13th Airborne Division

Shoulder sleeve insignia

of the 13th Airborne Division

Active 1943–1946

Country United States of America

Branch United States Army

Type Airborne formation

Role Airborne warfare

Size Division

Engagements World War II

Commanders

Notable

commanders

Eldridge Chapman

US infantry divisions (1939–present)

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13th Airborne Division (United States)From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 13th Airborne Division was an airborne formation inthe United States Army during World War II, and was

commanded by Major General Eldridge Chapman.[1] It wasofficially activated in August 1943 at Fort Bragg in NorthCarolina, remaining active until February 1946, but neversaw combat.

After activation the division remained in the United States tocomplete its training. This training was completed bySeptember 1944, but had to be extended by a further fourmonths when the division provided reinforcements for the82nd Airborne Division and 101st Airborne Division. Thedivision also encountered delays in mounting large-scaletraining exercises due to a lack of transport aircraft in theUnited States. This shortage was caused by the 82ndAirborne Division and 101st Airborne Division takingpriority over the 13th in terms of equipment due to the two

divisions serving in combat in Europe.[2] As a consequenceof these delays the division was only fully trained andcombat-ready by January 1945, and was transferred toFrance and the European Theater of Operations in

February.[3]

When the division arrived in France, it came under thecommand of the First Allied Airborne Army, whichcontrolled all Allied airborne formations. As it had onlyarrived in early 1945, the division missed participating in thethird major airborne operation conducted by the Allies,Operation Market Garden. The division was selected toparticipate in Operation Varsity, the airborne operation tosupport the 21st Army Group crossing the River Rhine, butwas removed from the operation due to there beinginsufficient transport aircraft to carry the division into

combat.[4] Several other operations were planned for thedivision after the end of Operation Varsity, but theseoperations were cancelled when their objectives werecaptured by the rapid advance of Allied ground forces and

they became superfluous.[5] After the end of the conflict in Europe, the division was shipped to the United States tostage there before it was to participate in the planned invasion of Japan, but the conflict in the Far East endedbefore it was required and it remained in the United States. The division was finally inactivated on 26 February

1946 and its combat personnel were transferred to the command of the 82nd Airborne Division.[6]

Contents

1 Formation

2 Actions during World War II

2.1 Training

2.2 European Theater of Operations

3 Inactivation

4 Divisional order of battle5 Footnotes

6 Bibliography

7 External links

Formation

The 13th Airborne Division was the fifth airborne division to be formed in the United States during World War II,and was officially activated on 13 August 1943 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, under the command of Major

General George W. Griner Jr.[1] Only a few months after the activation of the division, however, Major GeneralGriner was ordered to take command of the 98th Infantry Division, and was replaced by Major General Eldridge

G. Chapman, who would go on to command the division for the rest of the conflict.[1][7] Chapman was one of theearly pioneers of the American airborne concept, commanding the experimental 88th Airborne Infantry Battalion in

late 1941 when he was a Lieutenant Colonel, before going on to take command of the 13th Airborne Division.[8]

The 88th Airborne Infantry Battalion would be renamed as the 88th Airborne Infantry Regiment, and then finallybecome the 88th Glider Infantry Regiment on 21 September 1942, forming the core of the 13th Airborne

Division.[9] When it was activated, the division was initially composed of the 515th Parachute Infantry Regiment,

the 88th Glider Infantry Regiment and the 326th Glider Infantry Regiment.[1]

Actions during World War II

Training

Between August 1943 and February 1945, the division remained in the United States and did not serve overseas orparticipate in any airborne operations, as it began training to become a combat-ready formation. In comparison, the82nd Airborne Division and 101st Airborne Division had been assigned as active combat formations to serveoverseas in Europe, the 11th Airborne Division was scheduled to be deployed to the Pacific Theater of Operations,

and the 17th Airborne Division had been assigned as the United States strategic reserve formation.[10] During thisperiod, the activities of the division were primarily based around airborne training, as well as taking part in severaltraining exercises. However, while airborne training for the first four American airborne divisions was conducted

during 1943, the 13th encountered considerable difficulties when it came to its turn for training.[11] By the last fewmonths of 1943 the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions had conducted airborne exercises and finished theirtraining, and had then been transferred to Europe; to ensure the divisions could conduct airborne operations, amajority of the transport aircraft available in the United States had been sent with them, and even more were

transferred to Europe as replacements after the airborne landings in Normandy in June 1944.[12] Consequently,

