Why Is D-Day So Important To The 101st?
D-Day And The 101st The 101st Airborne Division, was at first activated in 1918 then a little while later deactivated. Then three years later re-activated in 1921 as a reserve unit. As a reserve unit was later disbanded in 1942 as a reserve unit and re-instated when the United States went to Europe to fight in WW II. The 101st was considered to be an elite unit, the men had a high self-esteem for each other. They went through two years of training to prepare for the invasion of Normandy also known as D-Day. The 101st was able to accomplish their missions set to them on D-Day despite the setbacks they encountered on their initial jump of D-Day and throughout the operation.They fought for the north beach exits, they captured the south beach
…show more content…
exits, the south flanks were secured and they captured the town Carentan. The 101st Airborne Division, or the “Screaming Eagles” in World War 2 were given the task to secure the south and north beach exists, of the beach Utah. Although the men were nervous. As they took off from the runway Gibson, one of the paratroopers said “‘Talking over the roar of the engines was almost impossible but I yelled at my buddy, ‘How do you feel, Lee?’ After two attempts at making him hear, Lee replied, ‘Better than expected, how about you?’ I yelled back the same answer he gave me. Inside I was nervous, had butterflies in my stomach and my hands were damp and cold with sweat. The plane rocked and fell a few feet, only to quickly regain its position’”. When the 101st Airborne jumped only a small number of the division made it to the drop zone. Due to heavy anti-aircraft fire from the Germans and heavy fog the airplanes could not slow down, so many paratroopers missed their target zone. A jump at this magnitude had never been done at night before, so a lot of men suffered injury from the landing. At first the jump confused the germans, but many of the men had lost their leg packs. Which carried their ammo and weapon. “By the time the paratroops were on the ground, 1,500 had been killed or captured. About 60% of their equipment had been either dropped into swamps or dropped into enemy hands. Despite these problems, the remaining soldiers began to rally around their leaders”. The 2nd Battalion with a demolition squad, was specifically assigned the southern beach exit two. When they jumped the majority missed their landing zone, but they landed relatively together so they were able to form up quickly. The 2nd Battalion headed south, and immediately caught under heavy machine gun fire and artillery fire from the Germans who had held up 1st Battalion. Part of D company was able to break through and secure exit two. A couple hours later the rest of the battalion was able to catch up. They were a little late considered that the 70th Tank Battalion and 4th Division had already crossed through and into the mainland. The 2nd battalion also destroyed and artillery nest which allowed planes to fly over without meeting too much resistance, like they did on their initial jump. The 3rd Battalion, led by Lt.Robert Cole. Much like the rest of the 101st was scattered in their drop. Lt.Cole was able to scrape together seventy five men, some from the 82nd airborne division. The 3rd Battalion then proceeded to march to the north exists at beach Utah. During the march towards the northern exists, they encountered a German convoy and was attacked. Ten germans were killed and most of them were captured. When Cole and his men reached Saint Martin de Varrevile, he sent out a scouting party to see what was happening at the coastal batteries. The batteries were already abandoned and destroyed. The 3rd battalion then secured the northern exists and waited for the main infantry force to arrive. The 1st Battalion led by LTC Patrick Cassidy, met the same complications as the rest of the division. The 1st battalion fought through many towns crawling with German machine gun nests and ambushes. They did managed to secure the exit they were assigned to. Once the 101st managed to secure beach Utah's exits, the germans that were there started to surrender. Despite them being scattered all over the beach, missing their drop zones and losing some of their equipment. The 101st Airborne division did a lot of good on D-Day. By seizing the north and south exits of the beach, they were able to allow the 4th and 8th divisions of infantry to cross over into mainland Europe. Gordan Sulivan General of the United States Army writes this about what the 101st did on D-Day. “Some of the American airborne troops came to ground near their objectives, but most were scattered over a wide area. A number drowned in the flooded lowlands. Others landed in the midst of German positions, where they were killed or captured. In the hours that followed, nevertheless, paratroopers from the 101st succeeded in clearing much of the way for VII Corps' move inland.” It showed how prepared the 101st was for what they faced. If the 101st did not secure the north and south beach exits. The main infantry force of the Allied invasion would have been ambushed by german machine guns nests and bombarded by artillery fire. Even though the 101st jump from the plane went horribly wrong because of fog that caused visibility to be dim and equipment malfunctions to happen and the heavy artillery fire from the Germans. The 101st was still able to find themselves,equip themselves and fight to accomplish their missions. Joseph Balkoski a military historian wrote this about General Taylor, who commanded the 101st on D-Day “ When at sunset June 6 he scrutinized his situation map, he could note with profound satisfaction that in the last twenty-four hours, the 101st Airborne, with help of the 4th Division, had executed a thorough reversal upon the enemy.” The 101st was surrounded by Germans and most of them with no weapons was still able to execute their plans. Securing the exits was not the only thing the 101st airborne division did on D-Day.
