UNITED STATES 101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION, 1941-45

50 Pages·1978·30.92 MB·English

by  PHILIP KATCHER

VANGUARD SERIES
EDITOR: MARTIN WINDROW
US 101st
AIRBORNE DIVISION
1942-45
Text by PHILIP KATCHER
Colourplates by MIKE CHAPPELL
OSPREY PUBLISHINGLONDON
Published in 1978 by
Osprey Publishing Ltd
Membercompanyofthe George Philip Group
12-14LongAcre, London WC2E9LP
© Copyright 1978 Osprey PublishingLtd
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ISBN 0 85045 286 4
Filmset byBAS Printers Limited,
OverWallop, Hampshire
Printed in Hong Kong
Winston Churchill shakes hands with divisional second-in
command Brigadier-General Don Pratt before his review of
the JOist on '23 March 1944, In the background, I. to r.:
General Eisenhower; Brigadier-General Maxwell D, Taylor,
divisionalcommander.Prattwaslaterkilledinaglidercrashin
The Beginnings Normandy. (US Army)
In early 1940the wholeworld watched as German eye.Abest-forgottenmovie,ParachuteBattalion,was
paratroopers opened the way for their army into made about the 501st, and this brought more
Belgium ~nd Holland. One US soldier who was volunteers to its ranks. One such volunteer was
especiallyinterested in thesedevelopmentswas the Edson D. Raff, then an infantry company
Chief of Infantry, who, on 2January 1940, had commander on duty in Hawaii. He wrote his aunt
been ordered to study paratroopers and air from FortBenningon 26June 1941,describing the
transported infantry. unit'straining:
On 25June 1940, forty-eight soldiers out of200 'Thefirst partofthecurriculumconcentrateson
volunteers from the 29th Infantry Regiment were conditioning, calisthenics, and exercises to harden
formed into a Parachute Test Platoon. The the muscles; the second teaches techniques in
fledglingparatroopersbeganworkatFortBenning, jumping from a plane and manipulating a
Georgia,developingequipmentand tactics. Atfirst parachute in the air and on the ground; the third,
they copied German and Russian methods (the towerpractice, and thefourth,jumps from aplane.
Red Army having used paratroops as early as Packing and maintenance ofchutes is interwoven
1930); later uniquely American equipment was with the outdoor tasks.'
developed. The test platoon developed into a Towards the end of 1941 the 50lst and
company and, in October 1940, the company was additional parachute battalions which had been
named the50lstParachuteBattalion. In February formed later took part in the Louisiana and
1941 the 50lst participated with the 4th Infantry Carolinamanoeuvres. Theretheywere asmashing
Divisionand 2ndArmored Divisioninworkingout success, capturing command posts, raiding rear
air/ground tactics. areas, destroying bridges and overrunning
Theneworgani'zationquicklycaughtthepublic airfields-muchastheGermanshaddoneinactual
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combat. Because of their successes the battalions was one of the dead men's boots. 'They were
were made full-fledged regiments, each with three bloodied,' he wrote; 'a small sliver ofwhite bone
battalions,inMay 1942.On 16August 1942theold protruded through one of them, and the blood
82nd Infantry Division at Camp Claiborne, hadn'tcongealedyet.' Andyetnotonemanofthat
Louisiana, was divided; with the new parachute group quit.
infantry regiments added, it formed two new In the spring of 1943 the trained, toughened
Airborne Divisions-the 82nd and IOISt. The Division took part in ten-day-long manoeuvres in
502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment remained at South Carolina. Later, in June, the Division
Fort Benning until the whole IOISt was brought participated in Second Army war games held in
together in early autumn of 1942 at Fort Bragg, Tennessee. In August the Division was sent'to
North Carolina. . Camp Shanks, New York, from where, later that
'The IOIst Airborne Division', wrote the month, they were shipped out to Liverpool. From
Division's new commander, pioneer paratrooper Liverpool the Division, by now nicknamed the
Major-General W. C. Lee, to his men, 'has no 'Screaming Eagles', moved south to just outside
history, but it has a rendezvous with destiny. Like Newbury, Berkshire.
the early American pioneers, whose invincible In England the Division, already earmarked for
couragewas thefoundation stoneofthis nation, we the invasion of Europe, began day and night
havebrokenwiththepastanditstraditionsinorder training. Theyjumpedandassembledinallsortsof
to establish our claim to the future.' co..{ditions until it became almost second nature.
