Aaron Elson

They Were All Young Kids: the Story of Lt. Jim Flowers and the First Platoon, Company C, 712th Tank Battalion, on Hill 122 Aaron Elson

On 10 July 1944, Lt. Jim Flowers led a platoon of four Sherman tanks to the aid of a battalion of infantry that was surrounded by elite German paratroopers on the summit of Hill 122 in one of the fiercest battles of the Normandy campaign. His tanks succeeded in breaking the Nazi defenses and leading a company off the hill, with the rest of the battalion to follow. Soon, however, all four tanks were knocked out, with three of them going up in flames. For Flowers, the ordeal was just beginning. Nine of the 20 crew members were killed, several wounded and two were both wounded and captured. For Flowers, the ordeal was just beginning. This is the story of that battle as told in the words of several survivors of his platoon.