“He looked like a little boy who couldn’t get his favorite toy off a high shelf.” — Sgt. Michael Cappara, commenting on Der Flieger’s defeat at Banville, 6 June 1944.
June 6, 1944 — The Polish Talent Cien and a portion of the British Sixth Airborne Division, in an attempt to link up with incoming Canadian forces on Juno Beach, pushed south from the Orne River to Banville, a small town just past the beachhead at 7:22 A.M. on June 6. There, they met the world’s first Talent: Der Flieger.
Based on the French coast at Fécamp, Der Flieger was alerted to the invasion in the middle of the night.
By dawn the Übermensch had downed nine fighters and two transport aircraft.
Seeing the invasion fleet gathered to the south, he headed along the coast to assist German forces in the defense of Normandy. Der Flieger “sonic-boomed” Allied troops at Sword Beach, and seeing a furtive group of soldiers securing the small shoreline town of Banville, swept in low to identify them.
He flew too close. Cien took a blind swipe at him with his power, knocking Der Flieger from the air with a telekinetic shadow hand. TheÜbermensch skidded to a halt in the mud with his leg broken and two ribs shattered.
An Allied combat photographer snapped a shot of the Übermensch in the mud, his face contorted in disgust and pain. The photograph made the cover of Time with the legend “The Super-Man in Defeat,” and became one of the most famous photographs ever taken.
Despite Cien’s best efforts, Der Flieger fled the scene before he could be captured, flying unsteadily off to the east. Der Flieger was done with Normandy.
