Chapter 6. “Move Out!”; Carentan, June 7–July 12, 1944

Summary 

With their D-Day objectives completed, Easy Company moves south toward Carentan, an area defended by the German commander Colonel von der Heydte. Colonel Sink sets up his command post in Angoville-au-Plain, and Easy Company defends the regimental headquarters for three days from von der Heydte’s counterattacks. Here, soldiers face new challenges. Thousands of hedgerows created by ancient Normandy farmers, some twice a man’s height, complicate progress. The men deal with sleep deprivation and the temptation of the alcohol found in every French village they liberate. Both Allied and Axis bodies need burial for health reasons. Plundering the dead is widespread. While the Americans typically show respect to their fallen compatriots, they routinely take souvenirs such as daggers, flags, watches, and German Lugers from the dead.

General Taylor elects to attack Carentan concurrently from three directions, the 327th Glider Infantry Regiment from the north, the 501st from the northeast, and the 506th from the southwest via an all-night march. Easy Company once thought Sobel’s constant night training to be sadistic, but now their skills make them self-assured, effective soldiers. Poor communication between companies leads to difficulty traversing terrain at night, and by the time the 506th is in position, it is nearly time for the attack. The worn-out men move to take Carentan at dawn. Von der Heydte had pulled most of his forces out of Carentan to resupply, leaving behind a fifty-man company to hold the town as long as they could. The Germans man a single machine-gun position watching the road leading to the southwest, Easy Company’s approach, and train 80 mm mortars on a critical junction near the edge of town.

Once the machine gun starts firing, the approaching platoon splits. Seven men led by Harry Welsh continue to charge, and the rest cower in ditches alongside the road. Winters stands in the road in a hail of bullets screaming at the men to “Move out!” The drama distracts the German machine gunner, and Welsh and his men neutralize the machine-gun nest. The remainder of Easy Company secures the intersection. They clear the rest of the town while contending with German mortar fire. Chaplain John Maloney moves among the wounded giving last rites.

While Easy Company defends Carentan, chaos ensues as Americans accidentally start firing on each other. The Germans counterattack and the intensity causes Companies D and F to fall back, leaving Easy all alone with an exposed flank. German tanks try to breach the hedgerow on Easy’s left flank. Welsh and a private withstand fire from a German tank enough to hit the tank in its underside with a bazooka, exploding it. The German forces back off, and Companies D and F return to seal the flank.

The War Department evacuates a soldier, Fritz Niland, from Easy when his three brothers are killed in action on D-Day and the China-Burma-India conflict. Later, the Distinguished Service Cross is awarded to General Taylor, Chaplain Maloney, and Lt. Winters. Easy Company jumped into Normandy with 139 officers and men, and they would leave with just seventy-four.

Analysis 

The chapter gets its title “Move Out!” from Winters’s exhortation to his frightened men who have dived for cover to avoid being fired upon, a survival reflex, but a move that will not serve them well here. Winters knows he must override their instincts to remind them of their duty. When he can’t get them to move with orders, he shows them what to do by example. By standing in the middle of the road where they need to be and remaining a target himself, Winters “speaks” more eloquently and powerfully than the screamed order.

Here, soldiers face a new set of mental and physical challenges that training can only mostly prepare them for. The realities of ground warfare are a constant round of offensive and defensive tactics. Ground gained one moment can be challenged the next. Soldiers must hold on to hope in the face of such ups and downs and continue to fight with all they have. Fear, exhaustion, sleeplessness, and tension make the abundant alcohol in French villages especially attractive to the average enlisted man, and staying sober is another battle they undertake throughout the war. Taking the souvenirs from enemy corpses, on both sides, makes the men feel like this war is a temporary experience and soon enough they all will be returned to civilian life. The disrespect for the German corpses also functions to desensitize the men to the killing that they must do. It is easier to kill those one doesn’t view as human.

The mention of Sobel in this chapter serves to provide context for Easy Company’s strong night maneuvering skills. Their crediting Sobel for their abilities reflects that they haven’t forgotten the shoulders of the men they stand on, no matter how reviled they may have made themselves. Even though Sobel no longer serves with Easy, his past contribution remains a lingering influence for good.

At Carentan, the name of the German commander von der Heydte brings out the humanity of the enemy. The art of war is practiced by all men everywhere at all times, and the spectrum of skill and effectiveness is universal. The tactical battle of wits between adversaries figures just as significantly as the weapons used in combat. Von der Heydte counters Taylor’s three-pronged attack by setting up the German defenses where Easy Company must enter the town. Easy Company must disarm the enemy’s defenses to allow the other companies to succeed. The Germans, outmanned, depend on their powerful weapons, but they underestimate the agile troop movement of Easy Company. Easy Company also takes advantage of German weaknesses, such as when they hit the German tank’s unarmored undercarriage with a bazooka as the tank attempts to climb a hedgerow. Taking advantage of such opportunities takes steady nerve and creativity, even when the adrenaline has run out and exhaustion has set in.

Easy Company’s Normandy campaign results in wins and losses. It contributes to pushing the Germans out of France, but at great cost, with a mortality rate of 53 percent. Brought poignantly home is the casualty rate among the four Niland brothers, reminding the reader of the immense sacrifice families made. Wars are fought by young men, and their grievous loss reverberates through future generations of lost children and life-changing contributions. Coordinating multiple battalions against enemy attacks has the unintended consequences of friendly fire, in which Americans mistakenly fire upon their compatriots, compounding the casualties. War as portrayed in the Normandy campaign takes on the quality of mayhem.