17th Airborne Division (United States)
17th Airborne Division | |
---|---|
Active | 15 April 1943 – 16 September 1945 3 July 1948 – 1949 |
Country | United States |
Branch | United States Army |
Type | Airborne |
Size | Division |
Nickname(s) | "Golden Talons" |
Motto(s) | Thunder From Heaven |
Engagements | World War II |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | |
The Glider Badge: Worn by U.S. Army airborne soldiers who rode gliders into combat |
The 17th Airborne Division, "The Golden Talons", was an airborne infantry division of the United States Army during World War II, commanded by Major General William M. Miley.
Activated in April 1943, the division took part in the Knollwood Maneuver and other exercises that helped ensure that the U.S. Army would retain airborne divisions. It arrived in Britain in August 1944, having missed the Allies' first two large-scale airborne operations: Operation Husky and Operation Neptune.
In Britain, the 17th came under the command of Maj. Gen.
Formation
The
Once activated, the division remained in the United States for training and exercises. As the division, like all airborne units, was intended to be an elite formation, the training regime was extremely arduous.
Swing Board
General Eisenhower had reviewed the airborne role in Operation Husky, and had concluded that large-scale formations were too difficult to control in combat to be practical.
"I do not believe in the airborne division. I believe that airborne troops should be reorganized in self-contained units, comprising infantry, artillery, and special services, all about the strength of a regimental combat team [...] To employ at any time and place a whole division would require a dropping over such an extended area that I seriously doubt that a division commander could regain control and operate the scattered forces as one unit."
–The conclusion of General Eisenhower's review of the performance of American airborne forces during Operation Husky[9]
Knollwood Maneuver
The objective for the 11th as the attacking force was to capture
World War II
The division also participated in the Second Army maneuvers in the Tennessee Maneuver Area from 6 February 1944.[20] It finished its training on 27 March 1944,[21] and transferred to Camp Forrest on 24 March 1944. The division staged at Camp Myles Standish on 12 August 1944 before departing Boston Port of Embarkation on 20 August 1944.[20] The 17th Airborne Division arrived in the United Kingdom on 26 August.[22]
Once in Britain the division was attached to U.S. XVIII Airborne Corps, under Major General Matthew Ridgway, which commanded all American airborne formations, and which in turn became part of the First Allied Airborne Army when it was formed on 21 August, under the command of Lieutenant General Lewis H. Brereton.[23] Although attached to XVIII Airborne Corps, the division was not chosen to participate in Operation Market Garden, a large-scale airborne operation intended to seize several bridges through the Netherlands to allow the Allied armies to bypass the Rhine river and enter Germany. The 17th was passed over in favour of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions because it had only recently arrived in the European Theater and was considered to be unprepared logistically as it was still collecting its combat equipment.[24] The division was also given command of the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The 507th had fought in Normandy under command of the 82nd Airborne Division and remained in England as a theater reserve during Market Garden. The 507th continued to remain in England as the Allied armies continued their advance towards Germany.
