It’s June 1944, Normandy
and the 3rd Armored division land at Omaha White beach near Isigny in France.
Riding on top of his Sherman is Texan tank commander
Lafayette G. Pool.
His crew have been training hard and have yet to see battle,
but this aggressive young Staff Sergeant
trusts the bunch of misfits he commands.
He calls them his pups.
The men have named him - “War Daddy”!
They have been sent to take on the Germans near the commune of Villiers-Fossard.
His Sherman is called ‘In The Mood’.
Ready for battle, the mood of Commander Pool and his crew
are far from the easy tunes of Glenn Miller.
At 6’3 it’s cramped for the giant Texan inside the tank.
That’s why he likes the fresh air on his face,
sticking up out of the Sherman turret like a cowboy on a beast of iron.
They are in the 32nd Armored Regiment, 3rd Armored Division
who were nicknamed the 3rd Herd...
The fighting is tough, but he’s riding in with some of the best:
In his own words, he described his crew
“My driver was PFC Wilbert Richards,
five foot four at full attention.
We called him "Baby".
He could have parallel parked that big Sherman
in downtown New York in rush hour traffic.”
Then “Cpl. Bert "School Boy" Close,
seventeen years old, still with peach fuzz on his gentle face,
co-driver and machine gunner to the stars.”
“Del Boggs, my loader, had been arrested on manslaughter charges.
The court gave him the choice of prison or the military.
What could we call him but "Jailbird"?
Cpl. Willis Oller was my gunner.
I often bragged that he could shoot the eyebrows off a gnat
at 1500 yards with our seventy-six millimeter gun.
The imprint of tanker's goggles permanently stained his face.
We never referred to him by any other name but "Ground Hog".
The ‘In The Mood’ found itself at the front of a spearhead.
We’d like to thank Richard Cutland
Ex Royal Tank Regiment and Currently working for Wargaming
and the excellent podcast The Finest Half Hour,
in explaining the Spearhead.
The term “Armored Spearhead” as the name suggests
was given to the tanks that formed the front of the offensive,
first into contact and first to receive enemy fire.
In simple terms
a way to lay effective concentrated fire onto the objective
and in theory, quickly overwhelm the enemy.
The assault was usually followed up by supporting infantry on foot,
whom critically also covered the flanks,
however all this depended on the tactical situation and the terrain.
Tanks in the “spearhead” on terrain that had lots of obstructions
were prime enemy targets.
Tanks had limited situational awareness
and without the infantry were susceptible to things like anti-tank guns.
It’s a risky tactic if done incorrectly
with the potential of an enemy counter attack
particularly into the infantry supported flanks a constant threat.
Only the bravest wanted to be at the forefront of the spearhead
and Lafayette G. Pool and his men
showed true courage in doing this repeatedly.
A German soldier, undercover, readies a Panzerfaust.
Translated into English, “tank fist”,
like it’s name suggests, it’s a devastating anti-tank weapon,
and it’s aimed directly at ‘In The Mood’.
A crack of thunder and puff of smoke.
The shout goes up “incoming mail!”
and colossal impact rocks the tank, leaving ears ringing and nerves jangling.
It’s enough to put the Sherman out of action.
Pool and his men escape.
They had a good, if short, run of six days between the 23rd of June and the 29th.
But it’s far from the end of their story.
Shortly after, they’re back inside another Sherman, the ‘In The Mood 2’.
On August 7th Pool and his men
roll into the battle of the Falaise Pocket,
part of the legendary Operation Overlord.
With German forces encircled by the Allies,
Pool is in Fromental Village, Central France,
pushing German’s troops out of the picture.
He’s right up the front of the Spearhead, just as he likes it.
Driving a wedge into the Germans,
he gets on the radio and jokingly says,
“Ain't got the heart to kill um".
Those listening in, hear the machine gun fire
followed by him shouting "Watch the bastards run,
give it to 'em close."
In the midst of battle, Pool is at the front
mopping up the Germans when explosions rock the “In The Mood”
and it’s clear he’s being bombed.
The tank is destroyed and the men scramble out.
The most likely reason is this was due to a friendly fire incident
involving a Lockheed P-38 Lightning.
Pool famously had a short temper
and a boxed with a great right hook
so the flyboy responsible was wise to keep his head down!
The Crew, 2 tanks down but undefeated
take charge of yet another Sherman…
you can probably guess what it was called…
but it’s not a case of third time lucky.
Moving into Belgium another Panther is about to cross paths
with Commander Pool’s rolling powerhouse.
‘In The Mood 3’ has just destroyed several enemy personnel carriers
and return to find a Panther attacking the column head.
“Groundhog” lets slip the dogs of war from the 76mm barrel,
and they chalk up another Panther for the long list of victories.
It seems like nothing can stop them while they are all working together as a team.
Heading up a column making for the Siegfried Line.
This key defensive line has to be busted open,
and if anyone’s going to do it,
it’s no nonsense Texas boy Lafayette G. Pool and his men.
Pushing towards the line they come face to face with a Panther tank,
which blasts them at close range…
twice!
‘In The Mood 3’ dodges the attack,
and “Groundhog” gets the enemy in his sights.
He takes the shot.
It’s only one strike, but is powerful enough to breach the armor?
There’s a huge explosion inside and the turret flies off under the pressure.
As they push forward, Jailbird needs to have his ears checked
and is temporarily replaced by Private First Class Paul King.
In Münsterbusch, a town to the far west of Germany.
The Germans have tried to conceal a gun inside a house.
Seasoned military man Pool is wise to the ambush, and spots the danger.
He orders his loader to prepare to fire.
The stand in, Private First Class Paul King,
jams the gun.
By all accounts, Pool’s words that day are:
“Back up baby!”
The next sound is a huge explosion.
The Panther has struck.
Pool is blown onto the ground, where his right leg crumples.
King has been killed.
In an extraordinary display of wartime grit,
Pool gives himself an anaesthetic with morphine
and begins removing his damaged leg
with nothing more than a pocket knife!
Unaware of this gruesome development,
the rest of the crew try and get their bearings.
The Panther tries again at the Sherman
as it tries to reverse out of harm’s way.
At the edge of a ditch.
‘In The Mood 3’ turns over,
bringing an end to Pool’s short-lived
but incredible career as a tank ace.
Over the 81 days they rode those 3 Shermans,
Pool and crew took out more than a thousand enemy soldiers.
12 tanks in total felt the wrath of the ‘In The Mood’,
with 258 armored vehicles adding to the tally of destruction.
He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross,
The Legion of Merit, The Silver Star, The Purple Heart,
The Fourragère and The Legion of Honour.
Pool returned to Texas got a prosthetic leg
and rejoined the army as an instructor before retiring in 1960.
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If you would like to find out more about Pool
we strongly recommend checking out
The Third Armored Divisions site
Thanks again to Richard Cutland from Wargaming.
You can hear more from Richard on the excellent podcasts
Tank Nuts and The Finest Half Hour.
All the links are in the description below.