BY MARK J. ALEXANDER
(COLONEL, USA, RETIRED)
OUR COUNTRY WAS AT WAR. AFTER years of warfare and planning, the Allied forces were finally poised to mount the Normandy invasion and free Fortress Europa from the Nazi yoke.
In the pre-dawn darkness of June 6, 1944, three Allied Airborne Divisions landed behind enemy lines, two in Normandy’s Cotentin Peninsula. Their vital mission was to hold off the expected counter-attack by Rommel’s panzer reserve against the Allied landing beaches. The 82d Airborne Division was assigned the mission of protecting Utah Beach and ensuring the exit from this American beach landing area would be free from enemy attack from the Normandy hinterland to the beaches.
The special mission of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regimental Combat Team (RCT) was to seize the town of Sainte Mère Eglise, with the road and communications network. The RCT consisted of the 505 Parachute Infantry Regiment, the 456 Parachute Field Artillery Battalion, Company B 307 Parachute Engineers, 80th Airborne Antiaircraft Battalion (equipped and acting as an antitank unit) and the 307 Airborne Medical Company. Their task was to prevent enemy forces from crossing the Merderet River and carrying out Rommel’s plan to destroy the Allied landing on the beaches where it was most vulnerable.