Categories timeline: US Airborne (1940-1945)
July 10 1944
The 101st Airborne Division returns to England
On 10 July 1944, the units of the 101st Airborne Division returned to their base camps in England. The division was put to rest, replacing its dead, caring for its wounded and preparing for the next mission.
Back to the listJuly 3 and 4 1944
Drop in Dutch New-Guinea
On 3 and 4 July 1944, 1,424 paratroopers from the 1st and 3/503rd PIR parachuted into the Kamiri sector on the island of Noemfoor in Dutch New Guinea with the mission of seizing the 3 airfields that the Japanese had built there.
Back to the listJune 6 through 7 1944
Gliders landing
On 6 and 7 June 1944, many gliders landed in Normandy after the paratroopers. As part of the first wave, the Chicago mission, which landed at 4.00 am, the 101st Airborne Division lost its Assistant Commander, Brigadier General Don F. PRATT, who died in the crash of his glider. PRATT, who died in the crash of his glider.
5 other missions followed until the morning of 7 June at around 9.00 am; they were code-named Detroit, Keokuk, Elmira, Galveston and Hackensack. In all, 512 CG4-A and Horsa AS51 gliders were used to reinforce the 82nd and 101st Airborne with more than 4,000 men, hundreds of jeeps and several tonnes of equipment.
Back to the listJune 6 1944
D-Day: The longest day
On 6 June 1944, between 0.16 and 2.45 am, 13,348 paratroopers from the 101st and 82nd US Airborne Divisions were dropped over the Cotentin peninsula.
Albany was the code name given to the 101st Airborne parachute drop. 443 C-47 aircraft were needed to transport the 6,928 paratroopers, nicknamed the Screaming Eagles, on their first combat mission.
They were followed 10 minutes later by the Boston mission, the parachute drop of the 82nd Airborne. This force was made up of 379 additional aircraft carrying the 6,420 All-Americans. These two operations were preceded by 20 aircraft carrying the Pathfinders teams, i.e. around 350 paratroopers who had to secure and mark out the drop zones (DZ).
At dawn, paratroopers from the 3/505th under Ltc Edward C. Krause took Sainte-Mère-Eglise.
Back to the listNight of the 5 to 6 June 1944
Operation Titanic
On the night of 5 to 6 June 1944, 40 RAF bombers loaded with 500 ‘Rupert’ decoy dolls and 12 real British SAS paratroopers headed for Normandy. To increase the chances of success of the Overlord plan, several diversionary operations were launched in support of the Normandy landings. Operation Titanic saw the dropping of :
200 dolls and 6 SAS paratroopers from Captain Fowles near Yvetot in Seine-Maritime.
50 dolls were dropped behind the river Dives, to the east of the 6th British Airborne’s landing zones.
50 were dropped south-west of the town of Caen.
200 were dropped in the Marigny sector in La Manche with Lieutenant Poole’s 6 SASs, who were responsible for distracting the St-Lô garrison.
Back to the listMay 28 1944
D-Day objective changes
On 28 May 1944, just a few days before the launch of the biggest operation of all time, the D-Day objectives for the 2 US Airborne Divisions were modified, in particular due to the installation in early May of Generalleutnant Wilhelm Falley’s 91st Luftlande Division in the centre of the Cotentin peninsula.
The Albany mission, corresponding to the parachute drop of the 101st Airborne, was cut back by one drop zone (B) and now had to seize the four coded Utah Beach exits. Destroy the German battery at St-Martin-de-Varreville and its billets for the 502nd PIR. To seize the Barquette lock for the 501st PIR, to destroy the Douve bridges and to hold a line of defence on the southern flank of the VIIth US Corps for the 506th PIR.
The Boston mission for the 82nd Airborne was to liberate and hold Sainte-Mère-Eglise and seize the bridges over the Merderet river at La Fière and Chef du Pont for the 505th and 507th PIR. To blow up the bridges over the Douve at Etienville and Beuzeville-la-Bastille for the 508th PIR and finally to hold a bridgehead west of the Merderet for the 507th and 508th PIR.
Back to the listMay 18 1944
The objectives of D-Day
On 18 May 1944, as part of the operations in Normandy, the 101st Airborne Division was assigned 4 drop zones (A, B, C and D) inland behind the beach exits between St-Martin-de-Varreville for the 502nd PIR and Audouville-la-Hubert and Pouppeville for the 506th PIR. The 501st PIR was given the difficult task of taking Sainte-Mère-Eglise and the bridges over the Merderet. Then the division had to make contact with the 82nd Airborne Division, which had to jump over 3 zones (W, N and T) between the marshes of La Sangsurière and St-Sauveur-le-Vicomte!
Back to the listApril 1944
Creation of Airborne "Phantom Divisions"
In April 1944, as part of the disinformation operations of the Fortitude North and South plans, fake US airborne units were created: the 6th, 9th, 18th, 21st and 135th Airborne Divisions (Phantom Divisions). They were stationed in Kent and placed under the command of the First United States Army Group under LG George S. Patton to give the Germans the illusion of a future landing in the Pas-de-Calais. Patton’s First United States Army Group to give the Germans the illusion of a future landing in the Pas-de-Calais.
Back to the listEnd of March 1944
The 504th PIR joins England
On 22 April 1944, the 504th PIR belatedly returned to its parent unit, the 82nd Airborne Division, for a well-deserved rest after its heroic Italian campaign. Unfortunately, the regiment was unable to take part in Operation Neptune for lack of time. Nevertheless, 26 paratroopers from its ranks served as Pathfinders with the 507th and 508th PIR in Normandy.
Back to the listMarch 14 1944
Brigadier General Maxwell D. Taylor is appointed commander in chief of the 101st Airborne Division
On 14th March 1944, in England, Brigadier General Maxwell D. TAYLOR was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the 101st Airborne Division, replacing MG William C. LEE.
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