Lt Edgar Danby, Cpl Steve
Vargo, and Pvt Dual Dishner were assigned to the 756th Tank Battalion. They were killed on August 27, 1944 in Allan,
France. On April 29, 1949 they were buried in Section E Site 51-52 at the Zachary Taylor National Cemetery.
756th
Tank Battalion
Danby,
Edgar R., 1st Lt, KIA 8/27/1944
Dishner,
Dual F., Pvt, KIA
8/27/1944
Vargo, Steve,
Cpl, (KIA)
8/27/1944
1st Lt Edgar R. Danby
Tank Platoon Leader: B Co / 756th Tank Battalion
from Wyandotte, Michigan — Killed in Action at Allan, France on Aug. 27, 1944.
He spoke fluent French
and was a church organist by profession.
Company L was fighting in
a small town called "Allan" in Southern France on August 27th, 1944. This town is southeast of Montelimar by about
5 or 10 miles. The commander of this company at the time was Captain James Coles. The battalion commander was LTC Thomas R.
Davis. Lt. Edgar R. Danby was the platoon leader for the 3rd Platoon, Company B, of the 756th Tank Battalion. His
tank platoon was attached to Company L/15th Infantry Regiment that day when he was killed. His tank was knocked out by a German
tank hiding in a cemetery just north of town by about 400 yards. He and his turret crew were killed instantly, but the driver
and bow gunner of his tank escaped and were subsequently captured. There were two other tanks from the 3rd Platoon that participated
in the battle, but his was the only American tank knocked out that day in Allan.
There is a journal account
from a French resident of Allan who witnessed the battle. It is quite detailed, giving an hour by hour account of the day's
events. It talks of an American patrol of about 15 men who went down into a creek ravine near the cemetery at about 3:00 p.m.
and came under attack. The journal account says that these men were killed or captured and did not return. It says that my
grandfather then moved his tank to support this patrol before it was hit about 100 yards north of town on a small bridge over
the creek. One of the men who got out of my grandfather's tank, and was captured, was a man by the name of Hubert S. Shew.
He has since passed away, but his relatives tell me that he was captured along with about 15 other men (the missing patrol?)
and held as a POW until the end of the war.
The battle for town was
fairly intense at times, with some shelling of farmhouses, some "cat and mouse" between opposing tanks in the town's narrow
streets, and the destruction
of a German tank east of
town. There were several firefights, particularly at the main intersection of town near the Catholic Church. There was also
a firefight in the western gardens, with the Germans seeming to take a heavy beating. The main concentration of German activity
seemed to be, however, in this cemetery just 400 yards north of town. This enemy force seemed to halt the American advance
through town for a few hours, and I believe that the patrol was sent to scout out it's strength and location. During the day's
events, the Company radio was knocked out and the radioman was severely wounded when night came, the town was safely under
American control, but communications had been cut off. Captain Coles took his jeep with the wounded radioman and sped south
of town back to the Battalion command post. He came storming back in a maintenance tank with a radio, crashing a German roadblock
on the way back into town. For this action he received the Distinguished Service Cross.
DAY OF THE PANZER
A Story of American
Heroism and Sacrifice in
Southern France
Jeff Danby
This is a rarely detailed “you are there” account of World
War II combat, describing a brief but bloody tank/infantry action in August 1944. Based on six years of research—drawing
from interviews, primary documents, and visits to the battlefield—The Day of the Panzer transports the reader into the
ranks of L Company, 15th Regiment, Third Infantry
Division, and its supporting M-4s of the 756th Tank Battalion as they
grapple head-on with the Wehrmacht.
On August 12, 1944, L Company hit the beaches in southern France,
joined by the tank crews of 2nd Lt. Andrew Orient’s 3rd Platoon, all veterans of Cassino. After overcoming pockets of
resistance––along the coast, the tanks and infantry swept inland, nipping at the heels of the retreating German
Nineteenth Army.
A sudden German artillery salvo dispatched six L Company men and left Lt.
Orient dead. 1st Lt. Edgar Danby, an armor instructor (the author’s grandfather), was flown in from Italy
to replace him.
Despite logistics problems,
the Third Division forged north through the Rhône River valley until they found the Germans holding fast, L Company and its
supporting tanks leading the regimental charge. In the haste and chaos of the day, they managed
to slip the German rearguard and unwittingly attacked the German LXXXV Armeekorps
headquarters in the small town of Allan. Both sides were shocked
by the ferocity of the battle.
