Shifty Powers 101st US Airborne

 Band of Brother 101st Airborne 506

Born: 13th March  1923, Clinchco, Virginia, United States...
Died:  17th June 2009, Wellmont Bristol Regional
Medical Center
Place of burial: Temple Hill Memorial Park,
Castlewood, Virginia, United States

Award: Bronze Star Medal
Powers was born in Clinohoo, Virginia. His father was
an excellent rifle and pistol shot, and taught him how
to shoot when he was young. Shifty spent a great
deal of time in the outdoors, hunting game. He got to
the point where he could throw a coin in the air and
hit it with a rifle. Many of the skills he obtained helped
him as a soldier.

Powers graduated from high school and took
a machinist course in a vocational school in Norfolk
There he befriended Robert 'Popeye' Wynn, and the
two went to work in the shipyards in Portsmouth,

Virginia after finishing the course. When they found
out that they were about to be frozen to the jobs,

clarification needed] they went to sign up for the
Army. Powers enlisted on 14th August 1942,
at Richmond, Virginia.

Powers‘ nickname "Shifty" originated from his
basketball days and his ability to be 'shifty' on his
feet.
Staff Sergeant Darrell Cecil "Shifty" Powers (13th March
1923 — 17th June 2009) was a non-commissioned
officer with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th
Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101 st Airborne
Division during World War ll. Powers was portrayed in
the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers by Peter
Young blood Hills.

Powers followed Easy Company to station
in Aldbourne, England. He was shocked to see that
the residents there were prepared to defend
themselves against the Germans with only garden
implements. He thought it would have been a
massacre if the Germans had indeed invaded
Aldbourne.

Powers jumped into Normandy on D-Day. Missing
his drop zone, he joined two others from the
company and the three linked up with Easy Company
several days later to fight in Carentan. Powers
participated in the Allied military operation Operation
Market Garden in the Netherlands.
Powers also fought in the Battle of the
Bulge in Belgium. On 29th December 1944, when Easy
Company was staying in the woods, Powers noticed
a tree that was not there just the day before and
reported it to First Sergeant Carwood

The battle of Coral Sea 04th May 1942

 

 The battle of Coral Sea was a four day
skirmish that spanned from May 04th, 1942 until May 08th
1942. The battle was marked as the first air and sea
battle in the history of warfare.

  The Japanese were seeking to take control of the Coral
Sea by capturing the Port Moresby in southeast New
Guinea. Luckily for the Allies, these plans were
intercepted.

  The Japanese began landing in the area on May 4th but
came under attack from fighter planes that were
launched off near by aircraft carriers. Air strikes from
both sides were fired but most missed their targets.
When the main forces traded air strikes, the Americans
lost the carrier Lexington and the Yorktown was
damaged. The Japanese suffered damage to their
carrier, Shokaku.

  Although both sides suffered damages to their carriers,
the battle left the Japanese without enough air support
to cover the ground attack resulting in an Allied victory.
In the end, the Allies lost 656 seaman while the
Japanese lost 966 seamen.

  The aftermath had an important impact on the battle of
Midway a month later, reducing the Japanese forces
availability.

Field Marshal Walter Model

 Walter Model liked to call himself “the F iihrer's fireman.” He proved
his capability to put out apparently unquenchable fires on many occasions.
He first came to Hitler's attention as a brilliant staff officer just
before the war. He showed his command ability by leading a panzer
division in the invasion of Russia. By early 1942 he had been promoted
to the command of an army, and continued to distinguish himself on
attack and in the defense.

Model lacked Manstein’s keen strategic genius, but was one of Germany’s
finest tacticians during the war. Even before Manstein was relieved,
Hitler had begun to use Model to take command of diflicult spots. Late
in 1943 he was promoted to command Army Group North, and checked the
Russian winter offensive toward the Baltic States. After the relief of
Manstein, Zhukov took advantage of the situation to break through the
front of Army Group South; Model was rushed to the front, and miraculously
plugged the hole and stopped the Russian drive. W’hen the Russians then
broke through north of the Pripet Marshes and headed toward Warsaw, Model
was again shifted, and again stopped the Russian advance.

