Brécourt Manor Assault

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Brécourt Manor Assault
Part of World War II

"Silencing the Guns" by artist Jim Dietz.
Date 6 June 1944
Location Brecourt, France
Result Americans destroyed the four guns and retreated, low on ammunition. Considered a victory.
Casus belli Four German howitzers were firing down on the Americans on Causeway #2 at Utah Beach, causing heavy casualties.
Territorial
changes		 The Americans left forty Germans still occupying the territory, no change of occupation occurred.
Combatants
United States Germany
Commanders
Richard Winters Oberst von der Heydte
Strength
13 60+
Casualties
4 dead, 6 wounded 15 dead, 12 prisoner, wounded unknown

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.

Contents

[edit] 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 sixty German soldiers.

[edit] 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.

Battle of Normandy
Sword – Juno – Gold – Omaha – Utah – Pointe du Hoc – Brécourt Manor – Chicago – Villers-Bocage – Cherbourg – Epsom – Goodwood – Atlantic – Spring – Cobra – Bluecoat – Lüttich – Totalise – Tractable – Falaise – Brest – Paris

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; after taking out the first gun position, Winters' team attacked the remaining guns by using the trenches for cover and approach routes. The danger of the trenches to Winters' team were that they were extremely vulnerable to grenades. Reinforcements from D (Dog) Company, led by Lt. Ronald Speirs, arrived to aid the assault on 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, when two tanks from Utah Beach arrived, Winters directed their fire to clean up the position. Winters lost one man under his command, PFC John D. Halls from 2nd Battalion's Headquarters Company [1], and another one of his men was wounded during this attack, Private Robert "Popeye" Wynn from Winter's squad.

[edit] Aftermath

Troops landing at Utah Beach had a relatively easy landing, due in part to this successful assault to destroy 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, but the bill has yet to emerge from the House Armed Services Committee.

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.

The assault has been widely acclaimed as a textbook assault on stationary gun positions and is still enacted for training purposes at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.

[edit] Medals Awarded

Distinguished Service Cross

Silver Star

Bronze Star

[edit] References

  1. ^ Mark Bando's Trigger Time website states "John D. Halls, ... note the 's' on his last name, was a member of the 81mm mortar platoon, of Headquarters Co., 2nd battalion, 506th PIR, and according to John Barickman of the same platoon, it was HALLS who was killed in the Brecourt fight, not HALL."

[edit] Dramatizations

[edit] External links

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