HERO OF THE 3RD ARMORED DIVISION PASSES ON

Recently, the WW2 Community and humanity as a whole lost one of its greatest. He was a gentle giant, an unassuming man who found himself caught in one of the most horrific wars in human history.

Despite the brutality of this war, Clarence Smoyer did not lose his humanity or compassion. He was a gunner in the famed 3rd Armored Division ‘Spearhead’ and had fought with them from mid-1944 all the way to the wars end.

He was the greatest gunner in the whole division; as such in early 1945 Smoyer was selected to be a gunner on the brand new T26E3 tanks being rushed to the front in anticipation of the Allied push into Germany.

This job was by no means an easy assignment. Clarence now found himself at the spearhead of the “Spearhead” division - the first to come under fire.

Smoyer was made famous and ascended to legendary status among tankers for his role in the famous Köln tank duel which took place just a few hundred feet from the Köln Cathedral.

Smoyer would continue at the front of the division’s drive into Germany in 1945. He was involved in another ferocious tank duel at Padderborn - which would be his last major engagement of the war.

Clarence then returned home and struggled with PTSD but used his struggles as a way to reach out to veterans of the Second World War and following conflicts, giving them invaluable support and insight. He will be forever missed but never forgotten.

Comments

A great story about a little bit of 'humanity' during a terrible war.

A great story about a little bit of 'humanity' during a terrible war. In April 1945, 2nd Lt. Peter During was a South African fighter pilot (N.7 Squadron) running missions over Italy when his Spitfire was shot down by German AA fire. He managed to crash land his plane behind enemy lines where he was immediately captured. Whilst been escorted to a German Lufwaffe Prisoner of War (POW) camp (he was a pilot and thus his interrogation and imprisonment was the responsibility of the German airforce), he opened a conversation with his captors. He was quickly able to establish that they could already see the writing on the wall, that the war was at an end and Germany would lose it. ...

He said the family were "acutely aware" there were "extremists of all sides who are keen to hijack this incident for their own ends".

The family of a man who was kicked in the head by police at Manchester Airport has appealed for "calm in all the communities", an MP has said. Paul Waugh, Rochdale MP, said the "traumatised" family wanted to make it clear they had "no political agenda whatsoever" and did not condone political violence. Anger over the video led to protests outside Rochdale police station on Wednesday and Thursday nights, with another protest also held in Manchester city centre on Thursday. Mr Waugh said the family would not be attending any protests or giving any media interviews as they wanted their privacy protected. "The strong message they wanted to give is that they have no political agenda whatsoever," he told BBC Breakfast. "They wanted me to issue an appeal for calm among all sorts of different communities in Rochdale. "We've had a history of unfortunate division in our town and we do not want to go back to those days." He said the famil...

Can a woman ra*pe a man?

Can a woman ra*pe a man? WHENEVER rape is mentioned, the picture that comes to mind is that of a man having sexual intercourse with a woman without her consent. That is why laws and policies often seek to protect women against men. For example, S. 258 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011 states that any man who has unlawful sexual intercourse with a woman or girl without her consent is guilty of an offence called rape and is liable to imprisonment for life. This section makes it clear that it is only men and not women that can commit “the offence called rape”. On other hand, Section 259 of the same law defines sexual assault by penetration using the words “any person” who penetrates sexually any opening in the body of another person with apart of his body or anything else without consent is guilty of a felony and liable to life imprisonment. This is what the law says. Practically, can a woman physically overpower a man and sexually assault him by penetrating an opening in his bo...

WORLD OF ALL

Search This Blog