Chapter 5
As 21 Army Group established itself on the east bank of the Rhine, preparations for the airborne landings north of Wesel were underway on airfields across France and England. Thousands of paratroopers and glider men of the 17th Airborne Division had begun to congregate alongside the lines of C-47 Dakotas and gliders parked nose to tail on runways around Paris while it was still dark. Although Major General Miley’s men had seen action the previous December, during the later stages of the Battle of the Bulge, Operation VARSITY was the moment they had trained for; the young soldiers would be able to test their skills as airborne troops for the first time. The adjutant of the 507th Parachute Regiment summed up the mixture of apprehension and anticipation experienced by the paratroopers as they waited to take off:
24 March, dawn breaking clearly, found the 507th Combat Team gathered around their C-47s in crisp cool air that foretold the advent of a beautiful day – beautiful from an aesthetic standpoint and beautiful from a flying and tactical standpoint. In short, it was a good day for a jump. Groups were milling around their respective planes, checking last minute items of equipment, making last minute adjustments to parachutes and giving final bits of advice and instructions. The air was pregnant with tense expectancy, strained jokes cracked, they were greeted with brittle laughter and wisecracks bantered. This was it – D-Day – the biggest D-Day, the day for which countless hours of sweaty toil had been shaping us. The 507th was this day to take part in a jump into the Fatherland itself. The acme of every paratroopers dream was becoming an actuality.
Paratroopers help each other strap on their heavy load of equipment. 111-SC-203326
By daybreak the two Parachute Regiments, 507th and 513th, were loading. The paratroopers pushed and cajoled each other into the cramped fuselages, sixteen men to a plane, as they struggled to carry their heavy loads (in some cases equivalent to the man’s bodyweight). Platoons had previously occupied entire planes, keeping command integrity in the air, however once on the ground the men were scattered far and wide and this time the Airborne planners had decided on a different concept. The Dakota pilots would fly close together in patterns of three, (called the Victory V) and while one platoon occupied the front third of all three planes, a second platoon sat in the mid section while a third platoon filled the rear section. Training had shown that grouping in this manner allowed platoons to jump in a third of the time, greatly increasing the chances of regrouping on the ground.
Meanwhile, 194th Glider Regiment was loading its equipment and men into their CG-4A Waco gliders at three different airfields. Over 150 Dakotas were lined up along the runways ready to haul the gliders into the air on double tows, another new idea designed to reduce the number of planes required by the Glider Regiment. Once over the Rhine the Dakota pilots would cast off their cargo, leaving it to the glider pilots to steer the cumbersome Wacos as they glided towards the ground. In the past the paratroopers had gone into action first and the gliders had followed, gliding onto secured landing zones (except for small coup d’état landings). For the first time in airborne history an entire glider brigade was going to land on enemy held territory, territory covered with anti-aircraft guns; Operation VARSITY was going to be a trial by fire for the men of 194th Glider Regiment.
Fully laden paratroopers climb on board their transport plane. 111-SC-253924
Waco gliders were capable of carrying heavy loads into battle, including jeeps and anti-tank guns.
Dakota transport planes line up alongside Waco gliders on an airfield near Paris; each Dakota towed two gliders filled with men and equipment for 194th Regiment. 111-SC-203292
The first planes were airborne by 07:30 hours and began to circle as wave after wave of Dakotas joined the gathering formations over the French countryside. It took an hour to assemble the vast armadas of transport planes and gliders:
Off to the vicinity of Brussels for a rendezvous with the Glider trains and the 6th British Airborne column, a change of direction, off towards the Rhine and a destiny beyond prediction. Looking out as far as one could see stretched the biggest sky armada ever assembled, literally thousands of aircraft, gliders, C-47s, C-46s and fighter cover of all sorts. A sight for those who dared the blue unknown, some successfully, others to dwell in posterity, as men who met the challenge, accepted it, and took the lot it dealt without a murmur.
194th Glider Regiment takes to the skies.
