Rendez-Vous With Destiny
Maj.Gen.Bill Lee
On August 19, 1942, the first commander, Maj. Gen. William C. Lee, promised his new recruits that the 101st has no history, but it has a "Rendezvous with destiny."
As a division, the 101st has never failed that prophecy. During World War II, the 101st Airborne Division led the way on D-Day in the night drop prior to the invasion. When surrounded at Bastogne, Brig. Gen. Anthony McAuliffe answered "NUTS!" and the Screaming Eagles fought on until the siege was lifted. For their valiant efforts and heroic deeds during World War II, the 101st Airborne Division was awarded four campaign streamers and two Presidential Unit Citations.
General Order Number Five, which gave birth to the division, reads, "The 101st Airborne Division, activated at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, has no history, but it has a rendezvous with destiny. Like the early American pioneers whose invincible courage was the foundation stone of this nation, we have broken with the past and its traditions in order to establish our claim to the future.
RENDEZ-VOUS WITH DESTINY in Normandy
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After several months of training the 101st airborne division would ship out towards England in 1943 , to begin her preparation for OPERATION OVERLORD , the big assault on FORTRESS EUROPE .A massive Airborne operation is planned by SHAEF (The Suppreme Headquarters of Allied Expeditionary Forces) above Normandy , objectifs for the 101st Abn Div. open the causeways for the beachassault troops on H-hour June 6th 1944 at Sainte-Marie -du-Mont , the 506th PIR attached to the 101st will take part on these operations with same objectif.
At midnight the Pathfinders will be the first to put foot on the ground , to prepare the DZ's (Drop Zones), at 01.00 the first paratroopers of the massif Airborne Assault will land on Norman Grounds .
Because of the German Flack , the droppings will be scattered kilometers around in the Normandy bocage , some troopers would need several days to meet their Units back again , but despite thes missdrops the 101st would achieve her goals and back up the beach assaults by securing the beach causeways .A group of 12 troopers of the 506th PIR under lead of Lt (later Major) Winters would attack and destroy the Brecourt manor Batteries avoiding that they would severly take Utah beach under fire .The Brécourt Manor attack was a pretty daring attack and Winters group succeeded in their purpose,the attack on the Brécourt batterie still is a military subject at the military academy of West-Point.
Major Richard " Dick" Winters
Carentan
By late afternoon on D-Day, the 4th Division had broken free from UTAH and linked up with the 101st. That night, with the beachhead secured, the Americans dug in for the night and attempted to rally the rest of their troops. The next day, the 101st received new orders. V Corps, which had landed at OMAHA to the south has holding on to a very small beachhead and could not exit from the beach. Between UTAH and OMAHA was the town of Carentan. The 101st was ordered to break through their southern flank, seize Carentan and link up with the forces at OMAHA.
Their first objective was the town of St. Come du Mont and would use 4 battalions; the 1st and 2nd Battalions, 506th PIR, the 3rd Battalion 502st PIR and the 1st Battalion 401st GIR. The attack stepped off early in the morning of June 8. By mid-morning, the approaches to St. Come du Mont had been cleared and defensive positions established east of the town. 3/501 had reached the Carentan highway and the enemy began withdrawing from the area. Later that evening, the force was reinforced by the fresh 327th GIR. The next objective was to establish bridgeheads across the Douve river. At 1:00 am, June 10, the 101st attacked and by dawn, St. Come du Mont had been encircled and cleared of enemy forces. The drive now focused on Carentan. Here the drive was slowed considerably. Most of the brides and causeways leading to Carentan had been destroyed. Only one causeway was completely intact. The engineers began working under heavy enemy fire to repair the others.
Several patrols were sent forward to scout the approaches to Carentan and came under heavy fire. Finally, 3/502 began to cross the causeways in force in the face of intense enemy fire. The paratroops managed to cross to the the edges of Carentan but could not enter the town. For two days, the 3/502 fought against massed machine gun and artillery fire to establish a foothold on Carentan.
While the battle for the causeways raged, the 327th GIR, reinforced by 1/401 had crossed south of Carentan and secured the eastern exits from the town. That accomplished, the 327th began their assault on Carentan from the east. Carentan was surrounded and being attacked from two sides but the Germans held. The attacking forces were ordered to pull back to allow a massive artillery and naval gunfire bombardment of Carentan to begin. At dawn of June 12, the barrage lifted and the assault began anew. 1/506 and 2/506 attacked from the west and the 501st and 327th attacked from the east and north. Quick advances were made and Carentan was seized. By June 14, UTAH and OMAHA had been completely linked. The Germans had launched several counter-attacks at Carentan but were brutally repulsed. The 101st had linked the forces landing at OMAHA and UTAH. The 502nd PIR had linked up with the 82nd Airborne and the 4th Infantry Divisions while the 327th had linked up with the 29th and 1st Infantry Divisions at OMAHA.