Major General Eldridge G. Chapman

and General McNair inspect

paratroopers of the 13th Airborne

Division on 13 May 1944

very few transport aircraft were available for use by the 13th, and the original training exercise for the division thathad been scheduled for June 1944 had to be postponed until 17 September, and then once again until 24

September.[13]

The divisional training exercise took place around Camp Mackall, NorthCarolina, and suffered from a number of difficulties and problems. Poorweather delayed the beginning of the exercise until the night of 25September, and it was only then that the aircraft carrying the first threebattalions of paratroopers could take off and attempt to drop the

airborne troops on three separate drop zones.[14] A combination of poorvisibility, and a lack of sufficient training for the pilots of the transportaircraft, resulted in the paratroopers being dispersed widely whendropped. Only sixty-five percent of the airborne troops and equipmentdropped on the first drop zone were ready for action ninety minutes later,and in the second drop zone the airborne troops were so scattered thatby 10:00 the next morning the commander of the battalion only had

control over twenty percent of his men.[14] A similar number ofparatroopers missed the third drop zone, although the majority were

dropped in a relatively small area where they could gather.[14] Furtherproblems were encountered, as a plane crash killed eight paratroopersand four aircrew, and the glider-borne elements of the division due toland were delayed by poor weather. After the initial night, the exercisecontinued for a further three days and included a complex supply mission

designed to test whether it was possible to supply an isolated battalion of airborne troops.[14]

Overall, observers present for the exercise reported that they had been impressed with the performance of theglider-borne elements of the division. However, several noted that the training of the aircraft pilots for nightformation flying and navigation was far from satisfactory. A recommendation was made that night that gliderlandings should be considered only when an emergency existed, and that otherwise gliders should take off during

the night and land during daylight to avoid the wide dispersal of airborne troops and a decrease in efficiency.[14]

After these exercises had ended, the division continued to train, but encountered further delays. These were causedwhen 1652 men were removed from the division to provide reinforcements for United States Army units in theEuropean Theater of Combat; this drastically reduced the strength of the division and forced it to extend its training

period for a further four months.[15][16] After completing its training in January the division was preparing to transferto the Pacific Theatre in early 1945. However, the rapid advances made by German forces during the Battle of theBulge led to the division being transferred to the European Theatre of Operations to reinforce Allied divisions

already in combat.[17]

European Theater of Operations

The division arrived in the European Theater of Operations in early February, coming under the command of theFirst Allied Airborne Army, and Major General Chapman was informed that there was a possibility that the divisionwould be required to conduct airborne operations during the closing stages of the Battle of the Bulge. However, the

campaign in the Ardennes ended before the division could be transported there.[3] The next chance for the 13th toparticipate in an airborne operation, and to actually see combat, was in March 1945 when the Allies had penetratedinto Germany itself and reached the River Rhine. A few weeks before the division was to participate in a combatjump over the Rhine it was reorganized, after a conference by the Department of War had decided that a more

Allied disposition in western Europe

by March 1945

efficient composition for an airborne division was two Parachute Infantry Regiments and only a single GliderInfantry Regiment. Subsequently the 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment, a veteran unit that had served in Italy,Southern France and the Ardennes, joined the division in early March, and the 88th Glider Infantry Regiment was

combined into the 326th Glider Infantry Regiment that remained as the division's sole glider-based element.[3] The517th had recently fought during the Ardennes campaign, and had received a Presidential Unit Citation for its

actions.[1]

The Rhine river was a formidable natural obstacle to the Allied

advance,[18] but if breached would allow the Allies access to the NorthGerman Plain and ultimately to advance on Berlin and other major citiesin Northern Germany. Following the 'Broad Front Approach' laid out byGeneral Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander of theAllied Expeditionary Force, it was decided to attempt to breach the

