• Home
  • Testimonials
  • Where we go
    • British Airborne Landings
    • American Airborne landings
    • Utah Beach
    • Omaha Beach
    • Gold Beach
    • Juno Beach
    • Sword Beach
    • Beyond the Beaches
  • Accommodation
  • Travel
  • Leadership
  • Cost
  • About your guide
  • Contact Us
  • My Blog

D-Day Tours in Normandy

See, learn and enjoy

Menu

  • Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 155 other followers

  • B & ES group at Omaha Beach

  • Maggi Altham, Geoff Lawrence and Sam Altham at Colleville

  • Simon Marshall at Douvres Radar station

  • Farnham Rugby Club Coaches

  • ACE Group EB08

    Tourers from The Academy of Chief Executive.

  • Elleby Family

  • Landing on Omaha

    American troops preparing to land on Omaha Beach

  • On Fox red beach

  • Longues Batterie

  • Categories

    Casualties D-Day Famous veterans History Hobart Funnies Normandy Overlord RAF Uncategorized World War Two WWII

Browsing Tags Decisive leadership

D-Day medal winners – Jimmy Monteith

January 13, 2016 · by pauladlam66

Jimmie Monteith
The Forgotten Hero of D-Day

Jimmie Monteith d-daybattletours,com

If you have an interest in the D Day landings you will be familiar with the names of the beaches: Gold, Juno, Sword, Utah and Omaha. You are also probably familiar with some of the famous names – Eisenhower, Rommel and Montgomery – but outside the famous names and away from those beaches most people’s knowledge is limited.

One person that didn’t land on one of the designated beaches and isn’t well known is Jimmie Monteith. His actions and bravery however, were key to the success on the day.

This is his story.

Jimmie was born on July 1, 1917 in Low Moor, Virginia a very small farming town about 170 miles from the old Confederate Capital of Richmond to which his family moved to when he was nine years old. He went to local Elementary and High Schools where he gained the nickname “Punk”. He went on to study mechanical engineering at Virginia Polytechnic in Blacksburg. Upon leaving he joined the Cabell Coal Company in Richmond where his father was Vice President.

He was drafted into the US army in October 1941, some two months before the bombing of Pearl Harbour and the United States subsequent entry into WWII. He completed his training in the USA and in April 1943 he was shipped to Algeria as a 2nd Lieutenant. He joined the prestigious 1st Division, that is colloquially know as the Big Red One owing to the large red number one that is displayed on the uniforms of the men.

In July 1943 Jimmie was part of Operation Husky – the invasion of Sicily. The 1st Division saw some of the heaviest fighting and Jimmie was promoted in the field to 1st Lieutenant. Once that campaign was completed the 1st Division moved to southwest England in November 1943 to prepare and train for the invasion of mainland Europe.

In the early hours of 6th June 1944 Jimmie found himself and his unit, Company L of the 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, anchored about 11 miles off the coast of Normandy in a large troop ship. Jimmie’s Company would be part of the ‘first wave” of troops to land on Omaha beach at 06.30. Their designated landing place would be the most eastern sector titled Fox Green. The assault would be via shallow bottomed small amphibious craft called LCVP’s (landing craft vehicle personnel), otherwise known as Higgins’ Boats after their inventor. Each boat could take a maximum of 36 fully armed troops.

At about 04.00 in complete darkness the men disembarked from their troop ships into these small craft. The first wave of 1,450 men would comprise Company L along with seven other infantry companies and a detachment from the 2nd Ranger’s Battalion. The weather was poor with waves of 5’ to 6’ and a strong chilly wind from the north, despite it being June. The men were already suffering with seasickness and nerves prior to getting into the small Higgins boats, but now with the shallow draft of the boats and the force five gales, the six boats of L Company were tossed and bobbed about like corks.

