Posted on 03/17/2017 6:27:48 AM PDT by Gamecock
When paratroopers assaulted Sicily during the night of Jul. 9-10, 1943, they suffered some of the worst weather that could affect that kind of a mission.
The men were supposed to conduct two airborne assaults and form a buffer zone ahead of the 7th Army’s amphibious assault on the island, but winds of up to 40 knots blew them far off course.
The 3,400 paratrooper assault took heavy losses before a single pair of boots even touched the ground. But what happened next would become airborne legend, the story of the “Little Groups Of Paratroopers” or “LGOPs.”
The LGOPs didn’t find cover or spend hours trying to regroup. They just rucked up wherever they were at and immediately began attacking everything nearby that happened to look like it belonged to the German or Italian militaries.
They tore down communications lines, demolished enemy infrastructure, set up both random and planned roadblocks, ambushed Axis forces, and killed everything in their path. A group of 16 German pillboxes that controlled key roads was even taken out despite the fact that the attacking force had a fraction of their planned strength.
This mischief had a profound effect on the defenders. The Axis assumed that the paratroopers were attacking in strength at each spot where a paratrooper assault was reported. So, while many LGOPs had only a few men, German estimates reported much stronger formations. The worst reports stated that there were 10 times as many attackers as were actually present.
German commanders were hard-pressed to rally against what seemed to be an overwhelming attack. Some conducted limited counterattacks at what turned out to be ghosts while others remained in defensive positions or, thinking they were overrun, surrendered to American forces a that were a fraction of their size.
The Axis soldiers’ problems were made worse by a lack of supplies and experience. Fierce resistance came from only a handful of units, most notably the Hermann Goering Division which conducted counter-attacks with motorized infantry, armored artillery, and Tiger I heavy tanks.
The Allied soldiers used naval gunfire to break up these counter-attacking columns whenever possible and fought tooth and nail with mortars and artillery to delay the tanks when naval gunfire was unavailable.
The American campaign was not without tragedy though. On Jul. 11, paratroopers from the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment were sent in to reinforce the American center which had struggled to gain much ground. Some naval and shore anti-aircraft batteries, weary from constant German bombing missions, had not been told that American planes would be coming in that night.
The gunners downed 23 of the transport planes packed with paratroopers and damaged 37 more. Of the 2,200 paratroopers scheduled to drop onto Sicily that night, 318 were killed or wounded by friendly fire.
Still, the operation was a success, thanks in large part to the actions of little groups of paratroopers wreaking havoc across the island until they could find a unit to form up with. Italian forces began withdrawing from the island on July 25 and Lt. Gen. George S. Patton took Mesina, the last major city on Sicily, on Aug. 17 only to find that the rest of the Axis forces there had withdrawn as well.
I joined the Army when I was 17 - the one thing I wanted was to be a Paratrooper. Completing jump school and earning my wings was the greatest thing I had done (up till then) in my young life.
Alas, but I was but a dirty, nasty leg.
Earned my EFMB, that was my proudest moment of my service. Me against the graders and their interpretation of the standards. 15% pass rate. Years later I still got a rush when I pinned it on my uniform.
I worked with a man back a few decades ago. He was our company’s top salesman. A very amiable, nice dude. You could totally botch one of his orders and he’d basically say “Don’t worry about it. They’ll buy it. You’ll get it right next time.” Everyone loved working with this old guy.
So one day we’re sitting around talking about “Saving private Ryan”. And Bill says “I was a Screaming Eagle. I was a badass mother******!” We where speechless. You would have never guessed!
“The American campaign was not without tragedy though. On Jul. 11, paratroopers from the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment were sent in to reinforce the American center which had struggled to gain much ground. Some naval and shore anti-aircraft batteries, weary from constant German bombing missions, had not been told that American planes would be coming in that night.”
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My father always regretted that he was part of the naval force that shot down those paratroopers, and he told me that story with a heavy heart. He was on a Navy supply ship at anchor with dozens of other ships. They had come from the North Africa campaign where they had been under daily attack from German bombers, U boats and E boats, and several ships in his group had been sunk. On the fateful night that the paratroopers flew over without their knowledge, he said it only took one gunner to start shooting and then they all joined in.
Later he was in the Pacific and he said there were similar instances there. Because of all of the Kamikaze attacks during the battle for Okinawa any US aircraft that strayed over the transport fleet was in danger of being fired upon.
My Dad was 101st Airborne. God rest his soul.
I didn’t want to go to jump school at all...and made the mistake of telling people that. I ended up going.
While with the 101st I visited the museum at Fort Campbell.
There was a Sgt Major in charge. This was in 1965, just 20 years after the end of WWII and it turns out he served with the 101st in WWII and made several combat jumps with them.
Needless to say I was impressed. Quiet men going into harms way to do what needed to be done. I tried to live up to their standards when I found myself in combat.
It feels good when you work hard and earn something few others can achieve.
I met a guy who survived this drop. This was several years ago and he was in his late 80s then.
He survived this, served in the Italian campaign, and, missed D-Day as his regiment was still in Italy. He did make the drop into Nijmegen during Market-Garden, and was one of the guys who were in the rubber rafts going across the river to capture the bridge. Then there was Bastogne.
Very brave, but, nice guy. He broke down only when he talked about his late wife.
It was an honor to meet him.
Mom’s twin brother was 82nd airborne.....flew into Normandy on a glider, overshot the LZ by a long shot and spent ten days behind German lines before meeting back up. He was relieved in Bastogne by the 101st during the battle of the bulge. Only told the war stories to his twin sister (my mom) and told everyone else he was a supply guy. Won a bronze star and I guess I don’t know how you do that as a supply guy. Anyway, he died at 96 in January, never having told anyone npbut my mom what he had to do....all we kids ever heard was he had to kill people and ate a rat when he was starving behind enemy lines.
I did medical support for the USARUER sponsored marchers at the Nijmegan road march back in 1992. (4 day march, 25 miles a day. All in commemoration of Market Garden)
The Dutch folk there are still grateful for what our Soldiers did back then, so much so that when they found out I was in the Army I couldn't buy my own beer.
The Germans actually complained in their tactics schools about the American “discipline” (or lack of it actually). They were complaining that the actual American tactic was to attack, fall back (if the first assault didn’t work), call for artillery and tanks, attack again, try something else, fall back, call for more artillery (from right behind the trenches, if nothing else worked), try to attack again by a third or fourth different way, call for more air attacks and tanks, and attack again.
But none of that was in the “book” .... It was just what worked.
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