Rhine in several areas.[19] Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery,commanding the British 21st Army Group, devised a plan to allow theforces under his command to breach the Rhine, which he titled OperationPlunder, and which was subsequently authorized by Eisenhower. Plunderenvisioned the British Second Army, under Lieutenant-General Sir MilesDempsey, and the US Ninth Army, under Lieutenant General WilliamSimpson, crossing the Rhine at Rees, Wesel, and an area south of theLippe Canal. To ensure that the operation was a success, Montgomeryinsisted that an airborne component was inserted into the plans for theoperation to support the amphibious assaults that would take place,

which was code-named Operation Varsity.[20] Three airborne divisionswere initially chosen to take part in Varsity, these being the British 6thAirborne Division, the US 17th Airborne Division, and finally the 13th, all

of which were assigned to the US XVIII Airborne Corps.[5] However, much to the misfortune of the 13th, it wasdiscovered that there were only enough transport aircraft available in Europe to transport two airborne divisions

into combat, and as such it was removed from Operation Varsity due to its lack of combat experience.[4]

After its removal from Operation Varsity, the division remained in reserve as the Allied armies advanced even

further into Germany, moving to Oise, France, on 3 April for supply and administrative tasks.[21] The division wasscheduled to participate in several other airborne operations; however, these were all cancelled before they could

take place.[22] The first of these was Operation Arena, which envisioned landing between six and ten divisions intowhat was termed a 'strategic airhead' in the Kassel region of Northern Germany; the planners of the operationsenvisioned that the operation would deny a large swathe of territory to the German defenders and give the Alliedarmies a staging area for further advances into Germany. The 13th was chosen to participate, along with the US

17th, 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions and the British 6th Airborne Division and 1st Airborne Division.[23] Apreliminary date for 1 May was set for the operation once all of the required airborne and air-landed infantrydivisions had been located and supplied, but it was ultimately cancelled on 26 March due to the rapid movement of

Allied ground forces negating the need for the operation.[24] Two other airborne operations were planned to includethe 13th. Operation Choker II was to be an airborne landing on the east bank of the Rhine near Worms, Germany;planning for the operation got to an advanced stage, and the division was only hours from taking off from airfields inFrance when the operation was cancelled due to Allied ground forces overrunning the proposed landing areas.Operation Effective was designed to land the 13th south of Stuttgart, seize a nearby airfield and create an airheadfor further forces to land in near the Black Forest. The operation was scheduled for 22 April, but was cancelled on

18 April due to Allied units encircling the Black Forest region and making it unnecessary.[25]

Inactivation

The conflict with Germany came to an end a few weeks after Operation Effective was cancelled, and shortlyafterwards it was announced that the division would be redeployed to the Pacific to participate in the invasion ofJapan after a brief stop-over in the United States. The deactivation of the 17th Airborne Division meant that the

13th acquired several combat units from that division to bolster it for its envisioned action in Japan.[26] The divisionarrived in New York City on 23 August, but did not leave the United States before the surrender of Japan inSeptember 1945. With the conflict at an end, the division was no longer required by the United States Army, and itwas permanently inactivated at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on 25 February 1946, with its personnel transferred to

the command of the 82nd Airborne Division.[6]

Divisional order of battle

Units of the 13th Airborne Division included:

88th Glider Infantry Regiment (disbanded 1 March 1945, assets to the 326GIR)

189th Glider Infantry Regiment (disbanded 4–8 December 1943, replaced by 88GIR and 326GIR)

190th Glider Infantry Regiment (disbanded 4–8 December 1943, replaced by 88GIR and 326GIR)

326th Glider Infantry Regiment515th Parachute Infantry Regiment

517th Parachute Infantry Regiment, (assigned 1 March 1945; replaced 88 GIR)

HHB, Division Artillery

458th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion (75 mm)460th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion (75 mm) (assigned 22 February 1945)

676th Glider Field Artillery Battalion (75 mm)

677th Glider Field Artillery Battalion (75 mm)129th Airborne Engineer Battalion

153rd Airborne Antiaircraft Battalion

222nd Airborne Medical Company

13th Parachute Maintenance CompanyHeadquarters Special Troops

Headquarters Company, 13th Airborne Division

Military Police Platoon

713th Airborne Ordnance Maintenance Company513th Airborne Signal Company

409th Airborne Quartermaster Company[27]

