Brécourt Manor Led by Captain Dick Winters

BRÉCOURT MANOR ASSAULT

OPERATION OVERLORD

        The assault on Brécourt Manor led by Captain Dick Winters was accomplished by Easy Company’s employment of the Characteristics of the Offense and Winters ability to exercise the Mission Command Principles. Easy Company’s masterful employment of audacity, concentration, tempo, and surprise culminated in a victory over a superior force.^[1] Captain Richard Winters successfully applied the Mission Command Principles of building a cohesive team through mutual trust, creating shared understanding, exercising disciplined initiative, and accepting prudent risk.^[2] The application of both the Characteristics of Offense and the Mission Command Principles ultimately drove Easy Company to win a tactical battle at Brécourt Manor which significantly contributed to the overall strategic success of Operation Overlord.

        Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy.^[3] It was a major operation that led to the successful invasion of German-occupied Europe. Operation Overlord began with a beach assault; code named Operation Neptune. Operation Neptune consisted of 1,200 aircraft, 5,500 vessels and 160,000 troops.^[4] The massive assaulting allied force failed to meet their objectives the first day of battle but slowly gained ground when they successfully captured the port city of Cherbourg. The Germans mounted a counter-attack which ended with more than 50,000 killed and the 7th German Army trapped.^[5] The allied armies launched a sub-operation of Overlord, Operation Dragoon. Operation Dragoon resulted in the liberation of Paris.^[6] With the Germany army crippled and suffering heavy losses, they retreated across the Seine river and this marked the end of Operation Overlord.

        Five hours after the invasion of Normandy commenced, glider aircraft and C-47s fully loaded with paratroopers from the 101st and 82nd Airborne Division launched into the night sky.^[7] Their objective: disrupt German defensive lines, communication assets, and seek targets of opportunity. The beachhead was littered with anti-aircraft batteries and as soon as the inexperienced pilots started receiving the heavy antiaircraft fire they gave the paratroopers “the green light”. This resulted in the 101st and 82nd being dropped all over the peninsula and most troopers never reached the drop zone. Instead, they spent the entire night trying to rally together and form some semblance of a cohesive fighting force.^[8] This left Soldiers from entirely different divisions to band together and attack the enemy.^[9] Unfortunately, this chaos resulted in many of the paratroopers being killed or taken prisoner.

        The following morning the massive invasion of allied forces from the sea was met with heavy German resistance.^[10] Pill boxes, underwater obstacles, barbed wire, mines, and artillery threatened to halt the Allied advance. The American landing craft on Utah beach were taking destructive indirect fire from a German 105mm artillery battery. These guns were nested in a field just north of an estate called Brécourt Manor. This artillery battery was being directed by a forward observer on the beach and corrections provided via telephone, the accuracy was deadly and proving to be a problem for the allied landing.^[11] 

        The assault on Brécourt Manor was an expertly led and executed offensive. Easy Company was tasked to remove the artillery problem from the battlefield. Easy Company spent a chaotic night with intermittent contact from enemy patrols, a small contingent of Easy Company managed to band together and gradually add more Soldiers to their ranks. Easy Company continued to move south toward Le Grand Chemin. Soon after arriving at Le Grand Chemin Easy Company received their orders to destroy the German artillery emplacement, they continued on to Brécourt Manor.^[12] Captain Winters received the verbal order, organized his small thirteen-man patrol, planned, and led the assault.^[13] One of Winters’ team leaders on the assault, Sergeant Carwood Lipton was later quoted saying, "The attack was a unique example of a small, well-led assault force overcoming and routing a much larger force. It was the high morale of Easy Company men, the quickness and audacity of the frontal attack, and the fire into their positions from different directions that demoralized the German forces and convinced them that they were being hit by a much larger force”.^[14] Brécourt Manor lies on an island separated by the Waal and Rhine River and is located near Arnhem.

The 1st Infantry Division was forced to withdraw from the Oosterbeek area, this allowed the German Army to occupy the hilltop and keep the allies under constant artillery fire during their movement to the island. ^[15] Captain Dick Winters established his command post at Randwijk and maintained contact with his patrols via runner and radio. This left a wide area for his relatively small company to defend the command post and left their position open to infiltration from German patrols.^[16] On October 5th Captain Winters dispatched a five-man patrol led by Sergeant Youman. His orders were to conduct a reconnaissance of the river bank to the south and report any enemy movement or positions. “Winters had everyone drop everything except their guns, ammunition and grenades”.^[17] When Sergeant Youman and his four-man patrol reached the dike he scanned the perimeter and was immediately confronted with accurate MG42 machine gun fire and hand grenades.^[18] All five men were wounded and their radio was damaged. The small reconnaissance element had no choice but to withdraw to Easy Company’s command post. Captain Winters was initially confused regarding the reported infiltration of their lines and organized a patrol to investigate for himself. With daylight fast approaching Captain Winters ordered his men to move as quickly and quietly as possible. The small patrol led by Winters, discovered the German fortification with the artillery points firing from a trench behind a hedgerow. These guns were wrecking havoc on the allied landing. Winters’ saw the attack as a “high risk opportunity”, the key to this opportunity was “initiative, an immediate appraisal of situation, the use of terrain to get into the connecting trench and taking one gun at a time”.^[19] After further reconnaissance and analysis Easy Company discovered the Germany machine gun emplacement just over the hill. The German fortification resembled an L-shape with zigzagging trenches connecting each gun pit. Captain Winters ordered Sergeant Dukeman and Corporal Christenson to ready the 30 caliber machine gun and prepare to fire.^[20] Captain Winters moved down the line and assigned each of his men a target and gave the command to fire, “ready aim, fire”. Winters’ small detachment from Easy Company killed all seven German soldiers instantly ^[21].

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