By Anonymous on Sunday, August 26, 2001 - 08:40 pm:| By Anonymous on Sunday, August 26, 2001 - 08:40 pm: |
"D-Day" Hour By Hour
00.10 Lieutenant Poole was the first Allied soldier to touch the soil of France.
00.20 Six gliders commanded by Major Howard crash-landed near Pegasus Bridge.
01.11 Reports of the first American parachute drops reached the headquarters of the German LXXXIV Corps at Saint-Lo.
01.30 The US 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions started dropping inland from Utah Beach.
01.50 Start of the main British parachute drop east of the Orne.
02.30 Heavy bombers started to attach the coast defenses.
02.45 The Omaha Beach assault force transferred into their landing craft.
03.00 All the warships took up their planned positions.
03.25 The German naval staff located the presence of warships along the coast.
03.50 British parachutists entered the village of Ranville.
04.30 The Stars and stripes were hoisted at Sainte-Mere-Eglise. The Americans occupied the Saint-Marcouf island of Utah Beach.
04.45 Two miniature submarines surfaced of the beaches where the British troops were due to land, and activated their beacons to guide in the landing craft. The Merville Battery was captured.
05.30 The Allied warships opened fire on the coast defenses.
06.00 Sunrise. Medium bombers attached the defenses on Omaha and Utah Beaches.
06.30 H-Hour For Utah and Omaha Beaches.
06.40 US Rangers landed at the foot of the Pointe du Hoc.
06.52 Admiral Ramsay recieved the first news of the landings.
07.00 German Radio broadcast the news of the landings.
07.25 H-Hour for Gold and Sword Beach.
07.35 H-Hour for Juno Beach.
09.00 General Eisenhower authorized the release of a communiqué to the press, announcing the landings.
09.13 General Bradley, in the belief that he might have to abandon Omaha, demanded reinforcements.
09.30 The casino building at Rive-bella cleared by Free French commandos led by Commandant Kieffer. The first small parties managed to scale the cliffs behind Omaha Beach. At the same time, Hermanville, inland from Sword Beach was liberated.
09.45 Utah Beach Cleared of Enemy Troops.
12.00 Winston Churchill made a statement in the House of Commons.
13.00 Troops from Utah met up with Airborne Troops landed in the interior.
13.30 Troops landed at Omaha Beach began to progress inland. Lord Lovat's commandos reached Pegasus Bridge which was then held by the parachutists.
14.30 Ranville finally cleared of enemy. 21st Panzer Division began to move towards the coast, halting at Ryes.
15.00 12th SS Panzer began to move towards Caen.
16.00 The first British tanks entered Arromanches.
18.00 Saint-Laurent, inland from Omaha was captured.
20.00 Six light tanks of the 21st Panzer Division reached the coast at Luc-Sur_mer between the Sword and Juno Bridgeheads. In the meanwhile, the first British patrols
reach Bayeux.
21.00 Glider bring in reinforcements for the 6th Airborne Division landed in the Orne Bridgehead. Vierville, a strongpoint menacing Omaha Beach was finally cleared.
22.00 Rommel arrived back at his HQ after a few days leave in Germany. The British advance towards Caen was stopped at the Bois de Lebisay.
22.07 Sunset.
| By KidNap Easy White on Tuesday, August 28, 2001 - 08:55 am: |
The first Allied troops to touch down in occupied France for operation Overlord were the Pathfinder & Security eliments of the 101st & 82nd. They jumped at approx. 23:00 (6-5-44) to set up their PPN-1 equipment & halifane signal lights. They had less tha two hours to do so as the first of the US Airborne forces were to land just after 01:00 6-6-44.
| By Na on Sunday, September 23, 2001 - 12:06 am: |
I have been to Normady, walked along the beaches, seen the scars of battle still left along the country side as a reminder and cried at the cemeteries. All I can say is THANKS! Your bravery has given me freedom and I will never forget what price was paid for this right. Thank you!
| By joao leonel (Joao) (200.163.13.161) on Saturday, July 20, 2002 - 04:43 pm: |
Wich beach was the worst for the allied SOldiers
Omaha or Utah or the others that i cant renember the name that british and canadians forces landed?