A glider pilot waits for the moment when his Waco will be cast off, leaving him to guide the cumbersome machine to the ground. 111-SC-202650
Anxious faces on board a glider. The men have axes at the ready in case the glider doors jam when they hit the ground. 111-SC-203298
Although there had been larger airdrops in Normandy and Holland the previous year, the men and equipment had been flown to the drop zones in several lifts; this time the two Airborne divisions would land in one continuous drop, requiring the largest airborne armada ever put in the air at one time by the Allies. 1,696 transport planes and 1,348 gliders carrying 21,860 men headed for Brussels followed by 240 Liberator bombers carrying supplies for the division. The armada was protected by 889 fighter planes and a further 2,153 fighters patrolled the skies across the Continent, keeping the Luftwaffe at bay. A mass of bombing raids coincided with the airborne attack and 821 medium and 2,596 heavy bombers hit airfields, bridges and marshalling yards across Germany. With so much Allied air activity over the continent, German pilots were given little opportunity to interfere in Operation VARSITY.
As the two formations, each nine planes wide, united over the Belgian capital and headed north-east, the paratroopers and glider troops stared at the landscape below, wondering what lay in store for them. One Regimental diarist recorded his thoughts as the huge armada passed over Germany:
The panorama from the plane showed a beautiful European landscape, colourfully roofed hamlets, large industrial centres and cosy little farms. War seemed very far away. The twenty-minute warning was sounded; the men stood up and hooked up. It won’t be long now. Suddenly as if a curtain had been lifted, the view changed. The countryside was beaten and grey, barren, a graveyard look. The smoke of battle wafted drearily upward, shots could be heard; we were approaching the Rhine.
As hundreds of transport planes flew over the river the paratroopers inside made the final checks on their equipment, each confirming that the man in front was correctly hooked up and ready to jump. The glider men had no need for such checks. There was no room for parachutes in the cramped fuselages of their gliders; all they could do was brace their bodies and pray for a good landing. As the C47s cast off their tows and turned for home, the pilots took over control of their huge gliders and looked for a landing zone below.
Dozens of artillery batteries had spent the past hour shelling likely targets on 17th Airborne Division’s drop zones and objectives, paving the way for the assault from the air, but as the planes approached the guns fell silent to avoid unnecessary casualties from friendly fire. The Germans showed no hesitation in targeting the planes flying overhead; every anti-aircraft gun in range, from 20mm up to 120mm calibre, pointed skywards and began to engage the approaching armada.
Tension on board the Dakotas and Wacos mounted as the pilots steered a steady course through the wall of flak. Men winced as shrapnel tore through the sky, sending planes hurtling towards the ground in flames. There was no turning back now; the final phase of Operation VARSITY was under way.
A transport plane falls from the skies like a burning comet.
The battle for the drop zones 507th Regiment led 17th Airborne Division over the Rhine seven minutes earlier than expected, supposedly heading for Drop Zone W at the southeast tip of the Diersfordt Forest. The Regimental Diary describes the final moments in one of the Dakotas carrying part of the headquarters’ company as it flew over the Rhine at 1,000 feet:
For an instance the big river flashed beneath us, ack-ack and anti-aircraft fire rattled and cracked about us. The green light. GO! A rush of air, a jerk, a look around and a jolt. Colonel Edson D Raff, commanding officer, was the first paratrooper to land on Heinie soil; we were on the ground and the 507th Parachute Regiment had been committed. [Heinie was the slang word for German beer.]
For thirty minutes wave after wave of planes flew over Wesel as thousands of paratroopers jumped out of their planes hoping to reach the ground safely; many would not.
Manning a 105mm Flak gun.
Paratroopers brace themselves for the jump as flak bursts around their aircraft.
Go! Go! Go! Heavily laden paratroopers jump from their C46 Commando Transport plane. 111-SC-203393
Thunder from Heaven; thousands of paratroopers drop from the skies north and west of Wesel, many of them onto the wrong drop zones.
General Miley’s men had to fight from the moment they hit the ground.
The Dakotas carrying 507th Regiment’s 1st Battalion misjudged their approach and dropped the battalion one mile west of Drop Zone W, on the wrong side of the Diersfordt Forest. The pilots of three planes carrying portions of the Regimental Headquarters were equally confused and dropped their loads to the north-west of the intended target. It was an inauspicious start for 17th Airborne Division; the question was how long would it take the paratroopers to assemble on their objectives? As the paratroopers drifted down, machine guns joined the aerial barrage and for a time it looked as though the decision to drop men on top of the German anti-aircraft batteries was going to fail:
Several planes were destroyed in the air. At least one plane crashed on the DZ with all on board. Other planes burned after dropping their personnel. In some, the aircraft crew escaped; in others, charred bodies gave stark testimony to the devotion to duty performed by good soldiers. Some parachutists were hit during their descent; some were killed in their harness on the ground and others while scrambling off the field.
