D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II by Stephen E. Ambrose

Author:Stephen E. Ambrose [Unknown]
Format: epub
Tags: Europe, History, General, France, Military History, War, European history, Second World War, Campaigns, World history: Second World War, History - Military, Second World War; 1939-1945, Normandy (France), Normandy, Military, Normandy (France) - History; Military, General & world history, World War; 1939-1945 - Campaigns - France - Normandy, World War II, World War; 1939-1945, Military - World War II, History; Military, History: World
ISBN: 9780684801377
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 1994-02-14T14:00:00+00:00

The burst scattered the column. "Prisoners" and "paratroopers" alike dove into the ditches and returned fire, the perfidious Frenchman pedaled madly away, and the two self-propelled (SP) guns that had aroused Vandervoort's suspicion began to move forward behind smoke canisters.

At a half kilometer, the SPs opened fire. One of the first shots knocked out Turnbull's bazooka team, another was a near miss on the American AT gun. Its crew scattered, but with some "encouragement" from Vandervoort the gunners remanned the AT and with some fast and accurate shooting put the German SPs out of action. But the German infantry, a full-strength company from the 91st Luftlande Division, outnumbering Turnbull's force more than five to one, began moving around his flanks, using hedgerows for cover.

Vandervoort saw that Turnbull would be overrun quickly without reinforcements, so he had his jeep driver take him back to Ste.-Mere-Eglise, where he dispatched Lt. Theodore Peterson and Lieutenant Coyle with 1st Platoon of E Company to go to Neuville to cover Turnbull's withdrawal.

Turnbull, meanwhile, was extending his lines to the east and west in order to force the Germans to make a wider flanking move, but by 1600 he had about run out of men and room. He was taking heavy casualties, primarily from accurate German mortar fire. Of the forty-three men he had led into Neuville-au-Plain, only sixteen were in condition to fight, and some of them were wounded. Nine of Turnbull's men were dead.37

Turnbull was prepared to make a last stand, a sort of Custer at the Little Big Horn in reverse, when the platoon medic, Corp. James Kelly, volunteered to stay behind and look after the wounded. Pvt. Julius Sebastain, Cpl. Ray Smithson, and Sgt. Robert Niland offered to form a rearguard to cover the retreat of the remainder of the platoon, those who could still walk.

Just as Turnbull began the retreat, E Company moved into Neuville-au-Plain. "We hit fast and hard," Sgt. Otis Sampson recalled. He was handling the mortar and he was good at it. He began placing shells smack in the middle of the German force that was coming in on the flank.

"The Jerries were trying to move some men from the left of a lane to the right. One man at a time would cross at timed intervals. I judged when another would cross and had another round put in the tube. The timing was perfect."

Sampson kept moving his mortar around "so as not to give Jerry a target." The rifle squads kept up a steady fire. The momentum of the German advance was halted. Meanwhile Lieutenants Peterson and Coyle took a patrol to meet Turnbull and the few men he had left with him.

"And we started our journey back to Ste.-Mere-Eglise," Sampson said. "I could hear the Jerries yelling as we were leaving. It reminded me of an unfinished ball game, and they were yelling for us to come back and finish it. We withdrew in a casual way as one would after a day's work. I walked alongside Lieutenant Turn-bull.

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