101st Airborne Division (Air Assault)

History

The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, has a mission to provide forcible entry capability through heliborne ‘air assault’ operations. Capable of inserting a 4,000 soldier combined arms task force, 150-kilometers into enemy terrain in one lift, and possessing 281 helicopters, including three battalions of Apache attack helicopters, the division was one of the most versatile in the Army. For this reason, the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) was said to be the division most in demand by combatant commanders.

The 101st stood as the Army’s and world’s only air assault division with unequaled strategic and tactical mobility. The 101st was unique in that it normally conducted operations 150 to 300 kilometers beyond the line of contact or forward-line-of-own-troops, requiring theater- and national-level intelligence support as a matter of course.

The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) demonstrated the characteristics of military professionalism since the unit’s activation. On 19 August 1942, the first commander, Maj. Gen. William C. Lee, promised his new recruits that the 101st had no history, but it had a “Rendezvous with destiny.” As a division, the 101st 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. Due to the nature of our armament, and the tactics in which we shall perfect ourselves, we shall be called upon to carry out operations of far-reaching military importance and we shall habitually go into action when the need is immediate and extreme. Let me call you attention to the fact that our badge is the great American eagle. This is a fitting emblem for a division that will crush its enemies by falling upon them like a thunderbolt from the skies. The history we shall make, the record of high achievement we hope to write in the annals of the American Army and the American people, depends wholly and completely on the men of this division. Each individual, each officer and each enlisted man, must therefore regard himself as a necessary part of a complex and powerful instrument for the overcoming of the enemies of the nation. Each, in his own job, must realize that he is not only a means, but an indispensable means for obtaining the goal of victory. It is, therefore, not too much to say that the future itself, in whose molding we expect to have our share, is in the hands of the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division.”

After the 101st was formed, only the toughest men were allowed to serve. The Division needed men that could survive being dropped from an airplane behind enemy lines and still fight and win. Only 1 in 3 men passed the selection criteria to serve in the 101st which included a 140 mile foot march in 3 days and rigorous airborne training. In September of 1943 after the Division had completed it’s Airborne training, it moved to England to prepare for war.

On June 5th, 1944 the Division prepared for its first combat operation, the airborne invasion of Normandy. The 101st would drop 6,700 soldiers behind enemy lines to disrupt the Germans before the massive allied beach assault on the coast of Normandy. As soon as the planes caring the soldiers of the 101st flew into France, they began receiving heavy antiaircraft fire from the Germans. The pilots took evasive action and broke formation to avoid being hit. As a result, soldiers jumped at an altitude of 300 feet at a speed of 200 mph instead of the planned 700 feet at 100 mph. This caused the Division to be scattered all over Normandy. Soldiers landed far from their units, behind enemy lines, and alone. Many were killed before they hit the ground by Germans firing into the sky.

By the end of the 1st day of the Normandy invasion, only 1 in 3 soldiers had found their unit. The scattered jump into Normandy confused the Germans just as much as it confused the Americans. The Germans did not know where to fight the Americans for there were no real front lines. Fighting consisted of small unit actions.

During the 2nd day of the invasion the 101st began to regroup and receive resupplies by gliders, many of which crashed on landing. During the next 2 days of fighting the 101st took objectives behind Utah beach and turned south towards Carentan, which was key to controlling the peninsula. The Germans had been ordered to fight to the last man. After days of heavy fighting, the 101st took Carentan. The division held the town for 2 more days under a heavy German counter attack until reinforcements arrived.

One month after jumping into Europe, the 101st mission in Normandy was complete, 1 in 4 men had been killed or wounded.

In September, 1944 the 101st jumped into Holland to conduct Operation Market Garden. The mission was to jump behind enemy lines to seize the highway running north to the Rhine river so allied tanks could advance into Germany. This highway was known as “hell’s highway,” and paved the way for the allied advance. 600 gliders landed in Holland, bringing in half the division. This jump was much more organized than the previous jump into Normandy. The 101st mission was to secure the southern end of the highway. It completed this mission in 2 days. The division was responsible for 60 miles of road and 16 miles of highway. 101st was next sent to the front lines near Arnhem.

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