RENDEZ-VOUS with DESTINY in Holland
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Operation MARKET-GARDEN
The most bolded allied plan of WW2 , Operation Market Garden , The Airborne troops regrouped under the 1st Allied Airbone Division , would make a massif jump in to Holland by daylight. On September 17, the 101st Airborne, along with the 82nd and British 1st Airborne Divisions landed in the largest Airborne assault of the war, 20,000 soldiers in all.
The initial drops were an overwhelming success, the Pathfinders had laid out the drop zones almost perfectly and the Germans were taken completely by surprise. The assault ran into trouble when 2 German Panzer Divisions launched a counter-attack at Best. Fortunately, the glider troops of the 327th and 401st GIRs had landed with over 80% of their equipment and heavy weapons. The German tanks were quickly destroyed once reinforcements could be brought forward and Best was seized. Meanwhile, the Paratroops converged on the Maas and Wahl rivers and established bridgeheads across both. Within two days, Operation MARKET-GARDEN had driven 50 miles into German territory. The 101st was relived by a British Armored Division and was ordered south to protect the southern flank from being cut off.
The 101st managed to liberate several Dutch towns repulsing several German counter-attacks. The 101st bought valuable time for the 82nd Airborne and British forces in the assault on Antwerp. By the end of November, Antwerp was in Allied hands and the first supply ship dropped anchor on November 28, 1944.
RENDEZ-VOUS with DESTINY : THE BULGE
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On December 16, 1944 the German Army launched their Ardennes Offensive with 13 Divisions. Their objective was to capture the Ardennes forest region in Belgium and France and paralyze the Allied armies in the west so they would concentrate on defeating the Russians in the east. The initial attacks by the Germans were very successful and the Allied front began to collapse. Units were being overrun all along the lines and the Germans penetrated deep into Allied territory. On December 17, the 101st Airborne received orders to move north to reinforce the key town of Bastogne.The fighting around Bastogne was intense. The Germans wanted it as badly as the Allies wanted to keep it. By December 20, Bastogne was completely surrounded and the 101st, along with elements of the 10th Armored Division were cut off from the rest of the Allied Armies. The Germans launched several brutal attacks on Bastogne and managed to enter the city on several occassions. Each attack was driven back however, some after hard hand-to-hand fighting. The defenders of Bastogne held out with everything they had. On December 22, the Germans offered to allow the 101st to surrender. BG McAuliffe issued a short, and now famous, reply. "NUTS!" On December 26, the US 4th Armored Division broke through and reinforced Bastogne. The 4th Armored, along with the 3rd Army, had driven over 100 miles to reach Bastogne and attacked with little rest.Over the next three weeks, the Germans fought for every inch of ground. By January 18, 1945 the Germans had been driven from Belgium and the 101st was relived by VIII Corps at Bastogne.
Above : Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe hero of Bastogne .
For the heroic defense of Bastogne, the 101st Airborne Division was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation, the first ever to be awarded to an entire Division.
Distinguished Unit Citation
(Now called Presidential Unit Citation
RENDEZ-VOUS with DESTINY : Germany and Berchtesgaden
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After Bastogne the 101st Airborne division would not immediately rest , most of her units like the 506th PIR would go to the Alsace, keeping an eye on the Germans .The 101st Airborne would never Jump again in the 2nd World War , the high command leaving the airborne assault on berlin over to the 17th Airborne Division . The 101st became part of a blocking force that later became known as the "reduction of the Ruhr Pocket." An entire German Army Group was set up in the Ruhr River region of Germany and was one of only a very few cohesive German units remaining. In the beginning of April, 1945, the US First and Ninth Armies attacked the Ruhr Pocket. Knowing that retreat meant more German soil lost to the Allies, the Germans fought with everything they had, but they could not hold. They were desperately short of supplies with virtually no hope of receiving more. They could not withstand the onslaught of the American Armies.By the end of April, the entire German force had been eliminated and the Allied forces had captured 325,000 prisoners. The final mission for the 101st came at the end of April. Teaming up with the 3rd Infantry Division they assaulted Hitler's vacation retreat at Berchtesgaden. Here the Division accepted the surrender of the German XIII SS and LXXXII Corps. The 101st also captured several key member of the Nazi Regime who were later brought before the War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague. The 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment captured Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, commander-in-chief of the Nazi party. The 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment captured Julius Streicher, the anti-Semitic editor of Der Sturmer, and Obergruppenfuhrer Karl Oberg, the chief of German SS in occupied France. Colonel General Heinz Guderian, a leading armor expert, was also captured.
