![]() The first tanks, from Company C, arrived on the beach at H-6: 4 minutes late, but ahead of the infantry assault forces. The tanks supported the 116th Infantry Combat Team of the 29th Infantry Division assault of Omaha Beach. However, given the rough seas, the battalion commander decided not to launch the DD tanks into the water and all were brought directly ashore aboard the LCT’s. In the early hours of D-Day, 6 June, the three medium tank companies, the headquarters tank section, and the assault gun platoon launched in their LCT's. ![]() The battalion loaded into their assault craft on 2–3 June 1944 for the invasion landings. Companies B and C were selected to receive the amphibious dual drive (DD) tanks and began their special training in December 1943. The battalion was selected to be one of the three tank assault battalions that would land with the first wave on D-Day. When Company D was formed as the light tank company with cadre from the medium tank companies and the 10th Tank Company, the unit took on the combat organization in which it would fight on the Continent and was redesignated as the 743rd Tank Battalion on 2 December 1943. Soon after its arrival in Great Britain, it was again reorganized in a new Table of Organization, with Companies A, B, and C organized as medium tank companies with M4 Shermans. The 743rd embarked in New York on 17 November 1943 aboard the Aquitania and arrived at Monrock, Scotland on 25 November 1943. The battalion drew their medium tanks and trained the next year at Camp Young, California and Camp Laguna, Arizona. It was redesignated as the 743rd Tank Battalion (Medium) in October 1942. The 743rd Tank Battalion was activated at Fort Lewis, Washington on as the 743rd Tank Battalion (Light), drawing its initial cadre from personnel transferred from the 757th Tank Battalion. 1.3 Siegfried Line and Battle of the Bulge.
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