General Eisenhower wanted to close the gap between the V Corps and VII Corps, since they were worried that the Germans would launch an attack which would put a gap between the V Corps and VII Corps. That would not be good because the Germans would have a good position to out flank both corps. Another reason why it was good to capture Carentan was “Carentan loomed next on the list of vital Allied objectives. Its seizure would provide the link necessary to coordinate the assault forces on Utah and Omaha Beaches. If Germans retained the town, Allied power would be divided during the campaign's most crucial phase. Carentan had to be taken. The Screaming Eagles were assigned the job.” Carentan was of the utmost importance to the Allis and to their invasion of Normandy. The only way to prevent a gap between the forces, was to capture the town Carentan. The 101st Airborne division was the closest division to the town, so they got the operation. The men of the 101st Airborne division were exhausted, but this was what all that training was …show more content…
for.
Before the division got to Carentan, they had to take St.
Come du Mont. This operation required a lot of the division's attention consider it took four battalions. The attack on St.Come began early in the morning. The four battalions had secured the approaches of the town by mid morning. They then proceeded to establish bridge hedges at Douve River. Once that was finally done the Germans were surrounded and proceed to retreat. The 101st followed the retreating Germans, but did not get into any more fire fights. The reason why the 101st had to take St.Come, was because it was on the way to Carentan. Germans were still held up in the town. So the 101st had to clear it out. The Germans that retreated, were able to go re-equip and plan for an attack at Carentan. The 101st then proceeded to march straight to
Carentan.
The division march to Carentan slowed down a lot. The air raids and some of it was sabotage by the Germans, caused the bridges and roads to be destroyed. Although there was one causeway still intact. The engineers were ordered to repair the other bridges and causeway under enemy fire. Once the 101st got closer they sent a scouting patrol to check out the town. They took a boat across the river to the town to check it out. Their objective was to see if the bridge was heavily guarded because the division plan to attack through that bridge. The bridge had an extremely heavy Belgian gate they could only move about a foot. The next morning the battalion was ready to launch the attack. They had support of artillery fire from 65th Armored Field Battalion Artillery The battalion ran into a problem, the engineers hadn’t finished build a big enough bridge for the whole battalion to go on at once. So they put a small plank across the river and proceeded to cross one by one. The men made it across the river and proceeded to crawl along the bank of the river. The Germans then opened fire upon the crawling men. They had a few casualties so they retreated back to safety on the other side of the river. After that the division commander had to postpone the main attack. The attack at Carentan was a two pronged attack. The right side of the force was to sweep across the town and go to La Billonera to cover any escape routes the Germans had planned. The left side of the force was to cross the Douve Rivers. The main body of the force was to continue from that point and fight through Carentan. Then a small part of the division would be sent to make contact V corps. The 3rd battalion was led along one of the causeways. They had little to no cover and were under heavy fire the whole time. The battalion was pinned down, so Lt.Cole ordered artillery fire. The artillery fire did not hit the designated target the Lt.Cole wanted it to hit. Cole then ordered his men to fix bayonets. He led the charge, only half his men got the word to fix bayonets. So when Lt.Cole threw the smoke and ran only twenty of his men went with him, others stumbled and followed after him. Sadly Lt.Cole was hit by artillery fire and killed. The men of the 3rd battalion reached the farmhouse,but found it abandoned. Although on the westridge the Germans had built in machine gun nests and rifle pits. The 3rd Battalion then destroyed those with another bayonet charge and grenades. This crippled the defense of Carentan. The 1st battalion followed the 3rd battalion in the same causeway, but they just dug in to provide support to the 3rd battalion. The Germans main force was focused on the causeways, which allowed for the other part of the division to go and secure the eastern exits of the town. They could not get into the town be cause the