Easy Company, 506th PIR - Training (#262)
Today’s post covers another aspect of the D-Day invasion -- some of the training and preparation that Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment went through prior to June 6, 1944..
Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment
There were over one thousand infantry companies (an airborne company had about 176 people assigned to it at full strength) that fought in the European Theater of Operations in World War II. Yet one company is more famous than all the rest: Easy Company (Easy was the phonetic letter for E), 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR), 101st Airborne Division. By my count, there is the NY Times bestselling book Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose, at least fifteen other books about the company, the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers, and a half-dozen documentaries.
Easy Company was an exceptional organization. Under the leadership of Herbert Sobel, Tom Meehan, Dick Winters, Fred Heyliger, Norman Dike, and Ronald Spiers the company constructed the right combination of leadership, teams, culture, and processes, that got results on the battlefield – in Normandy, in Holland, and during the Battle of the Bulge. But Easy Company’s path to exceptionalism on the battlefield was forged at Camp Toccoa, Georgia and in England prior to D-Day
Formation
A World War II Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) was comprised of about 2,000 paratroopers under the command of a Colonel. Four of the US Army’s 10 Parachute Infantry Regiments that served in World War II trained for 17 weeks at Camp Toccoa, Georgia before shipping out overseas. The PIRs that trained at Toccoa were:
506th PIR, part of the 101st Airborne Division. Fought at D-Day, Market Garden, and the Bulge. Trained at Toccoa from July to November 1942.
501st PIR, part of the 101st Airborne Division. Fought at D-Day, Market Garden, and the Battle of the Bulge. Trained at Toccoa from November 1942 to March 1943.
511th PIR, part of the 11th Airborne Division. Fought in the Pacific in the Philippines. Trained at Toccoa from January to March 1943.
517th PIR, part of the 17th, 82nd, and 13th Airborne Divisions. Fought in Italy, Southern France, and the Battle of the Bulge. Trained at Toccoa from March to August 1943.
The 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment was led throughout the war by Colonel Robert Sink. A graduate of the West Point class of 1927, Colonel Sink led his unit from the front. Known as Currahee, the 506th PIR was divided into a headquarters element, three battalions, an antitank company, a cannon company with 6 105mm howitzer, a service company, and a reconnaissance element.
The major combat element below a regiment is the battalion. A parachute battalion in World War II had 580 paratroopers assigned to it. Within the 506th, 1st Battalion had a Headquarters Company and A, B, and C Companies. 2nd Battalion had a Headquarters Company and D, E, and F Companies. Finally, 3rd Battalion had a Headquarters Company and G, H, and I Companies. 2nd Battalion (Easy Company’s higher headquarters) was led by Major Stayer, Major Horton, and then Major Dick Winters during the war.
Easy Company was led by a Captain. With 8 officers and 168 enlisted paratroopers, the company was divided into four sub-groups: the headquarters detachment and three rifle platoons. Each rifle platoon was led by a lieutenant and had 49 paratroopers in it. During World War II, Easy Company’s commanders were Herbert Sobel, Tom Meehan, Dick Winters, Fred Heyliger, Norman Dike, and Ronald Spiers.
Herbert Sobel was Easy Company’s first commander and the person who led the demanding training at Toccoa, Georgia and in England. Originally from Illinois, he was a petty tyrant who wanted to make Easy Company the best organization in the regiment by drilling them longer, training harder, and running faster. Although he had the rank and position, his lack of confidence during field exercises, inability to read maps, and poor judgment inspired hatred in the men of Easy Company. Although it has been said “Herbert Sobel made E Company,” he made it by binding the men together in their hatred of him.
Richard “Dick” Winters is Easy Company’s most remembered commander. A great athlete and graduate of Franklin and Marshall College, he enlisted in the Army in 1941. In the spring of 1942, he attended Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant. He volunteered for the airborne, reported to Camp Toccoa in August and became one of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment’s first officers. He was physically fit, calm under pressure, led from the front, and earned the men’s respect.
Training in the United States
The 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment was one of the first units in the US Army to take soldiers directly from civilian life, conduct basic training, advanced training, and deploy to combat. The regiment had the ability to select only the best individuals and send the rest to conventional units. During the training at Toccoa, 400 officer volunteers were whittled down to the regiment’s 148 best officers. It is estimated that 5,300 enlisted volunteers were tested to find the 1,800 enlisted paratroopers who eventually made up the regiment. Due to their demanding selection criteria and tough training the 506th PIR and Easy Company were elite organizations.
