Cobra King: The First American Tank Into Bastogne
On December 26, 1944, an American Sherman Jumbo named Cobra King led a desperate armored column through German defenses and opened a corridor to the surrounded soldiers at Bastogne.
In the late afternoon of December 26, 1944, an American Sherman tank charged north through the winter landscape of Belgium.
Its name was Cobra King.
German troops controlled the woods and villages ahead. Mines covered the road behind it. The tank’s crew had been ordered to keep moving, fire at anything blocking the column, and break through to the American soldiers surrounded at Bastogne.
Cobra King was not alone, but it was leading the attack.
When the tank reached men of the 326th Airborne Engineer Battalion outside Bastogne, it opened a narrow corridor into the besieged American position and secured its place in U.S. Army history.
Bastogne Surrounded
The Battle of the Bulge began in December 1944 with a massive German offensive through the Ardennes.
German forces struck across a broad front, creating the deep “bulge” that gave the battle its popular name. Their larger objective was to divide the Allied armies and reach the port of Antwerp.
Bastogne became critically important because several roads passed through the Belgian town. Control of that road network could influence the movement of men, fuel, ammunition and armored forces throughout the region.
American units—including the 101st Airborne Division and elements of several armored and infantry formations—held the Bastogne area as German troops closed around them.
The defenders faced artillery fire, winter weather, mounting casualties and shortages of supplies. Aircraft eventually managed to drop ammunition and other material when the sky cleared, but the town still needed a reliable ground corridor.
General George S. Patton’s Third Army turned north to reach them.
Among the units moving toward Bastogne was the 4th Armored Division. Its advance became a fight across frozen roads, defended villages and terrain that favored ambushes.
At the front of one of its armored columns was an unusually well-protected Sherman.
Why Cobra King Was Different
Cobra King was an M4A3E2 Sherman, commonly known as the Sherman Jumbo.
The Jumbo had been developed as an assault tank with substantially heavier armor than a standard Sherman. It was intended to survive while moving at the head of an advancing column, where anti-tank guns, mines and concealed defenders presented the greatest danger.
Only 254 M4A3E2 Jumbos were produced.
Cobra King carried a 75 mm main gun during the Bastogne breakthrough. Its thicker frontal protection increased its chances of surviving a direct approach against defended positions, although the additional armor also made it heavier and slower than an ordinary Sherman.
Its nickname followed a tank-unit tradition. Cobra King served with Company C, 37th Tank Battalion, 4th Armored Division, and its name began with the company’s identifying letter.
Its bumper number was C-6.
The crew consisted of tank commander 1st Lt. Charles P. Boggess, gunner Cpl. Milton Dickerman, loader Pvt. James G. Murphy, driver Pvt. Hubert S. Smith and bow gunner Pvt. Harold Hafner.
Five men inside one armored vehicle were about to lead the final drive toward Bastogne.
The Road North
The 4th Armored Division began advancing from assembly areas north of Arlon on December 22.
It paid heavily for every mile.
German troops defended villages, road junctions and wooded ridges. Winter conditions restricted movement away from established roads, making the American columns easier to predict and delay.
By December 26, the force preparing for the final push had already suffered serious losses. The 37th Tank Battalion was reportedly down to approximately 20 medium tanks, while the 53rd Armored Infantry Battalion was short hundreds of men.
The final distance to the surrounded position was only about five miles.
On a map, that distance appeared small. On the ground, it contained several defended villages, narrow roads, mines, blockhouses and wooded high ground.
Lt. Col. Creighton W. Abrams, commanding the 37th Tank Battalion, and Lt. Col. George L. Jaques of the 53rd Armored Infantry Battalion prepared to force a route through Clochimont and Assenois.
Cobra King would lead.
The Final Five Miles
American artillery struck German positions ahead of the column. Tanks and armored infantry then moved through Clochimont toward Assenois.
The order emphasized speed.
Stopping on the narrow road could trap the column, allow the defenders to reorganize or expose the tanks to concentrated anti-tank fire. The lead vehicles needed to break through before German forces could completely seal the route.
Cobra King advanced with its main gun and machine guns firing at defended positions.
Gunner Milton Dickerman later recalled using the 75 mm gun at an extraordinary rate while loader James Murphy kept feeding rounds into the breech. The crew fired 21 main-gun rounds within only a few minutes.
Other tanks covered the sides of the road while the leading vehicles continued forward.
After the first four American tanks passed through Assenois, German troops detonated Teller mines behind them. A half-track was knocked out and several infantrymen were wounded.
The leading tanks were now separated from part of their supporting column.
They continued north.
Through the Defenses
Beyond Assenois, the road climbed through woods containing German defensive positions and concrete blockhouses.
