Modern/Post-War Photos

Sergeant Curtis G.Culin

Sergeant Culin served as a tanker with the 102nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron of the New Jersey National Guard,the Essex Troop,in the 2 nd Armored Division.American Sherman tanks were unable to move easely or safely through the bocage in Normandy.The Shermans bellied up over the tops of the high hedgerows instead of crashing through them.So exposing the underside of the tank that was very vulnerable to German anti-tank fire.Sergeant Culin developped a 4-pronged plow from angle iron that the Germans used on the Normandy beaches.When attached to the front of his tank,it was successful in rapidly plowing gaps in the hedgerows.After General Omar Bradley saw a demonstration,he ordered that as many Shermans as possible be fitted with this device.By the launch of Operation Cobra,8 weeks after the Normandy landings,some 60% of First Army tanks were so equipped.Culin recieved the Legion of Merit.Four months after his invention,he lost a leg to a landmine in the Hürtgen Forest.After the war he became a salesman.Greetz,Brummbar