American airborne landings in Normandy

American airborne landings in Normandy
Part of the Normandy landings
Map of Operation Neptune showing final airborne routes.
Date 6 June – 13 July 1944 Location Cotentin Peninsula, Normandy, France Result Allied victory
Belligerents
United States	Nazi Germany
Commanders and leaders
Matthew Ridgway Maxwell D. Taylor	Erich Marcks † Wilhelm Falley †
Strength
(airlifted) 13,100 paratroopers 3,900 glider troops 5,700 USAAF aircrew	36,600 (7th Army) 17,300 (OKW Reserve)
Casualties and losses
(campaign) 1,003 killed 2,657 wounded 4,490 missing — Airborne losses only	(whole campaign, not just against airborne units) 21,300 killed, wounded, and missing

The American airborne landings in Normandy were the first American combat operations during Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy by the Western Allies on June 6, 1944, during World War II. Around 13,100 American paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions made night parachute drops early on D-Day, June 6, followed by 3,937 glider troops flown in by day. As the opening maneuver of Operation Neptune (the assault operation for Overlord) the two American airborne divisions were delivered to the continent in two parachute and six glider missions.

Both divisions were part of the U.S. VII Corps and provided it support in its mission of capturing Cherbourg as soon as possible to provide the Allies with a port of supply. The specific missions of the two airborne divisions were to block approaches into the vicinity of the amphibious landing at Utah Beach, to capture causeway exits off the beaches, and to establish crossings over the Douve River at Carentan to assist the U.S. V Corps in merging the two American beachheads.

The assault did not succeed in blocking the approaches to Utah for three days. Numerous factors played a part, most of which dealt with excessive scattering of the drops. Despite this, German forces were unable to exploit the chaos. Many German units made a tenacious defense of their strong-points, but all were systematically defeated within the week.

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Wikipedia