507th Regiment’s original plan had been for 1st Battalion to form a defensive perimeter around Drop Zone W, creating a safe haven for the Regimental Headquarters and artillery. 2nd Battalion was to land next and immediately head west through the Diersfordt Forest, establishing a line on the far side of the woods. 3rd Battalion would follow through the forest, moving north-west to take up positions on the right of 2nd Battalion and eventually link up with 513th Parachute Regiment, north-east of Diersfordt Castle. Having established a secure line along the perimeter of the forest, 3rd Battalion was to capture the castle clearing the way forward for the men of the 15th (Scottish) Division approaching from the Xanten bridgehead. However, plans meant nothing to the men who had landed in the wrong area and for the first few hectic minutes Colonel Raff’s men fought where they landed, opening fire as soon as they hit the ground, while struggling to get rid of their parachutes. Fortunately, the German gun crews were equally disorganised, thrown into confusion as paratroopers landed in and around their gun positions.
A 37mm Flak 43 in action.
507th Regiment was scattered either side of Diersfordt Forest and many paratroopers lost their lives before they reached the ground.
17th Airborne Division’s drop zones north of Wesel.
1st Battalion’s report has few details to tell about the first few moments after landing but the Battalion diarist accurately sums up the confused nature of the landings north and south of Diersfordt Castle:
Naturally all cannot be told, much will never be told. Individual acts of heroism, which are a natural part of the initial phase of an airborne landing, will go unsung. Many stories of heroic deeds will be repeated wherever two or more airborne soldiers meet for years to come. Much we will never know, as dead men tell no tales.
Colonel Raff took charge of a large group of 1st Battalion north of the castle, gathering together around 200 men. Realising that he was nowhere near his expected landing zone, Raff directed his men to seek shelter in the woods until he had found his bearings. Shooting from the hip as they ran towards the trees, the paratroopers silenced five machine-gun posts along the edge of the wood and deployed under the thick canopy, finding a number of hidden field guns. The crews were quickly rounded up. Next on Raff’s agenda was a battery of five 150mm howitzers stationed close by and before long the artillery men had been taken prisoner and the guns disabled; they would no longer shell the British bridgehead at Xanten. By now Raff’s group had killed or wounded over 100 German soldiers and taken nearly 300 prisoners, including a colonel.
Having cleared his immediate area and found his bearings, Raff decided to locate the rest of his Regiment. A second group had gathered south of Diersforsdt Castle under 1st Battalion’s commanding officer, Major Paul Smith. The paratroopers had headed for cover, engaging infantry, machine-gun posts and anti-aircraft crews in the woods east of the castle. Once again the Germans had been taken by surprise by the airdrop, failing to put up an organised resistance and within an hour of landing Smith’s men were firmly established in Diersfordt Forest.
As Colonel Raff advanced south to locate Major Smith’s position, it had become obvious that the castle was heavily fortified and machine guns, mortars and anti-aircraft guns in the grounds increased their fire as the paratroopers worked their way through the woods. As Major Smith’s group approached from the south-east, two Panzer V tanks emerged from the courtyard and headed along the driveway towards the paratroopers. Men dived for cover as the tanks approached with guns blazing but one enterprising paratrooper disabled one passing tank with an anti-tank grenade. The crew of a 57mm recoilless gun (a new hand-held anti-tank weapon that had only been issued to the division a few days before) targeted the second Panzer, knocking it out as it drew close. As the rest of Raff’s men looked on in amazement, the two tank crews bailed out of their stricken vehicles and surrendered. The recoilless weapons packed a powerful punch and for the first time paratroopers could hold their own against armour.
As the threat from the castle diminished, the two groups continued working their way through the undergrowth towards each other and by noon 1st Battalion had cleared both 2nd and 3rd Battalion’s objectives; the western edge of Diersfordt Forest was secure.
