Role of Airborne Operations in WWII

Hello again! Welcome back to the World War II for Kids blog!

Sorry it's been a while since we've blogged. It's been a busy month for us, but we're back. Christopher, the eldest of our Kid historians, has been busy with his Social Studies Fair project this past month. His topic is the role of airborne operations in the European theatre of World War II, and I thought I'd share with you some of excerpts from his paper. Here goes...

The reason we study history is to learn from our mistakes so that history doesn’t repeat itself. One of the lessons learned from World War I was that troops and equipment can get bogged down fighting trench warfare and run out of steam before reaching their objectives. In this paper, I’m going to tell you how the United States, as part of the Allied Forces, used airborne operations to help them achieve victory in World War II.

The concept of inserting troops behind enemy lines goes back at least as far as Benjamin Franklin, who said “ten thousand men descending from the clouds might do an infinite deal of mischief.” America first attempted to use airborne operations toward the end of World War I, to get past the trench warfare that slowed troops down. But airborne didn’t catch on until after World War I, when Russia and Germany showed that it could be successful. Then America started taking airborne training and preparation more seriously.

Airborne operations involve the use of aircraft to insert military troops into combat. In World War II, these operations involved the use gliders and parachutes. Units that were specially trained in airborne operations were known as airborne units. Troops trained to jump into combat using parachutes were known as paratroopers. Pathfinders were specially trained paratroopers dropped in different places before the main bodies to mark drop zones for them.

The most well known U.S. airborne divisions were the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, who fought in the European theatre as part of the XVIII Airborne Corps. The operations of these two divisions were the focus of my son’s paper. The 17th Airborne Division also fought in the European theatre as part of the XVIII Airborne Corps. The 11th Airborne Division only fought in the Pacific theatre. The 13th airborne division never got to prove themselves in World War II, and were shipped home and deactivated in August of 1945. Each airborne division was made up of two regiments of paratroopers and one regiment of gliders.

The mission of an airborne division is to drop behind enemy lines and destroy heavy gun sights, land supplies for troops, take out enemy infantry, and eliminate small enemy bunkers, hiding places, or any kind of supply depots before the main infantry arrives. The airborne divisions were dropped before the main infantry arrived so the airborne divisions could complete their mission so the main infantry could move quickly inland without having to deal with heavy enemy troops, obstacles, casualties, wounded, or damaged vehicles.

Airborne operations helped to minimize friendly casualties. They also helped prevent the destruction of Allied vehicles, tanks, and armor, which they really needed. They cut telephone lines so the Germans couldn’t call in artillery barrages or reinforcements. And they worked to capture bridges so the Germans couldn’t blow them up to prevent the Allies from moving inland.

There were several decisive battles in the European theatre that airborne operations played a big part in: Operation Husky (the invasion of Sicily), Operation Overlord (D-Day/the invasion of Normandy), Operation Repulse (Battle of the Bulge), Operation Varsity (crossing the Rhine River on the way to Berlin), and Operation Eclipse (the taking of Berlin before the Russians could get there). The airborne divisions also achieved early success in Operation Market Garden (“A Bridge To Far”), but weather and other re-supply problems prevented the Allies from building on their early success.

In conclusion, though the Allies had a lot to learn about the proper use of airborne operations, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that they were key to victory in the most decisive battles of World War II. Not all battles were a complete success for the Allied forces, but they learned from each opportunity how to effectively utilize the airborne operations to open the way for the main forces to move past enemy lines, resulting in greater success and ultimate victory. Airborne forces earned the respect of the world for the important part they played in the decisive battles of World War II. The 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions were amongst the heroes of the war, and they remain two of the most respected military units to this day.

I left out the sections that detailed the roles of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions in the decisive battles he mentioned above, because I didn't want our post to get too lengthy. However, feel free to email us at wwii4kids@gmail.com if you'd like us to email you the rest of it. Also, feel free to post a comment here if you'd like to add anything to the information addressed in this post.

Thanks for your interest!
marge@wwii4kids