Brecourt Manor, Normandy. Gun Position 1

Update 10th Jan 2011. I heard today that Richard 'Dick' Winters, who led the assault on Brecourt Manor, died on 2nd Jan 2011. A truly great man has departed this world. May he Rest In Peace. The site of the famous Brecourt Manor assault in Normandy, France as viewed from the approximate position of the first gun. Taken from the files of Video History Today.

Please take a look at Video History Today http://www.videohistorytoday.com , the first web site to offer unique collections of re-usable original video clips designed for teachers and students.

The idea behind Video History Today is to give schools the raw material to make mini-documentaries and video essays on historical subjects.

Initial packages focus on World War I (Somme and Ieper areas), The Holocaust, the American Civil War and D-Day & Normandy 1944.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• brecourt
• Manor
• normandy
• France
• Day
• 1944
• Winters
• Band
• of
• Brothers
• 101st
• Airborne
• richard
• dick
• winters

[thornwd0]

It was filmed in England...and the main difference between what you see here and the series is that this operation really took about 4 hours. There were no trenches, so the soldiers had to crawl the entire way. I spoke with the current farmer, who was a kid when this took place. He was actually shot by Spiers while just standing around. He still has the guns buried in a sinkhole in his field. Says he is doing to let a University retrieve them for a museum.

[VideoHistoryToday]

Do you happen to know where? On studio grounds I expect. I am planning to take my nephew to the farm this summer. As I said in a previous post, I read Winters's biography in which the time scale is more evident. It mentions the kid hiding in a hollow in the field throughout. The TV series broke the engagement down into a 10 minute segment which made it look almost too easy. Hadn't heard about the buried guns before though. Parts of one gun sit rusting outside the Manor.

[VideoHistoryToday]

Did you happen to meet the farmer on the day or did you make prior arrangements? I wanted to get permission before I entered the field so went into the manor and spoke to the farmers wife (I think) but as I could not speak French and she spoke no English. I ended up doing alot of smiling & pointing and saying 'Band of Brothers' . I wanted to go into the field beyond gun 1 (Liptons tree etc) but did not know who owned those fields.

[IdioticTendencies]

Hey, this is nice vid! =) Does someone happen to know whether the "Brecourt Manor assault" of the HBO's Band of Brothers episode was filmed at this actual site? Because to my eye, this site seems awfully similar to that of the series episode.

[VideoHistoryToday]

I don't think they filmed it here. The HBO version is very similar though and very well made.

I am currently reading 'Biggest Brother' by Larry Alexander about the life of Dick Winters. He mentions many details of the Brecourt Manor assault which differ from the television version. Worth reading if you are interested in the Band of Brothers.

[VideoHistoryToday]

I refer to Brecourt Manor as that is the name given to the action that occurred in that field.

[0hypnotoad0]

@thornwd0

There were trenches. Though they weren't well fortified and constructed, it was a rough dug out.

[101stairbornedan]

by the way @idiotic tendancies this brecourt manor the real one is near the area of st, marie du mont and band of brothers was filmed in 2001 on a 12000 acre set

[JelleKolenbrander]

At the premiere of BoB at Utah Beach Speirs didn't want to shake hands with the little boy, whatshisname?

[thornwd0]

Yeah...the legs/supports of one of the guns sit lying on the grass near the corner of the Manor/house itself.

[Fitz918273]

Very Glad you made this, thank you