Battle of the Bulge
On 16 December 1944 the Wehrmacht launched an offensive in the
By 1 January 1945 the threat to Charleville had eased sufficiently for the division to be transferred to another area of the Ardennes, being transported to an area south-west of Bastogne near the village of Morhet on 3 January; there it relieved the
Operation Varsity
Preparation
After participating in the Battle of the Bulge, the division was moved behind the front-lines as a reserve formation and theater reserve, whilst the Allies continued their advance towards the German interior. However, even as the division received replacements and trained, it had already been selected to take part in a highly ambitious airborne operation code-named Operation Eclipse. This operation, which got to such an advanced stage that plans had been created and divisional commanders briefed, called for the 17th and 82nd Airborne divisions, along with a
By March 1945, the Allies had advanced into Germany and had reached the River Rhine. The Rhine was a formidable natural obstacle to the Allied advance,
However, as planning for Operation Varsity began, it soon became obvious that there was a lack of suitable transport aircraft to transport all three airborne divisions.[38] As such the 13th Airborne Division was dropped from the operational plan, primarily because it had no combat experience, whereas the 6th Airborne Division had participated in Operation Tonga, the British airborne landings during Operation Neptune, and the 17th had seen combat in the Ardennes.[38] The plan for the operation was therefore altered to accommodate the two remaining airborne divisions. This would be the first airborne operation the 17th would take part in, and indeed would be its only before it was disbanded. The two airborne divisions would be dropped behind German lines, with their objective to land around Wesel and disrupt enemy defences in order to aid the advance of the British Second Army. To achieve this, both divisions would be dropped near the town of Hamminkeln, and were tasked with a number of objectives; they were to seize the Diersfordter Wald, a forest that overlooked the Rhine and had a road linking several towns together; several bridges over a smaller waterway, the Issel, were to be seized to facilitate the advance; and the town of Hamminkeln was to be captured.[39] Once these objectives were taken, the airborne troops would consolidate their positions and await the arrival of Allied ground forces, defending the territory captured against the German forces known to be in the area.
The 17th Airborne was to land its units in the southern portion of the area chosen for the operation, engaging the German forces that were defending the area, securing the Diersfordterwald Forest which dominated the surrounding area and capturing three bridges that spanned the River Issel.[40] It would then hold the territory it had captured until it linked up units from the British 6th Airborne Division, which would land in the northern section of the operational area, and finally advance alongside 21st Army Group once the Allied ground forces had made contact with the airborne forces. To avoid heavy casualties such as those incurred by the British 1st Airborne Division during Operation Market Garden, both Allied airborne divisions would be dropped only after Allied ground units had secured crossings over the Rhine; the two divisions would also be dropped only a relatively short distance behind German lines, to ensure that reinforcements would be able to link up with them after only a few hours and they would not be isolated.[41]
Battle
Operation Plunder began at 21:00 on 23 March after a week-long aerial bombardment of Luftwaffe airfields and the German transport system, involving more than ten thousand Allied aircraft.
The 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment, under the command of
The 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment was the second divisional unit to land, and was under the command of Colonel James W. Coutts.[46] En route to the drop zone, the transport aircraft containing the regiment had the misfortune to pass through a belt of German anti-aircraft weapons, losing twenty-two of the C-46 transport aircraft and damaging a further thirty-eight.[48] Just as the 507th had, the 513th also suffered from pilot error due to the ground haze, and as such the regiment actually missed their designated drop zone, and were dropped on one of the landing zones designated for the British 6th Airlanding Brigade.[49] However, despite this inaccuracy the paratroopers swiftly rallied and aided the British glider-borne troops who were landing simultaneously, eliminating several German artillery batteries which were covering the area.[49] Once the German troops in the area had been eliminated, a combined force of American and British airborne troops stormed Hamminkeln and secured that town.[50] By 14:00, Colonel Coutts reported to the Divisional Headquarters that the 513th had secured all of its objectives, having knocked out two tanks and destroyed two complete regiments of artillery during its assault.[50] During its attempts to secure its objectives, the regiment also gained a third Medal of Honor for the division when Private First Class Stuart S. Stryker posthumously received the award after leading a charge against a German machine gun nest, creating a distraction to allow the rest of his platoon to capture the fortified position the machine gun was situated in.[47]