I think it was Utah that there more german defense on the beaches but i am not sure
| By irene vrinte (Gijoe) (62.251.0.23) on Sunday, July 21, 2002 - 05:14 am: |
i think Omaha was worse than Utah, and also considered the worst of all five.
(the other ones are Gold, Juno and Sword, BTW)
irene
| By Lauren (Lilparatrooper) (63.208.132.56) on Sunday, July 21, 2002 - 12:50 pm: |
That is right Irene....my uncle fought on D-day at Omaha Beach as the third wave....and til this day he still remebers the crys by his friends and fellow soldiers. He says,"I will never forget it. And i just hope no one will have to go through the things i went through on that day."
-lauren (lilparatrooper)
| By alan james o'reilly (Alanor) (62.254.64.5) on Sunday, July 21, 2002 - 02:53 pm: |
Re: Omaha Beach
You are right, Irene. Omaha was the heaviest single loss for the allies on D-Day.
No doubt it's all on the web somewhere but...
Chester Wilmot in "The Struggle for Europe", Collins 1965, p 293, notes that the total allied casualties for D-Day June 6th 1944, were approximately 11,000 of whom about 2,500 men lost their lives. The U.S. 1st Army declared its casualties for D-Day to be 6,603, of whom 1,465 were killed, 3,184 wounded and 1,954 were missing. According to Wilmot, the British 2nd Army sustained 5,259 casualties in the first five days of the Normandy campaign. He concludes that British and Canadian casualties for D-Day would not have exceeded 4,000. R.W. Thompson in his article for Purnell's History of the Second World War, "D-Day, the Great Gamble", p 1904, agrees with Wilmot's figure of 2,500 KIA overall and notes that "1,000 of them [were] on Omaha Beach". He states that a total of 12 men were killed in the capture of Utah Beach but there may have been more - see below. Cornelius Ryan, "The Longest Day" Four Square, 1963, p 163, refers to "many dead" when an LCT hit a submerged sea mine. The resulting explosion blew an amphibious tank (probably a Duplex-Drive Sherman) "100 feet into the air".
The balance of the American casualties were mainly those of the 82nd and 101st Airborne, 2,499 in total, with (by difference) up to 450 killed, Ryan, p 238. Ryan notes that these divisions totalled 13,000 men, p 113. The British 6th Airborne suffered an estimated 650 casualties, about 10% of the division. Canadian losses amounted to 946, of which 355 were killed. Figures for German casaulties vary from 4,000 to 9,000 for D-Day but by the end of June 1944, General Rommel was to report his losses as "28 generals, 354 commanders and approximately 250,000 men".
Utah was assaulted by 30,000 men and 3,500 vehicles, Wilmot p 250, mainly from the US 4th Infantry Division. 57 year old Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt, the President's nephew, landed with the 8th US Infantry Regiment that made up the first wave, the only officer of General rank to do so. He had especially petitioned the 4th's commander, Major General Barton, for permission. "It will steady the boys to know that I am with them," he had said, Ryan p 173-175. He was later awarded the Medal of Honour and is buried in the US War Graves Cemetery above Omaha Beach (Holts' Battlefield Tours, p 36). For a variety of reasons, the 4th landed about a mile south of where they were supposed to, an advantage in that this area was less well defended than their intended landfall. However, it posed the problem of a more restricted exit from the beach, which could cause congestion for succeeding waves of assault troops. Roosevelt made his decision. He turned to the C.O. of the 1st Engineer Special Brigade and declared "You get word to the Navy to bring them in. We're going to start the war from here".
Visitors to Utah will note that it consists mainly of low dunes and thus favours the attacker more than the defender. The opposing troops of the German 709th Division in the locale where the 4th landed, consisted of "a single battalion of doubtful quality" Wilmot p 251, Thompson, p 1890. At Utah - as on the British beaches (west to east, between Arromanches and Ouistreham, Gold (British 8th and 50th Inf. Divisions, Juno (Canadian 3rd Inf. Division, 44th Special Service (Commando) Brigade), Sword (British 3rd Inf. Division, British 22nd Armoured Brigade) the invaders were greatly assisted by the Duplex Drive amphibious tanks.