Germans had set up machine gun nets at each entrance way. While all that was happening company A of the 101st Airborne division had broken off and tried to make contact with the V Corps at the town Auville-sur-le-Vey. They had to go through heavy German resistance but they eventually were able to make contact with V corps. There was still Germans in the town, so General Taylor ordered the 101st Airborne Artillery was ordered to have a bombardment on the town, So the men at Carentan pulled out and watched the bombing happen. Once the bombing was done the Germans retreated from the town. The division then moved and secured the town of Carentan and established contact with the V corps. The Germans tried to launch a massive counter attack but it was repelled by the 101st airborne division.”By June 14, UTAH and OMAHA had been completely linked.”. This was a massive blow against the Nazi Germans, it allowed the Allied forces that landed on the beaches of Normandy be able to communicate and transfer troops to either side of the invasion force. Even though the 101st was at first out gunned and their positions were not ideal they were still able to accomplish their mission. The 101st Airborne Division faced a lot of complications to missing their drop zones,losing equipment like their weapons and not be able to cross over to their objective on time. They secured the northern and southern exits of the beach Utah. Which allowed the infantry to pass through to the mainland of Europe. The 101st also captured the town Carentan which allowed the V Corps and VII Corps to keep in contact of each other. The 101st went through a lot but even though they were outmanned or surrounded they never gave up. “with varying losses in men and materiel. Initial dispersion was further aggravated by the Normandy terrain; the hedgerows made it difficult to assemble and still more difficult to coordinate the maneuver of units. Some units were completely unaware of others, fighting only a few hundred yards away. The groups were usually mixed, and men strangers to their leaders fought for objectives to which they had not been assigned. Still, the airborne operation was in general a success. Small groups of parachutists took advantage of a surprised and temporarily disorganized enemy to seize many of the vital objectives quickly.”
exits, the south flanks were secured and they captured the town Carentan. The 101st Airborne Division, or the “Screaming Eagles” in World War 2 were given the task to secure the south and north beach exists, of the beach Utah. Although the men were nervous. As they took off from the runway Gibson, one of the paratroopers said “‘Talking over the roar of the engines was almost impossible but I yelled at my buddy, ‘How do you feel, Lee?’ After two attempts at making him hear, Lee replied, ‘Better than expected, how about you?’ I yelled back the same answer he gave me. Inside I was nervous, had butterflies in my stomach and my hands were damp and cold with sweat. The plane rocked and fell a few feet, only to quickly regain its position’”. When the 101st Airborne jumped only a small number of the division made it to the drop zone. Due to heavy anti-aircraft fire from the Germans and heavy fog the airplanes could not slow down, so many paratroopers missed their target zone. A jump at this magnitude had never been done at night before, so a lot of men suffered injury from the landing. At first the jump confused the germans, but many of the men had lost their leg packs. Which carried their ammo and weapon. “By the time the paratroops were on the ground, 1,500 had been killed or captured. About 60% of their equipment had been either dropped into swamps or dropped into enemy hands. Despite these problems, the remaining soldiers began to rally around their leaders”. The 2nd Battalion with a demolition squad, was specifically assigned the southern beach exit two. When they jumped the majority missed their landing zone, but they landed relatively together so they were able to form up quickly. The 2nd Battalion headed south, and immediately caught under heavy machine gun fire and artillery fire from the Germans who had held up 1st Battalion. Part of D company was able to break through and secure exit two. A couple hours later the rest of the battalion was able to catch up. They were a little late considered that the 70th Tank Battalion and 4th Division had already crossed through and into the mainland. The 2nd battalion also destroyed and artillery nest which allowed planes to fly over without meeting too much resistance, like they did on their initial jump. The 3rd Battalion, led by Lt.Robert Cole. Much like the rest of the 101st was scattered in their drop. Lt.Cole was