The Filthy Thirteen was the name given to the 1st Demolition Section of the Regimental Headquarters Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment , 101st Airborne Division, of the United States Army, which fought in the European campaign in World War II. This unit was the inspiration for the 1965 book and 1967 film The Dirty Dozen .
The 1st Demolition Section was assigned and trained as demolition saboteurs to destroy enemy targets behind enemy lines. [1] Inspired by Sergeant Jake McNiece, the unit had a tremendous mission focus but their disregard for aspects of military discipline that did not contribute to the mission became the bane of their officers. The 13-man unit acquired the nickname the Filthy Thirteen while living in Nissen huts in England, refusing to bathe during the week in order to use their water ration for cooking game poached from the neighboring manor. [2] Photos of the men wearing Native American–style "mohawks" and applying war paint to one another excited the public's interest in this unit. The inspiration for this came from McNiece, who was part Choctaw. [1]
During the Normandy Invasion of Europe in June 1944, the group was airdropped with the 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment by aircraft of the 440th Troop Carrier Group of the United States Army Air Forces. They were ordered to secure or destroy the bridges over the Douve River. [1] Half were killed, wounded, or captured on the jump, but the rest, led by McNiece, accomplished their mission. Most of the 3rd Battalion leadership had been killed on the jump, so without any contact with the 3rd Battalion, senior officers assumed the battalion had failed its mission and ordered the Air Force to bomb the bridges. The Filthy Thirteen also helped capture Carentan.
During Operation Market Garden, the Demolition Platoon was assigned to defend the three bridges over the Dommel River in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. German bombing of the city killed or wounded half the demolitions men in the platoon, and McNiece was promoted to platoon sergeant of what was left. Jack Womer took his place as section sergeant. For the rest of the campaign, the demolitions men secured the regimental command post or protected wire-laying details. On one occasion, the survivors of the Demolitions Platoon were assigned as a rifle squad to an understrength company. [3]
After coming back AWOL from Paris after Market Garden, [4] McNiece volunteered for the Pathfinders, thinking he would never make another combat jump. [5] These were paratroopers sent in ahead of the main force to guide them in or guide in resupply drops. Half the surviving members of the original Filthy Thirteen followed him into the Pathfinders, thinking they would sit out the rest of the war training in England. To their surprise they parachuted into the encircled town of Bastogne at the height of the Battle of the Bulge. Anticipating casualties as high as 80–90%, the 20 pathfinders lost only one man. Their CRN-4 beacon enabled them to guide in subsequent airdrops of supplies crucial to the continued resistance of the trapped 101st Airborne Division. [1]
McNiece considered that any activities not directly concerned with his mission were irrelevant, an attitude that got him in constant trouble with the military authorities. Nevertheless, McNiece finished the war as the acting first sergeant and with four combat jumps, a rare feat for an American paratrooper. His combat jumps included Normandy, the Netherlands as part of Operation Market Garden, the pathfinder jump into Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge, and as an observer with the 17th Airborne Division during Operation Varsity.
