Timeline
-
January 14 1944
The 507th and 508th PIR in Northern Ireland -
Beginning of February 1944
SHAEF - Operation Neptune -
February 8 1944
Major General William C. Lee is replaced temporarily by Don F. Pratt -
February 13 1944
The 82nd Airborne Division settles in England -
February 28 1944
The IX Troop Carrier Command's US Airborne Pathfinder School settles in England -
March 1st 1944
The Airborne Command becomes the Airborne Center -
March 14 1944
Brigadier General Maxwell D. Taylor is appointed commander in chief of the 101st Airborne Division -
April 1944
Creation of Airborne "Phantom Divisions" -
End of March 1944
The 504th PIR joins England -
May 18 1944
The objectives of D-Day -
May 28 1944
D-Day objective changes -
Night of the 5 to 6 June 1944
Operation Titanic -
June 6 1944
D-Day: The longest day -
June 6 through 7 1944
Gliders landing -
July 3 and 4 1944
Drop in Dutch New-Guinea -
July 10 1944
The 101st Airborne Division returns to England -
July 13 through 14 1944
The 82nd Airborne Division returns to England -
August 2nd 1944
Activation of the 1st Allied Airborne Army -
August 15 1944
Operation Dragoon -
August 27 1944
Ridgway at the head of the XVIII Airborne Corps -
September 17 1944
Operation Market Garden -
End of October 1944
Brigadier General James M. Gavin receives his second Major General star -
During November 1944
82nd et 101st Airborne Division: ordered to rest -
November 29 1944
The 11th Airborne Division in the Philippines -
December 16 1944
Battle of the Bulge -
December 25 1944
The 17th Airborne in the Battle of the Bulge
May 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.
