82nd Airborne

 

Insignia of the US 82nd Airborne Division, from Kemp p.61.

 

Major-General Matthew B. Ridgway, from Blair p.466.

The US 82nd Airborne Division was led by Major General Matthew B. Ridgway, and under Ridgway's command had been involved in several operations prior to Operation Neptune, the airborne operation at Normandy.

 

 

Paratroopers from the 82nd dropping into the sky, from MacDonald p.17.

Similar to the US 101st Airborne Division, the division had three parachute infantry regiments, a three-battalion glider infantry regiment, two parachute artillery battalions with 75mm pack howitzers, and one glider artillery battalion equipped with 105mm howitzers.

 

 

 

Paratroopers of the 82nd enter Ste.-Mere-Eglise on the morning of June 6, from Goldstein p.105.

 

Their mission was to protect the right flank of the Allied army and capture the town of Sainte-Mere-Eglise.  The 82nd would drop behind Utah Beach between Sainte-Mere-Eglise and Carentan.  At 1:21 am the pathfinders for the 82nd were dropped to mark their three landing zones around Sainte-Mere-Eglise.  Thirty minutes later the rest of the airborne troops would arrive.  They dropped in similar conditions to those of the 101st in that they received heavy anti-aircraft fire while also fighting high winds and fog.  The result was a scattered landing of men; many fell into Rommel’s flooded fields and drowned under the weight of their bags.

 

Two men from the 82nd Airborne patrol Ste.-Mere-Eglise by horseback, from Goldstein p.105.

Ste-Mere-Eglise after being occupied by the 82nd, from Goldstein p.105.

By four am the gliders of the 82nd Airborne Division land just northwest of Sainte-Mere-Eglise.  The gliders of the 82nd suffered terribly during landings.  Less than half of the gliders made the correct landings partially due to Rommel’s anti-landing obstacles and anti-aircraft fire.  Many of the gliders crashed into buildings and hedgerows as well, or carried the troops into the flooded fields, drowning many of the men.  Along with the lost lives, much of the equipment was destroyed or lost in the landings.  Few of the 75mm pack howitzers were intact after the scattered parachute drops and just as few of the 105mm howitzers were salvaged from the crashed gliders.  Fortunately the troops were sometimes able to capture intact German artillery and use that to obtain objectives.

Special Apache unit of the 82nd with Indian war paint and mohawks, from MacDonald p.118.

At the same time as the gliders were landing, several small groups of the 82nd that landed successfully in the targeted fields around Sainte-Mere-Eglise managed to capture the town and then hold the town against a German counter attack.  They also managed to block the main road from Cherbourg to Sainte-Mere-Eglise from the Northwest of the town.  Using strangulation wire and hunting knives and covered in Indian war paint, one small group of 13 paratroopers consisting of 12 Apache indians and one man from brooklyn secured several approach roads to a key airfield all on their own. Despite having less than 2,500 men from the division regrouped together, the 82nd was still able to hold the town and meet up with the seaborne divisions from Utah Beach early the following day.

US Airborne troop movements and German defenses behind Utah Beach, from Blair p.239.

Allied airborne positions held at the end of D-Day, from Blair p.281.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Index     Introduction     Training and Preparation       Equipment     Anti-paratrooper Defenses      US 101st     US 82nd    British 6th     Conclusion     Bibliography