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Researching
World War II
World War II Monographs and Books on CD
About
the
101st Airborne Division and WWII
1942 - 1945
This
grouping of information is for the World
War 2 Researcher or Family Member and is
designed to be suitable both as a Research
Tool and as a Family Heirloom keepsake.
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discs and files are
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101st
Airborne Division
WW2 Research Edition CD
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On ONE CD
Unit
Histories, Documents
Monographs, Books, Reports
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101st
Airborne Division
in WWII
These
Books, Booklets and
Monographs
are on This CD
1942
- 1945
*A
monograph is a work of writing
of essay or book on a specific
subject and may be released
in themanner of a book or
journal article.
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5-6Jun 44
101st Airborne
Operations
Ste.Mere Eglise, France
Normandy Campaign
29 Pgs: PDF
5-8Jun 44
101st Airborne
506th Parachute
Operations
Normandy Invasion
Normandy Campaign
44 Pgs: PDF
5-10Jun 44
101st Airborne
Operations
Normandy Landing
Normandy Campaign
29 Pgs: PDF
6-8Jun 44
101st Airborne
506th Parachute
Operations at
Carentan, France
Normandy Campaign
57 Pgs: PDF
6-8 Jun44
101st Airborne
506th Parachute
Carentan, France
Normandy Campaign
57 Pgs: PDF
11-13 Jun44
101st Airborne
506th Parachute
Carentan, France
Normandy Campaign
20 Pgs: PDF
11-13 Jun44
101st Airborne
506th Parachute
Carentan, France
Normandy Campaign
33 Pgs: PDF
14-19 Sep44
101st Airborne
506th Parachute
England and Holland
Rhineland Campaign
30 Pgs: PDF
17Sep - 9Oct 44
101st Airborne
506th Parachute
Holland
Rhineland Campaign
26 Pgs: PDF
17-27Sep 44
101st Airborne
Operations
Invasion Netherlands
Rhineland Campaign
30 Pgs: PDF
18Sep - 15Oct 44
101st Airborne
Operations
Holland
35 Pgs: PDF
18-26Dec 44
101st Airborne
501st Parachute
Bastogne, Belgium
Ardennes Campaign
31 Pgs: PDF
20-26 Dec44
101st Airborne
Bastogne, Belgium
Ardennes Campaign
30 Pgs: PDF
24-25 Dec44
101st Airborne
502nd Parachute
Bastogne, Belgium
Ardennes Campaign
32 Pgs: PDF
25 Dec44
101st Airborne
Bastogne, Belgium
Ardennes Campaign
22 Pgs: PDF
US Army WWII
Chronology
1941-1945
671
Pgs: PDF
Riviera
To The Rhine
629
Pgs: PDF
Ardennes
Battle of the Bulge
747
Pgs: PDF
Last
Offensive
554
Pgs: PDF
Siegfried Line
Campaign
697
Pgs: PDF
Brief History
U.S. Army in WW II
54
Pgs: PDF
Ardennes–Alsace
Campaign
56
Pgs: PDF
Normandy
Campaign
51
Pgs: PDF
Rhineland
Campaign
36
Pgs: PDF
D-Day
Posters
2 Pgs: PDF
D-Day
Art
362 Pgs: PDF
D-Day
Photos
314 Pgs: PDF
Strategic War MapsEurope
82 Maps: PDF
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- Chronology Map - Files
- History
- Bottom
101st
Airborne
Division History
1942
- 1945
The
101st Airborne during World War II
Originally
organized in November 1918, the 101st
was demobilized the following month,
and later reconstituted in June 1921
as an Organized Reserve unit. The
division was organized that September
at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with reservists,
most of whom were individually called
into federal service after the outbreak
of the war. The reserve division was
disbanded 15 August 1942, and concurrently
reconstituted in the Army of the United
States as the 101st Airborne Division.
The airborne
division was activated at Camp Claiborne,
Louisiana, with recently promoted
Maj. Gen. William C. Lee commanding.
The airborne capability was to be
provided by two glider infantry regiments
(GIRs), the 327th and 401st, and one
parachute infantry regiment, the 502nd,
though the latter was still stationed
at Fort Benning, Georgia. This mix
of glider and parachute regiments
was a matter of great debate, and
these units were augmented in the
coming months by the 506th and 501st
Parachute Infantry.
