Jimmie Monteith
The Forgotten Hero of D-Day
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. 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’s grave at Colleville cemetery
