The 101st US Airborne Division - in English 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault ) - is a division of the United States Army trained primarily for heliborne assault.
For historical reasons, it retains the term "paratrooper" but the division no longer conducts parachute operations. This type of operation is now reserved for the 82nd Airborne Division. It has also been reorganized since 2006 into four combat brigades and it is the only division of the United States Army to have two aviation brigades.
The 101st, nicknamed the "Screaming Eagles" (after the image appearing on the insignia of the division), distinguished itself during the Second World War, during the landing in Normandy in June 1944, it then took part in Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge. She participated in the Vietnam War for 7 years, the first Gulf War in 1991 and the Iraq War in 2003.
The origin of this unit, the 101st American division, which had been created during the First World War. It was then a mobilization unit. After the war, it became a division of the National Guard of the United States. On August 16, 1942, it became an airborne unit.
The Second World War
In 1942, this division became airborne and was made up of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment (502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment or 502nd PIR) and 327th and 401st Airborne Regiment (Glider Infantry Regiment) - equipped with gliders. It is attached, still today, to the XVIII American Airborne Corps.
In September 1943, it moved to Great Britain and was reinforced with the 501st and 506th Parachute Infantry Regiments.
Battle of Normandy
Pathfinders from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, equipped with radio beacons and communications radios, set out from RAF North Witham air base on the evening of 5 June 1944, tasked with finding the best places to jump on, to point them out to the rest of their division on June 6, 1944 which must be dropped behind one of the American landing beaches, Utah-Beach. The mission of the division is to take control of the roads leading from the coast to Poupeville as well as the bridges located on the Douve and the Carentan canal to allow the exit from the beaches of Utah Beach of the troops and vehicles which will be landed there in the morning. of June 6. But despite the scouts, during the parachute drop, the division is scattered over an area 40 km long. It loses 1,500 men killed or taken prisoner. Many also drown in the marshes and many surrounding flooded areas. Nevertheless, it manages to hold several of their objectives and from the afternoon of the 6th, the junction was assured with the 4th American infantry division landed at Utah Beach. This division is the twin sister of the 82nd Airborne Division.
Operation Market Garden
Initiated by Montgomery, this operation aimed to capture the bridges over the main rivers of the Netherlands occupied by the Germans, which would have allowed the Allies to bypass the Siegfried Line and gain access to one of the main industrial centers of Germany, the Ruhr. It is the largest airborne operation of all time. The Allied forces are made up of the 101st American Airborne Division, the 82nd American Airborne Division, the 1st British Airborne Division and the Polish Parachute Brigade.
The objective of the 101st
The mission of the 506th PIR is to seize the Wilhelmine Canal road bridge south of Son and then enter Eindhoven. The 502nd PIR must meanwhile seize a bridge over the Dommel. around St Oedenrode. The 501st PIR is parachuted on Veghel and must take the road and rail bridges of the Zuid Willens canal and the Aa river.[1] This deployment should enable a decisive advance by the Allies in the region.
The jump on Holland
On September 17, 1944 at 2 p.m., the division was dropped on the Netherlands, by C-47s and gliders. The 101st is parachuted into three drop zones north of Eindhoven, the villages of Son, Best and St Oedenrode. These airdrops are happening without major problems.
The capture of Eindhoven
On the 18th, the paratroopers entered Eindhoven, they held five bridges. They are joined by a British column. During the day, 428 gliders dropped 2,579 reinforcements.
The operation failed
The operation was a failure. Despite the smooth running of operations on the American side, the English forces did not achieve their objectives.
Composition of the 101st in September 1944
* 327th Glider Infantry Regiment
* 401st Glider Infantry Regiment
* 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment
* 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment
* 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment
* 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment
* 321st Glider Field Artillery Battalion
* 907th Glider Field Artillery Battalion
* 377th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion
* 81st Airborne Anticraft Battalion
* 101st Airborne Signal Company
* 326th Airborne Engineer Battalion
* 326th Airborne Medical Company
* Recognition Platoon
Battle of the Bulge
On December 19, 1944, following the German offensive in the Belgian Ardennes, the division was deployed to Bastogne. In the absence of General Taylor, the command is ensured by General Anthony Mac Auliffe. Surrounded, the division will sustain the siege somehow in the most terrible conditions:lack of food, warm clothes, ammunition until the breakthrough of the 4th American armored division, under the command of General Patton, on December 26 at 4:45 p.m. During the siege, invited by the Germans to capitulate, General Mac Auliffe will respond to them with the famous “nuts! (“Nails!”).
1945 - end of the war
In February, the division took up a defensive position at Haguenau, Alsace on the banks of the Moder. In April, she was sent to fight the last followers of Hitler near the town of Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps. She captures various members and soldiers of the Nazi party. On November 30, she was demobilized in Auxerre and transferred to the reserve.
The division received two Presidential Citations for bravery. It suffered fairly heavy losses during the conflict:1,766 killed and 6,388 wounded in action, 324 died of their wounds;
After war
The 101st Airborne Division was reactivated as a training unit at Camp Breckinridge, Ky., in 1948 and again in 1950. It was reactivated again in 1954 at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and in March 1956 the 101st was transferred, with fewer personnel and equipment, to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to be reorganized as a combat division.
From September to November 1957, elements of the division were deployed to Little Rock, Arkansas, by President Eisenhower to enforce federal court law and ensure the safety of African American students entering Central High School in Little Rock despite violent opposition from segregationists.
Vietnam War
In the mid-1960s, the 1st Brigade was deployed to the Republic of Vietnam, joined by the rest of the division in 1967. In 7 years of fighting, it participated in 15 campaigns, the bloodiest being the battle in the valley of Ha Sho. This battle is part of an overall strategy of the US Army to conquer the hills.
