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82nd Airborne Division , livre ebook

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294 pages

English

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Description

Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the 82nd Airborne Division, this beautiful book heralds those who fought for their country and those who paid the ultimate price. Follow the "All American" Division from activation in 1917 to campaigns in St. Mihiel, Anzio, Normandy, Holland, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, and Iraq. Includes more than 700 biographies and photos of 82nd Airborne veterans, personal stories, Medal of Honor recipients, hundreds of photos, an index, and more.

Sujets

Histoire

WW2

82nd Airborne Division

Military

History of the United States

Airborne forces

World War II

History

82e division aéroportée (États-Unis)

Seconde Guerre mondiale

Informations

Publié par	Turner Publishing Company
Date de parution	15 juin 1988
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781618587466
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	2 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,1250€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Turner ® PUBLISHING COMPANY
Publishers of America’s History 412 Broadway P.O. Box 3101 Paducah, KY 42002-3101 (270) 443-0121 www.turnerpublishing.com

Turner Publishing Company Staff: Greg Wurth, Editor Frene Melton, Designer

Copyright © 2004 Publishing Rights: Turner Publishing Company All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
9781618587466
Library of Congress Control No.: 2004108002

Printed in the United States of America.
Mass Paratroop Training Exercise, 1946. C-46 & C-47 Troop Carriers. Courtesy of A.J. Terrell.
Table of Contents
Title Page Copyright Page HISTORY OF THE 82ND AIRBORNE IN MEMORY - PARATROOPERS OF THE 82ND AIRBORNE DIVISION WHO LOST THEIR LIVES IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN RECOLLECTIONS: TRUE ACCOUNTS OF THE 82ND AIRBORNE BIOGRAPHIES OF THE 82ND AIRBORNE VETERANS THE ALL-AMERICAN PARATROOPER 82ND AIRBORNE VETERAN PHOTOGRAPHS BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX

HISTORY OF THE 82ND AIRBORNE

Training Exercise, September 1946. C-82 Troop Carrier . Courtesy of A . J . Terrell .

WRITTEN AND COMPILED BY STEVEN J. MROZEK, NATIONAL HISTORIAN, 82ND ABN DIV. ASSOCIATION

ABBREVIATIONS THE FOLLOWING ABBREVIATIONS ARE USED IN THE HISTORY AND RECOLLECTIONS SECTIONS
ABN Airborne AB Air Base AEB Airborne Engineer Battalion AEF American Expeditionary Force ARCT Airborne Regimental Combat Team AFAB Airborne Field Artillery Battalion ARVN Army of the Republic of Vietnam CMA Corps Marshaling Area DRB Division Ready Brigade DRBN Division Ready Battalion DRF Division Ready Force DZ Drop Zone FA Field Artillery FAB Field Artillery Brigade FABN Field Artillery Battalion FAC Forward Air Controllers GFAB Glider Field Artillery Battalion GIR Glider Infantry Regiment HHB Headquarters and Headquarters Battery HQ Headquarters JOTC Jungle Operations Training Center (Panama) LCI Landing Craft, Infantry LZ Landing Zone MGB Machine Gun Battalion MIB Military Intelligence Battalion NVA North Vietnamese Army PAB Parachute Artillery Battalion PFAB Parachute Field Artillery Battalion PIB Parachute Infantry Battalion PIR Parachute Infantry Regiment PRCT Parachute Regimental Combat Team RCT Regimental Combat Team TC Troop Carrier TF Task Force TCW Troop Carrier Wing US United States VC Viet Cong VG Volks-Grenadier

WWI
THE BEGINNING OF THE 82ND 1917-1919
The story of the “All-American” Division began early in the 20th century. A World War had raged throughout Europe and the eastern Mediterranean since 1914. Until 1917, the US had been able to maintain itself as a neutral nation. Several incidents threatened this neutrality. Finally, the sinking of the British passenger ship Lusitania by a German submarine, with the loss of American lives, made the US Congress pass a declaration of war against Germany and the Axis powers on April 6, 1917. With only a small contingent of “regulars” and a shortage of weapons, it soon became apparent that the US was not prepared for war. Upon mobilization, National Guard units were the first to be called up for active service. This reserve force soon was exhausted and a military draft was required to procure the necessary manpower. On Aug. 25, 1917, the 82nd Inf. Div. was organized at Camp Gordon, GA, with men from Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. These men, however, practically all were transferred to other divisions as replacements during October 1917. Additional men for the 82nd were received largely from New England and the Middle Atlantic states. By Nov. 1, 1917, approximately 28,000 men had entered Camp Gordon. The 82nd Inf. Div. was organized into two infantry brigades of two infantry regiments each and an artillery brigade of three artillery regiments. A regiment of engineers, three machine gun battalions, an ammunition train, and a sanitary or medical train provided the division’s support.
Upon its entry into the Great War, the US Army was anything but ready. The recently inducted civilians began the transformation into soldiers under very primitive circumstances. For the most part, there was an acute shortage of rifles, web equipment, proper quarters, and in many cases, uniforms. Platoon, company and battalion drill was performed on the parade field with wooden rifles.

