Description
US WWII OFFICIALLY ENGRAVED SILVER STAR & PURPLE HEART – 82ND AIRBORNE – BATTLE OF BIAZZA RIDGE – KIA – TIGER TANK
Amazing grouping named to WARREN LYONS, Co. H, 505 PIR, 82nd Airborne Division. Comes with his original citation for the SILVER STAR as well as original officially government engraved & numbered SILVER STAR & numbered PURPLE HEART in original cases. He was KIA on July 11, 1943and is buried in Custer National Cemetery, Montana.
The Battle of Biazza Ridge took place on D+1 of the invasion of Sicily. After being scattered by high winds during their night time drop, Col. James Gavin and elements of his 505th PIR were able to regroup and drove toward their objective: German pillboxes atop Biazza Ridge. On the morning of 11 July 1943, after taking the ridge, Gavin’s small group of paratroopers was attacked by a column of infantry and tanks from the Hermann Göring Division. At some time during all day fighting, including hand-to-hand combat with German infantry and multiple attacks by Mk VI Tiger tanks, Cpl. Lyons was killed by a direct hit from one of the Tigers.
Phil Nordyke, in his book Four Stars of Valor: The Combat History of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment in World War II writes:
Private McConnell watched the Company H bazooka team of Private Leland “Chief” Laye and Corporal Warren “Pappy” Lyons, the oldest guy in the company, out in front of the line, stalking the tanks. Then, suddenly, McConnell saw the turret of the tank rotate toward the bazooka team. “They just turned that 88 on them and blew them to hell. These two guys both got killed. They never had a chance.”
https://www.ww2-airborne.us/units/505/505_trp_3.html#lyons
https://ww2tribute.blogspot.com/2011/05/battle-of-biazza-ridge_05.html
The troopers pushed the Germans over the top and down the western slope of the ridge. Fire intensified with mortars, artillery and machine guns. The Germans swiftly counterattacked, and the troopers were forced back over the ridge’s crest. At that point Company H took over the attack from Company G. They were ordered to fix bayonets and then charged over the ridge engaging the Germans in bloody hand to hand combat, killing many of them and forcing a German retreat. Sometime at this point the men on the ridge first heard the German tanks. The troopers on the ridge chased the Germans down the western side. The Germans counterattacked again, using tanks in addition to the infantry. The tanks were Mark VI Tiger tanks each equipped with an 88mm cannon. There were 17 of them. The tanks began firing at individual troopers with their 88mm cannons. Source: “All American All the Way” Nordyke, P., 2005, page 74 – 75
“Sergeant Bill Bishop, with Company G, hadn’t had enough time to dig a slit trench, when one of the Mark VI tanks came up the gentle slope toward him, suddenly stopping close by. ‘Me and a fellow named Duke Boswell were laying within two or three feet from the tank treads in a small ditch. They would shoot at a single man with the 88’s they had on those tanks. They killed a bunch of people with that 88. They ran over one man’s legs. Of course he died from shock. His name was [Sergeant] Gerald Ludlam.’” Source: Ibid Page 76
