All Americans in World War II

A Photographic History of the 82nd Airborne Division at War

Phil Nordyke

• Publisher: Zenith Press
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9780760339145
• eBook ISBN: 9781610601023
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 20th Century History
• Index: History

On the night of July 9/10, 1943 the All Americans of the 82nd Airborne Division jumped into history as they made their first parachute assault of World War II. Three others would follow: Salerno, Normandy, and Holland. In total the division served more than three hundred days in combat, a record unmatched by any other American division.

With nearly four hundred historic photographs, many never before published, The All Americans in World War II provides a complete photographic history of the 82nd Airborne Division as it fought its way across Sicily, Italy, France, Belgium, and Germany, ultimately all the way to Berlin as part of the American occupation forces. This book is an essential addition to any serious World War II collection and a tribute to the fighting spirit of this legendary division.

Chapter 1

“FIERCE INDIVIDUALISTS”

“There can be no such animal as a typical parachutist. Every 82nd Airborne trooper is by the nature of his mode of warfare an individualist of the first rank. His deeds individually and collectively are legend in the annals of American courage and initiative. His personality is as unpredictable as his dependability in combat.”

—W. Forrest Dawson, Saga of the All American

Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, young men from almost every background volunteered to join a new branch of the U.S. Army—the parachute forces. Private Ross S. Carter noted that “every level of society had its representation among us. Senators’ sons rubbed shoulders with ex-cowboys. Steelworkers chummed up with tough guys from city slums. Farm boys, millionaires’ spoiled brats, white-collar men, factory workers, ex-convicts, jailbirds, and hoboes joined for the thrill and adventure of parachute jumping. And so, the army’s largest collection of adventurous men congregated in the parachute troops.

“The thing that distinguished us from most other soldiers was our willingness to take chances and risks in a branch of the army that provided a great, new, almost unexplored frontier. In other days paratroopers would have been the type to sail with Columbus, or the first to seek out the West and fight the Indians.”

They underwent extremely tough physical training throughout the four weeks of jump school, during which many of the volunteers dropped out.

In February 1942, a division that had a legendary record for its actions in World War I was reactivated—the 82nd Infantry Division. The greatest hero of that war had been Sergeant Alvin York, who had served with the division and had been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. General Omar N. Bradley, the division commander, together with General Matthew B. Ridgway, the assistant division commander, instituted intensive physical training and instruction in weapons, tactics, and maneuver to build the division into a combat-ready force at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana.

The division’s progress was so impressive that General Bradley was transferred to command the troubled 28th Infantry Division. On June 26, 1942, General Ridgway assumed command of the 82nd Division. On August 15, 1942, while completing the last weeks of training at Camp Claiborne, General Ridgway announced that the division would be converted into an airborne division and would provide the cadre for a second airborne division—the 101st. The infantry, artillery, antiaircraft, engineer, and headquarters units began training to become glider-borne.

On October 1, 1942, the 82nd Airborne Division was moved to Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where it was joined by the newly assigned 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR), the 376th Parachute Field Artillery (PFA) Battalion, and Company C, 307th Airborne Engineer Battalion. On February 12, 1943, due to a shortage of gliders, the 326th Glider Infantry Regiment (GIR) was transferred to the newly formed 13th Airborne Division, and the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, under the command of Colonel James M. Gavin, joined the 82nd Airborne Division.

A parachutist in training descends from one of the 250-feet-high towers at the jump school at Fort Benning. U.S. Army photograph, courtesy of the 82nd Airborne Division War Memorial Museum

A small portion of the tents and barracks at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana. Photograph courtesy of www.campclaiborne.com

Generals Bradley (left) and Ridgway use the rope swing to cross a water obstacle. U.S. Army photograph, courtesy of the 82nd Airborne Division War Memorial Museum

The 319th Field Artillery passes in review at Camp Claiborne. U.S. Army photograph, courtesy of the 82nd Airborne Division War Memorial Museum

The Trainees at Fort Benning jump school perform left and right front tumbles in preparation for learning parachute landing falls (PLFs) during “B” Stage. U.S. Army photograph

Trainees practice exiting from a mockup of a C-47 door during “B” Stage. U.S. Army photograph, courtesy of the 82nd Airborne Division War Memorial Museum

The platform where trainees learn to execute PLFs. U.S. Army photograph, courtesy of the 82nd Airborne Division War Memorial Museum

Trainees practice using risers to guide the parachute. U.S. Army photograph, courtesy of the 82nd Airborne Division War Memorial Museum

