Order of battle for the American airborne landings in Normandy

The Order of battle for the American airborne landings in Normandy is a list of the units immediately available for combat on the Cotentin Peninsula between June 6, 1944, and June 15, 1944, during the American airborne landings in Normandy during World War II.

American forces

Allied chain of command

Supreme Allied Commander:   Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower

21st Army Group:   Gen. Sir Bernard Montgomery

U.S. First Army:   Lt. Gen. Omar Bradley

U.S. VII Corps:   Maj. Gen. J. Lawton Collins

VII Corps

82nd Airborne Division

101st Airborne Division

IX Troop Carrier Command

Maj. Gen. Paul L. Williams   (Grantham, Lincs)

50th Troop Carrier Wing

C-47 of the 439th Troop Carrier Group, which carried the 506th PIR (of Band of Brothers fame) into Normandy. Group commander's aircraft, chalk #1 of Serial 11

Brig. Gen. Julian M. Chappell at RAF Exeter

52nd Troop Carrier Wing

Brig. Gen. Harold L. Clark at RAF Cottesmore

53rd Troop Carrier Wing

Brig. Gen. Maurice M. Beach at RAF Greenham Common

German forces

German chain of command

Supreme Command West:   Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt

Army Group B:   Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel

Seventh Army:   Generaloberst Friedrich Dollman (died 28 June)

LXXXIV Corps:   General der Artillerie Erich Marcks (KIA 12 June)

German 7th Army

Ensign 7.Armee

ArmeeReserve

LXXXIV Corps

External links

References

  1. Strength June 1: approx. 8,000
  2. Strength June 1: 3,457
  3. Strength June 1: 11,529
  4. The 206.PzAbt. reportedly had a TO&E of 28 Hotchkiss H35 (20 operational), 10 Somua S-35, 6 Char B1 bis (4 operational), and 2 R-35 tanks.
  5. Strength June 1: 12,320
  6. From Cross Channel Attack, Chapter VII end note 83: "The Sturm Battalion was an irregular Army unit for shock employment. It contained about 1,100 men in four companies armed as infantry and had four light field howitzers. The 101st Stellungswerfer Regiment...consisted of three mobile rocket launcher battalions armed either with 210-mm. rocket launchers or 280-mm./320-mm. launchers. The 100th Panzer Replacement Battalion, equipped with a handful of French R-35 and Russian light tanks, had very slight combat value."
    However, the most detailed Order of Battle of this unit indicates that no Russian tanks were present. In addition to 19 R-35, 100.Pz.Ers.u.Ausb.Abt was equipped with 8 Hotchkiss H38s, 1 Somua S-35, 1 Char B1 bis, and 3 PzKpfw III, and had a personnel strength of 644 men that included 4 platoons of infantry. Like the 6th Parachute Regiment, on D-Day it was attached to the 91st Air Landing Division.
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