Eisenhower National Historic Site

American Infantrymen Riding on a Sherman Tank at la Ferte, France
August 14, 1944
Soldiers sometimes hitched rides on tanks in order to keep up with a rapid advance. This squad of infantrymen from Lieutenant General Courtney Hodges’ First Army caught a ride on a Sherman Tank as they moved through the French town of la Ferte-Mace on August 14, 1944. These troops were in a hurry to catch retreating Germans of the 5th Panzer and Seventh Armies in the Falaise Pocket. After having defeated the German counter attack at Mortain on August 7, the American First and Third Armies swept around behind the enemy from the southwest, and forced them to flee eastward to escape entrapment. NATIONAL ARCHIVES 111SC204588



American Infantrymen Riding on a Sherman Tank at la Ferte, France August 14, 1944 Soldiers sometimes hitched rides on tanks in order to keep up with a rapid advance. This squad of infantrymen from Lieutenant General Courtney Hodges’ First Army caught a ride on a Sherman Tank as they moved through the French town of la Ferte-Mace on August 14, 1944. These troops were in a hurry to catch retreating Germans of the 5th Panzer and Seventh Armies in the Falaise Pocket. After having defeated the German counter attack at Mortain on August 7, the American First and Third Armies swept around behind the enemy from the southwest, and forced them to flee eastward to escape entrapment. NATIONAL ARCHIVES 111SC204588
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