Training for the new paratroopers-volunteers Theylearned about British and German uniforms,
all-was rugged. Recalled Private Donald R. weaponsandequipment.Theyeventookcoursesin
Burgett, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment: 'At 'combat swimming'. One especially realistic
no time was a trooper allowed to sit down, lean training exercise was held when the Division's
againstanythingorstandinarestingattitudewhen airplanes, full of men ready to jump in a night
he was outside the confines of his own barracks. manoeuvre, found themselves in the midst of a
Another thing...was thatatnotimewasatrooper Luftwaffe bomber stream. The men jumped in
allowed to walk from one point to another, unless anti-aircraft fire, many ofthem being captured by
ordered to do so; he must run or double-time.' alert British Home Guards, who were sure they
This constantrunninggave the menoneoftheir were German paratroopers, The next day officers
first mottoes, 'hubba-hubba', which was supposed had to go around freeing their men from jails all
to mean 'hurry, hurry' in Yiddish. Everything in over the south ofEngland.
theairborne wasdone 'hubba-hubba'. Ifitwasn't, Many ofthe menweresentinsecret to Torquay
or the instructors weren't satisfied with whatever in southern England, where the ground was
was done, the offending volunteer was told to do thought to resemble Normandy's hedge
push-ups-25, 50 or even a hundred ofthem. One row country. So they wouldn't be seen, they
of the Division's regiments, the 506th, drew its were quartered in a seaside hotel and not one of
motto from its daily 'three-mile run'. Every them was allowed below the second floor-except,
morning before breakfast the men ran three that is, for the three occasions each day when the
miles-that is, three miles to Mt Currahee, three wholelotofthemmarched cleararound the bay to
milesup themountain, threemilesdown,andthree the otherside ofthe town to eat!
milesback. Then came the regular day's training. In March 1944 ill'-health forced General Lee
Notonlywas the traininghard physically, itwas to relinquish command to Brigadier-General
hard mentally. Two men's shroud lines became MaxwellD.Taylor. Thatsamemonth theDivision
entangledduringajump, and both fell heavilyand was inspected by Prime Minister Winston
mortally to earth in front of some volunteers. A Churchill, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and other
sergeantgotintoajeep,droveouttothetwobodies, Allied top brass. Two 506th battalions jumped
picked something up and returned to his trainees. before a reviewing stand filled with high-ranking
'Now, does anyone want to quit?' he asked as he Allied officers, the last practice jump they got to
passed around what he picked up. Burgett saw it make before 'D-Day' itself. Except for one piece of
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equipment with an unopened parachute which Glider infantrymen of the 371st prepare to take offduring
manoeuvres at Greenham Common, Berks, late in 1943. A
slammed dramatically into the ground, the jump
bazooka and a Thompson SMG can be seen at left, and a
was totally successful.
BrowningAutomaticRiflewith bipodat right. (US Army)
While the Divisionwas preparingfor its bigday,
unknown to them all there was some thought of
cancelling the entire airborne part ofthe invasion. Montgomery and Lieutenant-General Omar
British Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh Bradley, the land commanders, told Eisenhower
Mallory was against it, telling Eisenhower that it how essential they felt the airborne task was to the
would cost casualties of up to 50 per cent of the overall plan; in the end, Eisenhower agreed with
paratroopersand 70 per cent ofthe glider-borne them.
infantry. The plan called for the Division to drop The last days before the invasion were spent in
north of Carentan, behind a beach code-named classrooms and tents, learning the details of the
'Utah'. Once on the ground, the Division would ground on which they were to jump from maps,
hold open the causeways inland from Utah. It aerial photographs and scale models. Experience
would also advance south to Carentan and make showedhowimportantitwasfor eachman toknow
contactwith the forces landingon the beachcalled his unit mission, and therefore his own mission, in
'Omaha'. Planners other than Leigh-Mallory felt complete detail. Every man was trained to be able
that the airborne part was so vital to the whole to draw a map ofthe area in which he was to drop
invasionthatwithoutitthelandingonUtahBeach from memory.
would have to be abandoned. Both Field-Marshal The correct combination of moon and tides
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demanded that'D-Day' had to be in early June
1944, and it was planned for the 5th. TheDivision
was locked into its camp, and contact with the
outsideworldcompletelycutoff.Themenreceived
escapekitswhichincluded a compass, a mapand a
small amount of French money. Small metal
clickers were issued to be used as a recognition
signalinthedark. Itwas3June, and themenknew
'D-Day' was athand. Alldayon the 4th, however,
itpouredrainfromdismalgreyskies. Noflyingwas
possiblein thatsortofweather,and themenwaited
in soggy tents to hear if the invasion had been
postponed a month or a day.
