Tactical Realism by the 82nd Airborne Division

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Posted by H-Minus on Monday, June 30 @ 21:31:27 CDT

PART 1:

July 9, 1943 would be the day in which the 82nd Airborne Division had trained so long and hard.They had been chosen to spearhead the invasion of Sicily, codenamed "HUSKY". The 1st, 3rd, and 45th Infantry Divisions, with attached units, would land on the south coast part of the island in the area of Licata, Gela, and Scoglitti while British and Canadian forces would land on the east. The 82nd was to drop inland at Gela to clear a path for the 1st Infantry Division. The 505th was chosen by General Ridgeway to make the initial assault with the 3rd Bn, 504th attached. In the days prior the D-Day many preperations were being made for the upcoming invasion. The 505th was airlifted to their designated airfields in the area of Kairouan in French Tunisia where they were closer to the Mediterranean Sea. They pitched tents in the olive orchards enjoying the shade and cool afternoon breezes coming in from the sea. On June 6th, the 505th would take time out from their preperations and briefings to celebrate the Regiments first birthday. Steers were barbequed and kegs of beer were on hand for the celebration. Colonel Gavin chose this time to give a speech to his boys about the tough training they had gone through and what he expected from them in the upcoming mission.

As noted in the Regimental History following his talk, "there wasn't a 505er who wouldn't follow him through Hell if he so ordered it and they would have the Colors flying over Satans C.P. hours ahead of schedule". Quote from: READY, A World War II History of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment.

Shortly after 9 pm the Combat Team was in the air heading for their first checkpoint, the small island of Linosa. Near gale force winds had formed earlier that day and presented numerous navigational problems for the pilots. Since landmarks were scarce they intended to go by compass readings, headings and elapsed times but with the high tail winds the time schedule was thrown off. With the first island being so small, it was missed. As the second island Malta came into view, they mistakenly thought it was Linosa. However, due to the professionalism of the pilots, they realized their mishap and circled around to get on the correct course. Still, more problems would be faced by the pilots. Once over land the pre-invasion bombings and wind had kicked up a lot of dust making landmarks difficult to spot. Further more, courses were being thrown off due to evasive action being taken due to anti-aircraft and small arms fire. Because of all these problems the pilots were encountering, the serial formation suffered heavily and the Combat Team was dropped scattering them over 65 miles with only a few planes dropping the paratroopers within a few miles of their drop zones.

Three planes returned to Africa without giving the green light to jump. The pilots stepped forward and took the blame. Having barely enough gas to make it back and not finding the correct drop zones, they felt it would be better to return to base and give them a chance to jump another day. The troopers would get their opportunity to jump.... on D+1.

to be continued...