Once they were all fully occupied, the armada of small boats set out for their designated landing points. Jimmie and his company were due to land at 06.30 on Fox Green beach and to secure the Cabourg exit off of the beach codenamed F1 – little more than a path winding its way up and off the beach. At this time the tide was rising, but was still low enough to expose all the various beach obstacles that had been erected by the Germans. Sunrise was at 05.58 that morning, but the visibility was still poor owing to the dull unseasonable conditions, the drifting clouds of smoke caused by the Allied Navy’s preceding barrage and the fire from the German defenders.

Only five of the boats made it to the shore. One was lost miles out to sea having been swamped in the stormy waters. However owing to a strong current, the poor weather and the confusion of war Company L was brought ashore far to the east of its designated landing point. But unlike the others, it was deposited on a shoreline so unsuited for military operations that the unit could have easily become paralysed and ineffective, had its officers not shown extraordinary leadership and motivation to get their men moving. One of those officers was Jimmie Monteith.

Company L had landed beyond Omaha’s eastern limit on a place called George beach where the high water line wasn’t shingle, but a low rocky cliff line. They landed under murderous fire and took numerous casualties whilst covering the 300 yards to the relative safety in the lee of the cliff. The only way off the beach would be to move west toward an area where the cliffs changed to a six feet high earth embankment. If the company could scale this embankment it could then start to move inland through the Cabourg exit. Jimmie made it to the safety of the cliff, but many other men and officers and men did not.

Tom Bernard, on board USS Destroyer Doyle
Navy Correspondent for YANK – The Army Weekly

‘On the beach nearest us, about a mile to the right towards the Cherbourg peninsula, we could see through the glass the assault troops being punished by machine guns enfilading the beach from the cliffs. Heavier guns were trained on tanks, which burst into flame. The Doyle was ordered to that beach……..’

Their major impediment was not the terrain but the large German strongpoint Weiderstandnest (WN) 60. This WN comprised of two French 75mm field guns in concrete bunkers, an anti aircraft gun, mortars, an old tank turret sitting on a concrete base (panzerstellung) and numerous machine guns. This strongpoint had a position located high on the cliff bluff behind the beach and with a commanding view of the Cabourg exit and the entire crescent of Omaha beach to the west. This was one of the most dominant positions along the entire Normandy coast. From here, anything that moved could be spotted and fire could be laid down onto the target.

View from WN60

View from WN60. A German Tobruk can be seen on the left. The two 75mm guns were facing this way along the beach.

Company L was now a depleted force and had the choice of drowning as the tide came in or being cut down if they exposed themselves to the Germans. Even if the men could get over the embankment they would find their way blocked by barbed wire and minefields. The strongpoint sat in such a commanding position and at such a height that even if the Americans could get past the wire and mines they would have to move inland along the exit and attack from the rear. All the time they would be under enemy observation and fire.
Tom Bernard, on board USS Destroyer Doyle
Navy Correspondent for YANK – The Army Weekly

‘When we reached the beach there were burning tanks and fallen dead littering the sands. Several hundred men and some vehicles had moved along to the left under the shelter of cliffs’

Jimmie’s company commander Captain John Armellino had also managed to survive the scramble to the safety of the cliff. He had almost immediately sized up the situation and started the planned assault inland. He knew that it wouldn’t be long before the German’s would start to lob mortar shells into their position of relative safety. However, he had been seriously wounded whilst exposing himself trying to direct the fire of a couple of surviving Sherman DD tanks from the 741st Tank Battalion that had also landed on the beach. Jimmie took over.

Sgt. Hugh Martin
Company L, 16th Infantry, 1st Division

‘When the troops were pinned down I saw Lt. Monteith go to the same place where [Captain Amerellino] was struck down. He went right through the thick fire to the tanks and got them into action’

Jimmie managed to communicate with the tank commanders and relay his plan. He led the tanks through a minefield to give them a better field of fire. He needed them to give the assault covering fire. Jimmie and his men vaulted the embankment, inserted Bangalore torpedoes under the wire and blew a gap through which he and his section could get through and then weave a path through the minefield and up the steep slope of the beach exit that passed adjacent to the German stronghold.