With the
101st designated as an airborne division,
all that remained was to train its
soldiers to qualify for their new
mission. In October 1942 the division
moved to Fort Bragg, North Carolina,
and joined by the 502nd PIR, began
its training under the Airborne Command.
Rivalry between the division's parachute
and glider elements developed rapidly.
The paratroopers were considered to
be elite troops and received extra
money or "parachute pay" for their
hazardous missions. The glider troops,
however, had duties just as dangerous
but were authorized no extra pay.
This situation continued through 1944,
with unit commanders doing their best
to keep the peace within their ranks.
Throughout these difficulties the
101st continued to train and to reorganize,
attempting to acquire airborne qualified
personnel for the necessary positions.
By the spring
of 1943 the division was ready to
face its first test in local maneuvers.
Immediately following these maneuvers,
the 101st left to take part in the
Tennessee maneuvers, a larger scale
operation. Preceding the exercise,
on 10 June 1943, the 506th Parachute
Infantry was attached to the division.
The SCREAMING EAGLES' performance
throughout the maneuvers was impressive
as they demonstrated the capabilities
of U.S. airborne forces. During these
maneuvers, however, General Lee was
injured in a glider. He later remarked,
"Next time I'll take a parachute,"
which provided the overlooked glider
troops with some measure of satisfaction,
if not extra pay.
The division
returned to Fort Bragg, continuing
to train and perform various airborne
demonstrations for visiting officials
until mid-August, when it received
orders for transfer overseas. Arriving
in England, the 101st was quartered
in Wiltshire and Berkshire, where
it continued to train. The early months
of 1944 were a time of change for
the 101st Airborne Division.
In January
the 101st received its third parachute
regiment, the 501st Parachute Infantry.
On 5 February General Lee, who had
championed the airborne cause from
the beginning, suffered a heart attack.
Although he had brought the division
from its initial organization through
training for the fight in Europe,
General Lee was not to be part of
the 101st's baptism of fire. He was
relieved of his command and returned
to the United States. Brig. Gen. Maxwell
D. Taylor, former commander of the
82d Airborne Division Artillery, assumed
command of the 101st on 14 March.
The division underwent another organizational
change that month, when the 2d Battalion,
401st Glider Infantry, was permanently
transferred to the 82d Airborne Division.
The 1st Battalion was attached to
the 327th Glider Infantry to operate
under that regiment as a third battalion.
The 1st Battalion, 401st GIR, was
made an official element of the 327th
GIR in April 1945.
Training
in England, the 101st participated
in three formal exercises: BEAVER,
TIGER, and EAGLE. During Operation
BEAVER at Slapton Sands on the Devonshire
coast, elements of the division jumped
from trucks instead of planes with
the mission of capturing the causeway
bridges that crossed the estuary behind
the beach. The division performed
much the same mission during the second
exercise, Operation TIGER. Operation
EAGLE, held during the second week
of May, was the division's dress rehearsal
for its role in the coming Normandy
invasion. The 101st, this time jumping
from actual planes, was once again
assigned to capture the causeways
leading away from a simulated beach.
Although a misunderstanding caused
most of the division to jump at the
wrong coordinates, the mission was
accomplished and the exercise was
considered a success. The division
then returned to its stations to continue
preparation for the coming battles
on the continent.
D-Day
- Operation Neptune
The
101st Airborne Division first saw
combat during the Normandy invasion
- 6 June 1944. The division, as part
of the VII Corps assault, jumped in
the dark morning before H-Hour to
seize positions west of Utah Beach.
Given the mission of anchoring the
corps' southern flank, the division
was also to eliminate the German's
secondary beach defenses, allowing
the seaborne forces of the 4th Infantry
Division, once ashore, to continue
inland. The SCREAMING EAGLES were
to capture the causeway bridges that
ran behind the beach between St. Martin-de-Varreville
and Pouppeville. In the division's
southern sector, it was to seize the
la Barquette lock and destroy a highway
bridge northwest of the town of Carentan
and a railroad bridge further west.
