Major Richard "Dick" D. Winters (January 21, 1918 – January 2, 2011)[1] was a United States Army officer and decorated war veteran. He commanded Company "E", 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, during World War II.
Winters parachuted into Normandy in the early hours of D-Day, and fought across France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and eventually into Germany.
As a result of the crash of a C-47 killing its company commander, Thomas Meehan III, command of Company E, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division devolved to the company executive officer, 1st Lt. Richard Winters. After linking up with his parent unit at the hamlet of Le Grand Chemin on the morning of June 6, 1944, Winters was ordered up front away from his company. With minimal instructions of "There's fire along that hedgerow there. Take care of it,"[1] and no briefing, Winters found himself tasked to destroy a German artillery battery. The battery had initially been reported to be 88 mm guns firing onto causeway exit #2 leading off Utah Beach and disrupting landing forces of the U.S. 4th Infantry Division advancing inland on this route. Several other units had stumbled onto the German position earlier in the morning and had been repulsed.
After a reconnaissance by Winters at about 8:30 AM, Winters collected a team of thirteen men from his own and other companies. Beyond knowledge of the general location of the gun emplacements south of Le Grand Chemin and without information of the other side of the hedgerow, Winters' team attacked Brecourt Manor, located three miles southwest of Utah Beach and north of the village of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont. There he discovered No. 6 Battery of the 90th Artillery Regiment,[2] consisting of four 105 mm howitzers connected by trenches and defended by a platoon of soldiers.[3]
Winters held that the unit was part of the 6th Fallschirmjägerregiment (6th Parachute Regiment) with emplaced MG42 machine guns. The 1st Battalion of the 6th had been ordered to Sainte Marie-du-Mont from Carentan during the afternoon but arrived after dark. The 1st Company 919th Grenadier Regiment (709th Infantry Division) was posted at Sainte Marie-du-Mont and was responsible for the area. Elements of 1058th Grenadier Regiment (91st Luftlandedivision) were defending throughout the vicinity,[4] and the artillery was part of this division also. The 795th Georgian Battalion, attached to the 709th ID, was to the northwest at Turqueville but is less likely to have been present because of terrain difficulties. Whichever unit defended the battery, the U.S. paratroopers were opposed by approximately sixty German soldiers.
The crew originally assigned to the four 105mm guns had apparently deserted during the night of the airborne landings. Oberstleutnant Frederich von der Heydte of the German 6th Parachute Regiment, upon discovering they had been abandoned while observing the landings at Utah Beach, traveled to Carentan where he ordered his 1st Battalion to find men and work on the artillery battery.[5]
[edit] BattleUpon arrival at the battery location, Winters made his plan. He positioned a pair of M1919 .30 caliber machine guns for covering fire and sent several soldiers (2nd Lt. Lynn D. Compton, Pvt. Donald Malarkey and Sgt. William J. Guarnere) to one flank to destroy a machine gun position with grenades and provide covering fire.
While the trenches connecting the artillery positions provided the Germans with an easy way to supply and reinforce the guns, they also proved to be their biggest weakness. After destroying the first gun position, Winters and the rest of his team used the trenches as covered approaches to attack the remaining guns in turn. Each gun was destroyed by placing a block of TNT down its barrel and using German stick grenades to set off the charges.[6]
Reinforcements from Company D, led by 2nd Lt. Ronald C. Speirs, arrived to complete the assault on the fourth and last gun. Speirs had a reputation as an excellent and extremely aggressive officer and he led his men against the last gun position by running outside the trenches and exposing themselves to enemy fire.
After the four guns were disabled, Winters' team came under heavy machine-gun fire from Brecourt Manor and withdrew. He had discovered a German map in one gun position that was marked with the locations of all German artillery and machine gun positions throughout that area of the Cotentin Peninsula. This was an invaluable piece of intelligence and was passed up the chain of command.
Winters also directed the fire of two American tanks which arrived later from Utah Beach to eliminate remaining German resistance.
Winters lost one man, PFC John D. Hall from an 81mm mortar platoon,[7] and Private Robert "Popeye" Wynn was wounded during the attack (Wynn was evacuated back to England, recovered from his wound and rejoined Easy Company just before Operation Market Garden). Another casualty was Warrant Officer Andrew Hill, who was killed when he came upon the battle while searching for the headquarters of the 506th PIR. Two soldiers from D Company under Lt. Speirs' command were also killed as well as one wounded from D Company.
