Active 1941–45 Branch Army Equipment M3 Stuart
M24 Chaffee | Country United States Part of Independent unit Disbanded 1945 | |
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The 759th Tank Battalion was a tank battalion of the United States Army active during the Second World War.
It was activated in June 1941 as a light tank battalion, equipped with M3 Stuart tanks, and sent to Iceland as part of the garrison force in mid-1942. After a year it moved to the United Kingdom, in mid-1943, and was landed in Normandy on D+10, 16 June 1944. It was attached to the 2nd Infantry Division and fought in the St-Lo area. When the 2nd Division moved westwards towards Brest in mid-August, the battalion was attached to the 4th Cavalry Group, with which it would serve for the remainder of the war.
Moving eastwards, it crossed the Seine north of Paris in late August with VII Corps, then over the Meuse, entering Germany on 13 September. In December, it moved north into the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge, and was the first unit to receive the M24 Chaffee tank. It then took up defensive positions, before reaching the Rhine in early March. It moved through Germany capturing a number of small towns in April, and ended the war in Aschersleben, eastern Germany, where it began occupation duties.