Thomas Carnes registered for the draft on October 16th, 1940, at the age of twenty-two. He was attending Mississippi Southern College when he registered for the draft. Carnes was described as having brown hair, blue eyes, and a ruddy complexion. He was 5' 6" and weighed 130 lbs.
His unit, the 804th Tank Destroyer Battalion, was created from several other antitank battalions in California. Their job was to take down German tanks. His unit took their first steps into the war on August 17th, 1942, when they landed in Belfast, Ireland in 1942. From there, he traveled to Algeria and trained French troops on how to handle an M10. |
The Gustav Line |
The real fight began when the battalion crossed over into Naples, Italy in February 1944. Thomas and his battalion moved to the Gustav Line in March 1944. At first, they had been there to check on equipment and to prepare to go into their indirect firing spots. On May 11th, the 804th finally was able to join in the battle. They aided Infantry Regiments by taking out any protected machine guns and repeatedly hitting and weathering away at any stronger points in the enemy’s lines. Finally, on May 15th, 1944, the Gustav Line had been broken through and the army advanced closer to Rome.
In early June 1944 the 804th Battalion finally made it to Rome. In fact, Rome had been abandoned and the Battalion was able to travel further north. After having several short rests while moving forward to different towns, the Battalion was soon ordered to go towards Follonica and help support several different regiments stationed there. Starting on June 26th the Battalion entered a new battle with the regiments they had been assigned to. They did similar protective maneuvers to what they did for the Gustav Line and destroyed enemy machine gun artillery and picked away at any harder spots that were preventing the Army from continuing to the north. On July 10th, Castiglioncello was won and secured from the grip of the enemy. |
The advancement of the 804th continued until they reached the Arno River. During the first week of September 1944, they fought until the river was cleared of the enemy that had once had control of it. The Gothic Line was the next obstacle in the way of the Army. It consisted of a massive mountain range where the enemy had an array of defensive spots to fire at the Allies from. This is where the Battalion proved to be extremely valuable. They, along with other squadrons, battalions, and platoons, fought against enemies hidden in houses and concrete shelters. From September into October, they were able to push the line further north. However, advances had to be put on hold due to bad weather and a fast-approaching winter. The Allies were able to hold this line for months.
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