shock he immediately turns around giving the signal to disperse, and the Hellcat following him immediately opens fire.
The bang of the 76mm washes over the countryside as it propels its shell towards the enemy.
It strikes the Panzer 4 head on and triggers a spectacular explosion, its shine illuminating even more enemy tanks behind it.
The Hellcat crew hastily slam another shell into the breach and fire a second time almost blindly into the white void.
Another explosion pierces through the fog in return as a second Panzer is turned into flaming scrap.
Behind the ridge a second Hellcat joins the fight just in time to witness a third enemy Panzer fire
and strike his compatriot square on the mantlet.
The surviving tank destroyer replies with a brutal strike of his own, avenging his brother and silencing the enemy machine for good.
Now standing alone the Hellcat fires into the figures moving into the fog.
Enemy shells materialize from seemingly nowhere, slamming into the earth and zipping overhead,
the Hellcat commander has no chance to spot whoever fired them.
The other 2 Hellcats arrive at the top of the hill and join the fray.
The Panzers experience the fire intensify and they turn around to escape the ambush,
but the Hellcats of the 3rd Platoon have no intention of letting them escape.
Another Panzer 4 is struck directly by two 76 mm shells,
and moments later a second one is hit in the back of the turret as it attempts to drive away.
The hill suddenly falls into an eerie calm, but not into a silence.
Leiper, who had been carefully observing the action from behind his tank destroyers,
can hear the rumbling of engines and tracks through the heavy fog.
He voices his nervousness to Dwight and the two decide to go scouting.
Leiper approaches his vehicles and shouts their commanders:
“Stay alert, they’re still out there. We’ll go look for them.”
They then leave on foot in search of the enemy.
First they go to the right flank and are quickly met with intensifying sounds of engines and tracks through the fog.
They quickly make their way back before they find themselves face to face with a Panzer.
They move to the left flank. On this side everything is still and quiet, but they still move with caution.
Suddenly cracks of bullets materialize out of the white void, impacting the earth and striking the trees.
They rush for cover, unable to see where on earth it’s all coming from.
Armed with just handguns they agree their only choice is a run for safety.
“3… 2… 1… go!”
They charge out of cover, braving the rain of lead as they run and disappear into the fog.
They return, running to their unit, Dwight heading straight for his Jeep’s radio.
He picks it up and calls for artillery support, they’re being surrounded by tanks on one flank and infantry on the other.
Immediately after: “Contacts ahead!” - a tank destroyer commander calls for Leiper’s attention.
Leiper runs up and takes a look.
While they were out scouting the fog had calmed and is now confined to just the low spots and valleys,
giving their hill a clean view of the top of the ridge ahead.
At first Leiper orders to hold fire as he witnesses the vehicles emerging from the trees.
Without binoculars he can’t tell if they are allied or enemy.
That is, until a 5th and a 6th tank emerge from the greenery, Americans operate in platoons of 4,
those must be German Panzers.
“Fire!”
The blasts of the 76 mm rip through the countryside once again as three Hellcats unleash their might.
The shells rip through the line of Panzers, detonating the leading vehicle and stopping the convoy dead in its tracks.
The enemy has no chance to fight back before they unleash their second volley and another Panzer is reduced to scrap.
They scramble and flee but not before a third volley rips through their ranks and takes out two more in quick succession.
The remaining two scamper away as survivors bail out of their burning machines,
the Hellcats decimate the formation and a lightning strike and don’t face a single enemy shot in return.
As the long range engagement draws to a close Dwight’s call for artillery materializes.
A spotter plane flies overhead and soon after a devastating rain of high explosives falls on the enemy positions.
Leiper watches the plane circling overhead and listens to the distant explosions with relief;
he hopes it’ll be enough to save his platoon from being encircled.
But then, he notices the aircraft change its path and dive towards the ground.
It fires a barrage of rockets and they rock the earth just at the edge of the woods behind him.
“Enemies behind us, turn around!”
Leiper dashes for cover.
The Hellcat Tank Destroyers desperately turn their turrets as the dirt settles and 3 Panzer 4s emerge from the tree line.
The disoriented Panzers don’t realize that they’ve lost the element of surprise
and in a blur the Hellcats of 3rd Platoon strike down the first two enemies with brutal precision.
The third Panzer stops upon the sight of his exploding compatriots and swiftly takes aim at one of Leiper’s Hellcats.
It fires and its shell streaks across the sky, impacting straight on the Hellcat’s sprocket and immobilizing it.
One of the surviving Hellcats rolls over the hill for cover while Leiper orders the second to tow the stricken Hellcat
and its surviving crew out of harm’s way,
but the men don’t even get the chance to tie the cable.
The Panzer reloads and fires its 75 mm straight at the would-be rescuer, striking the tank destroyer in the turret and neutralizing it.
But the German’s luck wouldn’t last.
The last surviving Hellcat re-emerges from cover and fires at the Panzer 4,
its shell strikes square in its hull and silences the war machine for good.
Shaken and on the edge Leiper and Dwight take stock of their situation.
They have only one Hellcat left, several injured personnel, no backup on the ground,
and they have no idea how effective the artillery barrage was.
While his men tend to the wounded the best they can, Leiper gets an idea.
He orders a couple of his men to dismount the 50 caliber machine guns of the roof of the destroyed Hellcats
and sets them up in concealed positions on the hilltop.
For the rest of the day the men of the 3rd Platoon would battle injuries, exhaustion and the enemy.
Panzers and Panzergrenadiers would appear several times throughout the day
as they probed American positions for weak points, but would be quickly repelled by Leiper’s machineguns and Hellcat.
Towards the evening Tom Evans would make good on his promise of returning
and arrived at Hill 279 with the C Company 1st Platoon.
By the end of the day, they had destroyed at least 14 Panzer 4s.
Their stand would be the start of the 11-day Battle of Arracourt which would result in an allied victory.
Captain Ed Leiper, Major Tom Evans and Captain William Dwight would survive the war and all return home to their families.
The aircraft that helped the platoon of Ed Leiper and its pilot have a legendary story of their own.
If you’d like to know more check out our video on Major Charlie “Bazooka” Carpenter.
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