On September 17th 1944 the then largest airborne operation, by Allied Forces, of the Second World War was launched. Three airborne divisions and an independent brigade would take part in the air side of operation ‘MARKET-GARDEN’, which would take place in Holland. The 101st U.S. Airborne Division would land the nearest to the Dutch/Belgium border, […]
Last week, as part of the 75th Anniversary commemorations of Operation Market-Garden, paratroopers of the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division took part in a reenactment of the famous daylight combat crossing of the Waal River that enabled to final capture of the bridge at Nijmegen, Holland in September 1944. The day’s events were capped off […]
A serial of Douglas C-47 Skytrains of the 315th Troop Carrier Group, dropping 41 sticks of the 1st Polish Airborne Brigade into DZ “O” near Grave, southwest of Nijmegen in Holland, on September 23, 1944, D+6 of Operation Market Garden. On September 23, 42 aircraft of the 315th finally got off the ground from Spanhoe […]
Operation Market Garden was the brainchild of Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery, but planned primarily by Generals Brereton and Williams of the USAAF. The objective was to create a 64 mi (103 km) salient through German-held territory in the south of The Netherlands. It was to culminate with the capture of the bridge over […]
Swedish Marines with Swedish Recce Coy, and U.S. Marines with Scout Snipers Platoon, 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, Marine Rotational Force–Europe 19.2, Marine Forces Europe and Africa, travel to an objective during an amphibious raid rehearsal as part of Exercise Archipelago Endeavor 19 on an island near Berga Naval Base, Sweden, Aug. 22, 2019. Archipelago Endeavor […]
The Old Time Design Company have once again joined forces with the world’s leading military hat makers, Compton & Webb Ltd., in order to bring the highest-quality WWII style Commando Troops beret to the market. The Commandos were formed during the Second World War in June 1940, following a request from Prime Minister Winston Churchill […]
The Imperial Japanese Army developed an airborne paratroop force in the late 1930s, but the program did not receive much attention by the Imperial General Headquarters until review of the success of similar German paratroop units during the Blitzkrieg of 1940 and the capture of Crete in 1941. Japanese Army paratroops were first deployed in […]
August 16, 1940, marks the date of the first official U.S. Army parachute jump at Ft. Benning, Georgia. Although the US lagged behind other nations in the development and deployment of Airborne Forces, US airborne units went on to fight valiantly on every front in WWII, and were critical to the Allies success. Today, airborne […]
Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of southern France, was originally supposed to be launched simultaneous to the invasion of Normandy – thus catching the Nazi forces in France and Western Europe between the horns of a two-pronged assault. However, due to there not being enough ships, aircraft, crews, and materiel to allow both invasions to happen […]
Today, 75 years ago: August 15, 1944. U.S. paratroopers from the 517th PIR patrol a road after landing in Southern France during Operation Dragoon. Operation Dragoon (initially Operation Anvil) was the code name for the Allied invasion of Southern France on 15 August 1944. The operation was initially planned to be executed in conjunction with Operation […]