Replies

Ambrose Bierce has an interesting account of D-Day, where one American second lieutenant, an Army Ranger, parachuted in before the invasion with (I believe) the 101st AB Division. Anyway, he managed to infiltrate a German battalion HQ area on the night after the landing. The battalion had been ordered to the beachhead the night of June 6. The battalion commander ordered his company commanders to a meeting at battalion HQ. The LT interrupts their meeting ordering them to surrender. They make a break for it. A guard station with an MG30 opens up on him. He dispatches the machine gun nest with two rounds, and then proceeds to kill the fleeing battalion commander, executive officer and all the company commanders with head shots from an M1. The entire battalion is decapitated on the night of the invasion and will not be available to meet it.

Not bad shooting at night and under fire. And, of course, he escaped. The surviving Germans must have thought there was a least a platoon out there.

Thanks, great story. However a short correction.
Ambrose Bierce is one of my favorite authors, especially the “Devil’s Dictionary”, and provides many great one liners. But he was a Civil War hero and was probably killed by Poncho Villa’s men in Vera Cruz in 1913. (Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (June 24, 1842 – after 1913) was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist and satirist.)

I am sure you are referring to another great writer and patriot, Stephen E. Ambrose (1936-2002)who wrote, “The Band of Brothers” and other great books. His son wrote, “The Pacific” and is not 1/2 the writer his Dad was.

There are some other great stories about an officer that took his Colt Woodsman .22LR target pistol to Europe and his troops were stunned at how many Germans he whacked, presumably in the head, during house to house combat. They said he was a cool as if he was at the target range.

My favorite Bierce quote is, “Faith is belief without evidence spoken by one without knowledge of things without parallel.”