Of the activities of the Filthy Thirteen, Jack Agnew once said, "We weren't murderers or anything, we just didn't do everything we were supposed to do in some ways and did a whole lot more than they wanted us to do in other ways. We were always in trouble." [6]
| Name | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Jack Agnew | W.I.A, Normandy | Bastogne Pathfinder |
| Jake McNiece | Bastogne Pathfinder | |
| John Dewey | Bastogne Pathfinder | |
| Max Majewski | Bastogne Pathfinder | |
| William Coad | Bastogne Pathfinder | |
| George Baran | W.I.A, Normandy | |
| Roland "Frenchy" R. Baribeau | K.I.A, Normandy | |
| Robert S. "Ragsman" Cone | P.O.W, Normandy | |
| Charles "Maw" Darnell | P.O.W, Normandy | |
| James F. "Piccadilly Willy" Green | P.O.W, Normandy | |
| James E. "LaLa" Leech | P.O.W, Normandy | |
| Charles "Trigger" Gann | P.O.W. Bastogne | |
| John "Peepnuts" Hale | K.I.A, Normandy | |
| Louis "LouLip" Lipp | W.I.A, Normandy | |
| Thomas "Old Man" Lonergan | ||
| Miguel "Mike" Marquez | ||
| Lieutenant Charles Mellen | K.I.A, Normandy | |
| Frank "Shorty" Mihlan | Transferred to HQ | |
| John H. "Dinty" Mohr | ||
| Joseph "Joe" Oleskiewicz | K.I.A, Holland | |
| Frank Palys | ||
| Herb "Herby" Pierce | ||
| Charles "Chuck" Plauda | ||
| George "GoogGoo" Radeka | K.I.A, Normandy | |
| Andrew "Andy" Rasmussen | W.I.A, Normandy | |
| Brincely Stroup | Injured in Practice Jump, Pre-Invasion | |
| Clarence Ware | ||
| Jack "Hawkeye" Womer | ||
| Tom Young |
The list includes original members from 1943 and the newer members during Operation Overlord and Operation Market Garden. An interview with Jake McNiece and Jack Agnew can be found on the two disc version of the Dirty Dozen DVD. Jack Agnew died aged 88 on 8 April 2010. [7] Jake McNiece died aged 93 on 21 January 2013. [8] Jack Womer died aged 96 on 28 December 2013. [9]
The 101st Airborne Division issued a press release on the unit, but war correspondents embellished the story. War correspondent Tom Hoge wrote the first article about these paratroopers and coined the name "The Filthy Thirteen" in an article for the Stars and Stripes, June 9, 1944, "Filthy Thirteen Squad Rivaled by None in Leaping Party." [10] [11] Hoge would again use the name "Filthy Thirteen" in July 1944, in an article published in the Seminole County News: "No one knows yet just what happened to the Filthy Thirteen. But all agree on one thing. Pity the poor Nazi who encounters them." [12] [13]
Arch Whitehouse wrote an article for True magazine [11] that had some of the myths that would eventually find their way into E. M. Nathanson's book The Dirty Dozen which was the basis of the 1967 film of the same name. Whitehouse claimed the original 12 members were full blood Indians who had sworn not to bathe until they jumped into combat and it required their new lieutenant to beat each one in a fight in order to win their respect. This addition of this new member changed their name from the Dirty Dozen to the Filthy Thirteen. E. M. Nathanson was informed by a friend, Russ Meyer, who worked on documentaries for the war about a unit of condemned prisoners who were sent on a suicide mission—more likely one of the Filthy Thirteen myths. [11]
Searching the archives of condemned prisoners, Nathanson found no evidence of such a unit (more likely since he was searching the wrong path), [14] but used the information gathered for his novel published in 1965, which was later turned into a blockbuster movie in 1967. Barbara Maloney, the daughter of John Agnew, told the American Valor Quarterly that her father felt that 30% of the movie's content was historically correct, including a scene where officers are captured. Unlike the Dirty Dozen, the Filthy Thirteen were not convicts; however, they were men prone to drinking and fighting and often spent time in the stockade. [15] [16] [17]
Richard E. Killblane wrote Jake McNiece's version of the unit in The Filthy Thirteen (2003), and Stephen DeVito wrote Jack Womer's version in Fighting with the Filthy Thirteen; The World War II Story of Jack Womer – Ranger and Paratrooper (2012). Killblane followed up both books with a more accurate history of the unit that included nearly all surviving member's accounts in War Paint; The Filthy Thirteen Jump into Normandy (2013). Jerome Preisler wrote an account of the Bastogne jump in his history of the World War II pathfinders, First to Jump; How the Band of Brothers was Aided by the Brave Paratroopers of the Pathfinder Company, in 2014. The Filthy Thirteen has been translated into French, Swedish and Spanish. Maurin Picard included a chapter about Jake McNiece and the Filthy Thirteen in his book, Des Héros Ordinaires; Au coeur de la Seconde Guerre mondiale (The Ordinary Heroes of the Second World War) published in 2016. [18] [19]
Constantine Nsar produced a documentary, "The Filthy Thirteen, Real Stories Behind the Lines," with interviews of Jake McNiece and Richard Killblane for a DVD release of "The Dirty Dozen" in 2006. [20]
The cover of War Paint; The Filthy Thirteen Jump into Normandy shows a copy of a commissioned painting by Joel Iskowitz, depicting the Filthy Thirteen getting ready for their jump into Normandy. The Stephens County Currahee Military Museum in Toccoa, Georgia commissioned a bronze bust of Jake McNiece. Réal Desmarets commissioned a memorial to the 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment and Filthy Thirteen at Brevands, France (their D-Day mission). It includes a bronze statue of a kneeling member of the Filthy Thirteen. [21]
The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is a light infantry division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault operations. It can plan, coordinate, and execute multiple battalion-size air assault operations to seize terrain. These operations can be conducted by mobile teams covering large distances, fighting behind enemy lines, and working in austere environments with limited or degraded infrastructure. It was active in, for example, foreign internal defense and counterterrorism operations in Iraq, in Afghanistan in 2015–2016, and in Syria, as part of Operation Inherent Resolve in 2018–2021.
