Cloaks Of Confusion

Landing on 7 June, the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment spent much of the day mai'ching and counter-marching. Late in the day, 1st Battalion was despatched across the ‘secret ford’ through the marshes to bolster Colonel Timmes’ 2/507th in their orchard …

1944-06-08

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Landing on 7 June, the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment spent much of the day mai'ching and counter-marching. Late in the day, 1st Battalion was despatched across the ‘secret ford’ through the marshes to bolster Colonel Timmes’ 2/507th in their orchard stronghold. Moving past that position, the battalion split into companies to implement an ambitious plan that proved overly complex for the circumstances. Cohesion lost, Charley attempted to regain contact with Baker Company on their left. In spite of the efforts of their 507th Regiment guide. Lieutenant Marr, they lost their way and stumbled upon a German artillery park. After a confused firefight, Charley Company were driven back by flanking fire, helped on their way by a German armored car appearing to their rear. As overcast gave way to moonlight, Lieutenant Marr succeeded in linking a Charley Company lineman’s EE8A phone with the Company wire so that mortar fire from Timmes’ orchard could be brought down to cover Charley and Baker Companies’ retreat. At La Fiere, it became clear to Ridgway that only a frontal assault was going to clear the causeway

Near Cauquigny, France

Mission Boston was a parachute combat assault at night by Major General Matthew Ridgway's U.S. 82nd "All American" Airborne Division on June 6, 1944, part of the American airborne landings in Normandy during World War II. Boston was a component element of Operation Neptune, the assault portion of the Allied invasion of Normandy, codenamed Operation Overlord. 6,420 paratroopers jumped from nearly 370 C-47 Skytrain troop carrier aircraft into an intended objective area of roughly 10 square miles (26 km2) located on either side of the Merderet river on the Cotentin Peninsula of France, five hours ahead of the D-Day landings. The drops were scattered by bad weather and German anti-aircraft fire over an area three to four times as large as that planned. Two inexperienced units of the 82nd, the 507th and 508th Parachute Infantry Regiments (PIR), were given the mission of blocking approaches west of the Merderet River, but most of their paratroops missed their drop zones entirely. The veteran 505th PIR jumped accurately and captured its objective, the town of Sainte-Mère-Église, which proved essential to the success of the division.

Wikipedia: Mission Boston

German

American