Led by a rampaging Panther tank, the Germans counterattacked, knocking out
the Sherman of Lt. Danby while threatening to cut L Company’s positions in half. Surrounded and facing
annihilation L Company held fast despite dead and wounded on all sides and 13 men captured.
In this book, the minute-by-minute confusion, thrill and desperation
of World War II combat is placed under a microscope, as if the reader himself were a participant.
6 x 9, 320 pages, 70 b/w photos, maps, 978-1-932033-70-0, $32.95,
hardback,
September 2007, CAS-033700
Local writer follows grandfather's WWII journey in book
By TIFFANY EDWARDS
Advocate
Reporter
GRANVILLE -- On Aug. 26, 1944, 1st Lt. Edgar Danby warned
his wife in a letter he was headed into battle. "You are a remarkable woman, my dear wife, you are strong mentally and spiritually,
and I know that you won't give way to any weakness such as anxiety or worry," he wrote from war-ravaged Europe. "I'll be back,
never fear -- I wasn't made to die yet."
That letter, however, was the last family members heard
from Danby, a platoon leader in B Company, 756th Tank Battalion, 3rd Division of the U.S. Army.
From a young age, Jeff Danby was fascinated with the story of his paternal grandfather. In August 2000, Danby,
now 44, decided the time was right to research the circumstances surrounding his grandfather's death. That journey since has
taken him twice to Allan, France, where his grandfather was killed, and set him on the path to publishing his first book,
"Day of the Panzer: A Story of American Heroism and Sacrifice in Southern France." The book, published by Casemate, is due
out in April.
The son of a history professor who has his own degree in
history from DePaul University, Danby was staying home with his three children in 2000 and working as a freelance artist.
His wife, Melinda Woofter, is a Granville dermatologist.
He turned to the 3rd Infantry's veterans association for
leads about Edgar Danby, a Canadian-born church organist who had moved to Detroit and signed up for the U.S. Army after the
attack on Pearl Harbor. Within days, Jeff Danby got a tip through the veterans' Web site and he was directed to Dave Redle,
of Akron. Redle was captain of B Company when Edgar Danby served.
"He's got a fantastic memory," Jeff Danby said of Redle.
"He was actually listening to the radio when my grandfather was killed."
Danby learned his grandfather died instantly, along with
two other soldiers, when their tank was hit in Allan, France, on Aug. 27, 1944. The elder Danby was part of the Southern France
Campaign, launched two months after the June 1944 landing at Normandy. Its intent was to supplement the Normandy effort and
open a new supply route.
Casualties of that effort, Jeff Danby's grandfather and
his two fellow soldiers later were buried together in Kentucky.
"I wanted to find out more," Danby said. "What got him?
What were the circumstances?"
Soon he was making contacts in France, obtaining documents
from the National Archives and interviewing veterans. What started as a personal project for his family grew quickly.
A Frenchman he met through the Internet sent him an account
of the battle between the Americans and the German 11th Panzer (panther) Division that had been chronicled in a slim book,
"Allan, Moon Village."
More details fell into place.
"(His grandfather's tank) broke through German road blocks
and ended up attacking German headquarters without realizing it," Danby said. "They stirred up a hornet's nest."
He said U.S. forces almost were split in two. That night,
they regrouped under the strong leadership of Cpt. James Coles of L Company, whom he described as an inspiring "hell-raiser."
The next day, the Germans continued their northbound retreat. Coles later was given a Distinguished Service Cross for holding
his men together.
In 2001, Danby and his father, Russ, traveled to France,
where the villagers of Allan greeted them warmly. In 2004, he made a second trip with his wife for several 60th anniversary
celebrations.
"These people are wonderful in this town," he said. "They
gave us so much attention and many gifts. They remember the war and are grateful."
In all, Danby has talked to more than 30 L Company veterans
of the Southern France Campaign, including five eyewitnesses to his grandfather's accident that fateful day. He also has built
enduring friendships in France.
In 2006, encouraged by those he'd met along the way, Danby
sought a publisher. Several months later, he'd signed a contract. Casemate recently informed him his book has been selected
as a main selection of the History Book Club. It will be available through Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and the Casemate
Web site, Danby said.
"Day of the Panzer," however, is not just about his grandfather.
"My grandfather is a supporting character," he said.
The story largely reflects the efforts of Coles and L Company.
He said he thinks it will fill a gap in World War II literature, which tends to focus on the efforts in northern France or
give more generalized accounts.
The first-time author now is turning his efforts to his
next book, tentatively titled "Men of Armor," about B Company of the 756th Tank Battalion.