At the same time elements of the division
were to establish two bridgeheads
on the Douve River at le Port, northeast
of Carentan.
As
the assault force approached the French
coast, it encountered fog and antiaircraft
fire, which forced some of the planes
to break formation. Paratroopers from
both the 82d and 101st Airborne Divisions
missed their landing zones and were
scattered over wide areas. For many
the first struggle of combat was to
find their units; 1500 soldiers from
the division were killed or captured.
When units or soldiers finally assembled,
they had difficulty in identifying their
locations relative to their objectives.
The paratroopers of the 101st were promised
reinforcements at dawn, when 51 of the
division's gliders were scheduled to
land. The gliders, however, had problems
of their own. Many of the gliders crashed,
and several soldiers of the division
were killed, including Brig. Gen. Don
F. Pratt, the assistant division commander.
A second glider landing at dusk that
day produced even more casualties.
The men of
the division, however, persevered and
proceeded with their assigned missions
as best they could. By nightfall soldiers
from the 101st had secured the beach
exits in their zone and contacted the
landing forces of the 4th Division.
The SCREAMING EAGLES also controlled
the la Barquette lock, but could not
secure crossings on the Douve River.
The following day 101st elements attempted
to advance in the division's southern
sector, but made little progress against
heavy enemy resistance near the village
of St. Côme-du-Mont. That same day General
Eisenhower
directed that American efforts be focused
on closing the gap between the V and
VII Corps. The VII Corps received orders
to capture the town of Carentan, and
the 101st, already in position outside
St. Côme-du-Mont to the northwest, was
given the task.
On 8 June
elements of the 501st and 506th Parachute
Infantry, along with the 1st Battalion,
401st Glider Infantry, engaged a German
force in the town of St. Côme-du-Mont.
The 3d Battalion, 501st PIR, took positions
south of the town, along the highway
to Carentan where it encountered the
enemy. The 1st Battalion, 401st Glider
Infantry, was called to aid the 3d Battalion,
but the enemy withdrew before the glider
troops arrived. Both of the 101st battalions
pursued the retreating enemy, but there
was no additional contact. The Germans
had abandoned the town, and the SCREAMING
EAGLES moved in to plan the next step
in the drive on Carentan.
The attack
on Carentan was to be two pronged. The
right arm of the drive was to cross
the causeway northwest of Carentan,
bypass the town, and continue to the
southwest to occupy La Billonerie, also
called Hill 30, which, it was thought,
covered potential escape routes available
to the Germans. The left arm of the
assault was to cross the Douve River
near Brevands, with the main body of
that force continuing on to Carentan,
while a smaller portion of the force
moved east to the Vire River to contact
the V Corps.
The 3d Battalion,
502d PIR, led the right drive along
the causeway. Progress, however, was
extremely slow. The men of the 502d
advanced along the causeway with no
cover, facing steady fire as they moved
forward. The battalion inched along
until it reached the bridge on the Madeleine
River and ran into a strong enemy position
concentrated in an old farmhouse and
the adjoining hedgerows. Lt. Col. Robert
G. Cole,
the battalion commander, called for
artillery fire on the position, but
it did no good. Pinned down, he ordered
a charge with fixed bayonets. Colonel
Cole leapt up to lead the charge, but
not all his men had gotten the word.
The executive officer prodded the men
along, and Cole continued with the soldiers
that had followed. The Germans withdrew
from the farmhouse, and the charging
soldiers cleared the hedgerow positions.
Cole was awarded the Medal of Honor
for his efforts that day. Unfortunately,
he was killed in a later division operation
before receiving his medal.
Having suffered
heavy casualties in its trek along the
causeway, and being in some disarray
after the bayonet charge, the battalion
could not pursue the withdrawing enemy.
The 1st Battalion, 502d PIR, came up
through the line to follow the Germans.
The 1st Battalion, however, had advanced
along the same causeway, under the same
fire as the 3d Battalion, and was also
unable to make the pursuit. The two
battalions, instead, dug in to defend
the newly taken position. Their defenses
were put to the test the next morning
when the Germans launched a strong counterattack.
