E Company, 2nd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, the "Screaming Eagles", is a company in the United States Army. The company was referred to as "Easy" after the radio call for "E" in the phonetic alphabet used during World War II. The experiences of its members during that war are the subject of the 1992 book Band of Brothers by historian Stephen Ambrose and the 2001 HBO miniseries of the same name.
History
Training and composition The 506th PIR was an experimental airborne regiment created in 1942 to jump from C-47 transport airplanes into hostile territory.
E Company was established at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, under the command of 1st Lieutenant Herbert Sobel. Before attending paratrooper training, the unit's troops performed the standard battle drills and physical training that comes with being in the parachute infantry. One of the exercises was running Currahee, a large, steep hill whose trail ran "three miles up, three miles down". The troops also performed formation runs in three four-column running groups, an innovation that was adopted by the Army in the 1960s.
Sobel, who was known for his extreme strictness, got the troops in such impeccable physical condition that they were able to skip the physical training portion of Jump School.
E Company's third-ever commander, 1st Lieutenant Richard Winters (originally a 2nd Lieutenant under Sobel, serving as platoon leader of E Company's 2nd Platoon; later a Major commanding the overall 2nd Battalion), said E Company originally "included three rifle platoons and a headquarters section. Each platoon contained three twelve-man rifle squads and a six-man mortar team squad. Easy also had one machine gun attached to each of its rifle squads, and a 60mm mortar in each mortar team."
Mutiny protesting Sobel's leadership While waiting for the invasion of Normandy, Easy Company was located at Aldbourne, Wiltshire, England.
The tension that had been brewing between Winters and Sobel came to a head. For some time, Winters (then a 1st lieutenant) had privately held concerns over Sobel's ability to lead the company in combat. Many of the enlisted men in the company had come to respect Winters for his competence and had also developed their own concerns about Sobel's leadership. Winters later said that he never wanted to compete with Sobel for command of Easy Company; still, Sobel attempted to bring Winters up on trumped-up charges for "failure to carry out a lawful order". Feeling that his punishment was unjust, Winters requested that the charge be reviewed by court-martial. One day after Winters' punishment was set aside by battalion commander Major Robert L. Strayer, Sobel brought Winters up on another charge. During the investigation, Winters was transferred to the Headquarters Company and appointed as the battalion mess officer.
A number of the company's non-commissioned officers (NCOs) decided to give the regimental commander, Colonel Robert Sink, an ultimatum: replace Sobel, or they would surrender their stripes. Sink was not impressed. He demoted to private and transferred to other companies the two platoon sergeants who were considered to be the ringleaders: Terrence "Salty" Harris (sent to A Company, he would be killed by a sniper during the Battle of Carentan on 18 June 1944) and Myron Ranney, sent to I Company.
Still, Sink realized that something had to be done and decided to transfer Sobel out of Easy Company, giving him command of a new parachute training school at Chilton Foliat. Winters' court-martial was set aside and he returned to Easy Company as a lieutenant of 1st Platoon. Winters later said he felt that despite his differences with Sobel, at least part of Easy Company's success had been due to Sobel's strenuous training and high expectations.
In February 1944, First Lieutenant Thomas Meehan was given command of Easy Company.
Shortly after their transfer, Harris and Ranney joined the Pathfinders, which consisted of around 80 volunteers from every unit who would land first and guide the way for the main waves of the invasion. Being a Pathfinder was a difficult job, and it meant being out in front and facing the German army alone. Shortly before the invasion, Ranney wrote to Winters, pleading his case, and five days before the invasion, orders came in transferring Ranney back to Easy Company.
Operation Overlord (D-Day) For Operation Overlord, E Company's mission was to capture the entrances to and clear any obstacles around "Causeway 2", a pre-selected route off Utah Beach for the Allied forces landing from the sea a few hours later.
The company departed from Upottery airbase in Devon, England, and dropped over the Cotentin Peninsula of Normandy, France, in the early hours of the morning of 6 June 1944. Easy Company flew in eight aircraft in Sticks #66-73, with about 17 paratroopers per stick.
Destruction of Stick 66 Most of Easy Company's headquarters section was assigned to Stick #66, with Robert Burr Smith and Joseph "Red" Hogan assigned to other planes to save weight. The 17 members of Stick #66 included company commander Meehan and three of its most senior non-commissioned officers: First Sergeant Bill Evans, Staff Sergeant Murray Roberts (the Supply Sergeant) and Sergeant Elmer Murray (the Operations Sergeant). Sergeant Carwood Lipton recalled later that he had strategized various combat situations with Sergeant Murray while the rest of Easy Company went to the movies the day before the jump.
Plane #66 led a diamond formation that also included #67 to the left, #68 to the right, and #69 in the trailing position. Over France, the plane carrying Stick #66 was hit by anti-aircraft fire. The pilot did a 180-degree turn and turned the landing lights on as the plane lost altitude, but it hit a hedgerow and exploded, killing all aboard. The crash was witnessed by Ed Mauser of E Company's 2nd Platoon, who had leaped from plane #69 after it was hit by flak and the pilot turned on the green jump light. Mauser's neck was snapped back by his plane's prop blast and he faced backward as he floated downwards, giving him a view of plane #66.
