U.S. 3rd Armored Division in Cologne, World War II

Action by the Spearhead Division during the capture of Cologne in March, 1945, the first major German city to fall to Allied troops. Includes scenes of the fiery destruction of a German Mark V Panther tank by a 3rd Armored T26 Pershing tank in which gunner Clarence Smoyer of Pennsylvania scored three hits in rapid sucession. The original RUclips posting of this video achieved over 100,000 views during 2007-2009, before being replaced by this higher resolution version with improved soundtrack. (Army Signal Corps film research by Dan Fong of 3AD.com staff; and with editing, film restoration [where possible], and soundtrack by Vic Damon of 3AD.com staff.)