On June 6th, 1944, 1st Lt Dick Winters parachuted behind German lines, assembled a small strike team, and neutralized four enemy artillery pieces that were wreaking havoc on nearby Utah Beach. The Brecourt Manor Assault, as it was later dubbed, represented one of the most brilliant examples of small unit assault tactics in recent military history. Winters had no intelligence on the size of the enemy force holding the guns or the structure of the German defenses. With a numerically inferior force, Winters evaluated the situation and, by brilliantly employing his limited firepower to maximum effect, swiftly routed the Germans and destroyed all four “Kraut 88s.”
Winters was awarded the Army’s second highest decoration for his heroism, the Distinguished Service Cross. Sixty years later, Tom Hanks depicted the successful assault in his widely acclaimed mini-series, Band of Brothers.