AFTER WORLD WAR TWO :
During World War Two, the 101st Airborne Division spent 214 days in combat. In addition to 2 Medals of Honor awarded to Soldiers of the 101st, the Division awarded 47 Distinguished Service Crosses, 516 Silver Stars and 6,977 Bronze Stars. The Division was responsible for capturing 29, 527 Enemy soldiers. The price of victory was high. 2,043 Screaming Eagles were killed in action and 7,976 were wounded. 1,193 became MIA and 336 were taken prisoner. During the war, the following units were part of the Division's "Rendezvous with Destiny."
501st, 502nd and 506th Parachute Infantry Regiments, 327th and 401st Glider Infantry Regiments, 101st Parachute Maintenance Battalion, 326th Airborne Engineer Battalion, 326th Airborne Medical Company, 81st Airborne Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion, 101st Airborne Division Artillery, 321st Glider Field Artillery Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion, 463d Parachute Field Artillery Battalion, 907th Glider Field Artillery Battalion, 101st Ordnance Company, 426th Quartermaster Company, 101st Signal Company, Military Police Platoon, Headquarters Company, and a Reconnaissance Platoon.
A PARATROOPERS CREED :
I volunteered as a paratrooper, fully realizing the hazards of my chosen service , and by my actionswill allways uphold the prestige, honor, and high "Esprit de Corps" of the only volunteer branch of the Army.I realize that a parachutist is not merely a soldier who arrives by parachute to fight but is an elite shock-trooper and that is and that his country expects him to march farther and faster than any other soldier .I shall never fail my comrades,shirking my duty or training, but will always keep myself mentally and physically fit and will shoulder my full share of the task, no matter ever it may be.
I shall show other soldiers by my military courtesy to superior officers and non-commissioned officers,by neatness of dress,by my care of my own weapon and equipement that i am a well trained soldier.I shall endeavor always by my soldierly appearance, military bearing and behavior,to reflect the high standards of training and morale of parachute troops.I shall respect the abilities of my enemies.I will fight fairly and with all my might.Surrender is not my creed.
I shall display a higher degree of initiative than required of other troops and will fight on to my objectives and complete the mission, though I be the lone Survivor.
That's what Airborne is all about ,in the Airborne divisions a special brothers in arms bound exists , that's what BAND OF BROTHERS is all about.This was not only specific for the 506th PIR , but for all the airborne units, from the USA to the UK and every country who has an airborne division.It's that special brotherhood that kept those men alive in every conflict they fought .Airborne troopers are not the only elite forces in the world but during WWII they were the pioneers, those who proved that small units could make the difference and win the war .Paratroopers are mostly the first units that enter a war , dropped behind the ennemy lines, they'll always have to open the road for the others who will arrive.That was their task on D-Day, and they opened the lines holding their positions till the beach troops arrived.
Paratroopers had to depend on each other, that's why this creed you've read was so important to them and they honored this creed from D-Day over Bastogne till they reached Germany, and even with heavy losses they kept hold of the lines ,liberating Europe.
THE 101st AIRBORNE DIVISIONS RENDEZ-VOUS WITH DESTINY : DURING WW2:
The 101st Airborne Division was activated at Camp Claiborne in August 1942, her first commander was Major General William C.Lee, he was the man who said that having no history the 101st Airborne Division had her RENDEZVOUS with DESTINY , this was a true remark , the division had her Rendezvous with Destiny.
Actually the 101st was already activated in 1918 as a part of the WWI mobilization but was never fully organized or manned,it was demobilized after the 1st WW and was reconstituted in 1921 as the 101st Infantry Division and had her headquarters in Milwaukee in that period the 101st was mostly a paperdivision and remained like this till the USA entered WWII.In 1940 the Army begun a parachute test program and began testing the viability of Parachute infantry Units and after the first succesful test they began forming Parachute Infantry Regiments (PIR).Later on the US Armu authorized the formation of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions,after the British army proved the efficienty of the airborne Units in war combat.In 1942 the first Screaming Eagles reported to Fort Benning en began their rigorous training in totaly new combat technics and skills and jumping in and out of airplanes .The first units in the 101st were the 502nd PIR,the 327th and 401st Glider Infantry Regiments (GIR),the 327th Parachute Field Artillery , the 321st & 907th Glider Field Artillery,the 326th Airborne Engineer Battalion , the 101st Signal Company,the 326th Medical Company and the 426th Airborne Quartermaster.In June 1942 the now famous Band Of Brothers , the 506th PIR was added to the 101st Airborne Division.In July 1943 the 101st shipped in at New York to leave for England.It was on 6 June 1944 on D-Day that the 101st had her first Rendezvous with Destiny when her troopers jumped over Normandy.Their mission jump behind enemy lines , clear the beach causeways on UTAH beach helping the 4th Infantry Division's breakout and block all reinforcements from reaching UTAH beach.