Then, with the Western Front splitting apart, as the Americans and British
smashed their way out of the Normandy beachhead, Hitler called on Model to
take command in the West and to perform another miracle — which he did.
‘With the German armies apparently completely smashed in France, Model
nonetheless succeeded in establishing a new and firrn defensive line in Belgium
and eastern France. Later, with Rundstedt recalled to command in the West, Model,
commanding Army Group B, continued his brilliant defensive tactics in the bitter
winter months of battles in Belgium and the Rhineland.

Although Model was always loyal to Hitler, he was never a spineless “yes-man.”
He was one of the few soldiers who could give his frank opinions to the dictator.
Hitler took this from middle-class Model, while he would never take it from
equally outspoken aristocratic officers like Manstein and Rundstedt. When
he thought Hitler would refuse to permit withdrawals, Model simply acted, and
informed the High Command afterward. He maintained this independence of mind
to the very end; when resistance was hopeless in the Ruhr pocket, despite
Hitler’s orders to continue to fight, he ordered his troops to surrender, and
then committed suicide.

Germany's leading Panzer commander was Heinz Guderian, an outspoken tank force
soldier who did much to build up Germans armored strength before the war, and
who was in large part responsible for developing the armored role in blitzkrieg
tactics. He performed well in the command of large armored units in the invasions
of Poland, France, and Russia. In the latter invasion he bitterly protested Hitler’s
diversion of his tank units from the drive on Moscow to the Kiev encirelement.
Formerly a favorite of Hitler, his outspoken expression of opinion at this time,
followed by the later failure of his tanks to take Moscow, in December, led to
his abrupt dismissal from command.

In March, 1943, however, Guderian was called back as Inspector General of Panzer
troops, and was appointed acting Chief of Staff of the army in ]uly, 1944, following
the unsuccessful assassination attempt on Hitler. He was relieved again, following
an argument with Hitler, in March, 1945. Lacking the spark of exceptional genius of a
Manstein or a Rommel, Guderian was,nonetheless, one of the finest fighting soldiers of
the war; a worthy counter part of Americas Patton.

 

 

506th Easy Company Robert Burr Smith

 

 

  Robert Burr Smith Nickname Smitty
Born. 02nd May 1924 Died  07th January 1983 ) (aged 58)
Place of birth:- Tacoma, Washington, United States
 Lieutenant Colonel Robert Burr Smith (May 02 nd,1924 - January 07th,1983)
was an American Army Officer. He was famous for his service for Easy Company,
2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101 st Airborne
Division of the United States Army during World War ll.

Smith was one of the 140 Toccoa men of Easy Company.
Smith's life story was featured in the 2009 book We Who Are
 Alive and Remain: Untold Stories from Band of Brothers.
Smith was born in May 2, I924 in Tacoma, Washington.
His family moved to Los Angeles when he was seven.
Smith was sent by his grandmother to Brown Military Academy
in Pacific Beach, California because he acted as
German soldiers and yelled 'Heil Hilter!' for fun with his friend.
Smith enlisted in the army at Rochester, New York in August I8,
I942 and volunteered for paratroopers. He was sent to Toccoa,
Georgia for training and befriended Warren 'Skip' Muck and
Donald Malarkey. William Guarnere in his biography said that
Smith ‘was a nice boy, so you blamed him for the devilment,
because nobody believe it‘ on 13 thJanuary , 1945, Smith was
wounded in Foy, Belgium and was evacuated to the hospital.
He met Perconte and Malarkey and the three rejoined Easy Company
in Germany before the end of the war. Smith returned to the States
in I974 and became the CIA liaison officer to the Delta Force.
In I980,  Smith participated in the failed mission to free American
hostages in the US embassy in Tehran, Iran.Smith retired from the
CIA after a hang gliding accident. He was later diagnosed with lung
cancer. He died in January 7,1983.