top of page
PA-ETO-Marburger: Visit Us
Prendergast - Copy.jpg

Sergeant William R. Prendergast

T-3 Mine Flail & M4A3 (76) Sherman Tank Commander

6617th Engineer Mine Clearance Company;

3rd Platoon, B Company, 753rd Tank Battalion

753rdpatch2_edited.png
image14 (1)_edited.png

     William R. Prendergast was born in April 1914, in Garfield, Illinois. When he was just a boy, his father passed away, leaving his mother alone to care for William and his two sisters. The family moved to the city of Streator, in central Illinois, shortly afterward where his mother began a long and hard life of labor trying to provide for her children. Throughout the 1920s and 30s, she worked a plethora of jobs to bring money into the house, among them being a dressmaker, rubber saleswoman, and restaurant cook. Life was not easy for the Prendergasts, but the three children grew up and attended Streator Township High School where his sisters were soon betrothed and William dropped out, to help provide for his mother. 

     Without a high school education, he was rather limited in his opportunities and spent time working at a local cigar store before moving to the big city of Chicago for more opportunity. He began working as an electrician here while world tensions heated up, as war grew in Europe and Asia. Rather than wait to see what might come next, William enlisted in the U.S. Army in February of 1941 and by the end of that year, watched as his nation descended into war. For several years William bounced around posts in the United States before going overseas to the 1st Replacement Depot in North Africa in July of 1943.

 

     Sometime that fall, William was assigned to an experimental armor unit, the 6617th Engineer Mine Clearance Company. Undergoing unique training in armor tactics and operations, the 6617th was a company designated to test and operate a myriad of specialized armored vehicles. Among these included the T1E1 and T1E3 Mine Exploders, mine flail tanks, tank bulldozers, a bridge-laying vehicle based on the M32 tank recovery vehicle, and even a modified British Churchill tank meant for bridge-laying. With the complexity and speed of modern warfare experienced in North Africa and Sicily, the U.S. Army wanted to figure out whether specialized vehicles based upon existing platforms could solve a number of battlefield tasks. 

     The company spent a long time training in North Africa but in early 1944 moved to the Italian mainland where they traveled to various 5th Army units, particularly the 1st Armored Division, putting their new methods to work. Prendergast was part of these armored crews, likely operating a T3 Mine Flail, and worked his way up to the rank of Sergeant while serving as a tank commander. He and the 6617th worked directly alongside the 1st Armored in May 1944 during the breakout from Anzio, joining the drive to Rome clearing minefields, traps, and resolving other obstacles in the path of American forces. As Rome fell and the 5th Army pushed northward, the 6617th was slated to join the 7th Army for Operation Dragoon, the invasion of Southern France. On August 15, 1944, Prendergast and other tankers of the unit landed alongside the 3rd and 45th Infantry Divisions in the French Riviera. Primarily using their mine flail Shermans, they continued in their work clearing the way for the rapidly-pushing GIs amidst a plethora of minefields and barriers put up by the retreating Germans.

 

     By October the 7th Army had pushed the German forces deep into the Vosges Mountains and Forests and Central France. Unfortunately for the 6617th, their tactics, although somewhat useful, were never quite as successful as the Army had imagined. The vehicles they operated were often quite finicky and did not perform as productively as once thought. With the thickly wooded mountains of the Vosges composing the new battlefield, the need for such already-problematic vehicles reached an all time low. Rather than let experienced armored crewmen sit in the rear with rather defunct equipment, many men of the 6617th were turned into transfers for more seasoned combat units that desperately needed experienced replacements.

     On October 25, 1944, William was assigned to 3rd Platoon, B Company, 753rd Tank Battalion in Belmont, France. The 753rd was an independent tank battalion operating M4A1 Sherman Tanks to provide direct ground support for infantry operations. The 753rd had been in combat for over a year by this point, primarily as the tank battalion of the 36th Infantry Division. When William joined, they were in service with the 36th in Belmont, having just finished a bloody fight over the town of Bruyeres, a central transportation hub in the Vosges. At this time the 36th Division was also working with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a unit of segregated Japanese-American soldiers, many of whom had volunteered out of internment camps in the Western United States. B Company was in reserve on the day William joined, holding various roadblocks while the 442nd and 36th infantry units pushed across several wooded hills to the east. The day after he joined, however, he received a very unique assignment as B Company was attached to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team itself.