England September 1943
The 101st Airborne Division boarded ships in New York harbor and arrived in England ten days later. They spent ten months , training six days a week. Units worked on close combat, night operations, street fighting, combat field exercises, chemical warfare, the use of German weapons, and a number of other military subjects training. In October, the Division began its own jump school to train over 400 new personnel and key members of non-jump units of the 101st. In January, 1944, the Eagle Division received a third parachute infantry regiment, the 501st. Major General Lee suffered a heart attack in February and returned to the United States. Major General Maxwell D. Taylor became the new commander. Meanwhile Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force planned France, Operation OVERLORD. The mission of the 101st was to jump in before the waterborne invasion forces landed on an area designated as UTAH Beach. The paratroopers would secure exits from the beachhead and prevent these areas from receiving German reinforcements. The 101st in preparation of this mission participated on several war execices. In May, elements of the Division began leaving their training areas for the airfields and marshaling areas. They would not assemble again until they met on the drop zones of France.
NORMANDY FRANCE 06.06.1944 D-DAY
At fifteen minutes after midnight on 6 June 1944, Captain Frank L. Lillyman led his team of 101st Pathfinders out of the door of a C-47 transport and landed in occupied France,followed round 01.00 by six thousand paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division in C-47's . D-Day began. Because of the heavy German flak as they approached the drop zones, the troop transports took evasive action and scattered the jumpers over a wide area. By nightfall only twenty five hundred men could assemble in their units. Struggling to carry out the mission of the 101st to clear and secure the exits from Utah Beach for the arrival of the 4th Infantry Division, small groups of soldiers valiantly did the best they could. On the night of 6 June, the Assistant Division Commander, Brigadier General Don F. Pratt, led the fifty-two glider assaults during the invasion. . Intelligence reports had not mentioned that most fields were bordered with hedgerows. Because of the darkness and the hazard caused by these hedgerows, five soldiers were killed in the landings. One of them was Brigadier General Pratt. Glidermen played an important role during the Normany operations. As counterparts of the airborne infantrymen, they delivered personnel, equipment, vehicles, and weapons to the Division.. After securing the beach causeways the 101st waged a bitter fight to dislodge the German 6th Parachute Regiment from the town Carentan,this town was the junction point for the troops coming from UTAH and OMAHA,and the 101st had to hold her until the arrival of American armor units from the beachhead. During the attack on Carentan, Lieutenant Colonel Robert G. Cole, Commander of 3rd Battalion, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, wiped out a strategically important pocket of enemy resistance. For this action, Lieutenant Colonel Cole became the first member of the 101st to win the Congressional Medal of Honor. After thirty three days of continuous fighting, the 101st Airborne was relieved and returned to England . Elements of the Division received the Distinguished Unit Citation and the Division Commander was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
HOLLAND : OPERATION MARKET GARDEN 17 September 1944
Throughout the rest of the summer, the Allied airborne forces prepared for several major operations, all of which were canceled because of the speed of the Allied advance. But, logistical problems and hard German resistance slowed the Allies in their march to reach the German border. In September, the 101st took part in the largest and most daring airborne operation of the war, Operation MARKET GARDEN. Three airborne divisions, the British 1 st and the American 82nd and 101st, would jump into a narrow corridor in Holland and seize a series of important bridges. At the same time, a British army corps would drive out of Belgium, quickly cross the captured bridges, finally cross the Rhine at the town of Arnhem, and then sweep into the German Ruhr. On 17 September 1944, the 101st jumped into four drop zones between the Dutch towns of Son and Veghel and set out to seize their objectives. Heavy opposition f rom elements of several German divisions around the town of Best presented a serious threat to the Division and the entire MARKET GARDEN Operation. During this battle, Private First Class Joe E. Mann of the 3rd Battalion, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, became the second member of the Division to win the Congressional Medal of Honor. Private First Class Mann shielded the men of his squad from an exploding grenade at the cost of his own life. Two days after the 101st landed in Holland, the first elements of the British Guards Armored Division reached the Americans at Eindhoven. While the British failed ,to capture Arnhem, the American paratroopers fought a series of engagements against superior German forces that were trying to cut the corridor -called Hell's Highway by the troopers-along a sixteen-mile front. After 72days in combat, the Division was relieved end of November, and went to Mourmelon-le-Grand, France, for a long and well deserved rest. But their rest would be shorter than expected.