Footnotes

1. ̂a b c d e Flanagan, p. 289

2. ^ Huston, p. 125

3. ̂a b c Flanagan, p. 285

4. ̂a b Blair, p. 440

5. ̂a b Huston, p. 217

6. ̂a b Flanagan, p. 290

7. ^ Blythe and Henry, p. 16

8. ^ Flanagan, p. 19

9. ^ Flanagan, p. 20

10. ^ Huston, p. 126

11. ^ Huston, p. 124

12. ^ Huston, pp. 124–125

13. ^ Huston, p. 139

14. ̂a b c d e Huston, p. 140

15. ^ Historical Section, Army Ground Forces (1947). "Army Ground Forces Study No. 7"(http://www.history.army.mil/books/agf/AGF007/ch11c.htm). Army Historical Research. Retrieved 27 November2008.

16. ^ Huston, p. 148

17. ^ Ruppenthal, p. 286

18. ^ Matthew J. Seelinger (2007). "Operation Varsity: The Last Airborne Deployment of World War II"(http://www.armyhistory.org/ahf2.aspx?pgID=877&id=139&exCompID=56). Army Historical Research. Retrieved1 May 2008.

19. ^ Saunders, Tim, p. 41

20. ^ Devlin, pp. 258–259

21. ^ United States Army, U.S. Government Printing Office (1950). "Combat Chronicle – 13th Airborne Division"(http://web.archive.org/web/20080605081825/http://www.history.army.mil/lineage/cc/013abd.htm). ArmyHistorical Research. Archived from the original (http://www.history.army.mil/lineage/cc/013abd.htm) on 5 June2008. Retrieved 17 November 2008.

22. ^ Warren, p. 157

23. ^ Huston, pp. 216–217

24. ^ Huston, pp. 217–218

25. ^ Warren, p. 201

26. ^ Flanagan, p. 344

27. ^ United States Army Center of Military History (2008). "13th Airborne Division"(http://web.archive.org/web/20080513233450/http://www.history.army.mil/documents/eto-ob/13ABD-ETO.htm).Archived from the original (http://www.history.army.mil/documents/eto-ob/13ABD-ETO.htm) on 13 May 2008.Retrieved 14 May 2008.

Bibliography

Blair, Clay (1985). Ridgway's Paratroopers – The American Airborne In World War II. The Dial Press. ISBN 1-55750-299-4.Blythe, William J; Henry, Charles W. (1989). Shoulder Patch of the 13th Airborne Division. Turner PublishingCompany. ISBN 0-938021-43-5.Devlin, Gerard M. (1979). Paratrooper – The Saga Of Parachute And Glider Combat Troops During World War II.Robson Books. ISBN 0-312-59652-9.Flanagan, E.M. Jr (2002). Airborne – A Combat History Of American Airborne Forces. The Random HousePublishing Group. ISBN 0-89141-688-9.Harclerode, Peter (2005). Wings Of War – Airborne Warfare 1918–1945. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-304-36730-3.Huston, James A. (1998). Out Of The Blue – U.S Army Airborne Operations In World War II. Purdue UniversityPress. ISBN 1-55753-148-X.Jewell, Brian (1985). "Over The Rhine" – The Last Days Of War In Europe. Spellmount Ltd. ISBN 0-87052-128-4.Ruppenthal, Rolland G. (1959). United States Army in World War II: The European Theater of Operations:Logistical Support of the Armies, Volume II: September 1944 – May 1945. Center of Military History, UnitedStates Army.

Saunders, Tim (2006). Operation Plunder: The British & Canadian Rhine Crossing. Leo Cooper Ltd. ISBN 1-84415-221-9.Warren, Dr John C. (1956). Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater. Air University, MaxwellAFB: US Air Force Historical Research Agency. USAF Historical Study 97.

External links

Murray, Williamson. "Airborne Operations During World War II"

(http://web.archive.org/web/20080605134037/http://www.historynet.com/airborne-operations-during-

world-war-ii.htm/). World War II Magazine. Archived from the original

(http://www.historynet.com/airborne-operations-during-world-war-ii.htm/) on 5 June 2008. Retrieved 28

April 2008.

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Military units and formations established in 1943

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