SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES TO THE ENTIRE MISSION and drop zones (DZ) of the 82d regiments were made only ten days prior to D-Day. The paratroopers of the 505, 507 and 508 originally had drop zones to the west of the Douve River near St. Sauveur-le-Vicomte. The three regiments were assigned to occupy the town and the surrounding hills and clear the way for the glider landings that would take place at dawn and on the evening of D-Day. They were also tasked with stopping German tanks and division-size troops from moving eastward toward Utah Beach. Detailed planning for these missions had gone on for months, and they were set to go on May 30, the original D-Day.
Then, on Friday, May 26, the airborne plan was suddenly canceled—and for good reason. Air reconnaissance photos showed many holes in the open fields and slices of earth dug out of hillside roadways; it was thought the Germans had made the latter to park and protect their army trucks and vehicles from the incessant Allied fighter and bomber attacks. The small holes were used to place tall poles called “Rommel’s asparagus,” which were interconnected with grenade-laden wire to defend against airborne and glider landings. This discovery caused the D-Day Command and General Staff to change all the 82d drop zones and glider landing areas in a hurry. The former St. Sauveur-le-Vicomte DZ was obviously packed with German troops, and was, moreover, 35 kilometers from Utah Beach and the 4th Infantry Division landing area. A quick change was absolutely necessary.
The Enemy
By June 1944, the Wehrmacht had evolved a sophisticated doctrine for opposing airborne assault. Said SS Captain Krafft: “The only way to draw the tooth of an airborne landing, with an inferior force, is to drive right into it.” The German 91st Luftland (air-landing) Division (for “air landing,” we should read “anti-air” landing) with its 1057th and 1058th Infantry Regiments, artillery and tanks had just moved in, using St. Sauveur-le-Vicomte as its division headquarters. The 91st was under the command of Generalleutnant Wilhelm Falley. Though only an ad hoc, improvised unit (formed in 1944 in Wehrkreis XII around Wiesbaden), and thus poorly equipped, the two infantry regiments of the 91st were nevertheless to have a major impact on the development of the American airborne bridgehead. Indeed, it was the identification of this newly arrived division in May which led to the major revision of the 82d drop zones a mere ten days before the launch of Operation Overlord.
As reports of the airborne landings came in to the German Seventh Army headquarters and the extent of the landings became apparent, General Dollmann ordered a series of moves designed to seal up and destroy the airhead. Assigned to this mission were the 1057th Regiment (91st Division) and the 100th Panzer Replacement Battalion. By means of concentric counter-attacks, Dollmann initially believed that he could cope with the Cotentin landings without moving in any additional forces. It was only during the evening of June 6 that his optimism waned, as the 91st Division reported that its counter-attacks were making slow progress because of the difficulties of maneuvering in the hedgerow country. In reality, the counter-attack had scarcely materialized at all, except in local actions along the Merderet.
The slow German reaction to the D-Day invasion is explained in part by the loss of the 91st Division commander. Generalleutnant Falley was away from the battlefront along with some of his subordinate commanders, attending a war game at Rennes. As the General was returning to his headquarters on June 6, paratroopers stopped his staff car in the road and promptly killed him.
Regimental and Divisional Missions
The discovery of German units at St. Sauveur-le-Vicomte resulted in a totally new airborne plan for all the 82d Airborne parachute regiments and their incoming glider landing force. This plan called for both the 507 and 508 Parachute Infantry Regiments to drop west of and astride the Merderet River at Amfreville and Picauville to block the German 91st Division from attacking to the east. The 505 RCT was to jump east of the river and capture the town of Ste. Mère-Eglise, a known German anti-aircraft headquarters area. The plan also called for the seizure of the two outlying bridges crossing the Merderet River at La Fière and Chef-du-Pont.
The final 101st Airborne Division D-Day mission remained similar to its original plan. Part of the “Screaming Eagles” were to jump east and south of Ste. Mère-Eglise to open and clear the four critical Utah Beach raised road exit causeways in an area of flooded marshland that was below road level. The 101st had other missions for D-Day, but the assignment to protect Utah Beach and keep the Germans from advancing from Carentan was most critical. The 4th Infantry Division, landing at Utah Beach, had the task of getting up, over and through the causeway exits leaving the beach. The 101st paratroopers cleared these exit roads after many sporadic and tenacious small group battles with enemy rear echelon and beachfront defenders.