At Omaha, the initial attacking force consisted of 34,000 men and 3,300 vehicles, with a follow-up force almost the same size, from the 1st and 29th US Infantry Divisions, Thompson, p 1885, Wilmot, p 254. However, the topography of Omaha is totally different from that of Utah. It is a natural amphitheatre, with rocky bluffs that slope steeply down to a heavily shingled beach, in part separated from the bluffs by an 8 to 10 feet high sea wall (at the time). Omaha was ideal for the defence - and on D-Day the defenders were not troops of "doubtful quality" but the tough 352nd Wehrmacht Division. Well protected by reinforced concrete bunkers, numerous machine guns and artillery pieces were expertly sited to give fields of fire that made the entire beach "a beaten zone...from end to end". Much of the area, including the exits from the beach, was mined and wired. Critically, General Bradley, US 1st Army commander, had rejected all but the D-D tanks from the British 79th Armoured Division's array of assault armour to protect the incoming forces, Thompson, Wilmot p 265-266. The decision had terrible consequences, as Wilmot explains.
"Apart from lightly armoured bulldozers the Americans had no mechanised equipment for dealing with the obstructions and fortifications. They were expected by their commanders to attack pillboxes with pole-charges and man-pack flame throwers, to clear barbed wire entanglements and concrete walls with explosives manually placed and to lift mines by hand, all under fire". Nevertheless, by nightfall, at a cost of 3,000 casualties and with grave shortages in tanks and heavy weapons, the Americans had carved out a beachhead six miles wide and up to two miles inland. The vital question was whether or not the defenders could mount an effective counter-attack. Thanks to the British landings further east, this proved not to be possible.
Ryan, p 213ff reveals one poignant side-light on the chaos of Omaha, the experience of kindergarten teacher, 19 year old Anne Marie Broeckx. On the morning of June 6th 1944, she was cycling to her parents' farmhouse near Colleville, a village on the coast road above Omaha and almost at the centre of its salient. She arrived there amid "the thunder of gunfire...all around her" while "clouds of smoke drifted inland [and] here and there fires were burning" and she could see "the wreckage of several farmhouses". With mounting alarm she saw that the windows had been blown out of her parents' home, "part of the roof had disappeared and there was a gaping hole in the door". Suddenly her father and mother pushed open what was left of the door and greeted her exuberantly. She threw her arms around both of them. "My daughter, this is a great day for France!" declared her father. Anne Marie burst into tears. Ryan continues "half a mile away, fighting for his life amid the horrors of Omaha Beach, was nineteen-year-old P.F.C. Leo Heroux [from Rhode Island] the man who would marry Anne Marie". Heroux and Anne Marie met in her parents' farmhouse on June 8th, 1944.
Holts' Battlefield Tour Guide, p 9, (www.battletours.co.uk) provides a very helpful summary. It notes that the 82nd and 101st Airborne landed 13,600 men in total and sustained 2,500 casualties, the figures about evenly divided. 23,250 men actually landed at Utah and took 210 casualties. The corresponding figures for Omaha are 34,250 and 3,880 - showing the extent of the tragedy of Omaha. Figures for Gold, Juno, Sword and 6th Airborne are given as 25,000, 21,500, 29,000, 6,000 landed respectively with corresponding casualty figures 413, 925, 630 and 1200 - the latter almost double Ryan's estimate.
Either way, both the American and the British airborne casualties underscore the peril of parachute/glider operations, considering the size of the forces involved. However, Omaha still stands out.
Yet, to get a sense of perspective, Thompson p 1904 states that "At Towton Field [near York] on 29th March 1461 33,000* perished by the sword [during the Wars of the Roses] 20,000 British troops were killed on the first day [July 1st] of the Battle of the Somme in 1916 [or died of wounds]". In his book "The Donkeys" Hutchinson, 1963, about British generalship in France and Flanders in 1915, the late Alan Clark reveals that the Somme was not the only such disaster, p 150ff (though it remains the greatest). The first day's fighting at Loos, September 25th 1915, cost the British Army about 7,000 men, out of an attacking force of just under 30,000.