Throughout the day the battalions held
their ground until they were finally
relieved by the 2d Battalion. Elements
of the 506th Parachute Infantry relieved
the beleaguered battalions of the 502d
on 12 June. By that evening the 506th
had completed the drive past Carentan
and occupied Hill 30.
While the
502d struggled along the causeway, the
327th Glider Infantry, with the battalion
of the 401st, had led the left wing
attack. On 10 June elements of the force
crossed the Douve River and occupied
the town of Brevands. Company A, 401st
Glider Infantry, continued southeast
towards the town of Auville-sur-le-Vey
to contact the V Corps. Encountering
stiff German resistance outside the
town, the company broke through the
enemy line to make contact with elements
of the 29th Infantry Division, part
of the V Corps. The 327th, after crossing
the Douve, had orders to seize both
the railroad bridge and the highway
bridge that crossed the Vire-Taute Canal,
blocking the Eastern escape routes from
Carentan. The regiment succeeded in
capturing and holding the highway bridge,
but the railroad bridge was blown in
the fight. The men of the 327th crossed
the canal and continued their fight
toward Carentan until enemy resistance
halted their progress about a half mile
from the town.
At General
Taylor's direction, Brig. Gen. Anthony
C. McAuliffe,
commander of the 101st's artillery,
coordinated the final drive for Carentan,
which took place on 12 June. Throughout
the night of the 11th, the town was
placed under heavy fire, but, unknown
to the U.S. forces, the main body of
Germans withdrew under cover of darkness.
The following morning the 2d Battalion,
506th PIR, entered Carentan from the
southwest and connected with the 1st
Battalion, 401st GIR, which approached
from the northeast. Once the two battalions
had linked up they proceeded to clear
the town of the remaining enemy stragglers.
Under orders to secure the approaches
to the town, the 501st and 506th moved
along the roads to the southwest, while
the 327th advanced to the east. Both
groups, however, met enemy opposition,
and their progress was limited. On 13
June the Germans launched a fierce counterattack
in an attempt to retake the town. The
U.S. First Army directed elements of
the 2d Armored Division to support the
101st in defending Carentan. Together
the Americans stopped the enemy thrust
and held the town.
Two days later
the VIII Corps became operational, and
the 101st was reassigned to the new
headquarters. With the mission of establishing
defensive positions across the Cotentin
Peninsula, the VIII Corps gave the SCREAMING
EAGLES responsibility for securing the
left flank of the VII Corps. On 27 June
the 83d Infantry Division arrived and
relieved the 101st. Two days later the
101st was relieved from the VIII Corps
and sent to Cherbourg to relieve the
4th Infantry Division. The 101st remained
as a First Army reserve until mid-July,
when it returned to England for rest
and training.
The division
had suffered considerable personnel
and equipment losses during the Normandy
battles. The 101st spent the summer
replacing equipment, training new soldiers,
and waiting for its next mission. At
about the same time General Eisenhower
called for a headquarters that would
oversee the Allies' airborne troops.
In August 1944 he established the First
Allied Airborne Army, controlling elements
of the American and British (and Polish)
Armies. The new army was put to the
test in September 1944 during the Allied
thrust in northern Europe: Operation
MARKET-GARDEN.
Operation
Market Garden
MARKET-GARDEN
was planned as a two phase operation.
Operation MARKET was the airborne phase
of the assault, with Operation GARDEN
being the ground attack. The paratroopers
of First Allied Airborne Army were to
jump into the Netherlands and secure
a corridor from Eindhoven north to Arnhem,
through which the ground forces of the
British 30 Corps could advance and push
on to the IJesselmer (Zuider Zee). The
eventual goal was to cross the Rhine
River and breach the German West Wall
defenses. The Dutch countryside, criss-crossed
by innumerable dikes, drainage ditches,
rivers, and canals, however, would prove
difficult to traverse if the ground
troops could not advance by road. For
the plan to be a success the paratroopers
had to keep the roadway open and the
bridges along the route intact and secure.
D-Day was
set for 17 September 1944, and the 101st,
along with the 82d Airborne Division,
the British 1st Airborne Division and
52d Lowland Division (Airportable),
and the 1st Polish Parachute Brigade
were set to jump. Unlike the Normandy
jumps, this operation, by order of Lt.