The third component of the 17th Airborne Division to take part in the operation was the 194th Glider Infantry Regiment, under the command of Colonel James Pierce.[51] The regiment landed accurately in landing zone S, but their gliders and the aircraft that towed them took heavy casualties; twelve C-47 transports were lost due to anti-aircraft fire, and a further one hundred and forty were damaged by the same fire.[51] The regiment landed in the midst of a number of German artillery batteries that were engaging Allied ground forces crossing the Rhine, and as such many of the gliders were engaged by German artillery pieces which had their barrels lowered for direct-fire.[51] However, these artillery batteries and their crews were defeated by the glider-borne troops, and the regiment was soon able to report that its objectives had been secured, having destroyed forty-two artillery pieces, ten tanks, two mobile-flak wagons and five self-propelled guns.[51]
Aftermath
Operation Varsity was a successful large-scale airborne operation. All of the objectives that the airborne troops of the 17th had been tasked with had been captured and held, usually within only a few hours of the operation's beginning. The bridges over the Issel had been successfully captured, although one later had to be destroyed to prevent its capture by counter-attacking German forces. The Diersfordter Forest had been cleared of enemy troops, and the roads along which the Germans might have moved reinforcements against the advance had been cut by airborne troops.[52] By nightfall of the 24th, the British 15th Infantry Division had joined up with elements of the British 6th Airborne Division, and by midnight the first light bridge was across the Rhine. By the 27th, twelve bridges suitable for heavy armour had been installed over the Rhine and the Allies had fourteen divisions on the east bank of the river which had penetrated up to ten miles.[53] The division also gained its fourth Medal of Honor in the days following Operation Varsity, when Technical Sergeant Clinton Hedrick of the 194th Glider Infantry Regiment received the award posthumously after aiding in the capture of Lembeck Castle, which had been turned into a fortified position by the Germans.[54] In terms of casualties, the 17th Airborne Division suffered a total of 1,346 casualties in the space of five days, between 24 and 29 March, when Operation Plunder came to an end.[55] After it had participated in Operation Varsity, the 17th Airborne Division continued to advance through Germany as a part of XVIII Airborne Corps, engaging German forces around Wesel, Essen and Münster. When Germany unconditionally surrendered on 7 May 1945, the division was conducting occupation duties in northern Germany.
Composition
The division was composed of the following units:[56]
- 193rd Glider Infantry Regiment (disbanded 1 March 1945, assets merged into the 194th GIR)
- 194th Glider Infantry Regiment
- 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment (attached 27 August 1944 to 1 March 1945, thereafter assigned)
- 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment (replaced 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment on 10 March 1944)
- 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment (relieved 10 March 1944, replaced by the 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment)
- 139th Airborne Engineer Battalion
- 155th Airborne Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion
- 17th Parachute Maintenance Company (assigned 1 March 45)
- 224th Airborne Medical Company
- 17th Airborne Division Artillery
- 464th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion (75 mm) (assigned 1 March 1945)
- 466th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion (75 mm)
- 680th Glider Field Artillery Battalion (75 mm)
- 681st Glider Field Artillery Battalion (75 mm)
- Special Troops (Headquarters activated 1 Mar 45)
- Headquarters Company, 17th Airborne Division
- 411th Airborne Quartermaster Company
- 517th Airborne Signal Company
- 717th Airborne Ordnance Company
- Reconnaissance Platoon (assigned 1 March 45)
- Military Police Platoon
- Band (assigned 1 March 45)
Attached units:
- 550th Airborne Infantry Battalion (not assigned; under division operational control during the Ardennes Offensive, disbanded 1 March 1945 and assets merged into the 3rd Battalion, 194th GIR)
- 761st Tank Battalion (attached 15–27 January 1945)
- 811th Tank Destroyer Battalion (attached 17–27 January 1945)[57]
Casualties
- Total battle casualties: 6,745[58]
- Killed in action: 1,191[58]
- Wounded in action: 4,904[58]
- Missing in action: 224[58]
- Prisoner of war: 426[58]
Awards
During World War II the division and its members were awarded the following awards:[59]
- Distinguished Unit Citations: 4
- Medal of Honor: 4
- Staff Sergeant Isadore S. Jachman(KIA)
- Private George J. Peters(KIA)
- Private First Class Stuart S. Stryker(KIA)
- Technical Sergeant Clinton Hedrick(KIA)
- Distinguished Service Cross: 4
- Distinguished Service Medal: 1
- Silver Star: 179
- Legion of Merit: 15
- Soldier's Medal: 6
- Bronze Star Medal: 727
- Air Medal: 21
Postwar and inactivation
The 17th Airborne Division was relieved of occupation duty on 14 June by British troops, and the division was split up and its component units attached to other airborne divisions, either to the 82nd Airborne Division in Berlin or to the 13th Airborne Division which was preparing to participate in the invasion of Japan.[60] When Japan surrendered, all of the division's units returned to their parent formation and the division moved to Camp Myles Standish in Taunton, Massachusetts, being officially inactivated on 16 September 1945. The formation was reactivated at Camp Pickett, VA, on 6 July 1948 as a training division, but on 19 June 1949 it was permanently inactivated.[60]
Notes
- ^ Flanagan, p. 6.
