"A superb colour photographic collection" Military Trader, May 2005
On the
night of 5th-6th June 1944, US paratroopers were dropped over the Cotentin
peninsula, on the western part of the Normandy beachhead.With two combat
assaults under its belt, the 82nd Airborne Division was now ready for the most
ambitious airborne operation of the war so far, as part of Operation Neptune,
the invasion of Normandy. The Division conducted Operation Boston, part of the
airborne assault phase of the Operation Overlord plan.
The Pathfinders of the
101st Airborne Division led the way on D-Day in the night drop prior to the
invasion, with the objective to secure the four causeway exits behind Utah
Beach, destroy a German coastal artillery battery at Saint-Martin-de-Varreville,
capture buildings nearby at Mésières believed used as barracks and a command
post for the artillery battery, capture the Douve River lock at la Barquette,
capture two footbridges spanning the Douve at la Porte opposite Brévands,
destroy the highway bridges over the Douve at Sainte-Come-du-Mont, and secure
the Douve River valley.
In the process units would also disrupt German
communications, establish roadblocks to hamper the movement of German
reinforcements, establish a defensive line between the beachhead and Volognes,
clear the area of the drop zones to the unit boundary at Les Forges, and link up
with the 82nd Airborne Division.
The uniforms, equipment and small arms of
these men immortalised by ‘Band of Brothers’ are presented here in the sharpest
detail, as well as their orders of battle and insignia. Brilliantly illustrated
throughout in full colour.