This was exactly the environment in which a lead tank was most vulnerable. Enemy soldiers could remain concealed until the vehicle entered a carefully prepared field of fire.
Cobra King’s heavy frontal armor offered additional protection, but it did not make the tank invulnerable. Sherman Jumbos could still be damaged by mines, artillery, powerful anti-tank guns or attacks against their less-protected sides and rear.
The column could not afford to slow down.
Boggess and his crew pressed forward while the units behind them dealt with positions bypassed by the leading tanks. Four Shermans were reportedly lost during the drive.
Near one pillbox, Cobra King’s crew encountered soldiers wearing American uniforms. Reports had circulated that German troops were using captured uniforms during the offensive, creating uncertainty during already chaotic encounters.
Boggess challenged the soldiers. They were members of the 326th Airborne Engineer Battalion.
The breakthrough force had reached the Bastogne defenders.
First Into Bastogne
Cobra King’s meeting with Able Company of the 326th Airborne Engineer Battalion broke the German encirclement and opened a route into the American position.
The linkup occurred near a pillbox approximately two miles from Bastogne’s center.
At 5:10 p.m., Lt. Col. Creighton Abrams met Brig. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe, the acting commander of the 101st Airborne Division inside Bastogne.
The corridor was narrow and dangerous. German forces remained close to the road, and American infantry spent the night clearing the surrounding woods.
Assenois was secured later that evening. By the following morning, the route was sufficiently controlled to allow more dependable movement between Bastogne and the forces to the south.
The siege had been broken—but the battle had not ended.
German forces continued attempting to cut the corridor, and American units fought to hold and expand it. The fighting around Bastogne continued while Allied forces gradually pushed the German offensive back.
Cobra King had not single-handedly “won” the Battle of the Bulge. Artillery crews, armored infantry, engineers, tank battalions and the surrounded defenders all contributed to the breakthrough and the battle that followed.
But Cobra King had occupied the most visible position in the decisive final drive.
It had been the lead tank.
The Cost of the Breakthrough
The relief of Bastogne came at a severe cost.
According to the U.S. Army’s historical account, the 4th Armored Division suffered approximately 1,000 men killed or wounded during the effort. The 37th Tank Battalion and 53rd Armored Infantry Battalion sustained heavy casualties.
By the end of the breakthrough, Company C was reportedly down to only four tanks.
Those figures place Cobra King’s achievement in its proper context. Its arrival was not a simple dash along an open road. It was the final result of days of fighting by units that had been steadily losing soldiers, tanks and other vehicles.
The famous photographs taken after the linkup show Cobra King’s crew together. The images preserved the faces behind the tank’s name: Boggess, Dickerman, Murphy, Smith and Hafner.
Their tank became the symbol, but the breakthrough was a collective sacrifice.
Cobra King After Bastogne
Cobra King and the 4th Armored Division continued fighting after Bastogne.
The division later advanced through the Siegfried Line and deeper into Germany. By the war’s final weeks, elements of the division had crossed Germany and entered Czechoslovakia.
After the war, Cobra King remained in Germany.
The tank appeared in a 1958 divisional yearbook while displayed at McKee Barracks in Crailsheim. When the installation closed in 1994, the Sherman was moved to Vilseck.
As years passed, the vehicle’s identity became uncertain. It stood as an outdoor display, separated from the story that had made it historically significant.
Then an American soldier recognized what it might be.
Lost and Identified Again
Sgt. Brian Stigall noticed the tank after attending a Battle of the Bulge commemoration in 2004.
His observation helped begin a deeper investigation. Army historians examined the vehicle, its physical characteristics and its documented history.
On December 24, 2008—almost 64 years after the Bastogne breakthrough—the U.S. Army announced that the tank’s identity and lineage had been confirmed.
The old Sherman standing in Germany was Cobra King.
The discovery transformed it from an anonymous display vehicle into one of the most important surviving American tanks of World War II.
The vehicle eventually returned to the United States for preservation and restoration. Today, Cobra King is part of the National Museum of the United States Army’s collection.
What Cobra King Represents
Cobra King is remembered because its story connects a particular machine, a five-man crew and one of the most famous American battles of World War II.
Its heavier armor mattered. Its 75 mm gun mattered. The artillery barrage, infantry support and planning behind the advance mattered.
But equipment alone did not move the tank through Assenois.
Five crewmen operated inside a noisy, confined steel vehicle while mines exploded behind the column and defended positions waited ahead. They continued because stopping could endanger the breakthrough and the soldiers waiting at Bastogne.
Cobra King was not indestructible, and it did not reach Bastogne alone.
It was simply the tank at the front when the road finally opened.
That was enough to give it a permanent place in American military history.
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