Operation Neptune, 6 June-8 July 1944 Normandy
Abstract
The 82d Airborne Division arrived in the European Theater of Operations: on 9 December, 1943, bronzed by the summer suns of NORTH AFRICA and SICILY and bled and battle-tested in campaigns in SICILY and the ITALIAN mainland. One Regimental Combat Team, the 504th, had been left behind when the Division sailed from NAPLES ITALY, on 19 November, 1943. The 504th Regimental Combat Team, consisting of the 504th Parachute Infantry, the 376th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion, and Company C, 307th Airborne Engineer Battalion) was detached from the Division and was fighting in the mountains north of the VOLTUTO River when the 82d sailed from Naples. Later it was to spend more than 60 days of gruelling warfare on the famous ANZIO Beachhead before rejoining the Division in May in England.. The Division disembarked at Belfast, NORTH Ireland, and occupied an area northwest, of that city. Division Headquarters was established at Castle Dawson, which was approximately thirty miles from BELFAST. The Division was attached to XV Corps. A shortage of adequate training facilities, the short days and long nights, and no facilities at all for airborne maneuvers, handicapped training. The need for such facilities and training became increasingly important with the attachment to the Division on 14 January, 1944, of the 2d Airborne Brigade which included the Brigade Headquarters and Headquarters Company and the 507th and 508th Parachute Infantry Regiments, and preparations were made for the 82d to move to the Nottingham - Leicester - Market Harboro area in the English Midlands. Brig. Gen. Maxwell B. Taylor, Division Artillery Commander, rejoined the Division after duty with tho North African Theater of Operations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1944
- Accession Number
- ADA637636