By Christopher Miskimon
On September 19, 1944, Walter Stitt, serving as a loader in an M4 Sherman, lost his first tank. Embroiled in a fierce battle, the tank’s coaxial machine gun saw so much use the barrel overheated and jammed. The lieutenant in the commander’s hatch, stunned by the fighting, froze for a moment, despite radio calls telling him they were being shot at. Looking through a periscope, Walter saw a German round flash past. Finally, just after the shellshocked officer said “Back up,” another German round crashed into the turret, killing the commander and gunner and trapping Walter inside. He crawled forward and got out through the driver’s hatch just as a second round set the tank on fire. Bleeding from his leg, Walter ran to a nearby tank and asked for a bandage. A hand appeared from a top hatch with a bandage, so Walter had to climb up and get it. When he did, a burst of submachine gun fire hit the tank, aimed at him. He spotted the enemy soldier under a bush and shouted the location to the crew in the tank. The German did not survive their response.
This book is part memoir and part a collection of the author’s letters home. It is a creative work, showing the difference between what was happening on the battlefield and what he revealed to his loved ones.
Surviving Three Shermans With the 3rd Armored Division into The Battle of the Bulge (Walter Boston Stitt, Jr., Casemate Books, Havertown PA, 2024, 191 pp., photographs, bibliography, $34.95, HC)
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