Sgt. Hugh Martin
Company L, 16th Infantry, 1st Division

‘He paid no attention to the shells and machine gun fire when he went to the wire and afterwards led us through the minefields’.

The two tanks and the newly arrived USS Doyle fired at the stronghold and at least gave intermittent relief from enemy fire. From the USS Doyle you could see the shells strike with the naked eye. First there would be a flash and then a puff of smoke, which billowed into the sky. Both the USS Doyle and one of the tanks, under the command of Sgt. Geddes, claimed the credit for knocking out the two French guns.

Jimmie and his section moved up the hill under bullet, rifle grenade and mortar fire. The men moved along in column taking advantage of the shrubbery and the natural contours to minimise their exposure. They could see the Germans moving around at the top of the hill to their left. Their men with Browning Automatic Rifles (BAR’s) fired on them and saw some of the enemy fall. Once Jimmie and his men were in position to assault the strongpoint he communicated by field phone down to the acting commander of Company L, Lt. Robert Cutler, that he required the fire from USS Doyle to be lifted. Jimmie’s section attacked along with another section under the command of Lt. Klenk. They moved into the outlying trenches at the rear and worked their way through the strongpoint using small arms fire, grenades and satchel charges. About four or five of the enemy were killed before the remainder surrendered. Unbelievably only one American was wounded during the assault. It was now 09.00 and the first of many German strongholds stretching across Omaha beach had been neutralised. The outstanding leadership of Jimmie and his bravery, and that of the others, had meant that Company L, by securing the eastern flank, had vastly reduced the fire directed from the east along the length of Omaha beach, thus undoubtedly reducing the amount of US casualties.

Jimmie’s day was not over. Lt. Cutler and more troops of Company L moved up the bluff. He set up a defensive perimeter around WN60 and just beyond, to where the path that ascended the bluff split into two. One path headed west towards the small village of Cabourg and the other east towards the equally small village of Le Grand Hameau. Lt. Cutler sent out patrols along both paths. Jimmie and his platoon remained in and around the defensive zone. In 1944 the countryside in this area was known as the bocage. This was ancient woodland and fields with winding country lanes that were sunk between narrow low ridges and banks with tall thick hedgerows on top. This landscape restricted visibility greatly. You could be one side of a hedge and the enemy the other and neither would know. In this claustrophobic terrain hardly anyone knew what was going on. Jimmie however didn’t let the terrain and confusion impede his actions.

S/Sgt Aaron Jones
Company L, 16th Infantry, 1st Division

‘In that sector the enemy was not fighting from fixed positions., but was moving around in the hedgerows and setting up automatic weapons. A large group of enemy started an attack on the position and set up machine guns on the flanks and rear. The Germans yelled to us to surrender because we were surrounded. Lt. Monteith did not answer, but moved towards the sound of voices and launched a rifle grenade at them from 20 yards, knocking out the machine gun position. Even with a large force the Germans couldn’t break through our positions, so they set up two machine guns and started spraying the hedgerow. Lt. Monteith got a squad of riflemen to open up on the machine gun on our right flank. Under cover of the fire he sneaked up on the gun and threw hand grenades, which knocked out the position. He then came back and crossed a 200 yard stretch of open field under fire to launch rifle grenades at the other machine gun position. He either killed the crew or forced them to abandon the weapon. Back on the other flank, enemy riflemen opened up on us again and Lt. Monteith started across the open field to help us fight them off, but was killed by the fire of a machine gun that had been brought to our rear’

Sgt. Hugh Martin
Company L, 16th Infantry, 1st Division

‘When Lt. Monteith knocked out the machine gun with the rifle grenade, he stood in full view at 40 yards and the first shot fell short. The full fire of the gun was turned on him, but he held his position and fired the second grenade to knock out the position.