Gen. Lewis H. Brereton, commander of
the First Allied Airborne Army, was
to be carried out in daylight. Shortages
in transport planes, however, prevented
the three divisions from dropping all
their troops on D-Day, and the commanders
had to decide which units would go in
first. The 101st Airborne Division was
to anchor the British Airborne Corps'
southern-most flank and secure a 15-mile
sector between Eindhoven and Veghel.
Taking this into consideration, General
Taylor decided that the three parachute
infantry regiments would jump on the
17 September. The 327th Glider Infantry
was to arrive on D+1, and the artillery
units were scheduled for D+2, the 19th.
The planes
carrying the 101st encountered heavy
antiaircraft fire as they approached
their targets, but the pilots were able
to hold formation, and the paratroopers,
for the most part, were delivered to
the correct drop zones. These were located
to the west of the main highway and
in the center of the division's sector,
near the villages of Zon, St. Oedenrode,
and Best. The 506th Parachute Infantry
dropped near Zon, with the mission of
securing the highway bridge over the
Wilhelmina Canal, south of the village.
Once the bridge was secure the regiment
was to advance further south and seize
Eindhoven. The 502d's zone was north
of the 506th, and its mission was to
guard both regiments' drop zones for
later use by the gliders. It was also
to capture the road bridge over the
Dommel River at St. Oedenrode. Additionally,
General Taylor ordered the regiment
to dispatch a company to the south of
Best to capture the bridges there that
crossed the Wilhelmina Canal. The 501st
Parachute Infantry jumped north of the
502d, near the town of Veghel. Elements
of the regiment were to gain control
of the rail and road bridges over the
Willems Canal and the Aa River.
The 501st
accomplished its mission, capturing
Veghel and the surrounding bridges against
only limited enemy resistance. The 502d
also completed its main assignment of
securing St. Oedenrode and the bridge
over the Dommel River. The company that
had moved south of Best, however, had
great difficulty and could not take
the bridges over the Wilhelmina Canal.
The 2d and 3d Battalions, 506th PIR,
methodically cleared Zon, while the
1st Battalion, accompanied by General
Taylor, moved around the village to
the south to seize the bridge crossing
the Wilhelmina Canal. The progress of
the battalions in the village was slow,
but enemy fire stopped the 1st Battalion
completely as it approached the bridge.
When the two battalions emerged from
Zon and the 1st Battalion also appeared
to advance, the Germans blew the bridge.
Elements of
the 506th managed to cross the river,
neutralizing the enemy force that had
destroyed the bridge, and a footbridge
was improvised to allow the remainder
of the 506th to cross. The following
day the regiment liberated Eindhoven,
clearing the enemy from the town. The
local citizens were ecstatic, and that
evening when the Guards Armoured Division,
the spearhead of the British 30 Corps'
Operation GARDEN, passed through the
town, it was like a carnival. British
engineers replaced the blown bridge
over the canal, and the ground forces
continued north. With the exception
of the bridges south of Best, the division
had achieved all its D-Day objectives.
The next mission was to hold what it
had taken and keep Hell's Highway, as
the road north became known, open despite
German counterattacks.
In the days
following the link between the airborne
and ground forces the 101st, now in
defensive positions, faced enemy counterattacks
as the Germans attempted to cut the
road and stop the flow of Allied forces
north. General Taylor received information
that the Germans were planning a large
scale offensive, coming from both the
east and west sides of the road in the
vicinity of Veghel and Uden, to the
northeast. Ordered to Uden on 22 September,
elements of the 506th arrived to defend
the village moments ahead of the Germans,
but the main assault came at Veghel.
Taylor dispatched the 327th Glider Infantry
to reinforce the 2d Battalion, 501st
PIR, at Veghel when he received intelligence
about the attack. As luck would have
it, General McAuliffe was also in Veghel
on the 22d. He had been searching for
a new division command post when the
word came, and General Taylor gave his
artillery commander responsibility for
the defense of the town.