 

     The 442nd, as an independent regiment, was working under the command of the 36th Infantry Division on a special mission: to rescue a “lost battalion” of 36th Division troops which had been cut off and surrounded by German forces on a nearby mountaintop. Although the terrain was not well suited for armored support, B Company was nevertheless attached to the regiment to provide any assistance possible. William’s platoon moved this day to relieve the 2nd Platoon near the battlefield. For the next five days the 442nd was pushing onward, through brutal slogging combat on the muddy and cold mountainous hills. While five tanks of 2nd Platoon were up in the forests, trying to do what they could to directly support the 442nd’s advance, William’s platoon was positioned around the mountain in the valley below to keep German forces from flanking the American troops. By October 30, the 442nd reached the lost battalion and the rescue was complete.

     For the first week of November, William and his company remained attached to the 442nd holding positions around Belmont as new defensive lines were established. Cold, winter rain and muddy terrain plagued the tankers while the infantry kept a steady advance against the German lines. On November 10, B Company received what became its regular attachment to the 142nd Infantry Regiment of the 36th Division. William’s platoon was largely in reserve for most of the month, and on November 18, received a special gift from Uncle Sam: M4A3 (76) Sherman tanks. The M4A3 (76) was a huge improvement from the quite old and under-equipped M4A1s (and mine flails for that matter) that William was now used to operating. Although the vehicle had many upgrades, in its armor, engine, construction, and more, the key improvement for the tankers was its larger, high penetration 76mm gun, which was much more capable at penetrating German armored vehicles and heavier targets. William underwent training in the vehicle in mid-November and on the 22nd of the month, moved to join the 1st Battalion of the 142nd Infantry near Les Pouliers, loading infantry on top of the vehicles for movement. The next several days were spent traveling around several towns and villages as the 36th Division was driving quickly now towards the edge of the Vosges, finding German troops in a large-scale retreat.

 

     On November 26, 3rd Platoon moved their infantry into the mining town of St. Marie Aux Mines, which had recently been captured in a daring sneak attack by other troops of the 142nd. At 0800, however, the tanks were quickly reorganized to support the ongoing attack which sought to finally break free of the Vosges and see the 36th Division rush into the Alsatian Plain. 3rd Platoon left the city with 2nd Battalion of the 142nd Infantry and, within 200 yards, met their first resistance at an enemy roadblock which they quickly cleared. The column moved on to the town of St. Croix, where another heavily defended roadblock required the infantry to work closely alongside the tanks to clear. By the end of the day the town was neutralized and William’s platoon moved to the nearby village of Stimbach. The following morning had the platoon move further down the road to Liepvre, outposting the town since a blown bridge left by the German hampered their movement.On the 28th the column decided to remain active and moved northward to the town of la Vancelle, where they encountered a quite fierce enemy action.

     The advance towards la Vancelle began at 1600 to support F Company, 142nd Infantry as they attacked the town. William and his tanks had to advance up the main road since rain and snow had softened the ground to the point where cross country movement was impossible. Minesweepers remained at the front of the column despite sporadic sniper fire, which was warded off by their accompanying infantry. After a mile of movement the infantry heard potential enemy armor up the road. Unable to identify it, the commander of F Company asked for the tanks to advance up the road with the infantry while the others stayed behind. They moved about 200 yards up only to find a road block which they began working to clear, so the infantry company went ahead to see what they could find while William and his platoon sat alone with a few machine gunners from F Company. Suddenly, a vehicle was heard moving toward their road from the wooded area on their right, but again, no identification could be made in the darkness. The tankers thought, based on the direction, that it could be friendly, so they did not open fire. The vehicle got within fifty yards of the roadblock when the engine stopped. Still unsure of who it was in front of them, there was an eerie silence before an enemy Panzerschreck roared in the night, hitting the bull-dozer tank trying to clear the roadblock. Their platoon commander opened fire immediately and William’s section tried to assist. More rockets were fired but all thankfully missed. Machine guns and high explosive rounds lit up the blackened forest until no more enemy was heard. Around this time, radio contact was made with F Company who returned to the choke point. They finished clearing the road block and moved on to la Vancelle, finding it largely absent of enemy vehicles but full of snipers, which they spent the entirety of November 29 trying to clear. This incident led to a division-wide recommendation to alter the security left with tanks as more than just machine gunners, but some sort of actual infantry force, as well as a solid communication link between infantry and tankers as the gunners in William’s platoon were largely blind during the ambush.

