Easy Company
From Camp Toccoa to the Rhine, the men who jumped first and fought hardest.
E Company, 2nd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, served as an elite airborne unit during World War II. Known as "Easy" Company based on the phonetic alphabet for "E," they were created in 1942 to jump from C-47 transport planes into hostile territory. Their formation began at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, under the strict command of 1st Lieutenant Herbert Sobel, where troops ran the steep "Currahee" hill three miles up and three miles down. The unit's combat experiences were later chronicled in Stephen Ambrose's 1992 book *Band of Brothers* and the 2001 HBO miniseries.
- Affiliation
- 101st Airborne Division, United States Army
- Parent Unit
- 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (2nd Battalion)
- Key Leaders
- Major Richard Winters, Captain Sobel, Major Sink
Verified Timeline
Lore & Background
The company's history is marked by intense leadership conflicts and pivotal combat moments. Before D-Day, tensions between Sobel and 1st Lieutenant Richard Winters peaked when NCOs threatened to surrender their stripes unless Sobel was replaced; Colonel Robert Sink eventually transferred Sobel out, giving him command of a training school at Chilton Foliat. During Operation Overlord on June 6, 1944, Easy Company dropped over the Cotentin Peninsula in eight aircraft (Sticks #66-73). Stick #66 crashed after being hit by flak, killing all 17 aboard, including commander Thomas Meehan. Winters took command and led the Brécourt Manor assault to disable four German heavy guns threatening Utah Beach's Causeway 2.
In Their Own Story
During the Battle of Carentan on June 12, 1944, Easy Company faced a y-intersection where German machine gun teams pinned them down from a second-story window. As soldiers huddled in ditches, Winters ran into the center of the road shouting, "You're gonna die here! Move!" This spurred 1st Platoon, led by Lieutenant Harry Welsh, to charge the town. The battle ended with Winters suffering a minor wound from a ricocheting bullet fragment and Malarkey reporting moans from the wounded. By the time they were pulled off the line, 22 men were killed (including the 17 in Stick #66) and 43 wounded, leaving only 69 enlisted men and five officers from the original 139 who left England.
Reader's Guide
Easy Company originally consisted of three rifle platoons and a headquarters section. Each platoon held three twelve-man rifle squads and a six-man mortar team squad, with one machine gun per rifle squad and a 60mm mortar in each mortar team. During Operation Market Garden, the company landed in Sonse Forest northwest of Son to support British forces around Eindhoven. They marched behind other companies of the 2nd Battalion but were met by enemy fire when they reached the destroyed Son Bridge. Engineers built a makeshift crossing, allowing E Company and six Cromwell tanks from the British 11th Armoured Division to advance toward Helmond on September 19.
Did You Know?
- E Company troops performed formation runs in three four-column groups, an innovation adopted by the Army in the 1960s.
- Sobel's training was so effective that E Company skipped the physical training portion of Jump School.
- Two ringleaders of the protest against Sobel, Terrence Harris and Myron Ranney, were demoted to private before Ranney was transferred back just five days before D-Day.
- Plane #66 exploded after hitting a hedgerow, killing all 17 aboard, including three senior NCOs and commander Thomas Meehan.
- During the Carentan battle, Winters suffered only a minor wound despite leading a charge that ended with heavy German counterattacks.
More in Units & Command Structure
Related in Band of Brothers
Links follow this subject's own source article.