Give Me Something I Can't Do: The History of the 82nd Military Police Company, WW 1 to Iraq Those Devils in Baggy Pants Buccaneer Books, Reprint,1996 ISBN: 0899666132
Strike and Hold: A Memoir of the 82nd Airborne in WW II Brasseys, Inc, 256 pp August,2000 ISBN: 1574882589 They Jumped at Midnight Jove Publishing, (P) c1990 ISBN: 0515104256 ISBN: 0-8Īllied Airborne Strike,July 1943. ISBN:03113200939Īgony at Anzio: The Allies Most Controversial and Bizarre Operation of WW II United States Army in World War 2, Mediterranean Theater of Operations, Salerno to Cassino Tunisia, to prepare for the invasion of mainland Italy.Īnnussek, Greg Hitler's Raid to Save Mussolini: The Most Infamous Commando Operation of World War II. It was with this experience and pride that the 504th returned to its base in Kairouan, Overall, the Sicilian operation proved costly both in livesĪnd equipment, but the unit gained valuable fighting experience and managed to hurt the enemy in the Pressed into service, the 82nd encountered only light resistance and took 22,000 prisoners in theirįirst contact with Nazi and Fascist forces. With captured Italian light tanks, trucks, motorcycles, horses, mules, bicycles, and even wheelbarrows Spearheading the 82nd Airborne Division’s drive northwest 150 miles along the southern coast of Sicily. On 13 July, the 504th moved out in the attack, This Division from advancing toward the Allied landings on the beachhead.īy D+3, they had accomplished their initial mission and were relieved by theġst Infantry Division to return to regimental control. Outmanned and outgunned, the 82nd used raw courage and fighting spirit to block the steel behemoths of The German Herman Goering Panzer Division was another matter. By continuing to fight in small groups the 82nd led the GermansĪnd Italians to continue to overestimate the number of airborne invaders thus impeding any Ambushes were conducted and even Objective Y, Meanwhile, the troopers of the 504th 3rd Battalion along with the 505th PIRįought an enemy superior in numbers and equipment. That initial German radio reports estimated the number of American parachutists dropped to Others had been dropped in isolated groups on all parts of the island and carried outĭemolitions, cut lines of communication, established island roadblocks, ambushed GermanĪnd Italian motorized columns, and caused so much confusion over such an extensive area Morning, only 400 of the Regiment’s 1600 soldiers had reached the objective area. With well over 2,000 holes in its fuselage, finally reached the drop zone near Gela. Twenty-three of 144 USAAF transports were shot down byįriendly fire and a total of 318 American troops were killed or wounded in the operation.Ĭolonel Tucker’s plane, after twice flying the length of the Sicilian coast and Of the greatest tragedies of World War II. Immediately, all other naval vessels and shore troops joined in, downing friendly aircraftĪnd forcing planeloads of paratroopers to exit far from their intended drop zones in one Near the Sicilian coast, however, a nervous Allied naval vessel suddenly fired upon theįormation. They loaded theĬ-47 aircraft and took off for Sicily from the dusty airstrip near Kairouan, The second operation called HUSKY II involved the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 504th PIR, Moon the paratroopers crossed over the Sicilian coast on schedule and jumped on theirĪssigned drop zone on 9 July 1943 - an event which British Prime Minister Winston Churchill termed,
#World war 2 operation husky in sicily us army series
Series of 16 concrete "pillboxes" ( above right)įrom which German gunners controlled movement on the nearby roads. They were also to take out Objective Y which was a Secure the drop zone for the next operation. Their first objective was to parachute into an areaĪround Gela on the southern shore of Sicily to close off roads leading to the beaches and Were organized into a Regimental Combat Team. "Slim Jim" Gavin, the 505th PIR, and the 3rd Battalion of the 504th PIR Operation HUSKY involved four separate airborne operations, two by the Bristish and two by theĨ2nd Airborne. The first operation HUSKY I spearheaded this airborne invasion of Sicily. The plan targeted Sicily as the first step in this operation code-named HUSKY. " the soft under belly of Europe" in an effort to force the German's to spread their troops High level conference in attended by Roosevelt and Churchill. The planning for this occurred in January, 1943 at a Now looked ahead for a foothold in Europe. Onfident of a successful conclusion to their North African Campaign, the Allied Forces USAAF Airborne Troop Carriers in World War IIĪirborne (CMH) Center for Military History
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