Each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, the company would run up and down Currahee Mountain in under 50 minutes. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday the paratroopers would tackle the obstacle course. Other physical fitness events included the push-up, pull-ups, rope climbs, broad jumps, road marches (hikes with full equipment), and log exercises. As the soldier’s muscles hardened and endurance grew, the 506th added additional training in infantry tactics, map reading, orienteering, first aid, close order drill, marksmanship, and eventually, mock day and night attacks.
Basic parachute training happened at Toccoa, too. The future paratroopers learned how to conduct a parachute landing fall by jumping off a small platform, exit a mock airplane, and steer the parachute. Eventually, Easy Company would practice exiting a 34-foot-tall tower which simulated the initial exit from the aircraft. The officers earned their airborne wings at Toccoa in November, but the enlisted soldiers had to wait to travel to Fort Benning later in the year.
Toccoa was where the officers and non-commissioned officers of the 506th PIR learned how to lead -- they learned how to teach, train, and lead the paratroopers. The unit weeded out those that didn’t meet the high standards. They formed incredibly tight small teams with the men they lived with in the tents and worked with in the squads. They forged the culture of the paratroopers and the 506th PIR as they learned to operate independently, earned their airborne wings, adopted the motto “Currahee,” and the received the right to blouse their boots. And they developed the processes at the platoon, company, battalion, and regimental level that they would use to fight and win in combat in Europe.
Easy Company had something else going for it and that was the petty tyranny of Herbert Sobel. Sobel’s drive and desire to have the best unit in the regiment pushed Easy Company a little farther than the other eight rifle companies in the regiment. The officers that survived Sobel eventually occupied key positions throughout the 506th. The soldiers — the Toccoa men — eventually became non-commissioned officers who led Easy Company through the tough times in Normandy, Holland, and Bastogne. As Stephen Ambrose concludes, Sobel must have been doing something right in the summer of 1942 at Toccoa.
As the weather turned cold, newspapers reported that a Japanese unit did a forced march of 100 miles in 72-hours down the Malaysian Peninsula. Colonel Sink decided his paratroopers were better than that, so the men marched from Toccoa to Atlanta, a distance of 118 miles in 75 hours. The paratroopers justifiably walked tall as they finished the march with a parade down Peachtree Street in Atlanta.
Training continued after Toccoa. The soldiers attended airborne school at Fort Benning, Georgia. After completing five parachute jumps they were awarded their airborne wings in December. Afterwards, the regiment moved to Camp Mackall, North Carolina where it continued training multiple day field training exercises, parachute jumps, and more marksmanship. The capstone exercise for the regiment was the Tennessee Maneuvers in June and July where the unit performed exceptionally well. As a result, on June 5th, 1943 the unit officially became part of the 101st Airborne Division or the Screaming Eagles.
Training in England – Aldbourne
On September 6, 1943 the paratroopers boarded the SS Samaria, a converted cruise ship. After nine days of bad food and rough seas Easy Company arrived at Liverpool and was immediately moved to Aldbourne, about 80 miles west of London. The men were put into Nissen huts and tarpaper shacks, while the officers were billeted in private homes.
The 506th PIR got right back to work. The typical six-day training week included long marches, marksmanship, map reading, and multiple day field exercises. In the spring, Easy Company made five training parachute jumps. The largest, Operation Eagle on May 12, dropped 15,000 paratroopers at night as part of the final dress rehearsal for D-Day.
Application
Dick Winters, the Company Commander of Easy Company in Normandy and Holland, often talked about his ten principles of success as a leader.
Ten Principles for Success
1. Strive to be a leader of character, competence, and courage.
2. Lead from the front. Say “Follow me!” and then lead the way.
3. Stay in top physical shape – physical stamina is the root of mental toughness.
4. Develop your team. If you know your people, are fair in setting realistic goals and expectations, and lead by example, you will develop teamwork.
5. Delegate responsibility to your subordinates and let them do their jobs. You can’t do a good job if you don’t have a chance to use your imagination or your creativity.
6. Anticipate problems and prepare to overcome obstacles. Don’t wait until you get to the top of the ridge and then make up your mind.
7. Remain humble. Don’t worry about who receives the credit. Never let power or authority go to your head.
8. Take a moment of self-reflection. Look at yourself in the mirror every night and ask yourself if you did your best.
9. True satisfaction comes from getting the job done. The key to a successful leader is to earn respect – not because of rank or position, but because you are a leader of character.
10. Hang Tough! Never, ever, give up.
Conclusion
Here are five blog posts on leaders and leadership from the World War II European Theater of Operations:
Liberty Ships, LVCPs, Shermans, and Mustangs
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In the meantime, go on the offensive and use Dick Winters’ ideas on leadership to improve your personal leadership skills.