Brécourt Manor Assault
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The Brécourt Manor Assault took place on 6 June 1944, during the U.S. parachute assault of the Normandy Invasion in World War II. After linking with his unit at Le Grand Chemin, First Lieutenant Richard Winters, temporary commander of Company E, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, was ordered to destroy a German artillery battery firing on causeway exit #2 from Utah Beach, disrupting the U.S. 4th Infantry Division. The battery, located at Brécourt Manor, 5 kilometres southwest of Utah Beach and north of Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, was initially reported as 10.5 cm leFH 18 howitzers but proved to be four 105 mm howitzers of No. 6 Battery, (Gebirgs-)Artillerie-Regiment 191, defended by about 60 German soldiers. After reconnaissance around 8:30 a.m., Winters gathered twelve men. He positioned two M1919 machine guns for cover and sent 2nd Lt. Lynn D. Compton, Pvt. Donald Malarkey, and Sgt. William J. Guarnere to a flank to destroy a machine-gun position and provide covering fire. Using trenches as covered approaches, the team destroyed each gun with TNT down its barrel and German stick grenades. Reinforcements from Company D, led by 2nd Lt. Ronald C. Speirs, completed the assault on the fourth gun. The team then withdrew under heavy machine-gun fire from Brécourt Manor. Winters found a German map marking artillery and machine-gun positions in the Cotentin Peninsula and gave it to intelligence officer Lewis Nixon. Casualties included Pfc. John D. Halls, Warrant Officer Andrew Hill, and Sgt. Julius Houck killed, and Pvt. Robert Wynn wounded. Col. Robert Sink recommended Winters for the Medal of Honor, but it was downgraded to the Distinguished Service Cross.