D-Day 1944 (2) by Steven Zaloga

Author:Steven Zaloga
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: D-Day 1944 (2): Utah Beach & the US Airborne Landings
ISBN: 9781782001478
Publisher: Osprey Publishing

Troops disembark from the large side access door of a Horsa glider. These large British gliders were preferred for carrying heavier supply loads. (NARA)

At 84th Corps headquarters, Gen Marcks became concerned that the paratroopers might create a gap between the 709th Division at Utah Beach and the 352nd Division at Omaha. The only major corps reserve was Kampfgruppe Meyer of the 352nd Infantry Division near St Lô. At 03.10, Gen Marcks ordered Meyer to advance towards the junction of the two divisions between Utah and Omaha beaches. The decision to send the reserves after the paratroopers proved to be premature and a serious mistake. Later in the morning, the force would be badly needed in the opposite direction. As a result, Kampfgruppe Meyer spent most of the morning marching westward, only to have their orders changed a few hours later and shifted in the opposite direction, all the while under air attack.

US paratroopers landed mainly in the deployment area of the 91st Luftlande Division. The reaction of the division was confused, in part due to the absence of senior divisional commanders at the Rennes wargame. General Falley was alerted to the paratrooper landings early in the morning and set out by car to return to his unit. Around dawn, his car was intercepted before reaching his command post by a paratrooper patrol and he was killed after a short skirmish near Picauville. Unaware of Falley’s fate and unable to contact him, the division’s operations officer, General Bernhard Klosterkemper, took temporary command. On learning that the Americans had seized Ste Mère-Église, he ordered GR.1057 to begin to move east over the Merderet via the La Fière bridge, where the regiment would become entangled with the 82nd Airborne Division over control of the Merderet River crossings.

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