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The following description is based on a meantime outdated thesis from cameraman Jim Bates, that no German soldier survived the tank duel: Pershing gunner Clarence Smoyer described the event several times. According the records another soldier was found dead in the Panther the next day. Loader: rear turret hatch / loader's hatch (yellow)Īnother shell is on the way to the German tankįollowing the film made by Jim Bates four crew members are able to escape, one of them dies in a hospital a short time later. Radio operator: radio operators's hatch (green)Ĭommander / gunner: upper turret hatch (blue) The nearest or the fastest achievable emergency exits of the crew are visible on the graph below Gruber, from the book "Panzer V Panther" by Spielberger/Doyle, with friendly permission by Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2010 This and following graph created from two graphs by F. The gun and the turret pointed toward the Pershing and the intersection An den Dominikanern / Marzellenstrasse Meanwhile, Smoyer’s tank commander and the military cameraman who filmed the battle received Bronze Stars of their own.The following graph shows the positions of the Panther crew in the second, the Pershing shell had hit the Panther. A military police officer saw him searching his pockets for bubble gum to give to a crowd of German children and charged him with fraternization with the enemy. Smoyer was told he would receive the Bronze Star, but a few days later he ran afoul of a minor disciplinary issue that cost him his medal. The battle was captured on film and Smoyer became known as the “Hero of Cologne.” Smoyer, of Allentown, Pa., was part of a famous March 6, 1945, duel in Cologne, Germany, where his Pershing tank destroyed a German Panther tank about nine months after D-Day. Instead, he found a full Army color guard and ceremony awarding him a Bronze Star, almost 75 years after the battle that made him a hero.

WASHINGTON - When 96-year-old Clarence Smoyer came to Washington Wednesday, he thought he was heading to the Pentagon to sign copies of “Spearhead,” a recent book detailing his exploits as a World War II tank gunner.