The fight for Sainte-Mère-Église was bloody and violent. The town was in American hands by dawn, when paratroopers felt safe enough to pause for a cigarette.
The precisely planned American airborne operation was designed to support the troops landing on Utah Beach. The 101st Airborne Division was to seize the raised causeways leading inland from the coast, while the experienced 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment – part of the 82nd Airborne Division – was to spearhead the attack on Sainte-Mère-Église.
However, Allied strategists knew it would not take much for their exact plans to go seriously awry. If so, improvisation alone would save the day.
A key operation for British airborne forces was to silence the guns of Merville Battery, a huge gun emplacement situated close to Sword Beach. This formidable undertaking – assigned to the 9th Parachute Battalion – depended on a precision drop of men and weaponry.
German commanders were confused by the seemingly random nature of the airborne landings, a situation compounded by the cutting of communication wires. News of the aerial assault reached Hitler’s OKW (Supreme High Command) at 4 a.m.: it came with a request to release the two SS panzer divisions – which the sleeping Führer alone could grant.
French civilians were also taken by surprise by the nocturnal airborne landings. Many feared it was another hit-and-run raid, like the disastrous commando assault on Dieppe, but they nevertheless risked their lives by providing shelter and first aid to wounded paratroopers.
The fight for Sainte-Mère-Église was bloody and violent. The town was in American hands by dawn, when paratroopers felt safe enough to pause for a cigarette.