**THE NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, LOS ANGELES TIMES,
AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER
**
"A band of brothers in an American tank . . . Makos drops the reader
back into the Pershing's turret and dials up a battle scene to rival the
peak moments of Fury."
--The Wall Street Journal
From the author of the international bestseller A Higher Call comes
the riveting World War II story of an American tank gunner's journey
into the heart of the Third Reich, where he will meet destiny in an
iconic armor duel--and forge an enduring bond with his enemy.
When Clarence Smoyer is assigned to the gunner's seat of his Sherman
tank, his crewmates discover that the gentle giant from Pennsylvania has
a hidden talent: He's a natural-born shooter.
At first, Clarence and his fellow crews in the legendary 3rd Armored
Division--"Spearhead"--thought their tanks were invincible. Then they
met the German Panther, with a gun so murderous it could shoot through
one Sherman and into the next. Soon a pattern emerged: *The lead tank
always gets hit.
*
After Clarence sees his friends cut down breaching the West Wall and
holding the line in the Battle of the Bulge, he and his crew are given a
weapon with the power to avenge their fallen brothers: the Pershing, a
state-of-the-art "super tank," one of twenty in the European theater.
But with it comes a harrowing new responsibility: Now they will
spearhead every attack. That's how Clarence, the corporal from coal
country, finds himself leading the U.S. Army into its largest urban
battle of the European war, the fight for Cologne, the "Fortress City"
of Germany.
Battling through the ruins, Clarence will engage the fearsome Panther in
a duel immortalized by an army cameraman. And he will square off with
Gustav Schaefer, a teenager behind the trigger in a Panzer IV tank,
whose crew has been sent on a suicide mission to stop the Americans.
As Clarence and Gustav trade fire down a long boulevard, they are taken
by surprise by a tragic mistake of war. What happens next will haunt
Clarence to the modern day, drawing him back to Cologne to do the
unthinkable: to face his enemy, one last time.
**Praise for Spearhead
**
"A detailed, gripping account . . . the remarkable story of two tank
crewmen, from opposite sides of the conflict, who endure the grisly
nature of tank warfare."
--USA Today (four out of four stars)
"Strong and dramatic . . . Makos established himself as a meticulous
researcher who's equally adept at spinning a good old-fashioned yarn. .
. . For a World War II aficionado, it will read like a dream."
--Associated Press