 

     3rd Platoon was put into divisional reserve at Rombach the following day as news broke that elements of the 142nd had reached Alsace, the large, expansive flatland outside of the Vosges. On December 1, B Company of the 753rd was moved up to to support this advance. Although records from B Company are sparse for the first weeks of December, it is known that they were largely attached to the task force assaulting Selestat. A major city in Alsace and a key German supply hub maintaining their forces south at Colmar, B Company joined 3rd Battalion of the 142nd Infantry and 2nd Battalion of the 143rd Infantry in attacking the city to clear out the strong German defenses in place there. William and his company were put to the test, going up against several 88mm anti-tank guns, self-propelled guns, and even a few fearsome Panther heavy tanks. Much different than their forest and mountain fighting the Vosges, Selestat found the tankers clearing street by street as German troops turned each row of houses into small fortresses. By December 3, however, the city had largely been cleared and the 36th occupied it in preparation for what they knew would be an inevitable counterattack. After it was occupied, William and 3rd Platoon were moved back to the village of Val de Ville, where they remained in reserve.

     While 3rd Platoon sat in reserve, the Germans launched a series of probing attacks, supported by armor, on Selestat trying to feel out the strength of American troops in the city. On December 8, 1st Battalion, 142nd Infantry, under the command of Lt Col James L. Minor,  took over the defense of the entire city, putting up strongpoints at various routes into the town. On the morning of December 12, the same day that Operation Habicht was launched in the south at Colmar, the 198th Infanterie Division sent a mass of troops to try and retake Selestat.Throughout the day the 1st Battalion was pounded, not only from artillery and the advancing enemy, but from random batches of German soldiers pouring out of houses after infiltrating the 36th Division lines the night before. The situation was grim, but with the help of 1st and 2nd Platoon of William’s company, the German gains were slowly pushed back. 

 

     At 1930, William’s platoon got the call to rush in and support C Company near the large factory in the northern part of the city, near the Viehweg area. 3rd Platoon’s support was critical in pushing back the enemy, who were advancing with Sturmgeschutz assault guns. Still, the Germans fought ferociously through the night, using rubble and walls of the factory as strongpoints to try and beat back the 36th troops. Eventually, the area was overrun and the evening was spent with C Company and William’s platoon mopping up the area

 

     Although the next day was largely mopping up operations, a renewed German counterassault began around 2015 in the evening, where three companies of German troops were trying to flank the defenders once again near the factory. Here, 3rd Platoon was actually a participant in an action that led to the award of a Silver Star Medal. Upon their arrival to the C Company area, Staff Sergeant Shelby Speights, a platoon sergeant in C Company, was already leading his men in a fight to retake his platoon’s positions after being forced  to abandon them and call in dangerously close artillery fire. He ran up to the four tanks and guided them to a series of houses occupied by the Germans. As William and his comrades blasted away, all in the pitch black of the night with enemy troops all around them, Speights led the tankers in neutralizing several enemy strongpoints. By 2250 the situation seemed well in hand and the final German attack on Selestat had finally been neutralized. When the sun rose the next morning, German dead littered the battlefield. 1st Battalion licked its wounds and set up stronger defenses, but had thrown back the last of their foes.