- ^ Harclerode, p. 197.
- ^ Harclerode, p. 107.
- ^ Flanagan, p. 31.
- ^ Devlin, p. 200
- ^ Devlin, p. 201
- ^ a b Flanagan, p. 15.
- ^ Devlin, p. 204.
- ^ a b c Devlin, p. 246.
- ^ Flanagan, p. 98.
- ^ Flanagan, p. 99.
- ^ Devlin, pp 212, 246.
- ^ Flanagan, p. 100
- ^ Huston, p. 98.
- ^ "Moore County Airport History". Moore County Airport. 13 June 2006. Archived from the original on 21 May 2017. Retrieved 27 July 2008.
- ^ Flanagan, p. 100.
- ^ Devlin, p. 247.
- ^ a b c Huston, p. 136.
- ^ a b Huston, p. 137.
- ^ a b Stanton, p. 96
- ^ Hagerman, p. 15
- ^ Hagerman, p. 29
- ^ Flanagan, p. 204
- ^ Flanagan, p. 245
- ^ Flanagan, p. 265
- ^ a b Flanagan, p. 268
- ^ Flanagan, p. 281
- ^ a b Devlin, p. 546
- ^ Flanagan, p. 282
- ^ a b Flanagan, p. 283
- ^ Hagerman, p. 28
- ^ a b Flanagan, p. 285
- ^ Devlin, p. 255
- ^ Matthew J. Seelinger (2007). "Operation Varsity: The Last Airborne Deployment of World War II". Army Historical Research. Archived from the original on 29 October 2009. Retrieved 1 May 2008.
- ^ Saunders, Tim, p. 41
- ^ Devlin, p. 258-259
- ^ Devlin, p. 259
- ^ a b Clay, p. 440
- ^ Jewell, p27
- ^ Harclerode, p. 551
- ^ Jewell, p. 28
- ^ O'Neill, p. 299
- ^ a b c Tugwell, p. 273
- ^ Hagerman, Bart (12 June 2006). "Operation Varsity: Allied Airborne Assault Over The Rhine". World War II Magazine. Retrieved 1 May 2008.
- ^ a b c Devlin, p. 617
- ^ a b Devlin, p. 619
- ^ a b United States Army, Center of Military History (16 July 2007). "Medal of Honor Recipients World War II (M-S)". United States Army. Archived from the original on 31 May 2008. Retrieved 24 May 2008.
- ^ Devlin, p. 620
- ^ a b Tugwell, p. 274
- ^ a b Devlin, p. 621
- ^ a b c d Devlin, p. 624
- ^ Otway, p. 564
- ^ Fraser, p. 392
- ^ United States Army, Center of Military History (16 July 2007). "Medal of Honor Recipients World War II (G-L)". United States Army. Retrieved 24 May 2008.