While 1st Battalion struggled to find its bearings around Diersfordt Castle, pilots flying 2nd Battalion’s Dakotas had more luck and dropped their loads above Drop Zone W. 1st Battalion was supposed to have cleared Flürener Feld but their miss drop to the left meant that the drop zone was still held by German troops. As the paratroopers drifted towards the ground, machine guns and rifles opened fire from the woods and houses on and around the clearing, killing and wounded many in the air. 2nd Battalion fought from the moment they hit the ground, pulling off their harnesses as they fired back:
During this period the enemy seemed to be completely disorganised. Some gave up without a fight, although they had the advantage of prepared positions, combined with the fact that a paratrooper is comparatively helpless for some seconds after he hits the ground. Others fought hard and ferociously, inflicting casualties on the drop zone and in engagements immediately beyond the drop zone. Our positions were beginning to take form, but as yet the Germans did not seem to be maintaining any line.
The initial shock caused by the landing had worked in 2nd Battalion’s favour and by the time the planes carrying 3rd Battalion were over the drop zone, many enemy positions around the perimeter of Flürener Feld had been taken.
A paratrooper struggles to remove his harness while the rest of his platoon round up prisoners in the distance.
507th Parachute Regiment was scattered either side of the Diersfordt Forest.
Thirty minutes after the first men had landed on Drop Zone W the clearing had been secured and the two Battalions were ready to move out. A few light artillery pieces persisted in firing random shots at the drop zone but after leaving a screen of paratroopers to maintain the Regiment’s perimeter, 2nd and 3rd Battalion were heading towards their objectives.
By midday, Colonel Raff had still not heard anything from the rest of his Regiment and decided that he could wait no longer; Major Smith’s men would have to attack the Regiment’s final objective, Diersfordt Castle. As the weary paratroopers prepared to advance, patrols on the battalion’s eastern perimeter sighted columns of troops moving through the woods. Anxious moments passed until it was possible to see that the approaching soldiers had first aid packs strapped to the front of their helmets, one of the identifying marks of an American paratrooper. At long last the rest of the Regiment had arrived.
Paratroopers round up a group of German prisoners on the edge of Flürener Feld.
With his fresh troops on hand, Colonel Raff ordered 1st Battalion to set up a defensive cordon while 3rd Battalion prepared for the final assault:
Company A was left as a base upon which to manoeuvre and Company I started to make a flanking attack to the northeast. 3rd Battalion, after taking over the job, systematically took over the castle as ours, and the last bit of resistance, consisting of a large group of officers holding out in an isolated tower, was overcome that evening. This strongpoint yielded approximately 300 prisoners, amongst whom were several high-ranking officers, including two colonels, two Mark V [Panther] tanks destroyed and two captured.
Subsequent questioning identified the castle as an important headquarters in LXXXVI Corps chain of command and Company G had captured several of General Straube’s staff along with a number of senior officers of 84th Division.
While 3rd Battalion attacked Diersfordt Castle, the rest of the Regiment set about securing their assigned perimeters. 1st Battalion headed east through the forest, mopping up the remaining enemy posts around Drop Zone W, while 2nd Battalion secured the southern tip of Diersfordt Forest. After a discouraging start, the men of 507th Parachute Regiment had proved their worth.
The Dakotas carrying 513th Regiment followed 507th Regiment across the Rhine and headed for the landing zones in the northern sector of 17th Airborne Division’s objective. 1st Battalion would land first, engaging enemy positions on and around Drop Zone E, before forming a defensive perimeter around the Regimental Headquarters and artillery. 2nd Battalion would be dropped next and head west through the Diersfordt Forest alongside the British paratroopers of 6th Airborne Division to the north before tying in with 507th Parachute Regiment on the western edge of the forest. The Regiment’s 3rd Battalion had been allocated the eastern sector of the Regiment’s zone and was expected to capture two minor bridges on the Issel Stream and link up with the British glider troops landing around Hamminkeln.
507th Regiment had secured the southern outskirts of Diersfordt Forest by noon.
513th Parachute Regiment missed its drop zone but still cleared its objectives.
While 507th Regiment had suffered some confusion finding its drop zones, every one of the planes carrying 513th Regiment misjudged their flight paths as they came under heavy fire over the Rhine. By now the anti-aircraft crews were fully aware that an airborne landing was underway and showed the slow moving Dakotas no mercy as they flew low over Diersfordt Forest. The entire Regiment was dropped 2,500 metres north of Drop Zone E, in the area allocated to the 6th British Airborne Division. It would take some time before Colonel James Coutts and his Battalion COs realised what had happened; in the meantime his men would have to fight where they landed.
