Auto Merger

It was December 1944, the place was Bastogne and the weather was frigid. I commanded a Sherman M-4 medium tank, whose firepower was no match for the Germans’ heavy Tiger tank. The only advantage we had over the lumbering Tigers was speed and maneuverability, made possible by a 12-cylinder Chrysler engine; extremely reliable even in below-zero temperatures.

To knock out a Tiger we aimed our 76 mm cannon at its tread suspension. On the metal mud skirt just above the tread were stamped the words “fabrikant Daimler Benz.”

The merger of Chrysler and Daimler Benz adds credibility to the famous quotation of the 19th century Prussian general Karl von Clausewitz: “There are no permanent friends; there are no permanent enemies, only permanent interests.”

RUDOLPH A. MAGLIN

San Juan Capistrano