able to scrape together seventy five men, some from the 82nd airborne division. The 3rd Battalion then proceeded to march to the north exists at beach Utah. During the march towards the northern exists, they encountered a German convoy and was attacked. Ten germans were killed and most of them were captured. When Cole and his men reached Saint Martin de Varrevile, he sent out a scouting party to see what was happening at the coastal batteries. The batteries were already abandoned and destroyed. The 3rd battalion then secured the northern exists and waited for the main infantry force to arrive. The 1st Battalion led by LTC Patrick Cassidy, met the same complications as the rest of the division. The 1st battalion fought through many towns crawling with German machine gun nests and ambushes. They did managed to secure the exit they were assigned to. Once the 101st managed to secure beach Utah's exits, the germans that were there started to surrender. Despite them being scattered all over the beach, missing their drop zones and losing some of their equipment. The 101st Airborne division did a lot of good on D-Day. By seizing the north and south exits of the beach, they were able to allow the 4th and 8th divisions of infantry to cross over into mainland Europe. Gordan Sulivan General of the United States Army writes this about what the 101st did on D-Day. “Some of the American airborne troops came to ground near their objectives, but most were scattered over a wide area. A number drowned in the flooded lowlands. Others landed in the midst of German positions, where they were killed or captured. In the hours that followed, nevertheless, paratroopers from the 101st succeeded in clearing much of the way for VII Corps' move inland.” It showed how prepared the 101st was for what they faced. If the 101st did not secure the north and south beach exits. The main infantry force of the Allied invasion would have been ambushed by german machine guns nests and bombarded by artillery fire. Even though the 101st jump from the plane went horribly wrong because of fog that caused visibility to be dim and equipment malfunctions to happen and the heavy artillery fire from the Germans. The 101st was still able to find themselves,equip themselves and fight to accomplish their missions. Joseph Balkoski a military historian wrote this about General Taylor, who commanded the 101st on D-Day “ When at sunset June 6 he scrutinized his situation map, he could note with profound satisfaction that in the last twenty-four hours, the 101st Airborne, with help of the 4th Division, had executed a thorough reversal upon the enemy.” The 101st was surrounded by Germans and most of them with no weapons was still able to execute their plans. Securing the exits was not the only thing the 101st airborne division did on D-Day.
General Eisenhower wanted to close the gap between the V Corps and VII Corps, since they were worried that the Germans would launch an attack which would put a gap between the V Corps and VII Corps. That would not be good because the Germans would have a good position to out flank both corps. Another reason why it was good to capture Carentan was “Carentan loomed next on the list of vital Allied objectives. Its seizure would provide the link necessary to coordinate the assault forces on Utah and Omaha Beaches. If Germans retained the town, Allied power would be divided during the campaign's most crucial phase. Carentan had to be taken. The Screaming Eagles were assigned the job.” Carentan was of the utmost importance to the Allis and to their invasion of Normandy. The only way to prevent a gap between the forces, was to capture the town Carentan. The 101st Airborne division was the closest division to the town, so they got the operation. The men of the 101st Airborne division were exhausted, but this was what all that training was …show more content…
for.
Before the division got to Carentan, they had to take St.
Come du Mont. This operation required a lot of the division's attention consider it took four battalions. The attack on St.Come began early in the morning. The four battalions had secured the approaches of the town by mid morning. They then proceeded to establish bridge hedges at Douve River. Once that was finally done the Germans were surrounded and proceed to retreat. The 101st followed the retreating Germans, but did not get into any more fire fights. The reason why the 101st had to take St.Come, was because it was on the way to Carentan. Germans were still held up in the town. So the 101st had to clear it out. The Germans that retreated, were able to go re-equip and plan for an attack at Carentan. The 101st then proceeded to march straight to
Carentan.
