In the face of the crushing onslaught of German Panzer power and their “Big Cats,” the United States took a gamble engineering a new breed of armored combatant – the tank destroyer. This machine sacrificed armor for blistering speed and agility.

The stakes were the lives of American soldiers like Norbert Gerling thrust into war with the pioneering 609th Tank Destroyer Battalion and their revolutionary M18 Hellcat.

Gerling's mission was to test the Hellcat's effectiveness in 'Shoot and Scoot' tactics. This meant proving these nimble, lighter war machines could swiftly outmaneuver and launch precise, damaging strikes against the bulky German tanks. The Hellcats would hit hard and disappear swiftly, leaving the enemy disoriented and unable to strike back.

But hunting down the heaviest, most potent combat vehicles on earth was a task that would push man and machine to their limits. On March 7, 1945, Gerling and his crew faced an impossible mission; rescuing a US tank crew trapped in a ravine, their tank incapacitated, shadowed by the very antitank gun under an overpass that had crippled them.

Gerling was acutely aware of the razor’s edge they walked on. If their Hellcat paused momentarily, they’d be sitting ducks for the enemy’s guns. But if they charged at full throttle, obliterated the Overpass’s pillars, and crashed it down on the German gunners before they could react, maybe, just maybe, they could pull off the most audacious Shoot and Scoot of the entire war…


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