T/Sgt. John Worozybt
Company L, 16th Infantry, 1st Division

Shortly before my platoon leader Lt Monteith was killed, he expressed great concern for my safety and the safety of my men. When I made a report on the number of men wounded, I still had blood on my hands from administering first aid to one of the casualties. It was then that Lt. Monteith, thinking it was my wound, cautioned me to be careful, and to see that the men were safe. He was a man I had the utmost admiration and respect for.’

It was now mid afternoon. Jimmie lay dead. He had waged a one-man war showing immense bravery and exemplary leadership. His action and clear thought had succeeded in getting men off the beach, capturing a German strongpoint, defending and consolidating the newly won French soil. He had paid for it with his life. He was only 26 years old. He didn’t live to marry nor have children. His life was cut short fighting in a country in which he had only been for a few brutal hours.
His actions were recognised by his superiors. He was recommended to receive the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) by Lt. General Walter Bedell Smith. However, General Dwight D Eisenhower the Supreme Allied Commander said that he was mistaken – ‘looks like a Medal of Honor to me. This man was good’. Jimmie was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration that can be awarded to members of the armed forces of the United States.

Jimmie’s body was buried in a temporary grave after the action, close to where he fell on the bluffs. The norm for American military personnel killed abroad is for their bodies to be brought home, but Jimmie’s next of kin, along with thousands of other Americans, decided that they would like to leave his body in the country where he fell. Jimmie is now buried in the beautiful American Cemetery at Coleville sur-Mer alongside thousands of his comrades in arms, just a few hundred metres from where he fell. His tombstone faces the USA, his homeland that he would never return to.

Jimmy Monteith grave at Colleville cemetery

Jimmy Monteith’s grave at Colleville cemetery

Corporal Bates VC

September 16, 2014 · by pauladlam66
Corporal Sidney Bates VC grave at the Bayeux CWGC

Corporal Sidney Bates VC grave at the Bayeux CWGC

I was recently taking a tour and amongst them was a 16 year old lad that was greatly moved by the CWGC cemetery at Bayeux. He was drawn to the grave of Corporal Sidney Bates of the Royal Norfolk Regiment that had a great deal of messages, crosses and flags around it. Corporal Bates sacrificed himself for his platoon. Bates showed the ultimate form of leadership and bravery by doing something that was so dangerous that he didn’t make the soldiers under his command carry out the required action. I am sure he didn’t want to die, but he also didn’t want all his pals to die.

Bates came from a humble background, brought up in Camberwell South London and died at the age of only 23.

This is the announcement and accompanying citation for the decoration and was published in a supplement to the London Gazette on 2 November 1945, reading:

‘War Office, 2nd November, 1944.
Headstone in the Bayeux Commonwealth Grave Cemetery
The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the posthumous awards of the VICTORIA CROSS to:—

No. 5779898 Corporal Sidney Bates, The-Royal Norfolk Regiment (London, S.E.5).

In North-West West Europe on 6th August, 1944, the position held by a battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment near Sourdeval was attacked in strength by 10th S.S. Panzer Division. The attack started with a heavy and accurate artillery and mortar programme on .the position which the enemy had, by this time, pin-pointed. Half an hour later the main attack developed and heavy machine-gun and mortar fire was concentrated oh the point of junction of the two forward companies. Corporal Bates was commanding the right forward section of the left forward company which suffered some, casualties, so he decided to move the remnants of his section to an alternative position whence he appreciated he could better counter the enemy thrust. However, the enemy wedge grew still deeper, until there were about; 50 to 60 Germans, supported by machine guns and mortars, in the area occupied by the section. Seeing that the situation was becoming, desperate, Corporal Bates then seized a light machine-gun and charged the enemy, moving forward through a hail of bullets and spnnters and firing the gun from his hip. He was almost immediately wounded by machine-gun fire and fell to the ground, but recovered himself quickly, got up and continued advancing towards the enemy, spraying bullets from his gun as he went. His action by now was having an effect on the enemy riflemen and machine gunners but mortar bombs continued to fall all around him.

