The journey started uneventfully but quickly turned nightmarish.
Paratroopers boarded their planes – riled by their commanders with fighting talk and directives of ‘take no prisoners’ fresh in their minds – and began their journey to the Carentan peninsula. Historian Peter Lieb has found that many US units were ordered to not take enemy prisoners during the D-Day landings in Normandy. One 82nd Airborne trooper remembers being told ‘Take no prisoners because they will slow you down’. We were going to have to dispose of prisoners as best we saw fit’. 10 One paratrooper – Don Malarkey, E Company, 506th PIR – said General Taylor told them that ‘if you were to take prisoners, they’d handicap our ability to perform our mission. General Maxwell Taylor, commander of the 101st Airborne instructed his paratroopers to ‘take no prisoners’ during the Normandy Invasion. 9 This reportedly elicited the required reaction from the assembled paratroopers. After which, he bent down and pulled a large commando knife from his boot and brandishing it above his head he said, ‘before I see the dawn of another day, I want to stick this knife into the heart of the meanest, dirtiest, filthiest Nazi in all of Europe. Parker A Alford of the 26th Field Artillery, 9th Infantry Division, who was attached to the 501st PIR says, ‘There was a great feeling in the air the excitement of battle’ One commander, Colonel ‘Jump’ Johnson of 501st PIR gathered his men around him and gave a short speech to arouse their fighting spirit.
CAPTAIN RON BAND ARCHIVE
In the Eisenhower Centre Archive of The National World War II Museum in New Orleans, there are accounts of troopers receiving speeches from their commanders designed to induce incitement and strengthen morale, prior to leaving England. Herman Oyler – a member of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne – recollects in the book “D-Day battle for Normandy” by Anthony Beevor that a sergeant in the 101st, having been prevented from killing one group of prisoners, turned to his men and said, ‘Let’s go and find some Krauts to kill!’ 7 In some cases paratroopers shot prisoners captured by others. Many paratroopers in the early morning hours of 6 th June were also alleged to have shot German prisoners of war. 5 A few hours later four more German soldiers were encountered and this time Speirs shot all of them himself. According to fellow Dog Company member, Art DiMarzio, each man shot a prisoner. With no means of managing the prisoners and needing to reach their military objective, Speirs gave the order to shoot them.
Ronald Speirs was said to have shot German Prisoners of War on D Day, after the initial landings 1, 2, 3, 4 An interview with Private Art DiMarzio, published on YouTube in 2012, describes how he, Speirs and a sergeant from his Dog Company platoon became lost and disorientated as a result of being landed away from their intended drop zone – before encountering three German soldiers. The controversy surrounding the Prisoners of War Here, we have tried to represent a variety of accounts and clearly label our sources. The story varies according to the source and it remains unclear to this day which tale is the closest to the truth. Speirs is associated with two controversial actions which are alleged to have happened during the Normandy Campaign. Controversies World War II Normandy, France
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