BASTOGNE-The Battle of the Bulge 18 December 1944
While the 101st rested in France, Adolf Hitler prepared a surprise attack involving thirteen German armored and infantry divisions. He hoped to paralyze Allied Forces in the west and defeat the Soviet army in the east. On 16 December the Germans attacked. The American front began to collapse, and the entire northern wing of the Allied armies in the west was threatened. At 2030 hours, 17 December, the 101st received was ordered to proceed north to Bastogne. Brigadier General Anthony C. McAuliffe, the acting com mander , led the 11,840 soldiers to the strategically important Belgian town of Bastogne. They traveled 107 miles in open ten-ton trucks. Since the German forces were overrunning the lightly protected ap- proaches to the town, General McAuliffe directed the 501 st Parachute Infantry Regiment east towards Longvilly, an offensive move that temporarily disorganized the Germans and gave the 101st time to set up Its defense of Bastogne. Bastogne was in the center of a highway network that covered the eastern portion of the Ardennes, a densely forested area that required mechanized forces to use roads rather than fields for rapid movement. It was the mission of the 101st to hold Bastogne and disrupt the German line of communication. During the battle, Combat Command B of the 10th Armored Division, the 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion, and the 969th Field Artillery Battalion were attached to the 101st. On 20 December, German troops isolated Bastogne and the 101st by seizing the last road leading out of the town. The success of their offensive in the west depended on the defeat of the 101st and the capture of Bastogne. Strong German armored and infantry forces tried to break through the American lines north, then south, and finally west of the town, and were beaten back each time. On 22 December, the German commander, Lieutenant General Heinrich von Luttwitz, issued a demand for surrender. General McAuliffe gave his now-famous reply, "Nutsl'Although outnumbered by units from five German divisions, the 101st continued to resist until 26 December when the American 4th Armored Division broke through to Bastogne.
foto up left : General McAuliffe foto up right : the Bastogne move out
During the next three weeks, the Screaming Eagles encountered some of the hardest and bloodiest fighting of the Bastogne campaign,reducing the pocket in the Ardennes and stop German resistance in the area. On 18 January 1945, VIII Corps relieved the 101st of its task of defending Bastogne. The 101st was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation, the first time in the history of the United States Army that an entire division received the award.
GERMANY , March 1945
At the end of March, the 101st went to the Ruhr region of Germany less the 501 st Parachute Infantry Regiment, which remained in reserve for a proposed, but never conducted, special raid to free Allied prisoners of war. After the collapse of the Ruhr pocket, the rest of the 101st moved to southern Bavaria. The last combat mission of World War II for the Screaming Eagles was the capture of Berchtesgaden. Once again the 101st completed their mission and spent the remainder of the war at Berchtesgaden, with some elements in Austria. At Berchtesgaden, the 101st received the surrender of the German XIII SS and LXXXII Corps. Several other prominent Nazis were also captured. The 506th PIR captured Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, commander-in-chief of the Nazi party. The 502nd PIR captured Julius Streicher and Obergruppenfuhrer Karl Oberg, the chief of German SS in occupied France. Colonel General Heinz Guderian was also captured.
The End of World War II
On 1 August 1945, the 101st Airborne Division left Germany for Auxerre, France, to begin training for the invasion of Japan. When Japan surrendered two weeks later, the operation became unnecessary. The 101st deactivated on 30 November . During the next 11 years, the 101st activated and then inactivated three times as a training unit,. In May 1954, the Division activated at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, remaining until March 1956 when it was transferred to Fort Campbell. Nowadays the 101st Airborne as become an Airborne-Air Mobile-Air Assault division, still training on combat jumps they rarely make , airborne troopers nowadays reach their objectives by helicopter, this was done for the first time during the Vietnam-War,the last combat jump was made in 2003 in IRAQ, but still with her combat skills ,brotherband and knowledge the 101st Airborne Division still has her "RENDEZVOUS WITH DESTINY".
Up left:1st Allied Airborne Shoulder badge Up right: Ike Eisenhower talking to 101st Airborne troopers 5 June1944
Your Webmaster Sgt Eagle January 2004