*John Kinross "The Battlefields of Britain" David and Charles, London 1979 gives the much lower figure of 9,000. The dead were mostly Lancastrians. The combined armies of the Yorkists and Lancastrians probably did not exceed 50,000 men. Towton is thus still a grim comparison with D-Day, even with the lower fatality figure. (Towton also remains the costliest single day's battle on British soil since Roman times, according to the Guinness Book of Records.)
The bare statistics do not, of course, reveal the whole. It was not long before the cost that began on D-Day began to assume WW1 proportions, both in magnitude and in the experience of those at the 'sharp end'. Leslie Cornwell, a Private in the Durham Light Infantry, "Caen 1944" Henry Maule, Coronet 1976 ISBN 0 340 26094 7, recalled that "Normandy was a place where everything was dead, bodies all over the place and a stink of death. It was like living on the moon, all bomb craters. We lived in slit trenches...at certain times one had to stand up, stick your rifle and bayonet out in front, and advance. Jerry would then rain mortars down and half the battalion would get killed or wounded. We were nearly all teenagers and by this time were all bomb happy. Always reduced in numbers to three or four to a section and no way to get out of it except being buried or on a stretcher. Makeshift graves were everywhere. The pioneer platoon even started making white crosses ready for use. Sometimes before attacks you could see "blood waggons" (ambulances) lining up ready and your stomach would turn over. I thought that if by some fluke I survived and went back to England there would be no young men walking about at all because they were all being killed and wounded in Normandy".
It is no wonder that Max Hastings, author of "Overlord, D-Day and the Battle for Normandy 1944" Michael Joseph 1984 ISBN 0 7181 2326 3, (an excellent work, though I did not quote from it in this post) dedicated his book to his young son, for whom he hoped that
"The beaches will mean no more to him than buckets and spades".
This is what Easy Company has helped to preserve.
Regards
Alan O'R
| By Marigold Papa (Marigold) (203.170.2.67) on Sunday, July 21, 2002 - 09:08 pm: |
Wow Alan, good find. I am sad to hear about the number of casualties during the ww2. All of them who fought in the war who may have lost their lives or survived, were truly heroes.
Gold(salutes)
| By irene vrinte (Gijoe) (131.174.244.2) on Monday, July 22, 2002 - 06:37 am: |
hey alan,
good to hear from you again!
irene
| By alan james o'reilly (Alanor) (62.254.64.5) on Monday, July 22, 2002 - 02:21 pm: |
Hi Irene!
Thought it was time to contribute again - will post anything else that comes to mind.
BTW, has anyone (able to get BBC TV) been watching the Battlefields documentaries, by Prof. Richard Holmes of Cranfield University in the UK? Prof. Holmes does an excellent analysis and has produced a book to go with the series. The present series is a repeat but the book is available. Last week was Cassino. "Wild Bill" Guarnere's brother was killed in action there. The focal point of the offensive was the Abbey, defended by German paratroops every bit as determined as the US Airborne at Bastogne and St. Vith a year or so later. (At one point they counterattacked a position called 'Castle Hill', a prominence in front of the actual Monte Cassino, rushing up to the ruin atop the hill to blow down its walls with satchel charges and hurling themselves through the gaps to take on the defenders - a battalion of the Essex Regiment - hand to hand. A survivor of the Essex said that 20 of his comrades had been killed or wounded by falling rubble from the explosions and that the dead were strewn all around from the fighting that seesawed back and forth over the area, Americans, Brit's, New Zealanders, Poles, Germans - as our Brazilian colleague has indicated, the Italian campaign was truly international. The Essex managed to hang on.
Prof. Holmes' conclusion was that although Italy was obscured by the momentous events of D-Day, June 6th, the allied effort to break the Gustav line at Cassino - and to outflank the position at Anzio - did tie down significant numbers of German troops who could otherwise have been deployed in Normandy.
