on the east side of the Ourthe River.
A medium and a
light tank from the 3d Armored started down the Soy road
toward the enemy infantry, but they were both stopped by a
Mark VI tank approaching the bridge from the Soy road.
The Mark VI quickly knocked out the light tank; the M4
fired one shot at the enemy Tiger and then backed into a
The enemy tank crippled the 3d Armored medium
building.
tank, and the crew evacuated. The Tiger tank continued
toward the bridge unmolested.76
At this point Private Ishmael manned the 37-mm.
antitank gun, which the crew from the 23d Armored Engineer
Battalion had hesitated to put into action. Ishmael was a
During late 1942 and
veteran member of the battalion.
1943, when the battalion had been at Plattsburg Barracks,
He shot
Private Ishmael had instructed on the 37-mm.
approximately 16 rounds in three minutes of rapid firing,
during which observers noted a few tracers bounce off the
Mark VI. Three shots hit the tank's bogie wheels, and the
most effective shot wedged between the turret and the
hull. This shell apparently prevented the tank's gun from
turning around.77
Sergeant Kenneth Kelly, who assisted Private Ishmael
in swinging the 37-mm. gun around, also fired at the tank
with a bazooka, which was loaded by Lieutenant Munny Y. M.
Lee.
Results were not observed because of the smoke and
dust, but it is believed that the rounds from the 37-mm.
The crew dispersed, but two
gun knocked the tank out.
were killed and one captured from the group in the tank.
Sergeant Kelly also observed a 2 1/2-ton truck, hit by
this same German Mark VI, go up in flames.78
About the time that Private Ishmael was dealing with
this tank, Colonel Fraser was leaving the battalion CP in
He had been in close touch with the
the Marche area.
situations at Hampteau and Hotton until the wire to Hotton
went out.
Colonel Fraser had appealed to the 84th
Division for help to be sent to Hotton When the 84th (at
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