Dick Winters dies; WWII hero commanded 'Band of Brothers'
By T. Rees Shapiro
The full obituary for Maj. Richard "Dick" Winters can be viewed here.
Dick Winters, a decorated Army officer whose World War II service was recounted in the best-selling book and HBO mini-series "Band of Brothers," died Jan. 2. News reports listed his age at 92.
Based on the 1992 book by historian Stephen E. Ambrose, the HBO mini-series came out in 2001 and was produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.
The story follows the tragedies and triumphs of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion, E Company.
To Mr. Winters, these citizen-soldiers came to be known as the men of Easy Company -- paratroopers who jumped into combat on June 6, 1944 above Normandy, France.
According to Ambrose's account, Easy Company suffered 150 percent casualties throughout the war.
One of the soldiers who served in Easy Company, David Webster, once wrote that among his colleagues the Purple Heart "was not a decoration but a badge of office."
Mr. Winters, who separated from the Army at the rank of major, and his men fought together through D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge and later occupied Adolf Hitler's mountainside retreat, the Eagle's Nest, near Berchtesgaden.
A charismatic officer who led by example, Mr. Winters received the Distinguished Service Cross, the country's second highest decoration for valor, while conducting combat operations on D-Day.
Mr. Winters led a small group of men on a raid of German cannon emplacements near Utah beach on Normandy's coastline.
While taking out the heavily fortified bunker, Mr. Winters and his men killed 15 German soldiers and took 12 more as prisoners, helping to save countless American lives from the withering cannon fire.
Later in the war, one of Mr. Winters's soldiers, Floyd Talbert, wrote a letter to the officer from a hospital in Indiana expressing gratitude for his loyalty and leadership.
"You are loved and will never be forgotten by any soldier that ever served under you," Talbert wrote to Mr. Winters in 1945. "I would follow you into hell."
For Mr. Winters, his soldiers were his Band of Brothers and their experiences together in the war "created a bond between the men of E company that will last forever."
If you have any memories about Mr. Winters please feel free to leave your comments below. A full obituary is on the way.
In the meantime, check out this clip from HBO's "Band of Brothers," where Mr. Winters describes a letter he received from Myron "Mike" Ranney.
Dick Winters, a decorated Army officer whose World War II service was recounted in the best-selling book and HBO mini-series "Band of Brothers," died Jan. 2. News reports listed his age at 92.
Based on the 1992 book by historian Stephen E. Ambrose, the HBO mini-series came out in 2001 and was produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.
The story follows the tragedies and triumphs of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion, E Company.
To Mr. Winters, these citizen-soldiers came to be known as the men of Easy Company -- paratroopers who jumped into combat on June 6, 1944 above Normandy, France.
According to Ambrose's account, Easy Company suffered 150 percent casualties throughout the war.
One of the soldiers who served in Easy Company, David Webster, once wrote that among his colleagues the Purple Heart "was not a decoration but a badge of office."
Mr. Winters, who separated from the Army at the rank of major, and his men fought together through D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge and later occupied Adolf Hitler's mountainside retreat, the Eagle's Nest, near Berchtesgaden.
A charismatic officer who led by example, Mr. Winters received the Distinguished Service Cross, the country's second highest decoration for valor, while conducting combat operations on D-Day.
Mr. Winters led a small group of men on a raid of German cannon emplacements near Utah beach on Normandy's coastline.
While taking out the heavily fortified bunker, Mr. Winters and his men killed 15 German soldiers and took 12 more as prisoners, helping to save countless American lives from the withering cannon fire.
Later in the war, one of Mr. Winters's soldiers, Floyd Talbert, wrote a letter to the officer from a hospital in Indiana expressing gratitude for his loyalty and leadership.
"You are loved and will never be forgotten by any soldier that ever served under you," Talbert wrote to Mr. Winters in 1945. "I would follow you into hell."
For Mr. Winters, his soldiers were his Band of Brothers and their experiences together in the war "created a bond between the men of E company that will last forever."
If you have any memories about Mr. Winters please feel free to leave your comments below. A full obituary is on the way.
In the meantime, check out this clip from HBO's "Band of Brothers," where Mr. Winters describes a letter he received from Myron "Mike" Ranney.
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