Wild Bill's brother and his fellow soldiers made a significant contribution to the success of "Day of Days".
Prof. Holmes' documentary this week (Wed. BBC2 8:10 pm) is Arnhem, the ultimate objective of "the divisions up north", in the words of the Major.
Regards
Alan O'R
| By irene vrinte (Gijoe) (131.174.244.2) on Wednesday, July 24, 2002 - 04:37 am: |
yep i saw it Alan! and i will of course DEFINATELY be watching this week as Arnhem will be on! can't wait!
irene
| By JANE Southern England (Jane) (195.93.34.151) on Wednesday, July 24, 2002 - 06:06 am: |
Going back to the Omaha beach conversation...an American realative of mine landed there (second wave), he fought all the way down to St Lo, where he was made a jeep driver and the ONLY person in his platoon to survive!!..He doesnt like to talk about it at all, so this is all he has really said.(this is the reason why I havent tried to contact any veterans as I've see first hand the horror and sorrow in his eyes) They were all brave, brave men. He is in Florida right now and is of ill health.
Also, a little while ago, the BBC screened a documentary about the tanks that didnt make it on to the beach. Some of the tanks from the beach are at the top of the hill as you go down towards the beach, very rusted away tho.
There was also talk of a firm setting up a fishing business off the shore (mussle beds?), but thankfully, I think that has been stopped.
take care..Jane
| By alan james o'reilly (Alanor) (62.254.64.5) on Sunday, August 04, 2002 - 08:05 am: |
Dear All
I believe this belongs here - and especially to this site, for reasons which will become apparent. The book mentioned below is short but touches on a very moving aspect of the 506th's history.
In the World War 2 section of the 506th PIR Association web page, Private Jack F. Sheidler, 2nd Battalion HQ, 506th PIR, is listed as KIA on July 27th 1944.
Last Friday, at the conclusion of a family visit to friends in south west Scotland, I discovered, quite by chance, the tragic circumstances surrounding Private Sheidler's death.
Private Sheilder was one of the victims of a C-47A crash that occurred on July 27th 1944 at Cairngarroch Bay, Portpatrick, Stranraer, Wigtonshire, Dumfries and Galloway. It was the biggest air disaster in that area until the Lockerbie atrocity 44 years later.
A detailed account of the 1944 crash is found in "The Rhinns' Forgotten Air Disaster, One Man's Search for the Facts" by Sandy Rankin, ISBN 0 9535776-9-4, Stranraer and District Local History Trust, Tall Trees, London Road, Stranraer DG9 8BZ.
The C47 belonged to the 441st Troop Carrier Group, 9th Air Carrier Command. It was one of two that took off from RAF Merryfield in Somerset at about 1 pm on July 27th 1944 en route to Prestwick near Ayr, ferrying wounded from the Normandy campaign for the first leg of their journey back to the USA. Each aircraft carried a crew of 9, including medical personnel and 13 casualties.
Approaching the coast of Dumfries and Galloway at an altitude of about 200 feet, attempting to keep below the cloud base, the C-47s suddenly encountered thick sea fog. One of the aircraft avoided the cliffs above Cairngarroch Bay by the narrowest of margins - its undercarriage (only partially retracted for a C-47) actually gouged a furrow along the grassy clifftop. The other aircraft - on which Pvt. Sheidler was travelling - crashed into the cliff face at the northern end of the bay.
The Portpatrick lifeboat was the first rescue party on the scene, arriving at about 7 pm local time with an RAF doctor. They found that all but one of the 22 passengers and crew on board the C-47 had been killed. The sole survivor was the Crew Chief, S/Sgt Merl W. Skinner. He had sustained terrible injuries in the crash and died at about 8:15 pm that evening.