     On December 17, William and his platoon were sent back to Ribeauville where they were put into division reserve, a rest well-earned after their tireless efforts holding off the hordes of German troops in Selestat. They remained here for the rest of the month, celebrating Christmas and a general period of rest in the line. As January opened and 1945 began, B Company, 753rd Tank Battalion, moved northward through Strasbourg to St. Louis, where they set up a bivouac until January 9. During this period, the men performed maintenance on their tanks and applied a thick layer of whitewash paint to camouflage their vehicles amidst the consistent and heavy snowfall. The company then moved to Berg, near Mackwiller, where they underwent further maintenance and training operations, a welcome change of pace from the prior two months. On January 19, however, the company was sent to Weyersheim, rejoining the 36th Division along their defensive line south of Haguenau. At the end of December the Germans in the area launched Operation Nordwind, a small offensive aimed at breaking certain parts of the 7th Army line. The 36th had been placed south of Haguenau to prepare for a possible German armored assault there, and for the last few days of January, William and his company remained prepped and ready to move at a moment’s notice should a situation arise. Freezing weather, heavy snow, and overall miserable conditions plagued the tankers, but they were at most ever under sporadic artillery fire, allowing them to continue maintenance and preparation for future operations. 

 

     B Company’s rest came to an end on January 30, when 2nd Platoon was ordered from Weyersheim to join 3rd Battalion, 142nd Infantry Regiment in Bischwiller. The 36th Division was about to undergo an assault into the town of Oberhoffen, just across the Moder River from Bischwiller. The town lay was thought to be occupied by German forces and by capturing it, would secure a major strongpoint for the American line. Throughout the 31st, men of 2nd Battalion, 142nd Infantry Regiment first assaulted the town, and took several key locations. In the early morning hours of February 1, however, a large force from the 10th SS Panzer Division, including infantry, assault guns, and Panther tanks came out of the woods from the northeast to attack the 2nd Battalion. The infantry were quickly overwhelmed by the many armored vehicles spearheading the assault and around noon the 2nd Platoon of William’s company roared in to try and support. Despite their best efforts, all they could do was hold the Germans at bay even at the cost of one American tank destroyed while the GIs retreated south of the town. Around 1730, 3rd and 1st Platoon of William’s company were ordered to move into Oberhoffen alongside 1st Battalion of the 142nd. William’s platoon attached itself to C Company of the 1st Battalion while 1st Platoon attached itself to A Company. An attack was planned for that evening, and the tankers were warned that multiple Panthers still occupied the city, notably near the southern fork at the entrance of the town.

     At dark, 1st Battalion of the 142nd crossed the river to relieve the weary 2nd Battalion, taking over the area south of the fork where the T-Patchers had been pushed back to. Around 2200, the battalion advanced, throwing off their snowsuits and surprising the German forces who were not ready for such a quick counterattack. The Germans were quickly rushed out of the city as the German tanks fell back with them, allowing 1st Battalion to take up defensive positions. A Company moved quickly to the fork while C Company surrounded a German platoon and began picking them off. At 0025, William’s company made its way across a makeshift bridge to join the two units. William’s platoon joined C Company as they took up along the eastern road around 300 yards north of the fork, pausing here until morning light. At around 0700, twelve Panther tanks were spotted in Schirrhein by aerial observers, signaling an imminent counterattack. To stifle any effort, both A and C Company, with tanks attached, began moving northward. German resistance did not take long to heat up,however, as reinforcements had flowed into the outskirts of Oberhoffen after the 1st Battalion’s midnight attack. William’s platoon first saw German tanks at 0808, with two spotted at the northern end of the eastern road leading into town. This was just the beginning.