1st Battalion landed first and suffered heavy casualties from anti-aircraft and machine-gun fire before it hit the ground. The Battalion Adjutant, the Operations Sergeant and the Communications officer were all killed or seriously injured in the air, while the Commanding Officer and the S-3 Intelligence Officer both landed off target and were taken prisoner, (they would be freed several hours later). The Assistant Communications Officer was also missing, he too would return to the battalion several days later.
Having lost a greater portion of the Headquarters Company the situation was looking bleak for the 1st Battalion until Lieutenant Cosner, the Headquarters Company Commander, took control. There was no time to organise as a Battalion so Cosner ordered the first three officers he came across to form informal companies. Lieutenants Melke, DeSilva and Keeler set to work gathering together as many men as they could find from the groups of paratroopers milling around the drop zone. They led them to the southern edge of the British landing zone to form a perimeter around Lieutenant Cosner’s temporary, headquarters.
2nd Battalion came next, and again heavy fire from ground installations wreaked havoc amongst the Dakotas as they flew low overhead in tight formations:
At 10:10 hours the Battalion reached its drop zone and left the planes amid intense flak and small-arms fire from enemy troops on the ground. Several planes were hit and crashed immediately after all the men had left them. The Battalion hit as a group, but men were spread for a considerable distance in the length of the pattern. Small groups immediately started forming and mopping up on the Drop Zone and became the nucleus of the Battalion which was formed and reorganised within thirty minutes of landing.
Gun battles broke out across the drop zone and the paratroopers engaged enemy positions as soon as they hit the ground. Entrenched German infantry armed with automatic weapons and four field guns pinned down a platoon of Company E on the southern edge of the drop zone until Private Stuart Stryker rallied them and led a charge. Stryker was killed but his comrades overran the position and captured over 200 prisoners. Stryker was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honour. As the paratroopers congregated and closed in, German resistance collapsed and the Battalion found little to stop them entering Diersfordt Forest.
3rd Battalion landed in three main groups, again in the British zone south of Hamminkeln. All failed to realise that they had landed over a mile north of their drop zone and set off in a north-easterly direction, rather than south-east towards their objective. Lieutenant Swem’s group of fifty paratroopers realised their error after a prisoner identified Hamminkeln church allowing the group to set a new course for the Battalion assembly area. En route the group met up with Lieutenant Crowley, Company I’s Executive Officer, and Lieutenant Phillips bringing the group total to eighty. Engaging enemy positions as they marched south-east the three officers were the first to reach the Battalion assembly area.
British and American paratroopers try to sort out the confusing situation on the drop zone south of Hamminkeln.
Lieutenant Colonel Kent rounded up 150 men before setting out on, what he thought was, the correct bearing. Before long he realised something was amiss. Hours of studying maps and sand tables paid off and within minutes Kent knew he had landed in the wrong area; the main landmark in the area, Hamminkeln church, was not where it should be. Ten minutes after setting off Kent had worked out his location and his group was heading in the right direction, clearing enemy anti-aircraft positions as it advanced. By 13:30 hours it had joined Lieutenant Crowley’s group at the northern end of the Battalion assembly area.
The largest group, numbering 200 paratroopers, also headed off in the wrong direction under Major Anderson. It was over an hour before the Battalion Executive Officer noticed the error and after posting his men in an all round defensive perimeter, he set off to look for distinctive landmarks. For a third time Hamminkeln church solved the puzzle and by 13:00 hours the group was heading south; it eventually reached the rest of the Battalion four hours late.
At 12:30 hours Colonel Coutts found his way into 1st Battalion’s perimeter where the number of troops from different commands was growing by the minute. With the help of Lieutenant Cosner’s radio he soon learnt that the whole of his command had landed north of the correct drop zone and although elements of all three battalions were heading towards their respective objectives, 513th Regiment was scattered over a wide area. There was no time to lose, if the Germans counter-attacked soon, the Regiment could be overrun. Members of the 2nd Battalion were ordered to join the rest of the battalion as it cleared the Diersfordt Forest and by 16:00 hours Colonel Coutts was relieved to hear that contact had been established with 507th Regiment near Diersfordt Castle. Meanwhile, those belonging to 3rd Battalion were sent east to join the rest of the Battalion along the Issel Stream to help establish outposts on the east bank. 1st Battalion’s commanding officer had still not appeared and in his absence Captain Ivy took command with orders to prepare an all round defence in case the Germans counter-attacked Drop Zone E.