Sandy Rankin, the author of the account, had always had an interest in the incident, having grown up in nearby Portpatrick. His grandfather Alexander Rankin and uncle James Rankin had been members of the lifeboat crew dispatched to the crash site. Alexander Rankin had evidently stayed beside the stricken S/Sgt. Skinner until he died. Unable to move or even scarce touch him, the life boat crew soaked a circle of ground around Skinner with petrol and set fire to it in order to give him some warmth. The RAF doctor did manage to adminster morphine to ease the airman's passing.
Sandy spent many years tracing the background of the victims of the crash. It was not easy but among the most comprehensive summaries he obtained was that of Private Sheidler, who is now buried in Cambridge, England. Jack Sheidler was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Sheidler from Elkhart, Indiana. Jack had been wounded on June 7th 1944. He was 21 years of age at the time. Sandy Rankin has this word of commendation for the 506th PIR, p 35:
"Just prior to the landing of seaborne forces, the high ground overlooking the beaches was siezed and held by men of the 506th Regiment.
"From D-Day until 10th July, when the unit was relieved to return to England, the 506th was to fight in the toughest battles of the Normandy campaign. Many of the men were not to return and many more spent months in hospitals".
Sandy includes a very poignant letter from Pvt. Sheidler's parents to the parents of another victim of the crash, 29 year old 2nd Lieutenant Mary Edith Jackley, a nursing sister serving with the 813th Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadron. The photograph of her which is included in the book shows her to have been strikingly good looking. The other details given about her reveal that she was a highly professional young woman of outstanding character.
Mr and Mrs Sheidler's letter to 2nd Lieutenant Jackley's parents reads in part as follows:
"This has been an awful shock to us all. So let's try to take comfort in the Lord. They tell us he does everything for the best. Even this, [though] he tears our hearts out.
"God bless and comfort you in your sorrow."
Sandy Rankin was instrumental in having a memorial plaque placed on the cliff face near the crash site. It was dedicated on July 27th, 1999. 2nd Lieutenant Jackley's sister attended the service on the shore of the bay, during which Pipe Major James Brown played the lament "The Flowers o' the Forest". He had been working near Cairngarroch Bay on July 27th 1944 and had heard the crash.
The bond between the local people around Portpatrick and families of the crash victims - one of whom was a Scotsman, LAC Samuel Gilmour, RAF, of Kilwinning, Ayrshire - remains very strong. It is a genuine example of the 'special relationship' between the United States and Great Britain.
Sandy Rankin has another reason for his pre-occupation with the Rhinns' disaster. (The Rhinns is the name given to the general area.) The Lockerbie atrocity of December 22nd 1988, where 259 passngers and crew of Pan Am Flight 103 died, was mentioned above. Then a serving officer with the Strathclyde Police, Rankin drove a police van into Lockerbie, where he recalls "I could see the smoking remains of Sherwood Crescent, which took the brunt of the crash and where eleven local people died".
He concludes his excellent booklet with the familiar lines from Laurence Binyon's poem, read out at the end of the memorial dedication service by the late Peter Starling, then President of the Wigtonshire Antiquarian Society "without [whose] will and organising ability there would have been no memorial service":
"They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old,
"Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
"At the going down of the sun and in the morning
"We will remember them"
Alan O'R
| By Jonathan Jones (Jonjones) (62.7.106.80) on Saturday, September 07, 2002 - 06:45 pm: |
I remember from reading "Castles in the Air" of the moment when the weary heavy bomber crews (who were sat, anxiously awaiting the briefing of the next days' target) saw the curtains part to reveal their targets and were told it was finally, D-Day.
It was one of the most memorable moments of a very memorable book.
Regards to All
Jonathan
| By Ebeth (Ebeth) (199.174.65.27) on Monday, September 09, 2002 - 10:57 am: |
This is a 50 page regimental unit study of the 506th in Normandy.
