Buttoned Up: American Armor and the 781st Tank Battalion in World War II (Volume 157) (Williams-Ford Texas A&M University Military History Series)

"Independent tank battalions were small, self-contained armored units attached to larger infantry divisions as necessary during World War II. The United States Army believed this would provide infantry the firepower and protection it needed on an ever-changing battlefield. In Buttoned Up: American Armor and the 781st Tank Battalion in World War II, Westin E. Robeson explores the contribution of American armor to the Allied victory in World War II. Robeson first provides contextual background with a consideration of the history of the tank itself and the development of armor doctrine during the First World War and interwar years. He then addresses the rebirth of American armor in response to the German attacks in Europe. Finally, he focuses on a particular independent tank battalion, the 781st, as a case study of the effectiveness of armor in World War II. Buttoned Up introduces the reader to the application of American armored doctrine and provides a new understanding of the tank as a weapon."--Publisher's description Contents 8 Preface 10 Part 1: Origins through 1939 16 Chapter 1. An Introduction 18 Chapter 2. Dawn of the Tank 20 Chapter 3. The Great War and Its Wake 26 Chapter 4. American Armor during the Interwar Years 40 Chapter 5. Guderian and the German Attack on Poland 61 Chapter 6. Panzers in France 75 Part 2: Summer 1940–Fall 1944 86 Chapter 7. Creating the US Armored Force 88 Chapter 8. African Desert, British Troops, American Tanks 95 Chapter 9. World War 105 Chapter 10. El Alamein 126 Chapter 11. Disaster in Tunisia 130 Chapter 12. Lessons from the Desert 138 Part 3: The 781st Tank Battalion, Fall 1944–VE Day 148 Chapter 13. The Mediterranean and France 150 Chapter 14. The Separate Tank Battalion 159 Chapter 15. Battalion Operations, October–December 1944 169 Chapter 16. Hunting Tanks, Improving Tanks 183 Chapter 17. Battalion Operations, January 1945 192 Chapter 18. Battalion Operations, February–March 1945 212 Chapter 19. Battalion Operations, April–May 1945 231 Chapter 20. Postwar and Review 250 Notes 258 Bibliography 270 Index 274