Brécourt Manor Assault
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The Brécourt Manor Assault during Operation Chicago of the Normandy Invasion of World War II is often cited as a classic example of small unit tactics and leadership in overcoming a larger enemy force.
Objective
As effective commander of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division during D-Day, First Lieutenant Richard Winters was tasked to take on a battery of German 105 mm howitzers that were firing onto causeway #2 off Utah Beach. Some other units had stumbled onto the enemy position head-on earlier in the day, and were repulsed.About 0830, Winters gathered a team of thirteen men from his and other companies. Knowing little more than a general location of the gun emplacement, his team scouted the area north of a farm house called Brécourt Manor, located 3 miles west of Utah Beach, just south of a small village Le Grand-Chemin (near Sainte-Marie-du-Mont). There they spotted a battery of four 105 mm guns connected by a trench network and defended by nests of MG42 machine guns. In total, they were up against about fifty German soldiers.
Battle
Upon arrival at the battery location, Winters developed a quick plan of attack. He positioned a pair of M1919 .30 caliber machine guns to serve as a base of fire (the fulcrum of an attack) and several soldiers with rifles positioned on one flank to provide covering fire, then led an attack down the hedgerow leading to the first gun position.While the trench network linking all the guns was sound military practice by the Germans, providing them with an easy way to resupply and reinforce the guns, it also proved to be their biggest weakness, for after taking out the first gun position Winters' team attacked the remaining guns by using the trenches for cover and approach routes. The bad thing about the trenches were that they were extremely vulnerable to grenades. Reinforcements from D (Dog) Company, led by Lt. Ronald Speirs, arrived to help attack the last gun. After the four guns were disabled, the small team was low on ammunition and withdrew. Winters had discovered an enemy map in one gun position that showed all of the German artillery and machine gun positions throughout that area of the Cotentin Pensinsula. This was an invaluable piece of intelligence and was handed up the chain of command. Later on, two tanks from Utah Beach arrived, and Winters directed their fire to clean up the position. Winters lost one man under his command and another one of his men was injured during this attack, Pfc John D. Halls from 2nd Battalion's Headquarters Company and Private "Popeye" Wynn from Winter's squad.[link]
Aftermath
Troops landing at Utah Beach had a relatively easy landing, due in part to this successful assault to silence these guns. Colonel Robert Sink, the commander of the 506th PIR, recommended Winters for the Medal of Honor, but his award was downgraded to the Distinguished Service Cross because of the D-Day policy of granting only one Medal of Honor per division, which was awarded to Lieutenant Colonel Robert Cole. However, at the time of the writing of this article, there is [a campaign to upgrade Winter's Distinguished Service Cross to the Medal of Honor] as many felt he deserved.The [official Army history] of these events on D-Day is quiet about the battle. Army historian S. L. A. Marshall did interview Winters about the attack, but the interview was not private -- many of Winters' chain of command were present -- and, according to his Memoir "Beyond Band of Brothers," he may have downplayed his description of the event to avoid personal accolade and keep the account succinct. However, nearly every man involved was later recognized for his role in the attack.
Medals Awarded
Silver Star- Lynn "Buck" Compton
- Bill Guarnere
- Joe Toye
- Gerald Lorraine
- Carwood Lipton
- "Popeye" Wynn
- Cleveland Petty
- Walter Hendrix
- Donald Malarkey
- Myron Ranney
- Joe Liebgott
- John Plesha
Dramatizations
- Band of Brothers
- Call of Duty
- (game to be released April 28, 2006)
External links
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