http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/documents/WWII/506-Nor/506-nor.htm
| By Ebeth (Ebeth) (199.174.65.27) on Monday, September 09, 2002 - 11:07 am: |
101ST AIRBORNE DIVISION
World War II
Activated: 15 August 1942. Overseas: 5 September 1943. Campaigns: Rhineland, Central Europe, Normandy, Ardennes-Alsace. Days of combat: 214. Distinguished Unit Citations: 13. Awards: MH-2 ; DSC-56 ; DSM-2 ; SS-456 ; LM-20; SM-4 ; BSM-9,488 ; AM-48. Commanders: Maj. Gen. William C. Lee (5 August 1942-30 March 1944), Maj. Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor (31 March 1944-4 December 1944), Brig. Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe (5 December 1944-26 December 1944), Maj. Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor (27 December 1944-September 1945), Brig. Gen. William M. Gillmore (September 1945), Brig. Gen. Gerald St. C. Mickle (September 1945), Brig. Gen. Stuart Cutler (October to inactivation). Inactivated: 30 November 1945 in Europe. Reactivated: 6 July 1948.
Combat Chronicle
The 101st Airborne arrived in England, 15 September 1943, and received additional training in Berkshire and Wiltshire. On 6 June 1944, the Division was dropped into Normandy behind Utah Beach. Against fierce resistance it took Pouppeville, Vierville, and St. Come du Mont. On the 12th, the stronghold of Carentan fell, and after mopping up and maintaining its positions, the Division returned to England, 13 July, for rest and training. On 17 September 1944, taking part in one of the largest of airborne invasions, the 101st landed in Holland, took Vechel and held the Zon bridge. St. Oedenrode and Eindhoven fell after sharp fighting on the 17th and 18th. Opheusden changed hands in a shifting struggle, but the enemy was finally forced to withdraw, 9 October. After extensive patrols, the Division returned to France, 28 November, for further training. On 18 December, it moved to Belgium to stop the German breakthrough. Moving into Bastogne under the acting command of Brig. Gen. Anthony C. McAuliffe, it set up a circular defense and although completely surrounded, refused to surrender on 22 December. Its perimeter held against violent attacks. The 4th Armored Division finally reached the 101st on the 26th and the enemy offensive was blunted. Very heavy fighting continued near Bastogne for the rest of December and January. On 17 January 1945, the Division moved to Drulingen and Pfaffenhoffen in Alsace and engaged in defensive harassing patrols along the Moder River. On 31 January, it crossed the Moder in a three-company raid. After assembling at Mourmelon, France, 26 February 1945, for training, it moved to the Ruhr pocket, 31 March, patrolling and raiding in April and engaging in military government at Rheydt and Munchen-Gladbach. The 101st reached Berchtesgaden by the end of the war and performed occupational duties until inactivation in Germany.
Assignments in the ETO*
22 January 1944: VIII Corps, but attached to First Army. 13 March 1944: First Army. 6 June 1944: VII Corps, First Army. 15
589
June 1944: VIII Corps. 15 July 1944: Ninth Army. 12 August 1944: XVIII (Abn) Corps, First Allied (Abn) Army. 18 September 1944: First Allied (Abn) Army, but attached to the British XXX Corps, British Second Army. 21 September 1944: British I (Abn) Corps. 23 September 1944: British VIII Corps. 28 September 1944: British XII Corps. 9 November 1944: First Allied (Abn) Army, but attached to the Canadian II Corps, Canadian First Army. 17 December 1944: First Allied (Abn) Army, but attached to the VIII Corps, Third Army, 12th Army Group. 26 December 1944: III Corps. 29 December 1944: VIII Corps. 19 January 1945: First Allied (Abn) Army, but attached to the Third Army, 12th Army Group. 20 January 1945: First Allied (Abn) Army, but attached to the XV Corps, Seventh Army, 6th Army Group. 26 January 1945: VI Corps. 28 February 1945: XVIII (Abn) Corps, First Allied (Abn) Army. 1 April 1945: First Allied (Abn) Army, but attached to the XXII Corps, Fifteenth Army, 12th Army Group. 6 April 1945: First Allied (Abn) Army, but attached to the 12th Army Group. 17 April 1945: First Allied (Abn) Army, but attached to the Seventh Army, 6th Army Group. 23 April 1945: VI Corps. 4 May 1945: XXI Corps.
