4JAS WW2 RE-ENACTMENT AND
LIVING HISTORY ASSOCIATION

History of the 101st Airborne Division in WWII

4. England

The first cadres were ready for action by August 1943 and were despatched for England on two troop ships, the SS Samaria and the SS Strathnaver. For those aboard the Samaria the crossing was routine but for those aboard Strathnaver it was anything other than routine!

The SS Strathnaver left New York on 4th September, 1943 with 5800 men of 502 PIR, 907 GFAB, 326th AEB and some 401 GIB men. Also on board were 160 women under the overall chaperone charge of Lt. Col. Steve Chappuis of 2/502. Trouble was brewing from day one with this mix. Lt. Col. Benjamin Weisberg CO of the 377th PFA was rather keen on Lt. Ruth Barker CO of a WAC comms. detachment. Through a network of spies Weisberg successfully managed to arrange to always be around whenever Barker went anywhere on board. And the voyage was to prove not to be a short one. A few days into the voyage the fresh water tanks were discovered to be filled with seawater and she had to put into St. Johns, Newfoundland. However on departure from St. Johns Strathnaver struck rocks and had to return for extensive repairs. Even in harbour Strathnaver was not safe. A number of housewives next to the jetty where Strathnaver was moored would tease the confined men aboard by revealing certain parts of their anatomy. The rush of men all pressing to that side of the ship caused a serious list each evening that prompted the officers to urge more restraint “to avoid capsizing the ship”!

Eventually the men and women aboard were transferred to the MS John Ericsson and the voyage resumed. The non fraternisation patrols resumed but by this time both the men and women aboard were very keen to break the rules and many infringements were reported but very little disciplinary action was actually undertaken.

Instead of the usual 10 days this voyage had lasted 6 weeks by the time the MS John Ericsson docked in Liverpool. Col. Moseley CO of the 502nd realised that his men had been so long at sea around the USA that they qualified for the North American Theatre medal (intended for those on the Murmansk run normally) and had appropriate ribbons made up for all on board. This backfired when they landed at Liverpool when the English made fun of them for winning medals before they had even heard a shot fired in anger.

The men were immediately

Because of the British fear of German airborne invasion in 1940 the road signs were largely removed. However, when the American troops arrived in 1943 this caused much confusion and so many were replaced such as this one near Chilton Foliat (on what is now the B4192).

 transferred to Hungerford, Chilton Foliat, Froxfield, Ramsbury and Aldbourne to join the 506th who had arrived earlier on the SS Samaria.

For the rank and file the ensuing Winter was one of bitter cold and relentless training on invasion tactics. Food was initially in short supply and heating and latrines were at best primitive (though men from the 506th reported that the stables accommodation in Aldbourne was amongst the best they had ever had). Furthermore the regiments had only recently

Shortly before embarkation at Greenham Common airfield Lieutenant Wallace Strobel heard that General Eisenhower was visiting and that his driver was a rather attractive young woman. Wishing to see her himself he rushed through the assembled paratroopers and literally bumped into Ike just as the press were setting up for a photo session. The image is now famous.

been attached to the 101st Division and as a result Screaming Eagle patches had not been included in the shipment from the USA so a number of UK manufacturers were employed to provide these.

Training continued with Operation Beaver, which proved chaotic but served to iron out the kinks in airborne operations, and Operation Tiger at the end of April 1944. The 101st were inserted inland to simulate having been dropped behind Utah beach and landing craft with seaborne troops were to attack Slapton Sands on the South coast. Unfortunately tragedy struck when 2 of the LSTs were sunk by marauding German E Boats and nearly 750 men were killed. Finally Operation Eagle marked a dress rehearsal for the real event running

This photo shows a training jump at Ramsbury. Note the white sticky tape near the door. Any protrusion that could catch in a paratroopers webbing was taped over before flight.

from May 9th to 12th(also not without kinks, such as the chaos of landing in high winds)! As June approached the 101st were assigned specific objectives for the coming invasion. These were:
1. Attack coastal positions from the rear knocking out key coastal artillery batteries.
2. secure 4 causeway exits from Utah beach across the boggy hinterland.
3. take Ste. Come du Mont
4. capture or destroy the bridges across the Douve river
5. capture the lock on the Douve river at la Barquette
6. disrupt German communications and establish roadblock to prevent German reinforcements reaching the beach.

Final training took place at highly detailed “sand tables” where accurate models of the countryside they were invading had been created to better familiarise the men with the layout of the land.

This photo shows one of the sand tables which depicted the countryside of the Cotentin in surprising detail. All paratroopers were expected to become familiar with the territory they were jumping into.

The paratroopers also took charge of the specialised equipment ready for the invasion. This included toy crickets (supplied just 4 days prior to jumping), a recognition idea of General Taylor’s ( he introduced them to General Gavin, commander of the 82nd Division who dismissed them as irrelevant toys on the modern battlefield, radium charged luminous disks (though these were found to be ineffective and were largely discarded) and specialised “parachutist” 1st aid kits comprising a bandage, sulpha powder and a morphine syrette. These were sealed in a small water resistant pouch with draw strings for attachment to helmet nets, arms, legs, webbing, wherever was available. These were issued throughout the war. (In October 1944 the 501st PIR HQ used orders that these pouches were not to be affixed to helmet nets, the 502nd on the other hand continued to wear them on helmets until 1945).

This photo was taken by the Signal Corps on the 4th June at Ramsbury airfield as a publicity shot for the D-Day invasion when the news would be allowed out.

Finally Monday 5th of June arrived and the men assembled on Ramsbury Airfield, Greenham Common Airfield, Exeter Airfield and Welford Airfield with the pathfinders scheduled to depart from North Witham near Nottingham.

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