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648th Tank Destroyer Battalion

Field	Value
unit_name	648th Tank Destroyer Battalion
dates	1943–1945
country	United States
branch	Army
command_structure	Independent unit
equipment	[3" anti-tank guns](3in-gun-m5)
M18 Hellcat
battles	World War II
battles_label	Campaigns
disbanded	1945

M18 Hellcat

Rhineland
Central Europe The 648th Tank Destroyer Battalion was a tank destroyer battalion of the United States Army active during the Second World War.

The battalion was activated at Camp Bowie on 6 March 1943, formed around a cadre drawn from the 628th Tank Destroyer Battalion. After early training on self-propelled tank destroyers, it was converted to a towed battalion equipped with towed 3" anti-tank guns in March 1944. It sailed for the United Kingdom later that year, and was deployed into the European theater in February 1945.

On 20 February, the 648th was attached to the 70th Infantry Division, fighting in the Moselle region on the French-German border. During the next month, the 70th Division captured Saarbrücken and closed off the defending forces in the Saar region in a large pocket.

The battalion was relieved from attachment to the 70th Division on 31 March, and withdrew into reserve to re-equip with self-propelled M18 Hellcat tank destroyers. However, this process was delayed, and was not completed before the end of the war. Elements of the reconnaissance company were attached to the 36th Infantry Division from 11 to 14 April, and the entire battalion returned to combat duties under the command of the 86th Infantry Division on 15 April, operating in Bavaria.

Tank Destroyer Battalion (SP) Structure - March 1944

Notes

References

Tankdestroyer.net (Web based United States tank destroyer forces information resource) Tankdestroyer.net

References

Yeide, p. 266
[http://www.5ad.org/units/628td.html History of the 628th Tank Destroyer Battalion]
(December 1945). "Order of Battle of the United States Army World War II". [[United States Army]].
[http://www.trailblazersww2.org/history.htm 70th Infantry Division History]
Yeide, p. 266, merely notes that they "began conversion". Nafziger gives a reequipment date of 24 May, and Zaloga suggests the conversion did not happen at all until after the end of the war. The 86th Infantry Division combat record for mid-April confirms this, noting them as the "648th (T) Battalion", the notation for a towed unit. It is not clear if any early-arriving M18s were active before late May.
(December 1945). "Order of Battle of the United States Army World War II". [[United States Army]].
(December 1945). "Order of Battle of the United States Army World War II". [[United States Army]].

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