General
Nickname: Screaming Eagle. Shoulder patch: Black badge with black arc streaming above; on the badge is white screaming eagle; appearing on arc, in white, is "Airborne." Association: 101st Airborne Division Association (Carl E. Trimble, secretary), 17 Dupont Circle NW., Washington, D. C. Publications: Epic of the 101st Airborne Division; by unit members; 101st Airborne Division Association; Rendezvous with Destiny; by First Lt. Leonard Rapport and Lt. Arthur Northwood; The Infantry Journal, Washington 6, D. C., 1947.
*See footnote, 1st Infantry Division.
590
[Nota Bene: These combat chronicles, current as of October 1948, are reproduced from The Army Almanac: A Book of Facts Concerning the Army of the United States, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1950, pp. 510-592.]
| By Michael Wisotzkey (Afireinside) (24.171.111.186) on Thursday, September 26, 2002 - 07:48 pm: |
What day did D-Day happen on. I know it was June 6th, 1944...but what day?
I THINK it was a Tuesday, but I dont remember. Im writing a book about D-Day. Im planning on calling it "Fateful Tuesday" or whatever the day was. =P
HELP!
XoXo-
Michael
| By cias (Cias) (208.148.113.115) on Thursday, September 26, 2002 - 10:27 pm: |
Michael
June 6, 1944 was a Tuesday. At one time many important war events were referred to as "D-Day" but after the invasion the term was so thoroughly applied to June 6 that using it elsewhere faded.
Good luck. God bless you.
I regret if I sounded gruff about the music. I lose track of the fact that there are young people posting here and some from other countries. I guess I have "Battle Fatigue" from the HBO Boards.
Gary
| By Timothy Andrew Ross (Ghosthunter) (24.71.223.140) on Thursday, June 05, 2003 - 04:51 pm: |
By this time 59 years ago troops would just be getting ready for their date with destiny. Gear would now be checked and formation movements would be going on. Nerves would be running high and many would be praying. People would just be finishing dinner in England when I write this (if my knowledge on time zones are accurate it would be around six or seven at night there going from MST to Greenwhich Standard Time). At around this time paratroops like Easy would be getting everything finalized, in four hours (again MST) they should close to France, in thirteen or fourteen hours Easy and many others would be dropping on Normandy. Lest we forget.
| By Jonathan Jones (Jonjones) (81.131.29.143) on Thursday, June 05, 2003 - 06:55 pm: |
I had better not forget, June 6 is also my mum's Birthday.
Jonathan.
| By Marigold Papa (Marigold) (203.160.183.79) on Saturday, June 07, 2003 - 07:20 am: |
LOL Jonathan. I hope we all remembered D-Day...
gold
| By Angela J Cogen (Angel) (67.120.74.148) on Saturday, June 07, 2003 - 07:01 pm: |
Hi, I'm new to this site. Been here all day, reading everything. This is the first time I've ever posted notes to a Board. I think it is wonderful how many young people are interested -- especially the young girls. I've always been fascinated by military history, since my earliest memories (I am now 48) and joined the US Army in 1976 because I wanted to know for myself the truth about VietNam. So I just wanted to say to the young ladies who have writtten messages to this site that they are not alone in feeling curious and wanting to know about military things, and it is not wierd behavior, no matter what some of your peers may say. War holds more peril for women than men, in my opinion, because in some ways it is harder to stay behind, watch and wait, never to know, even if it is horrible things. The BoB Episode "Why We Fight" says it all. Somehow it is always the best people who go to war when necessary, to make the hard choices, to do the right thing. Combat Medics perhaps are the ones who have the worst job -- because they cannot shut off their feelings completely and do their job -- you cannot help someone unless you feel empathy. By all accounts, Eugene Roe had empathy! Anyway, I'm glad I found this site, I'll be back again. And Gold - I'm very curious and forgive me my ignorance as I have not read everything yet on this site, but are you related to Eugene? Happy birthday to Jonathan's mom, thankyou to those who endured the hell of D-Day. Admiration for the men of Easy Company.
lol, angel (Garden Grove, California)
| By cnhwkkh (131.158.223.4) on Sunday, December 23, 2007 - 09:01 am: |