The 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, were the only entirely African American combat unit to participate in the D-Day landings. Their vital mission was to raise a curtain of hydrogen filled barrage balloons high over Omaha & Utah Beaches during the first wave of the assault. Floating barrage balloons over a specific area prevented enemy aircraft from flying close enough to target soldiers & landing craft from directly overhead with bombs or strafing fire. If an enemy aircraft was determined to attack, the balloons forced them to fly at higher altitudes over the balloons making them more susceptible to larger caliber anti-aircraft gunfire off shore. The balloons themselves could also destroy enemy aircraft, especially at night, the steel cables that anchored the balloons to the ground were very difficult to see and posed a risk to any aircraft that flew into them. An aircraft caught in a cable could be slowed down enough to stall or have a wing sheared off. A cable strike also triggered a small bomb attached just under the balloon that packed a potentially lethal punch for an ensnared aircraft. In addition to the men of the 320th, another 1,200 African American soldiers in other U.S. military units landed on the beaches on the 6th of June 1944 #ddaylandings #dday #1944 #WW2 #barrageballoon #history #320th #antiaircraft https://www.instagram.com/p/CBGLOFLDGIz/?igshid=k3ez6qys8nrc
