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This Remembrance Profile was originally created by SGT Robert Briggs - Deceased
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Easy Co. 506 P.I.R. 101st Airborne
Wounded in the plane during the drop into Normandy.
Was on Stick list for 1st Platoon, Chalk 68, Normandy jump
Other Comments:
Roy W. Cobb was a soldier who served with the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, U.S. 101st Airborne Division, in Easy company during World War II. He was played by Craig Heaney in the 10-part television mini-series Band of Brothers.
Roy Cobb was discharged from service after assaulting Lt. Jack Foley, his platoon commander, in Haguenau, after consuming a bottle of schnapps.Handing court-martial papers to Colonel Robert Sink, he said, "Foley, you could have saved us all a lot of trouble. You should have shot him."
He was portrayed in Band of Brothers as a very unfriendly and bitter person. This is thought to be because he served so long in the army but was never promoted. However he is described in Stephen E Ambroses book Band of Brothers as invariably good natured. He had served in the army for 9 years before he joined the Parachute Infantry. In that time he took part in an assault landing in Africa with the 1st Armoured Division and survived a torpedo attack that sank the troop ship he was on when traveling back to the States. During the drop into Normandy, Cobb was wounded in the plane he was in and could not jump. He rejoined Easy Company after they returned from Normandy and parachuted into Holland as a part of the unsuccessful Allied attempt in taking a number of bridges across the Rhine as part of Operation Market Garden. He also fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was selected for a patrol at Haguenau.
The Social Security Death Index states that three men with social security numbers named Roy W. Cobb have died, two of which were old enough to have served in the Army for nine years before joining the parachute infantry. The more likely candidate was from New York and died in North Tonawanda, born June 18, 1914 and died in January 1990. The other was from Ohio and died in Cincinnati, born February 27, 1897 and died July 1, 1966, though this would have put him in his mid-to-late forties during the war, quite old for a paratrooper.
MOS: 745
ASN:
WWII - European Theater of Operations/Central Europe Campaign (1945)/Operation Plunder
From Month/Year
March / 1945
To Month/Year
March / 1945
Description Beginning on the night of 23 March 1945, Operation Plunder was the crossing of the River Rhine at Rees, Wesel, and south of the Lippe River by the British 2nd Army, under Lieutenant-General Miles Dempsey (Operations Turnscrew, Widgeon, and Torchlight), and the U.S. Ninth Army (Operation Flashpoint), under Lieutenant General William Simpson. XVIII U.S. Airborne Corps, consisting of the British 6th Airborne Division and the U.S. 17th Airborne Division, conducted Operation Varsity, parachute landings on the east bank in support of the operation. All of these formations were part of the 21st Army Group under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. This was part of a coordinated set of Rhine crossings.
4,000 guns fired for four hours during the opening bombardment. British bombers contributed with attacks on Wesel during the day and night of 23 March.
Three Allied formations made the initial assault: the British XXX and XII Corps and the U.S. XVI Corps. One unit, the British 79th Armoured Division — under Major-General Percy Hobart — had been at the front of the Normandy landings and provided invaluable help in subsequent operations with specially adapted armoured vehicles (referred to as Hobart's Funnies). One "funny" was the "Buffalo" operated by the 4th Royal Tank Regiment under the command of Lt. Col (later Lt. Gen) Alan Jolly, an armed and armored amphibious tracked personnel or cargo transporter able to cross soft and flooded ground. These were the transports for the spearhead infantry.
The first part of Plunder was initiated by the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division, led by the 7th Black Watch at 21:00 on 23 March, near Rees, followed by the 7th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. At 02:00 on 24 March, the 15th (Scottish) Division landed between Wesel and Rees. At first, there was no opposition, but later they ran into determined resistance from machine-gun nests. The British 1st Commando Brigade entered Wesel.
The U.S. 30th Division landed south of Wesel. The local resistance had been broken by artillery and air bombardment. Subsequently, the 79th Division also landed. U.S. casualties were minimal. German resistance to the Scottish landings continued with some effect, and there were armoured counter-attacks. Landings continued, however, including tanks and other heavy equipment. The U.S. forces had a bridge across by the evening of 24 March.
Operation Varsity started at 10:00 on 24 March, to disrupt enemy communications. Despite heavy resistance to the airdrops and afterward, the airborne troops made progress and repelled counterattacks. The hard lessons of Operation Market Garden were applied. In the afternoon, 15th Scottish Division linked up with both airborne divisions.
Fierce German resistance continued around Bienen, north of Rees, where the entire 9th Canadian Brigade was needed to relieve the Black Watch. The bridgehead was firmly established, however, and Allied advantages in numbers and equipment were applied. By 27 March, the bridgehead was 35 mi (56 km) wide and 20 mi (32 km) deep.