During May 1969, the paratroopers of the 101st will not be parachuted but helicoptered on the slopes of what will become "Hamburger Hill" ("the hill of minced meat") as the fighting will be bloody. After 15 days of fighting, Senator Robert Kennedy will declare their fight useless. After still long days of assault, the hill was taken and then abandoned for strategic reasons. Even if this battle was not the longest, nor the most costly in terms of men, it would have a strong impact on American public opinion (the journalists on site will film the bloody wounded returning from their assaults live every day).
Kuwait War (1990-1991)
During Operation Desert Storm, the division had its heyday by having no casualties in its ranks and by neutralizing the Iraqi forces facing it.
War in Iraq
Having become an airmobile division (and therefore now called the 101st Air Assault Division), the 101st was part of the troops engaged from the start of the offensive. It was particularly illustrated in the attrition of the troops of the Iraqi Republican Guard, by helicopter attacks. These highlighted the fragility and unreliability of Apache helicopters, 25% of which were damaged and several shot down, in the event of an attack without support from other weapons.
His infantry units took, among others, the city of Mosul with reduced losses.
The offensive over, the 101st had, under the command of General David Petraeus, the responsibility for northern Iraq, and in particular for the city of Mosul, an inter-community powder keg (Sunni Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, Christians). She was relieved by I Corps in the winter of 2004 and returned to Camp Pennsilvania in the United States.
Current order of battle
On March 15, 2005, the 101st U.S. Airborne Division "Screaming Eagles" was reorganized as follows:
* 101st HQ Company
* 1st Brigade - 327th Para Infantry Regiment
* 2nd Brigade - 502nd Para Infantry Regiment
* 3rd Brigade - 187th Para Infantry Regiment
* 4th Brigade
* Divisional Artillery
:
or 321st Glider Artillery Battalion
o 907th Glider Field Artillery Battalion
o 377th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion
o 81st Airborne Artillery Antitank Battalion
* 326th Airborne Engineer Battalion, Pappas
* 326th Airborne Medical Company, Barfield
* 401st Glider Infantry Battalion, 1st Battalion
* 426th Airborne Quartermaster Company
* Signal Company, Recon Platoon, Military Police Platoon
Its helicopter assets consist of:
* 70 AH-64 Apache
* 23 OH-58 Kiowa
* 120 UH-60 Black Hawk
* 48 CH-47 Chinook
Commanders
1. Major General William C. Lee (August 1942 - February 1944)
2. Major General Maxwell Davenport Taylor (March 1944 - August 1945) +*
3. Brigadier General William N. Gillmore (August 1945 - September 1945)
4. Brigadier General Gerald St. C. Mickle (September 1945 - October 1945)
5. Brigadier General Stuart Cutler (October 1945 - November 1945)
6. Major General William R. Schmidt (July 1948 - May 1949)
7. Major General Cornelius E. Ryan (August 1950 - May 1951)
8. Major General Roy E. Porter (May 1951 - May 1953)
9. Major General Paul DeWitt Adams (May 1953 - December 1953)
10. Major General Riley F. Ennis (May 1954 - October 1955)
11. Major General F. S. Bowen (October 1955 - March 1956)
12. Major General Thomas L. Sherburne mlajši (May 1956 - March 1956)
13. Major General William C. Westmoreland (April 1958 - July 1960) +
14. Major General Ben Harrell (July 1960 - July 1961)
15. Major General C.W.G. Rich (July 1961 - February 1963)
16. Major General Harry H. Critz (February 1963 - March 1964)
17. Major General Beverly E. Powell (March 1964 - March 1966)
18. Major General Ben Sternberg (March 1966 - July 1967)
19. Major General Olinto M. Barsanti (July 1967 - July 1968) *
20. Major General Melvin Zais (July 1968 - May 1969) *
21. Major General John M. Wright (May 1969 - May 1970) *
22. Major General John J. Hennessey (May 1970 - February 1971) *
23. Major General Thomas M. Tarpley (February 1971 - April 1972) *
24. Major General John H. Cushman (April 1972 - August 1973)
25. Major General Sidney B. Berry (August 1973 - July 1974)
26. Major General John W. McEnery (August 1974 - February 1976)
27. Major General John A. Wickham mlajši (March 1976 - March 1978) +
28. Major General John N. Brandenburg (March 1978 - July 1980)
29. Major General Jack V. Mackmull (July 1980 - August 1981)
30. Major General Charles W. Bagnal (August 1981 - August 1983)
31. Major General James E. Thompson (August 1983 - July 1985)
32. Major General Burton D. Patrick (July 1985 - May 1987)
33. Major General Teddy G. Allen (May 1987 - August 1989)
34. Major General J.H. Binford Peay III. (August 1989 - July 1991) *
34. Major General John Miller (July 1991 - July 1993)
35. Major General John M. Keane (July 1993 - February 1996)
36. Major General William F. Kernan (February 1996 - February 1998)
37. Major General Robert T. Clark (February 1998 - June 2000)
38. Major General Richard A. Cody (July 2000 - July 2002)
39. Major General David H. Petraeus (July 2002 - May 2004)
40. Major General Thomas R. Turner (May 2004 - ...)
Helmet markings[edit]
The 101st's helmets have distinctive markings represented by playing card ensigns (diamonds, spades, hearts, clubs). This still allows today to recognize the regiment to which the soldier belongs.
*
o 327th:clover (♣)
o 501st:diamond (♦)
o 502nd:heart (♥)
o 506th:spade (♠)