 

     The entire day was chaos. As elements of the 21st and 22nd Panzergrenadier Regiments moved in with support from their heavy tanks, the 36th Division troops locked into bitter urban fighting with their 10th SS counterparts. A Company had reasonable success moving up its part of the city, whereas C Company and William’s platoon did not have such luck. Germans launched relentless counterattacks against their segment of the city. At one point, two Panthers had moved up again to the end of the road, causing C Company to call up tank support. William’s tank answered the call, having his driver slowly approach the bend in the road that would open to the supposed enemy positions. Peeking out, they spotted their targets and opened fire. William’s crew was able to get several direct hits on at least one of the Panthers, but made a terrible mistake. After jockeying back and forth around the bend, William’s driver accidentally backed into a crumbled wall in the yard of a house, stopping the tank dead in its tracks exposed and out of cover. Unable to reverse or move out of the way, the began rotating the turret only to see a Panther peek around and fire. The German shell ripped through William’s turret, passing right in front of him, obliterating their breech block, and exiting out the other side of the tank. Somehow, it had not exploded inside. The breech block and shrapnel from the hit, however, blasted the tank crew. Private First Class Ambrose Rooney, one of William’s crew, suffered a particularly severe injury when razor-sharp fragments of metal launched across his face, forehead, and one piece into his right eye. He was knocked unconscious immediately. William, on the other hand, had shrapnel rip through his left thigh. With their tank ruined, the uninjured crew jumped from the vehicle and began evacuating their wounded commander and comrade. As medics arrived, they took both away, moving William to the 116th Evacuation Hospital. Their sacrifice was not in vain, however, as the town was successfully held against the ruthless SS onslaught. By the end of the day, the tankers of B Company, 753rd Tank Battalion accounted for one enemy Panther destroyed and one damaged, but lost three tanks in the process, William’s included.

     William remained in the hospital for several weeks. His other crewman, Rooney, however, never went back into action nor returned to his unit. Even into his later years he testified that he never did learn what happened to the rest of his crew, or if any had survived. William did recover enough to back onto the line and did so sometime around early to mid March. Rejoining in his role as a tank commander, with a new vehicle under his watch, he would continue supporting the 142nd Infantry through the end of the war. His next major operation was likely the attack across the Moder River on March 15, where 3rd Platoon of B Company spent several days clearing out the town of Mertzwiller from German troops, machine gun positions, dugouts, and more. A week later he also took part in the attack on the Siegfried Line, although his assistance to the 142nd was largely static as they were attacking massive, sharply-inclined hills impossible for tanks to move through. Nevertheless, his platoon made sure to provide direct fire support against whatever targets they could.

 

     Once the Siegfried Line was broken and the 36th Division poured into Germany, they were placed into a military government role. William and the 753rd Tank Battalion, however, were too necessary to keep out of the fray. Instead, they were sent to the fresh-to-combat 63rd Infantry Division, where they worked alongside the 255th Infantry Regiment to drive deeper into Germany. Records show that the 753rd was not very impressed with the 63rd GIs, as they had never worked with armor before and did not have near the experience in combined arms operations as the 36th had, but they still did their bit to help move the ball forward. It was not until April 29 that William and his men were reattached to the 142nd Infantry Regiment at Landsberg, mounting them up to go across the Lech River and down through Weilheim, the Inn Valley, Bad Tolz, into Austria, finally reaching Kufstein on May 4, 1945. On May 5, William’s company took part in a rather historic affair by joining E Company of the 142nd to relieve the German and American troops fighting alongside each other at Castle Itter. Much can be read on the battle  elsewhere, but James’ company was the primary armor unit sent to relieve the defenders and beat off the SS forces trying to eliminate a combined group of French prisoners, 142nd infantrymen, and Heer soldiers all fighting against the SS.

     As the war came to a close, William remained with the 753rd throughout the occupation. A seasoned combat veteran of Italy, Southern France, the Vosges, Alsace, and now Germany, William was able to go home late in the summer of 1945 and received his official discharge from the U.S. Army on September 27. He returned home to Illinois and picked up his trade as an electrician, spending his career in both Streator and Chicago. He married his lifelong bride in 1947 and had several children, who loved him dearly up until his death in 1971. 

Ambrose Rooney, one of William's crewmen, recounting their service and injuries at Oberhoffen
PA-ETO-Marburger: Pro Gallery

Copyright © 2025 by The T-Patch Archive. All Rights Reserved. No content can be used from this site unless consent has been given by 36thDivisionArchive.com. 

bottom of page