Brécourt Manor Assault
With Meehan missing (it was only discovered later that he had been killed), Richard Winters was the most senior officer in Easy Company and took command; it was his first assignment as the acting company commander. After assembling on the ground, the men of E Company, with the assistance of D Company, disabled a battery of four German heavy guns in the assault of Brécourt Manor on D-Day that threatened forces coming along Causeway 2.
Leadership changes The loss of so many officers and NCOs on D-Day brought several changes to Easy Company. Technically, Lieutenant Raymond Schmitz, 2nd Platoon Leader, was still with Easy Company but got injured the day before D-Day after demanding Richard Winters wrestle him, and was replaced by Buck Compton.
PositionD-Day incumbentNew leaderMarket GardenBastogneHaguenau Commanding Officer 1st Lt. Thomas Meehan 1st Lt. Richard Winters Capt. Richard Winters/1st Lt. Fredrick Heyliger 1st Lt. Norman Dike Jr 1st Lt. Ronald Speirs Executive Officer Vacant Vacant 1st Lt. Harry Welsh 1st Platoon Leader 1st Lt. Richard Winters 2nd Lt. Harry Welsh 1st Lt. Thomas Peacock 1st Lt. Thomas Peacock/1st Lt. Jack Foley1st Lt. Jack Foley 2nd Platoon Leader 2nd Lt. Warren Roush 2nd Lt. Buck Compton 1st Lt. Buck Compton T/Sgt. Donald Malarkey (acting) 3rd Platoon Leader 2nd Lt. Robert Mathews 2nd Lt. Warren Roush 2nd Lt. Edward Shames 2nd Lt. Edward Shames2nd Lt. Edward Shames 1st Platoon Assistant 2nd Lt. Harry Welsh Vacant 2nd Lt. Robert Brewer 2nd Lt. Jack Foley 2nd Platoon Assistant 2nd Lt. Buck Compton Vacant 2nd Lt. Henry Jones 3rd Platoon Assistant S/Sgt. C. Carwood Lipton (acting) 2nd Lt. Francis O’Brien First Sergeant 1/Sgt. William Evans S/Sgt. James Diel (acting) 1/Sgt. C. Carwood Lipton 1/Sgt. C. Carwood Lipton 1st Platoon Sergeant S/Sgt. Leo Boyle S/Sgt. Leo Boyle S/Sgt. Floyd Talbert 2nd Platoon Sergeant S/Sgt. James Diel Sgt. William Guarnere S/Sgt. William Guarnere 3rd Platoon Sergeant S/Sgt. C. Carwood Lipton S/Sgt. C. Carwood Lipton T/Sgt. Amos J. Taylor T/Sgt. Amos J. Taylor S/Sgt. Paul Rogers
Carentan The capture of Carentan would allow the Americans to link Omaha and Utah beaches, providing access for armor and equipment. The Germans were aware of its strategic importance and had established defenses. Donald Malarkey wrote later that Lieutenant Winters made him mortar sergeant of second platoon.
The four-day Battle of Carentan began on 10 June 1944. On the morning of June 12, E Company, along with Dog and Fox companies, were walking down the road to Carentan when they came to a y-intersection, and one or two German machine gun teams began firing on them and pinned down Easy Company from a second-story window. Mortars and tanks soon joined the fight. The American soldiers all jumped into ditches for cover. Winters saw this, and as Malarkey wrote, Winters "got hotter than I've ever seen him." Seeing his men bunching up in the ditches—a move that made them easy targets—Lieutenant Richard Winters famously ran into the center of the road, shouting, "You’re gonna die here! Move!" This spurred 1st Platoon, led by Lieutenant Harry Welsh, to charge into the town. It was a fast attack, at the end of which Malarkey said that he could hear moans and groans of wounded soldiers and occasional gun shots. Also at the end of the battle Winters suffered a minor wound in his lower right leg by a ricocheting bullet fragment. The Germans mounted a counterattack, but 2nd Battalion held onto Carentan.
Casualties By the time the company was pulled off the line, 22 of its men had been killed in action, including the 17 in Stick 66, and another 43 had been wounded, for a 47% casualty rate. Winters' roster records that of the 139 men of Easy Company who left England on the night of 5 June, just 69 enlisted men and five officers were left: Winters; his three platoon leaders Buck Compton, Harry Welsh, and Warren Roush; and Roush's assistant Francis L. O’Brien.
Operation Market Garden As part of the ultimately unsuccessful Operation Market Garden, E Company was assigned to support the British forces around Eindhoven by defending the roads and bridges that would allow British armored divisions to advance into Arnhem and force a crossing over the major bridge across the Rhine in September 1944.
E Company landed on its designated drop zone in the Sonse Forest, northwest of Son, and marched down the road into Son behind the 2nd Battalion's other two companies. On reaching the Son Bridge, they were met by enemy harassing fire while the bridge was destroyed by the Germans. After the Regiment's engineers constructed a makeshift crossing, E and the rest of the 506th moved out for Eindhoven. These events were omitted from the Band of Brothers series, with E having been portrayed as landing in the Netherlands and then marching into Eindhoven to join up with the British Army advancing from the south.
On 19 September, the company departed for Helmond, accompanied by six Cromwell tanks of the British 11th Armoured Division. Their advance was halted by the German 107th Panzer Brigade outside Nuenen and they were forced to retreat to Tongelre. During the days following the link-up, E Company defended the towns of Veghel and Uden until XXX Corps infantry took up the task. As Market Garden progressed, the company and the rest of the 101st joined the 82nd Airborne on "the island" north of Nijmegen.