Doughboys of the 82nd go “over the top” in France during a training exercise.
After a few weeks, the division received a shipment of the 1917 Eddystone rifles. Slowly web equipment began to appear. The division conducted preliminary marksmanship training at a rifle range constructed at Waycross, GA. During the first three months of 1918, the division received training in offensive tactics and trench warfare from a group of French and British officers.
The training with special weapons was necessarily of a theoretical character. The Divisional Automatic Rifle School possessed about a dozen French Chauchat rifles; the regiments had none. Colt machine guns were issued to machine gun companies, although this weapon was never to be used in battle. The Stokes mortar platoons never saw a 3-inch Stokes mortar while in the US, and the 37mm gun platoons possessed collectively one of these weapons during the last two or three weeks of their stay at Camp Gordon.
A limited number of offensive and defensive hand grenades were obtained and thrown by selected officers and NCOs at the Division Grenade School. The men of one regiment witnessed a demonstration in which four rifle grenades were fired. Everyone was required to walk through a gashouse and remove their masks and sniff the fumes of a light concentration of chlorine gas and endure a mild attack of lachrymose gas.
The artillery obtained a battery of American 3-inch guns in November 1917, and another in February 1918. They fired several thousand rounds at the artillery range in Marietta, GA. Marked progress was made in discipline, morale, marksmanship, bayonet fighting, and the normal extended order and security formations as prescribed by Army regulations and spelled out in the drill manuals.

DUG INTO THE TRENCHES: FACE TO FACE WITH THE GERMANS
The 82nd was directed to relieve the 26th Inf. Div. then occupying that part of the Woevre front known as the Lagny sector. One battalion from each of the four infantry regiments was to occupy the front lines and outpost zone. One battalion each would stand in support while the regiment’s 3rd Bn. would be held in reserve. The commanders of the initial selected battalions conducted a leaders’ reconnaissance, along with their company commanders, to familiarize themselves with the ground on which they soon would fight.
The units selected to be the first from the 82nd Div. to see combat were the 2/325th Inf. (MAJ Hawkins), 1/326th Inf. (MAJ Wells), 3/327th Inf. (MAJ Hill) and 2/328th Inf. (MAJ Buxton). The 82nd’s relief of the 26th Inf. Div. began on the night of June 25, 1918. The regimental machine gun companies joined the front line infantry battalions on July 5, 1918; French artillery units provided artillery support.
During the days and nights of life in the Lagny Sector, the intensive military education of the division progressed in marked fashion, and the men soon accustomed themselves to the details of existence in trench warfare. Patrolling from the outset was conducted in an aggressive manner and the division not only maintained ownership of “No Man’s Land,” but penetrated deeply into the enemy’s positions on numerous occasions. Several of these forays without artillery help resulted in collisions, during the course of which numerous casualties were inflicted upon the enemy and some losses suffered in return.
On Aug. 4, 1918, Co. K and Co. M, 326th Inf. conducted a trench raid with artillery support against a section of the German position immediately in front of that regiment. French officers, upon similar works constructed in a rear area, had carefully trained the officers and men for this operation. The raid was executed in a commendable fashion, penetrating 600 meters into enemy territory, killing about a platoon of the enemy and capturing three machine guns and numerous rifles, pistols and other weapons and equipment. During the raid, one American was killed and four wounded.

82nd Infantry Division organizational chart, 1917-1919.

82nd Division Headquarters in France, 1918.
When everyone had returned to the protection of the American trenches, German artillery fire, previously silent, opened vigorously, and two bays filled with men were hit. All together, 17 men were killed and two shells wounded 15. A division order was published to the command on Aug. 8, 1918, citing the troops’ participating in this operation for their gallantry and soldierly conduct.

MARBACHE SECTOR AND ST. MIHIEL OFFENSIVE
After two months in the Lagny Sector, the 82nd was considered an experienced and dependable division. The troopers had learned much about the realities of war in the trenches. They were about to learn more. The 82nd received orders that would send the division to the Marbache Sector to relieve the 2nd Inf. Div. from the line. The relief began Aug. 15, 1918 and was completed two days later. The Marbache Sector lay astride the Moselle River Valley and included within its lines the city of Pont-a-Mousson. The sector had been known as a rest sector after the first year of the war until shortly after the 82nd Div. occupied the area. The enemy had become increasingly aggressive in the air, with artillery, and in patrolling.
The 157th Field Artillery Brigade joined the division shortly after it had moved into this sector. The arrival of the brigade was most gratifying and reassuring to the infantry, which quickly perceived the advantage of artillery support controlled by officers imbued with personal pride in the work of the division, and with whom the infantry

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