- ^ Ellis, p. 294
- ^ "Order of Battle of the US Army - WWII - ETO - 17th Airborne Division". US Army Center of Military History. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
- ^ US Army Center of Military History (2008). "17th Airborne Division". US Army Center of Military History. Archived from the original on 18 June 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
- ^ a b c d e Army Battle Casualties and Nonbattle Deaths, Final Report (Statistics and Accounting Branch, Office of the Adjutant General, 1 June 1953)
- ^ "17th Airborne Division". US Army Center of Military History. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
- ^ a b Flanagan, p. 344
References
- Blair, Clay (1985). Ridgway’s Paratroopers – The American Airborne in World War II. The Dial Press. ISBN 1-55750-299-4.
- Devlin, Gerard M. (1979). Paratrooper – The Saga of Parachute And Glider Combat Troops During World War II. Robson Books. ISBN 0-312-59652-9.
- Major Ellis, L.S. (2004) [1968]. Victory in the West: The Defeat of Germany, Official Campaign History Volume II. History of the Second World War: United Kingdom Military. Naval & Military Press Ltd. ISBN 1-84574-059-9.
- Fraser, David (1999). And We Shall Shock Them: The British Army in the Second World War. Phoenix. ISBN 0-304-35233-0.
- Flanagan, E.M. Jr (2002). Airborne – A Combat History of American Airborne Forces. The Random House Publishing Group. ISBN 0-89141-688-9.
- Hagerman, Bart (1999). 17th Airborne Division. Turner Publishing Company. ISBN 1-56311-436-4.
- Harclerode, Peter (2005). Wings Of War – Airborne Warfare 1918–1945. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-304-36730-3.
- Huston, James A. (1998). Out of the Blue – U.S Army Airborne Operations in World War II. Purdue University Press. ISBN 1-55753-148-X.
- Jewell, Brian (1985). "Over The Rhine" – The Last Days of War in Europe. Spellmount Ltd. ISBN 0-87052-128-4.
- O'Neill, N.C., ed. (1951). Odhams History of the Second World War: Volume II. Odhams Press Limited.
- Otway, Lieutenant-Colonel T.B.H. (1990). The Second World War 1939–1945 Army – Airborne Forces. Imperial War Museum. ISBN 0-901627-57-7.
- Rawson, Andrew (2006). Rhine Crossing: Operation VARSITY – 30th and 79th US Divisions and 17th US Airborne Division. Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 1-84415-232-4.
- Saunders, Hilary St. George (1972). The Red Beret – The Story Of The Parachute Regiment 1940–1945. White Lion Publishers Ltd. ISBN 0-85617-823-3.
- Saunders, Tim (2006). Operation Plunder: The British & Canadian Rhine Crossing. Leo Cooper Ltd. ISBN 1-84415-221-9.
- Stanton, Shelby (2006). World War II Order of Battle: An Encyclopedic Reference to U.S. Army Ground Forces from Battalion through Division, 1939-1946 (Revised Edition). Stackpole Books. ISBN 0-8117-0157-3.
- Tugwell, Maurice (1971). Airborne To Battle – A History Of Airborne Warfare 1918–1971. William Kimber & Co Ltd. ISBN 0-7183-0262-1.
External links
- Ministry of Defense. "Operation Varsity – The Rhine Crossing". British Army/The Parachute Regiment. Archived from the original on 3 August 2006. Retrieved 28 April 2008.
- Murray, Williamson. "Airborne Operations During World War II". World War II Magazine. Archived from the original on 5 June 2008. Retrieved 28 April 2008.
- Pogue, Forrest C. "CHAPTER XXI – The Battle for the Rhineland". HyperWar. Retrieved 28 April 2008.
- United States Army, Center of Military History. "17th Airborne Division". US Army Center of Military History. Archived from the original on 18 June 2013. Retrieved 14 May 2008.
- United States Army, Center of Military History. "Medal of Honor Recipients – World War II (G-L)". US Army Center of Military History. Retrieved 24 May 2008.
- "Crossing the Rhine: Operation Varsity". National WWII Glider Pilots Association, Inc. Retrieved 27 July 2014.