weallfallfromgrace

The 101st Airborne jumped first on June 6th, between 00:48 and 01:40. 6,928 troops were carried aboard 432 C-47s of mission “Albany.”

The 82nd Airborne’s drop, mission “Boston”, began at 01:51. Three waves, totaling 6,420 paratroopers carried by 369 C-47s.

The American Airborne landings in Normandy were the first American combat operations during Operation Overlord. The invasion of Normandy by the Western Allies on June 6, 1944, during World War II.

Around 13,100 American paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions made night parachute drops. Followed by 3,937 glider troops flown in by day.

As the opening maneuver of Operation Neptune (the assault operation for Overlord) the two American airborne divisions were delivered to the continent in two parachute and six glider missions.

Both divisions were part of the U.S. VII Corps and provided it support in its mission of capturing Cherbourg as soon as possible to provide the Allies with a port of supply. The specific missions of the two airborne divisions were to block approaches into the vicinity of the amphibious landing at Utah Beach, to capture causeway exits off the beaches, and to establish crossings over the Douve River at Carentan to assist the U.S. V Corps in merging the two American beachheads.

D-DAY 06/06/1944 | 75 year anniversary 

The attack began when Allied planes and warships bombarded German positions along the coastline. This was to damage the defences making it easier for the troops to get ashore. At the same time, planes and gliders dropped tens of thousands of allied soldiers behind the German defences. They took control of important roads and bridges. This made it harder for the German army to rush extra men towards areas where the troops were landing. Thousands of ships had set out from the south coast of England to help. In all, over 6,000 vessels joined the attack. They were supported by over 11,000 planes. The naval force crossed the English channel overnight. At 6.30am on 6 June, troops started to land on the beaches of Normandy in France. By the end of D-Day, the Allies had put 156,000 troops ashore. Portsmouth’s D-Day Museum says an estimated 2,500 Allied troops died on the day of the invasion. — Source: BBC

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