The Dirty Dozen is a 1967 American war film directed by Robert Aldrich and starring Lee Marvin with an ensemble supporting cast including Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Richard Jaeckel, George Kennedy, Ralph Meeker, Robert Ryan, Trini Lopez, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland, Clint Walker and Robert Webber. Set in 1944 during World War II, the film follows the titular penal military unit of twelve convicts as they are trained as commandos by the Allies for a suicide mission ahead of the Normandy landings.
The 506th Infantry Regiment, originally designated the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment during World War II, is an airborne light infantry regiment of the United States Army. Currently a parent regiment under the U.S. Army Regimental System, the regiment has two active battalions: the 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment is assigned to the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, and the 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment is assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division.
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American airborne landings in Normandy were a series of military operations carried by the United States as part of Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy by the Allies on June 6, 1944, during World War II. In the opening maneuver of the Normandy landings, about 13,100 American paratroopers from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, then 3,937 glider infantrymen, were dropped in Normandy via two parachute and six glider missions.
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The 377th Field Artillery Regiment is a field artillery regiment of the United States Army. A parent regiment under the U.S. Army Regimental System, the regiment's 2nd Battalion, 377th Field Artillery Regiment is assigned to the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 11th Airborne Division. Elements of the regiment have also served with the 101st Airborne Division and 82nd Airborne Division, and have seen service in World War II, Vietnam, and in both Iraq and Afghanistan during the Global War on Terror. The 1st and 3rd Battalions as well as Batteries D and E are Inactive.
James Elbert "Jake" McNiece was a US Army paratrooper in World War II. Private McNiece was a member of the Filthy Thirteen, an elite demolition unit whose exploits inspired the 1965 novel and 1967 film The Dirty Dozen.
Edward Joseph Tipper Jr. was an enlisted man in Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment in the 101st Airborne Division, United States Army during World War II. Tipper was one of the 140 original Toccoa men of Easy Company. Tipper was portrayed in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers by Bart Ruspoli. Information about Tipper was featured in the 2009 book We Who Are Alive and Remain.
Jack Neitz Womer was a decorated American World War II veteran and a member of the Filthy Thirteen who was known for his World War II exploits. Womer was a member of the 29th Ranger Battalion, the 101st Airborne Division and the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment.
Richard Eldon Killblane is an American military historian, author and martial arts instructor. A West Point grad in 1979 and a graduate of the U.S. Army Ranger School. He served as an enlisted man and officer in the U. S. Army in the infantry and Special Forces. Killblane is a veteran of Central American counter-insurgency and Operation Just Cause. He served as the Command Historian of the U.S. Army Transportation School at Fort Lee, Virginia for 19 years and traveled extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan to research convoy operations. He has published numerous articles and books on military history and is considered an authority on military convoy security. In 2003, Killblane co-authored The Filthy Thirteen: The True Story of the Dirty Dozen detailing the life and World War II 101st Airborne Division exploits of Jake McNiece.
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Dimanche 7 Juin Brévands 10 h 00 Ceremonie en L, Honneur des Parachutistes Americains de La101 St Airborne et Inauguration D, Un Monument Dedie Aux Filthy 13 (unité d élite spécialisée dans le sabotage à l arrière des troupes ennemies), au lieu-dit le Moulin. Organisation : Réal Desmarets (Facebook) Carentan[Sunday June 7 10:00 a.m. Ceremoney Honoring the American Parachutists of 101st Airborne and Inauguration of a Monument Dedicated to the Filthy 13 (elite unit specializing in sabotage behind enemy troops), at the place called Mill. Organization: Réal Desmarets, Carentan]