The SCREAMING
EAGLES turned back the first attack
on Veghel, which came from the village
of Erp to the east. The Germans, however,
swung to the northwest and cut the highway
between Veghel and Uden, then turning
south, the enemy force attacked. As
the German armored column approached
Veghel, McAuliffe ordered an antitank
gun brought up, and although there is
debate over which unit fired, the American
defenders knocked out the lead tank,
and the enemy column turned back. Additional
battalions of the 327th arrived, as
did other elements of the 506th, along
with British tank squadrons. The enemy
continued attacking Veghel through the
afternoon, including several heavy artillery
bombardments, but McAuliffe and his
forces held. The next important step
was to reopen the highway; men and equipment
badly needed further north were backing
up on the closed road.
The British
30 Corps commander Lt. Gen. Brian Horrocks,
agreed to send the 32d Guards Brigade
back south on 23 September to help reopen
the road. At the same McAuliffe sent
two battalions of the 506th north to
confront the enemy position on the highway.
When the American soldiers arrived they
found that most of the Germans had withdrawn.
The 101st soldiers cleared the remaining
opposition and proceeded northeast towards
Uden, where they met the British tankers.
Hell's Highway was open for business
once again.
The Germans
continued their attack on Veghel the
following day, but to no avail. They
did, however, cut the road once again,
this time near the village of Koevering,
between Veghel and St. Oedenrode. On
25 September elements of the 506th,
ordered south from Uden, the 1st Battalion,
502d PIR, and units of the British 50th
Division, moving north from St. Oedenrode,
enveloped the enemy position on the
road. During the night, after mining
the road, the Germans withdrew. The
following day Allied engineers were
called in to clear the road of mines,
and the highway was open once again.
While the enemy continued to harass
the SCREAMING EAGLES along their sector
of Hell's Highway, the division's positions
remained intact and kept the road open.
Allied operations had forced the Germans
to spend precious resources on the defense
of the Netherlands. Although MARKET-GARDEN
did not achieve its original goals,
successes in Holland provided the Allies
with a foothold from which to launch
future drives.
In early October
the British moved their 8 and 12 Corps
into position along the highway, and
it was thought the 101st could be better
used elsewhere. On 5 October the division
moved north to take up defensive positions
in the British line, in an area known
as the island. This area, a narrow strip
of land north of Nijmegen, situated
between the lower Rhine and Waal Rivers,
was subjected to numerous German attacks.
The division suffered heavy casualties
in defense of this "island". Shortly
after the 101st assumed its positions
in the line, the British Corps returned,
without either of its American divisions,
to England. The 82d joined the 101st
on the island later in October. It was
not until November that the two divisions
were released to prepare for the next
airborne mission. The 101st, in late
November, moved back to Mourmelon, France,
for a well-deserved rest. There the
men of the 101st received replacement
equipment and new clothes and trained
for the next jump. Events in the Ardennes
forest, however, interrupted their rest,
and the next jump never came.
Battle
of the Bulge - The Ardennes Offensive
The Germans
launched their last great offensive
in Belgium on 16 December, driving west
through thinly held positions, and catching
the Allies unprepared. Maj. Gen. Troy
Middleton's VIII Corps was giving way,
and he desperately needed reinforcements.
The VIII Corps had its headquarters
in Bastogne, a city at the center of
the highway system spanning the southern
portion of the Ardennes. Middleton believed
the Germans would need the road network
to move their armored forces rapidly
further west. As an important road junction,
control of Bastogne was vital to the
German advance, but the VIII Corps had
been hit hard, and Middleton could not
hold the position. Lt. Gen. Courtney
Hodges, commander of First Army, appealed
to the Supreme Headquarters, Allied
Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF), for reinforcements.
The only units that SHAEF held in reserve
were the two American airborne divisions,
and Eisenhower released them both to
First Army. General Taylor, however,
was on leave in the U.S., and General
McAuliffe received temporary command
of the division.
The 101st
Airborne Division, travelling by truck,
reached Bastogne on 18 December, and
McAuliffe met with General Middleton,
who had received orders to pull the
VIII Corps headquarters out of the city.
When Middleton left the following morning
he gave McAuliffe only one order, "Hold
Bastogne." To accomplish this task,
in addition to 101st Division assets,
McAuliffe controlled, Combat Command
B, 10th Armored Division; the remnants
of the Reserve Command, 9th Armored
Division, which had been ravaged by
the German offensive; the 705th Tank
Destroyer Battalion; the 755th and 969th
Field Artillery Battalions; and miscellaneous
stragglers from other units.