On the evening ofthe 4th Gen. Taylor held an
informal session with his senior officers in his
quarters. Brigadier-GeneralDon F. Pratt, assistant
division commander, was sitting on the bed when
another officer came in. The newcomer tossed his
hatonthebed. Prattjumped up, crying, 'MyGod,
that'sdamnbadluck.' Everyonelaughed, butPratt
didn't sit on the bed again.
The postponementwasfor a day, and on the5th
themenateaspecialnoon-timemeal:fried chicken
with all the trimmings, and ice-cream. The men
rubbed their faces with charcoal from the fires,
checked theirweapons for a last time and strapped
on their equipment. General Taylor tried to relax
by playing squash, but tore a ligament in his right
knee. Ratherthanletanyoneknow, andpossiblybe
forced to miss the jump, Taylor kept himselfstiff
and straight all day.
About6'30pmEisenhower,stillconcernedabout
Leigh-Mallory's worries, found himselfdrawn to
theDivisionanddrove toNewbury.There,helater
wrote, 'I found themeninfinefettle, manyofthem
joshingly admonishing me that I had no cause for
worry, since the IOISt was on the job and
everything would be taken care ofin fine shape.'
Eisenhower, accompanied by only a single staff
officer,walkedabout, talkinginformallytothemen
in small groups. As the Division loaded into the
C-47s, Eisenhower walked back to the headquar
ters, where he climbed to the roofto watch them
take off. Yesterday's clouds were gone; the night
was crystal clear and the skywas filled with stars.
Slowly the airplanes rolled down the runway,
and circled above until whole flights were together Glider infantry, who were not volunteers, were dressed and
equippedlikeregularlineinfantry.Thissoldier,photographed
in formation. Then they turned and headed for
intheStatesin 1941,wearsstandardfieldjacketandwebbing
France. One correspondent who was near and carriesthe 19°3Springfieldrifle.
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Eisenhower saw the general's eyes fill with tears as found himselflanding in the lapping waves ofthe
he watched the twinkling navigational lights and beach, and watchedinhorroras therestofhisstick
exhausts disappear. When, at about midnight, the dropped further and further out tosea; all ofthem
last airplane was gone from view, he turned and weredrowned. TheDivision Chaplain, Fr. Francis
slowly walked to his car. 'Well' his driver heard Sampson, dropped into a swampy marsh in water
him say to nobody in particular, 'it's on.' He overhishead. Draggedunderbyhisequipment,he
stoppedasecondandlookedbackattheemptysky. cut it all away with his knife, while his still-open
'No one can stop it now.' parachutedraggedhim throughtheswamp,finally
coming to a stop inshallow water. Under machine
gunfire, hereturnedtohisoriginallandingsiteand
dived for his Mass kit, retrievingit on the fifth try.
Normandy At 12.56am Lt.-Col. Robert Cole, 3/502nd
commander, fell heavily into a giant rosebush. It
The airplanes flew along peacefully enough until tookfifteen minutesofhacking beforehe managed
they came over the Channel Islands, then in to getout. Finally free, Colewent about gathering
German hands. Anti-aircraft fire tore into them all the men he could, onlyto find theywere mostly
there, and again as they crossed the coast. A third from the 82nd Airborne-he had landed on the
and even heavier flak barrage hit the formations wrong drop-zone!
only minutes before they arrived over the drop
zones,andbythenGermansmallarmswerejoining
Sketch map showing the Division's main area ofoperations
In.
behind Utah beach, Normandy,June 1944.
'It was like jumping into a Roman candle,'
thought Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick J. Cassidy,
commander of the Ist Battalion of the 502nd
Parachute InfantryRegiment (hereafterwrittenas
I/502nd). .
At 12.15am, Tuesday, 6 June 1944, IOlst
Division pathfinders, the first Allies to land in the
long-awaited invasion, touched down in France.
First among them was cigar-chewing Captain
Frank Lillyman. After getting clear of his
parachute lines, Lillyman looked about to see who
hadfallenwithhim. There,inthedark,wasa 1<~rge
shape moving straight at him. Cocking his gun, he
almostfired when theshape gave a low, sad 'moo'.
Gatheringhissensesandwhatotherpathfindershe
could find in the vicinity, Capt. Lillyman set off
flaresto markthedrop-zoneand thenmovedoffin
the direction of one of the Division's major
objectives, a German battery which covered two
importantcausewaysleadingupfrom Utah beach.
