It’s the 10th of November 1944, near Morville-les-Vic, Normandy.
The 761st Tank Battalion of the US Army is about to face serious action,
against a reinforced German division.
The 761st have had to fight prejudice before they had even engaged the Germans
as they are composed entirely of Black American soldiers and NCOs,
commanded by white officers.
Some army commanders expect them to flee at the first engagement,
but the 761st are about to prove their worth.
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One of the M5 tanks of ‘Company D’
is commanded by 21-year old Sergeant Warren Gamaliel Harding Crecy,
or simply ‘Harding’ to his friends.
This Texan Sergeant may appear an unlikely soldier to onlookers:
he’s easy-going, polite, even meek.
But he is also known as one of the most gung-ho, hardcore recruits
since his training days at Camp Hood.
As Harding stands on top of his M5,
scanning the surrounding area while manning the vehicle’s .50 calibre machine gun,
the silence is broken by a barrage of fire that comes raining all around him.
Harding and his crew are unharmed,
but a direct hit has knocked out the tank.
The unit’s patch represents a Black Panther, not a Sitting Duck
and so before the Germans can attack again,
Crecy dismounts the Stuart and commandeers a .30 calibre machine gun from a nearby Jeep.
Running towards the enemy positions, Sgt Crecy opens fire,
mowing down the crew of an anti-tank gun.
He then turns his attention to a nearby machine gun nest.
It’s a duel of Browning vs Mauser.
M1919 vs MG42.
And the lone Texan gunner comes out on top.
With all immediate threats wiped out,
Harding and his crew commandeer another M5 and get on with the fight.
Later, when a lieutenant from another division flags them down:
he needs to inspect a hill and could do with a lift!
The narrow treads can barely grip the snowy terrain,
but the tank manages to cool up the slope.
Just as they approach the summit, there’s a burst of fire.
Then another as the armour is blasted with machine gun bullets.
Crecy orders his driver, Corporal Tyree, to back up.
‘Ty’ kicks the machine into reverse,
but the tank falls into an anti tank ditch.
Standing at an angle, the soft underbelly of the M5 is exposed to anti-tank weapons.
As Tyree rocks the machine back and forth,
the German machine gunners continue spraying their storm of lead.
Crecy, calm under fire, immediately radios for help.
Another tank soon arrives, to tow them out of the ditch.
But who is going to brave the ‘hail’ to connect the two tanks?
Crecy flatly announces to his crew:
“I’m going out to hook us up”.
Tyree replies: “Christ, Sarge!”
Crecy calmly adjusts his horn-rimmed glasses and answers:
“Keep that thought”
The sergeant then jumps out of the Stuart wielding his Thompson .45 submachine gun.
He empties an entire magazine towards the enemy to keep their heads low,
then hooks up a cable between the two tanks.
Ignoring the German bullets whizzing past,
he waits for the second tank to pull his M5 out of the ditch,
unhooks the cable, then jumps back inside.
As his crew looks at him in disbelief,
Crecy offers his views on the German gunner:
“That boy can’t shoot sh*t.
His sergeant ought to ship him back for retraining.”
But that boy must have a big brother in artillery somewhere,
as an armour piercing shell rams right into the side of the Stuart.
The suspension is damaged.
One track is completely lost.
Harding has had two tanks shot from under him in the same day.
In the turret Crecy grips the triggers of the .50 calibre heavy machine gun.
He soon realizes that the German MG42s are now shooting at exposed infantry units.
Harding redirects his fire towards the enemy nests,
silencing their positions for good.
The action is now over, and Sgt Crecy can lead his crew back to the rear to regroup.
But there is no respite from bad news.
His best friend, Technician 4th Grade Horatio Scott, with Company C,
has been severely wounded.
Their friendship goes all the way back to Camp Hood
and they have been inseparable since.
‘Scotty’ has a message delivered to Harding:
“It’s OK, man. I’ll be back soon.”
The morning after, Harding learns that Horatio died during the night,
while undergoing surgery.
Crecy immediately requests a transfer to Company C
to take the place of his fallen companion.
Continuing the fight with Company C,
Warren G. Harding Crecy earned the nickname of ‘Iron Man’
and had a reputation as ‘the baddest man’ in the 761st.
Facing again direct fire from machine gun nests,
he was described as ‘going ‘berserk’.
Crecy attacked the enemy positions single-handedly, spending every single round,
until his unit had to pry the empty machine gun from his hands.
The 761st Battalion, the ‘Black Panthers’ distinguished themselves
by fighting continuously for 183 days, until the 6th of May 1945.
Their ‘Iron Man’ Crecy was nominated for a Medal of Honour
but was awarded the Silver Star instead.
He was in the forefront of every attack during the 761st 183 days of constant combat.
The more fire he drew upon himself,
the harder he fought.
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