The division march to Carentan slowed down a lot. The air raids and some of it was sabotage by the Germans, caused the bridges and roads to be destroyed. Although there was one causeway still intact. The engineers were ordered to repair the other bridges and causeway under enemy fire. Once the 101st got closer they sent a scouting patrol to check out the town. They took a boat across the river to the town to check it out. Their objective was to see if the bridge was heavily guarded because the division plan to attack through that bridge. The bridge had an extremely heavy Belgian gate they could only move about a foot. The next morning the battalion was ready to launch the attack. They had support of artillery fire from 65th Armored Field Battalion Artillery The battalion ran into a problem, the engineers hadn’t finished build a big enough bridge for the whole battalion to go on at once. So they put a small plank across the river and proceeded to cross one by one. The men made it across the river and proceeded to crawl along the bank of the river. The Germans then opened fire upon the crawling men. They had a few casualties so they retreated back to safety on the other side of the river. After that the division commander had to postpone the main attack. The attack at Carentan was a two pronged attack. The right side of the force was to sweep across the town and go to La Billonera to cover any escape routes the Germans had planned. The left side of the force was to cross the Douve Rivers. The main body of the force was to continue from that point and fight through Carentan. Then a small part of the division would be sent to make contact V corps. The 3rd battalion was led along one of the causeways. They had little to no cover and were under heavy fire the whole time. The battalion was pinned down, so Lt.Cole ordered artillery fire. The artillery fire did not hit the designated target the Lt.Cole wanted it to hit. Cole then ordered his men to fix bayonets. He led the charge, only half his men got the word to fix bayonets. So when Lt.Cole threw the smoke and ran only twenty of his men went with him, others stumbled and followed after him. Sadly Lt.Cole was hit by artillery fire and killed. The men of the 3rd battalion reached the farmhouse,but found it abandoned. Although on the westridge the Germans had built in machine gun nests and rifle pits. The 3rd Battalion then destroyed those with another bayonet charge and grenades. This crippled the defense of Carentan. The 1st battalion followed the 3rd battalion in the same causeway, but they just dug in to provide support to the 3rd battalion. The Germans main force was focused on the causeways, which allowed for the other part of the division to go and secure the eastern exits of the town. They could not get into the town be cause the Germans had set up machine gun nets at each entrance way. While all that was happening company A of the 101st Airborne division had broken off and tried to make contact with the V Corps at the town Auville-sur-le-Vey. They had to go through heavy German resistance but they eventually were able to make contact with V corps. There was still Germans in the town, so General Taylor ordered the 101st Airborne Artillery was ordered to have a bombardment on the town, So the men at Carentan pulled out and watched the bombing happen. Once the bombing was done the Germans retreated from the town. The division then moved and secured the town of Carentan and established contact with the V corps. The Germans tried to launch a massive counter attack but it was repelled by the 101st airborne division.”By June 14, UTAH and OMAHA had been completely linked.”. This was a massive blow against the Nazi Germans, it allowed the Allied forces that landed on the beaches of Normandy be able to communicate and transfer troops to either side of the invasion force. Even though the 101st was at first out gunned and their positions were not ideal they were still able to accomplish their mission. The 101st Airborne Division faced a lot of complications to missing their drop zones,losing equipment like their weapons and not be able to cross over to their objective on time. They secured the northern and southern exits of the beach Utah. Which allowed the infantry to pass through to the mainland of Europe. The 101st also captured the town Carentan which allowed the V Corps and VII Corps to keep in contact of each other. The 101st went through a lot but even though they were outmanned or surrounded they never gave up. “with varying losses in men and materiel. Initial dispersion was further aggravated by the Normandy terrain; the hedgerows made it difficult to assemble and still more difficult to coordinate the maneuver of units. Some units were completely unaware of others, fighting only a few hundred yards away. The groups were usually mixed, and men strangers to their leaders fought for objectives to which they had not been assigned. Still, the airborne operation was in general a success. Small groups of parachutists took advantage of a surprised and temporarily disorganized enemy to seize many of the vital objectives quickly.”