A bloodstained paratrooper searches the horizon for landmarks as he tries to find his bearings.
Despite landing under heavy fire on the wrong drop zone, 513th Regiment’s Battalions had assembled and found their way to the objectives, taking over 1,100 prisoners as they overran dozens of enemy positions. Yet again the 57mm recoilless gun had proved itself, accounting for two tanks and a self-propelled gun; the Regiment had also destroyed two batteries of deadly 88mm guns.
194th Glider Regiment had the task of securing the eastern area of 17th Airborne Division’s objectives, securing bridgeheads across the Issel Stream to the east of Wesel. 2nd Battalion would land first on Landing Zone S and secure seven bridges across the canal facing east, contacting 513th Parachute Regiment to the north, establishing a continuous defensive line along the canal. 1st Battalion would land next and head southeast to capture another three bridges on the stream, facing south, and hopefully contact the British Commandos in Wesel at an early stage. 3rd Battalion would bring up the rear securing the Landing Zone and take up positions ready to reinforce if the Germans struck back at the Regiment’s line.
Glider pilots struggled to find a place to land and many fell foul of hedges, ditches and trees.
The pilot of this glider managed to make a safe landing and the crew wasted no time unloading a trailer full of ammunition.
The first wave of Dakotas towing the Waco gliders carrying 194th Regiment crossed the Rhine at 10:26 hours and cast off their towlines four minutes later. Typically it took only three minutes to reach the ground but for many pilots it was three minutes of hell as the German anti-aircraft batteries opened fire on their cumbersome gliders. 2nd Battalion’s gliders flew through a screen of smoke drifting up from the ground and ran into a curtain of flak as they made their final approach:
Several gliders were set on fire and streamed across the sky like a comet, to crash with all occupants, none of whom wore parachutes. Landings were made more difficult by smoke which had been laid down to assist in the river crossing by ground troops, and which obscured the ground until a very low altitude was reached. The initial resistance on most fields was intense and consisted of small-arms fire from rifles and machine guns, observed mortar fire and in some fields, fire from anti-aircraft guns of various calibres which were levelled in against the landing gliders. In one field alone seven gliders were destroyed by four 88mm guns on the perimeter before the occupants were able to leave the aircraft and go into action.
Company G’s Wacos approached the ground first, heading for the fields surrounding the large château that Colonel James Pierce had chosen for his Regimental Command Post but as the gliders began to touch down it became clear that the buildings had been fortified (coincidentally it was a German Regimental Command Post). One after another the gliders came under fire as the pilots struggled to steer towards a patch of open ground and as soon as they touched down the occupants scrambled out of the doors and ran for cover. Anyone trapped inside was unlikely to survive for very long:
Company G suffered heavy casualties immediately after landing, many men being wounded before ever getting out of the gliders. None of the landing fields in the area were large enough and most gliders tore down fence posts and went through wire fences but personnel were not injured in most cases. Many Company G gliders were in range of a 75mm field gun located at the designated Regimental Command Post and as fast as gliders landed in a field in front of this building a round of high explosive from this piece would set the glider on fire.
194th Glider Regiment secured ten bridges along the Issel Stream and Canal.
The Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Stewart was an early casualty and Major Pleasant Martin was forced to run for cover in a nearby barn, where he gathered the Battalion staff and tried to make sense of the chaos on the landing zone.
Glider troops gather together having had a lucky escape on the edge of this wood; in the background a dead paratrooper hangs from his tangled parachute.
While Company G spread out into the fields surrounding the château, Company F began to land and yet again the combination of enemy fire, smoke and obstacles on the ground wreaked havoc amongst the gliders as they hit the earth. However, as glider after glider skidded across the landing zone, spilling men and equipment onto the fields, the German anti-aircraft gun crews suddenly found that the tables were being turned against them:
In the initial landing of the Battalion, most glider loads were forced to take up a fire fight immediately and the fact that gliders kept landing helter-skelter throughout the area rather than in a planned pattern was probably the biggest aid in overcoming the strong initial resistance. Enemy groups laying down fire in one direction would suddenly have another glider land in their rear and this continuous process so disorganised the enemy that they began to surrender in great numbers within thirty minutes after the first glider hit the ground.