He was then hit for the second time and much more seriously and painfully wounded. However, undaunted, he staggered once more to his feet and continued towards the enemy who were now seemingly nonplussed by their inability to check him. His constant firing continued until the enemy started to withdraw before him. At this moment, he was hit for the third time by mortar bomb splinters, a wound that was to prove mortal. He again fell to the ground but continued to fire his weapon until his strength failed him. This was not, however, until the enemy Had withdrawn and the situation in this locality had been restored.

Corporal Bates died two days later from his wounds.

WAR: The Ultimate Disruptive Force

June 21, 2013 · by pauladlam66
US troops prepare to land on Omaha Beach

US troops prepare to land on Omaha Beach

Unless you have been locked in a cupboard it has been very hard to not be aware that the 69th anniversary of the Normandy Invasion of German occupied France on 6th June 1944 has recently passed us. Next year will probably be the last significant year of remembering D-Day that veterans will be able to attend. The Normandy Invasion was and still is the biggest seaborne invasion to ever take place. It was a truly remarkable feat to land 156,000 troops in one day and to defeat the enemy without the modern wonders of technology and communication that we have today. There are many military words that are in common business usage today; campaign, tactics, and battle, to name a few. We can also look to the events of nearly 70 years ago for examples of disruptive change that were exploited by one side to the detriment of the other, with the principles easily transferred to examples of business disruption.

TECHNOLOGY. Every business needs to keep abreast of new technology. The American and particularly the British and Commonwealth forces took full advantage of the most up to date technology around.

  • Sir Percy Cleghorn Hobart

    Sir Percy Cleghorn Hobart

    Hobart’s Funnies. General Sir Percy Cleghorn Hobart of the 79th Armoured Division, not only had a fabulous name he also had a fabulous mind. His “unconventional’ ideas about tank warfare had unfortunately fallen foul of his superiors and by 1940 he had been dismissed and was languishing as a Lance Corporal in the Local Defence Volunteers. Winston Churchill however heard of this and reinstated him with Hobart eventually finding himself in charge of the 79th with the remit to assemble a unit of specialist and modified armour. The armour that was created by June 1944 was a real mix of ingenuity and British eccentricity. There was; the Sherman DD tank that could “swim” in the water, the Crocodile a modified tank that was a flamethrower, the Crab that had a flail fitted to detonate and clear mines, the AVRE which was a tank that could destroy concrete bunkers. The list goes on with various armoured vehicles capable of carrying bridges, filling ditches, laying a road, ploughing minefields, bulldozing obstacles, etc,etc. These “Funnies” contributed massively on the day overcoming problem after problem. The Americans however were not so taken with them and apart from using the DD tanks (with poorly trained crews) they ignored the new technology and paid dearly on Omaha beach with soldier’s lives.

  • Mulberry Harbours. It was recognized that it was too dangerous to initially attack a harbour, but harbours would be required to unload men and materials. With fantastic ingenuity and the help of British engineering companies, two floating harbours called Mullberries were made and towed across the channel and moored off of the invasion beaches. The Germans believed that the Allies would have to attack a harbour when they invaded and thus wasted massive resources in improving the defences of harbours all along the coast from Norway to Spain.
  • Higgins Boats. One of the unsung heroes of innovation was an American called Andrew Higgins. He invented the LCVP (landing craft, vehicle, personnel), which was a flat-bottomed landing craft that could deliver 28 fully armed men or a vehicle directly onto the beach. Eisenhower was quoted as calling him “the man who won the war for us”

INTELLIGENCE. The British led the field in gaining intelligence on their adversaries. It was by knowing the opposition better than they knew themselves that the Allies could find and take advantage.

