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XIII Corps moved to liquidate Geilenkirchen on
18 November when 84th Division troops attacked
through, and were assisted by fire of CT 405. Only
the day before a counterattack against Immendorf,
launched from the east by crack panzer troops, had
been beaten off. Company C, 771st TD Battalion
received a unit citation for knocking out sixteen
German tanks in this fight, one of the greatest tank
battles of the war. The citation reads as follows:
On 16 November 1944, Company C, 771st Tank Destroyer
Battalion, was given the mission to secure the town of
Immendorf, Germany, against armored counterattacks. After
the destroyers had moved up and barely occupied their
positions, two approaching
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enemy tanks were sighted and quickly destroyed. When the attack
proceeded the following day, the Company moved
into Apweiler, Germany, so that the exposed flank
of the assault units could be covered. During the
night, reconnaissance revealed that the enemy was
massing tanks to the north. To meet the threat,
a reinforcing platoon was brought up and suitable
positions were occupied. At break of dawn,
the enemy attacked. Fire was withheld until the attackers
were within five hundred yards of the positions; then,
in the course of five minutes of accurate and
well timed fire, seven enemy tanks were destroyed and the
balance forced to withdraw. Two other armored attacks
were repulsed on the same day, causing the destruction
of five additional tanks. During the night, the
company reorganized to prepare for the attacks on
Gereonsweiler which started at eleven hundred hours
the next day. Only a few minutes
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