Virtually every glider was hit by anti-aircraft fire either in the air or on the ground, and many were killed or wounded as they ran across the landing zone looking for cover. Two occupants of Glider No 25 had already been wounded before it skidded to a halt and Sergeant Dodge was injured as he clambered out of his craft. Unable to crawl far, Dodge ordered his assistant, Sergeant Reade, to gather their squad together and attack the château. A second group joined Reade’s men as they advanced towards the complex of buildings and before long the two squads had rounded up the crew of the deadly anti-tank gun. Other groups began to move forward, taking dozens of prisoners in entrenchments surrounding the buildings. And before long 2nd Battalion had captured 145 members of 1052nd Regiment’s Headquarters, including its commanding officer.
By the time Company E’s gliders came into land, resistance was coming to an end on the landing zone and as soon as they had assembled, 2nd Battalion wasted no time heading towards the three bridges they had been allocated along the Issel Stream.
1st Battalion’s story was the same. The Wacos carrying Company A led the way and came under heavy anti-aircraft fire as the Dakotas cast off their tows; the volume of fire from the ground intensified to a crescendo as the gliders skidded to a halt:
Almost every glider was hit in the air by flak or machine-gun fire. The small fields caused many crash landings and several gliders were set aflame by enemy fire. After the landing the German guns continued firing on the gliders and personnel as they left their gliders.
Three gliders burst into flames and crashed on the landing zone killing everyone inside but the rest of the Company immediately went into action, overrunning German held entrenchments, most of them only yards away from where they landed. Company C and Company B each lost two gliders on the run in, but again, the glider men engaged the German troops as soon as they hit the ground. The glider carrying the Battalion’s intelligence section crash-landed some distance from the rest and of the three survivors only two men managed to rejoin the rest of the Battalion. The Executive Officer was surrounded and after keeping a number of Germans at bay for some time with his pistol, surrendered when his ammunition ran out.
Amidst the tangle of debris Colonel Pierce’s men prepare to move off towards the Issel Stream. 111-SC-202655
Wrecked British Horsa gliders and American Waco gliders lie side by side.
Although 194th Regiment secured its perimeter, landing gliders in enemy held territory was a dangerous undertaking.
Every one of the Wacos carrying the anti-tank platoon crashed on landing as the pilots struggled to bring their overloaded craft down safely but with the help of axes and crowbars the crews eventually salvaged two guns from the wreckage. They would play a vital role in the hours that followed. 1st Battalion had no time to mourn their loss of their friends and as the medics set about collecting the wounded, the survivors headed for the bridges along the Issel Canal to the south-east.
3rd Battalion brought up the rear of 194th Regiment and once again the anti-aircraft batteries on the ground were waiting for them. The Battalion diary sums up the tense moments leading up to the landing and the furious battle that followed:
After the gliders were cut loose and began to descend the anti-aircraft fire became more intense and many gliders were hit and casualties were inflicted. The ground was partially obscured by smoke; however, there were few bad crash landings. The enemy was well deployed against airborne landings and nearly every field had dug in positions from which they could be swept by small-arms and machine-gun fire. These took the gliders under fire as they came in and swept them with fire as the men came out. It was at this stage that a great percentage of the casualties were sustained. The immediate areas had to be cleared out before equipment could be recovered from the gliders. Personnel remaining near the gliders were subjected to heavy small-arms and observed mortar fire. The men rushed for cover, orientated themselves and then proceeded to take the nearest enemy under fire. It was this bold and aggressive action combined with the continual pouring in of more gliders that overcame this main initial resistance.