  • Aerial Reconnaissance. The Allies spent a huge amount of time sending pilots on sorties in specially adapted fighters to photograph the German defences. By D-Day millions of photos had been taken which the experts at Danesfield House, RAF Medmenham analysed. From this information they were able to establish where the defences were at their strongest and weakest, routes to exit the beaches from and the general terrain of the area.
  • Breaking Codes. The Aliies had cracked the German Enigma codes at Bletchley Park in England. Key information was now being intercepted and could be acted upon without the knowledge of the enemy.
  • An X Class Submarine

    An X Class Submarine

    X Craft. Small 4/5 man submarines called X Craft were used in the build up to the Normandy Invasion. They sat off shore taking photos of the beaches, observing the Germans and making sound echo measurements. At night, divers would go ashore to survey the prospective beaches and take soil and sand samples to ensure that the designated beaches would be suitable for landing upon.

DECISIVE LEADERSHIP. Probably the most important part of any business and military operation is decisive leadership that will take control, command and delegate.

  • The Germans were crippled by their leadership platform. Hitler had by now taken direct control of many of the elite German units. When the Normandy Invasion took place Hitler was asleep and his officers did not wake him, delaying any response to the Allied assault. Even during waking hours the German chain of command was so long that potential advantages could not be taken.
  • General Dwight D. Eisenhower

    General Dwight D. Eisenhower

    The Allies however had a far more efficient chain of command. Junior officers could make key decisions using the leadership skills that they had been taught in training. The Supreme Allied Commander; General Eisenhower built a command structure that was well balanced with senior officers in place that could act independently to resolve problems. Medal of Honor winners Brigadier Roosevelt and Lieutenant Jimmy Monteith were great examples of this leadership on the day.

ESPIONAGE. By June 6th 1944 there weren’t any operational German agents in Britain. They had all been killed, captured or turned into double agents. Even though Industrial espionage is illegal it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try and find out as much as you can about the opposition.

  • Operation Fortitude was an operation of deception: British double agents with names such as Garbo, Tricycle, Brutus, Treasure and Bronx fed the Germans with false information. It was so successful that even several weeks after the Normandy Invasion the Germans believed that the D Day landings were a feint and that the real invasion would come in the Calais area.
  • The Resistance. Even though the role of the French resistance has been over glamourised in recent years they carried out vital operations destroying infrastructure and providing information that would aid the Normandy invasion.

SUPREMACY. If you are going to go into conflict or into the market you want to know that you have a supreme product. Before the Normandy Invasion the Allies had spent much time, effort and resources building their supremacy.

  • Training. The allies had been training for years for the D-Day invasion. They had learnt their lessons after the debacle of Dunkirk and the disaster at Dieppe. Particular attention to training was carried out by elite forces such as paratroopers, glider borne troops, British commandos and US Rangers.
  • American P51 Mustangs

    American P51 Mustangs

    Air Superiority. By 1944 the Allies were crippling the German infrastructure with day and night bombing. Their fighters such as the Thunderbolt, Mustang and Spitfire were superior to the German Luftwaffe and had effectively made the Luftwaffe an ineffectual force.

  • Manufacturing. The American war machine was by now fully in swing and along with British production was making vast amounts of weapons, munitions, tanks, ships, planes, trucks and everything else that would be required.

Many historians today argue that the Normandy Invasion was always destined to succeed because of the overwhelming superiority of the Allied forces. They do however in my opinion ignore the fundamental work that was put in place to ensure victory. In many ways what could go wrong, did go wrong on the day: the weather was poor, bombers missed their targets, naval bombardment was ineffectual, troops landed in the wrong places, paratrooper drops were scattered, and communications broke down. If it hadn’t been for the five items listed above; Technology, Intelligence, Decisive Leadership, Espionage, and Supremacy (TIDES) the outcome may have been very different. The success of June 6th 1944 really did signify the changing tide of the war in the Allies favour.

  • Blog at WordPress.com.
  • Follow Following
    • D-Day Tours in Normandy
    • Join 155 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • D-Day Tours in Normandy
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...