Trainees practice handling and collapsing parachute canopies. U.S. Army photograph, courtesy of the 82nd Airborne Division War Memorial Museum

The dreaded thirty-four–foot tower during “C” Stage, where trainees exit from a mockup of a C-47 door and drop until their harness is caught by a cable, then guided to the ground. U.S. Army photograph, courtesy of the 82nd Airborne Division War Memorial Museum

Trainees learn to pack their own parachutes on the last day of “C” Stage, for the qualifying jumps the following week. U.S. Army photograph, courtesy of the 82nd Airborne Division War Memoria...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Chapter 1 “FIERCE INDIVIDUALISTS”
• Chapter 2 “READY”
• Chapter 3 “DESTROY HIM WHEREVER FOUND”
• Chapter 4 “WE HAD A LONG WAY TO GO YET, AND SOME OF THE MEN WOULD ACCOMPANY US NO MORE”
• Chapter 5 “RETREAT HELL!— SEND ME MY 3RD BATTALION!”
• Chapter 6 “WAIT UNTIL A TRIUMPHANT ENTRY IS ORGANIZED”
• Chapter 7 “DEVILS IN BAGGY PANTS”
• Chapter 8 “YOU ARE ABOUT TO EMBARK UPON THE GREAT CRUSADE”
• Chapter 9 “ALMIGHTY GOD, OUR SONS, PRIDE OF OUR NATION, THIS DAY HAVE SET UPON A MIGHTY ENDEAVOR”
• Chapter 10 “WHEREVER YOU LAND, MAKE YOUR WAY TO STE.-MÈRE-ÉGLISE, AND TOGETHER WE WILL RAISE THIS FLAG”
• Chapter 11 “THIS WAS ONE OF THE TOUGHEST DAYS OF MY LIFE”
• Chapter 12 “I THINK IT’S TIME TO GET OUR WAR STARTED”
• Chapter 13 “I DON’T KNOW OF A BETTER PLACE TO DIE”
• Chapter 14 “COLONEL, AREN’T YOU GLAD WAVERLY’S ON OUR SIDE?”
• Chapter 15 “VAN, DON’T KILL THEM ALL. SAVE A FEW FOR INTERROGATION”
• Chapter 16 “FOLLOW ME!”
• Chapter 17 “MY GOD, MATT, CAN’T ANYTHING STOP THESE MEN?”
• Chapter 18 “RESOURCEFUL AND COURAGEOUS IN THE ATTACK, RESOLUTE IN THE DEFENSE, THEY FOUGHT SUPERBLY”
• Chapter 19 “PUT US DOWN IN HOLLAND, OR PUT US DOWN IN HELL, BUT PUT US DOWN ALL IN ONE PLACE OR I WILL HOUND YOU TO YOUR GRAVES!”
• Chapter 20 “THIS MIGHTY SPECTACLE DEEPLY IMPRESSED ME”
• Chapter 21 “SITUATION WELL IN HAND”
• Chapter 22 “WE’VE COME A LONG WAY . . . TELL THE BOYS TO DO A GOOD JOB”
• Chapter 23 “THE NIJMEGEN BRIDGE MUST BE TAKEN TODAY; AT THE LATEST, TOMORROW”
• Chapter 24 “A DAY UNPRECEDENTED IN THE DIVISION’S COMBAT HISTORY”
• Chapter 25 “I’VE NEVER SEEN A MORE GALLANT ACTION”
• Chapter 26 “I’M PROUD TO MEET THE COMMANDER OF THE FINEST DIVISION IN THE WORLD TODAY”
• Chapter 27 “I’M SURE GLAD YOU BASTARDS ARE HERE”
• Chapter 28 “LET’S GET THE SONS OF BITCHES!”
• Chapter 29 “I’M THE 82ND AIRBORNE, AND THIS IS AS FAR AS THE BASTARDS ARE GOING!”
• Chapter 30 “SORT OUT THE BATTLEFIELD AND TIDY UP THE LINES”
• Chapter 31 “WELL COLONEL, THE OLD GUYS GOT IT TODAY”
• Chapter 32 “SIR, THEY’RE ALL DEAD”
• Chapter 33 “SURRENDER, HELL!”
• Chapter 34 “THE CLOSEST TO HELL ONE COULD GET WITHOUT ENTERING THE GATES”
• Chapter 35 “REFUGEES FROM THE LAW OF AVERAGES”
• Chapter 36 “YOU WONDER WHAT HAPPENS TO A MAGNIFICENT DIVISION OF BRAVE MEN AFTER THE WAR”
• Index
• Copyright Page