Every few seconds a Waco skidded across 194th Glider Regiment’s landing zone; some on fire as they hurtled into fences and trees, while others broke up as soon as they hit the ground but in spite of the chaos men survived and engaged the German positions. As the minutes passed the number of prisoners began to grow. Squads joined to form platoons, platoons joined to form Companies and after thirty minutes of mayhem every glider was down. Less than an hour after the first glider touched down all three battalions were moving towards their objectives; it was a remarkable achievement. As the surviving officers set up temporary headquarters, order began to emerge out of the chaos and by midday Colonel Pierce was able to tell General Miley that his Regiment had taken the landing zone and was well on the way to seizing their objectives along the Issel Stream. One final note in 2nd Battalion’s Diary summarises the bravery that turned the chaos of 194th Glider Regiment’s landing into success:
The fact that more gliders were not destroyed is due to the prompt and courageous method in which the members of the Regiment attacked and destroyed these [German] positions. Approximately 150 small battles were fought simultaneously on the landing zone in the first half-hour. Superb action by the glider pilots in bringing the ships down in the small fields saved many lives. Many men, wounded in the air or injured in crash landing, fought from where they landed rather than surrendering and aided greatly in establishing control of the initial area.
A later survey showed that 293 out of 345 gliders had been hit in the air by anti-aircraft fire; many others had been damaged by enemy action on the ground. Sending gliders onto enemy held landing zones was a risky operation.
These gliders found a safe landing zone on the fields south of Hamminkeln.
On 1st Battalion’s front Company A’s survivors reached the Issel Canal at 11:00 hours, taking control of the three bridges at the eastern apex of the Regiment’s objective. Company C had also captured three of the bridges on its objective in spite of heavy fire but a group of German infantry supported by mortars and artillery continued to hold Bridge 7 in the centre of the Battalion’s sector; it would be several hours before Colonel Pierce’s men captured the bridge.
2nd Battalion reached the Issel Stream on the Regiment’s southern flank soon afterwards and had begun to engage the German outposts covering the bridges when a Panther tank appeared on Company F’s front:
En route to the objective at about 11:45 hours, a tank opened fire on the company. Bazooka gunner Private Weber got a miraculous hit on the tank at a range of 500 yards. The round must have penetrated the ammunition magazines, as the tank exploded and all but disintegrated.
Company G secured two more bridges on the Battalion’s objective and by midday all but one of the ten bridges, Bridge 1 on the outskirts of Wesel, were in 194th Glider Regiment’s hands.
Company E had also been busy rounding up 200 prisoners behind the Battalion’s front; they also captured four 88mm guns. However as the Company closed in on its objective, closely followed by the support weapons company, patrols were alerted to a new threat; two more Panther tanks had escaped from Wesel and they were heading straight for 2nd Battalion:
At 12:45 hours a counter-attack led by two enemy tanks was made on the west flank of Company E. The anti-tank guns were on the move at this time and were not in position. One section immediately went into action in clear view of the tanks, suffering four casualties in doing so. They did, however, get effective fire on the tanks, knocking out one and scoring a hit on the second one. At this time Lieutenant Sheehy, after getting his section into action, personally took command of the other gun of the platoon coupled to a prime mover and with the squad took off in clear view of the tank. He attempted to get closer for a sure kill, depending on the fire of the other section to keep the tanks engaged. One tank was still able to move and withdrew at this time, going south along the far west flank of the Battalion.
The remaining Panther headed south to try to escape across the Issel only to find Company G barring the way. A patrol armed with a bazooka hunted it down and knocked it out.
The new recoilless rifles gave General Miley’s men the opportunity to fight back against armour.
By 13:00 hours Colonel Pierce was pleased to hear that his two battalions had established contact with each other along the Issel and were digging in on their objectives. However, the local German commander was determined to take at least one of the bridges to use as a base for future counter-attacks and during the course of the afternoon tanks made several attempts to break through 2nd Battalion’s lines. The anti-tank platoon accounted for one tank while bazooka teams scored further hits on the marauding Panzers.
The story was the same to the north. 6th British Airborne Division had suffered heavy casualties during the initial drop north of Diersfordt Forest and around Hamminkeln but as the paratroopers began to assemble the German anti-aircraft crews began to surrender. By noon 6th Air Landing Brigade had secured Hamminkeln while 3rd and 5th Parachute Brigades were well on the way to clearing the northern perimeter of the Diersfordt Forest. General Ridgway’s plan had worked in spite of the heavy losses over the drop zones; the bridges along the Issel were secure. It was only a matter of time before the ground troops advancing from the Rhine reached the paratroopers.
After salvaging equipment and ammunition from wrecked gliders this jeep heads off towards the objective towing a loaded trailer. 111-SC-203327