The rest of the Division's planes aimed in on
the flares. Unhappily, a rolling cloud bank
confused many ofthe planes, and ,enemy flak still
more. Planesavoidingflak cameinlow-often, too
low. One 506th private hit the ground only three
seconds after opening, and later said he saw men
droppedsolowthattheirparachuteshadn'ttimeto O~!!!!!'li__!!!!!!'§O;OiiiI!!!!!'5~5~OOO
open before they hit the ground. Another private YAROS
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AftergatheringagroupColonelColeheadedoff, westwithout knowinga Germanheadquarters was
ending up in the town of St Mere-Eglise. He there. An alert sentry fired, hitting the captain in
realized that he had gone in the wrong direction, the chest. Falling, the captain cut the sentry down
and returned to find his check point, a chapel. On with a burst from his tommy-gun and gasped,
theway he picked up a numberofhis men and the 'Don't come up!' One ofhis men ran to his side.
group continued south. Their objective was a Fitzgeraldwhispered, 'It'stoolate,I'mdying.' The
Germanbattery,butonthewaytheyranintosome sound offiring attracted other paratroopers, who
other officers, who told them, 'Don't bother about joined the squad in driving the Germans out of
the gun position. It's a wreck and Steve Chappuis Foucarville. The Germans fell backinto a fortified
(2/s02nd) is sitting on it.' hill position north ofthe town. The Americans fell
Cole then split his unit into three groups. back through the town carrying all their wounded
Lieutenant Robert G. Burns took the s06th men except Fitzgerald, who said he had been too badly
south to meet their own regiment, and Capt. hurt to be moved. (Ironically, Fitzgeraldsurvived,
Robert L. Clements and another group headed to became battalion commander, and died after the
Exit NO.4, which, meeting no opposition, he held war in a traffic accident.)
by7.30am.Thelastgroup,headedbyColehimself, After leaving Lillyman, Cassidy and his staff
went to Exit NO.3, also without opposition. At wentdown to the batteredbattery. Therehesetup
9.3oam a German unit, not knowing that hiscommandpostina nearbyfarmhouse. Thenext
Americans held the exits, ran into the dug-in day' the Americans discovered two German
3/s02nd; most were cut down. privates who had hidden in a closet in Cassidy's
Colonel Cassidy's 1/S02ndwas supposed to land command post all through 'D-Day'. 'They had
nearStMartindeVarreville, tocleanoutthatarea been very kind to me,' said the landlady who hid
and then to form north to defend the beach them.
landings. The battalion also had to take care ofa At about 8.Isam Cassidy's radioman reached
German battery overlooking the causeway exits. the 4th Division, which was landing on Utah
Cassidy himself landed under fire on a road Beach. 'The enemy gunposition near St Martin is
intersection. Ittook him twentyminutes to crawl a inAmericanhands,' he told the 4th'scommanding
hundred yards from where he landed. He finally general.
reached a safe place next to a hedgerow, where he 'That's the best news I've had in many hours,'
found his radio operator. Snapping their clickers, came the reply. 'Now what about the causeways?'
the two moved along, turning up more strays, Cassidy didn't know, and sent a patrol to find out.
mostly from the s06th. When there weresome 200 They soon returned from the causeway west ofSt
men gathered, Lt.-Col. Robert Strayer, who had Martin, where they had cleared out a dozen
wrenched his leg landing, took his s06th troopers Germansfrom anoverlookingchurchsteeple. 'Exit
and headed for theirobjectivein thesouth. Cassidy NO.4 is now open and ready for your advance,'
and his men continued towards their objective wentout the word to the 4th.
when they ran into Capt. Lillyman. Staff-SergeantHarrisonSummers,Co.B,S02nd,
'I'vegotnewsfor you,' Lillymansaid. 'Iscouted picked up a group and went after his objective, a
that coastal battery. It's thoroughly bombed out. barracks complex on the Reuville road. Summers
No need to worry about that one.' kicked in the first door, spraying the room with
'In that case,' Cassidy replied, 'pick up your tommy-gunfire. Four Germans fell as the rest fled.
men, move a little further north and set up a road Then the sergeant charged and cleared the second
block just short of Foucarville.' Saluting-US barracks, where his group set up a machine gun.
paratroopers were noted for their habitofsaluting With this supporting fire pinning down the
under fire-Lillyman turned and headed as Germansin the third barracks, Summers kicked in
ordered with his men.
Foucarville was already the site of action. Two battalions ofthe 506th Parachute Infantryjump before
anaudienceoftheircomrades, PrimeMinisterChurchilland
Captain Cleveland R. Fitzgerald, Co. B, S02nd,
General Eisenhower on 23 March 1944 at Newbury, Berks.
with nine other men, entered the town from the (US Army)
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