During the
morning of 19 December the 501st Parachute
Infantry moved east to contact the American
forces deployed to protect approaches
to the city. German resistance from
the town of Neffe stopped the 501st's
advance, but American forces in the
area were able to consolidate their
positions. The U.S. soldiers east of
the city faced determined attacks and
could not advance their lines against
the German onslaught. By 20 December
the Americans had fallen back to a defensive
perimeter outside Bastogne. As the German
divisions pushed west, encircling the
city, McAuliffe pulled back his troops
to solidify the defenses on the northern
and Eastern outskirts of Bastogne. The
502d lined up in the north, in the Longchamps
area. The 506th took positions between
Foy and the Bourcy-Bastogne Railroad.
The 501st took its place in the line
on the 506th's right, facing east, with
its southern flank near Neffe, while
the 2d Battalion, 327th GIR, held positions
at Marvie.
The Germans
first attempt to break the defenses
at Bastogne came in the 501st's sector
at Neffe. The paratroopers, however,
held their line against repeated attacks,
and the enemy attention eventually turned
to another section of the perimeter,
further south. On the 21st German soldiers
probed the line at Marvie, in the 327th's
sector. The enemy penetrated the glider
regiment's defenses, which rallied and
repelled the assault. After continued
skirmishes, four German soldiers approached
the 327th's defenses on 22 December
carrying a flag of truce. The Germans
brought an ultimatum for the Allied
commander of Bastogne to surrender within
two hours or face annihilation from
a massed German artillery bombardment.
McAuliffe's now famous response "NUTS!"
provided a boost to the sagging morale
of the Americans.
The following
day the weather cleared and GIs in Bastogne
received some needed supplies from an
air drop. The weather also allowed the
Allied air forces to provide support
against the German forces massing around
Bastogne. That same day the enemy attacked
the western perimeter in the 327th's
zone, and on Christmas Day a German
assault force penetrated the line near
Hemroulle. Once through the defenses
the German force split, half pressing
on towards Hemroulle (defended by elements
of the 10th Armored Division and 705th
Tank Destroyer Battalion) and the rest
swinging left to attack the 502d at
Champs. The defenders cut off both columns,
killing or capturing the enemy soldiers.
The Germans launched their final effort
to eliminate the American garrison on
the 26th, but artillery eradicated the
assault force.
That afternoon
elements of the 4th Armored Division
advancing from the south broke through
the line and reached their trapped comrades.
Though the Germans attempted to close
the breach, the siege was broken. The
successful defense of Bastogne had slowed
the German advance and absorbed enemy
resources urgently needed elsewhere
during the Battle of the Bulge. With
the outcome of the enemy offensive no
longer in doubt, elements of the 101st
remained in the Bastogne area during
the next few weeks, helping to clear
the area of the remaining enemy forces
and reduce the bulge in the Allied lines.
On 18 January
the 101st moved to the Alsace region
as part of the Seventh Army line, holding
defensive positions through late February.
The 101st then returned to Mourmelon,
where it reverted to First Allied Airborne
Army control.
On 1 March
the new organizational structure for
airborne divisions reached the 101st,
and the 506th PIR became an organic
element of the division. Two weeks later,
General Eisenhower visited Mourmelon
and awarded the SCREAMING EAGLES the
Distinguished Unit Citation (now the
Presidential Unit Citation) for its
stand at Bastogne.
The division went back to training,
this time for a proposed air assault
on Berlin. Instead, the division, minus
the 501st PIR which remained at Mourmelon,
moved to positions near the Rhine during
the first week in April.
Germany
During the
last days of the war the 101st Airborne
Division was in Berchtesgaden, Adolph
Hitler's vacation retreat. The airborne
soldiers spent their days hunting members
of the Nazi leadership that had gone
into hiding. On 1 August the 42d Infantry
Division relieved the 101st, which moved
back to France to train for a possible
airborne assault on Japan. These plans
were canceled after the Japanese surrender,
and the division was deactivated 30
November 1945 in France.
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