The standard German combined-arms tactic of the period involved tanks and infantry working together — tanks suppress and kill anti-tank weapons, infantry suppress and kill enemy infantry and anti-tank infantry. Without infantry support, tanks become vulnerable to infantry with hand-held anti-tank weapons. Without tank support, infantry become vulnerable to vehicle-mounted weapons and artillery.
By concentrating fire on the German infantry with the .50-caliber, Murphy was attacking the infantry component of the German combined-arms advance. When the infantry fell back, the tanks lost their combined-arms support and became more vulnerable. The German withdrawal was the result of the combined effect of this dynamic — artillery killing infantry, machine gun fire killing infantry, the advance becoming too costly to continue.
The fact that the .50-caliber fire was coming from a burning tank destroyer added a tactical complication for the Germans: the smoke obscured the source of the fire. A machine gun whose location is known can be suppressed or flanked. A machine gun that is obscured by its vehicle’s smoke is harder to suppress. The burning M10 that made Murphy’s position so dangerous also, inadvertently, made it harder for the German infantry to identify and engage him.
## The Wound at Holtzwihr
The specific wound Murphy sustained during the January 26 action — described in the accounts as a leg wound — is noted in the sources with varying specificity. The HistoryNet account states that he was wounded in the leg at some point during the action on the burning M10. The citation and the specific medical records are not fully elaborated in the sources consulted for this article.