US 82nd Airborne Division
▶ Explore on the mapThe 82nd Airborne Division dropped into the Cotentin peninsula in the early hours of 6 June 1944, tasked with securing the western flank of the Utah Beach landings. Scattered by cloud and anti-aircraft fire, its paratroopers were widely dispersed, but small groups gathered around Sainte-Mère-Église, which became one of the first French towns liberated. The division held the approaches against German counter-attacks and helped cut the peninsula, contributing to the isolation of Cherbourg. It then fought on as infantry in the hedgerows, its glider and parachute strength steadily replaced by ordinary ground units. The division took part in the breakout and the subsequent pursuit across France. The positions shown here are schematic and trace the division's general area of operations from the drop zones to the breakout, not exact unit locations. The scattered drop and the fighting around Sainte-Mère-Église became emblematic of the confusion and improvisation of airborne operations.
Sources
- Wikimedia Commons — Charnwood (SVG, by EyeSerene)
- Wikimedia Commons — Operations Greenwood and Pomegranate, Normandy, July 1944 (EN.svg)
- Wikimedia Commons — Operation Tractable (SVG, by EyeSerene)
- Wikipedia — 352nd Infantry Division (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikipedia — Falaise pocket (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikipedia — Normandy landings (CC BY-SA 3.0)
- Wikipedia — Operation Overlord (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Related
Reuse this data: open dataset (GeoJSON / CSV, CC BY 4.0)