Would D-Day have Failed without the Airborne? | Animated History

In the D-Day Companion, a publication written by leading historians on the subject in question, it is written that, from the World War II era, there is one event, one memory, that transcends national experiences and unites the Western Allies. That event is D-Day, June 6, 1944. The foreword of this book is written by Major Richard Winters, who you've no doubt heard of if you're familiar with the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. Today, we'll be telling the story not just of Winters and his men, but of the other paratroopers who participated in D-Day. In doing so, we'll be answering three primary questions. First, who were the Airborne? Secondly, what was their purpose on D-Day? And lastly, would the invasion of Normandy have failed without them? But first, I'm pleased to announce today's sponsor, Patronblades. More on that later. Throughout the Second World War, Churchill had inspired his countrymen again and again with his shows of defiance and determination. But even he occasionally had his doubts. And on the eve of D-Day, he could no longer maintain his composure. The following is documented in the D-Day Companion. With this admonition, the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill concluded his address to the Anglo-American High Command. He was in a very weepy condition, looking old and lacking a great deal of his usual vitality, recalled General Alan Brooke, the British Director of Military Operations. Who could blame him? The Allies were pursuing a bold strategy. They could let Germany wither away and wait for the Soviets to make more breakthroughs, or they could strike against the German war machine with a decisive blow while running the risk of being repelled. Ultimately, they chose to enact the latter course of action. A decision which, despite being potentially dangerous or even disastrous, made sense. For one, the remnants of the German Navy, the Kriegsmarine, which had once wreaked havoc in the Atlantic, was forced to retreat to safe harbors, no longer in a viable position to stop an Allied fleet from crossing the English Channel. Furthermore, the Luftwaffe, which had once enjoyed air superiority, had by 1943 lost many trained pilots and had continued to use antiquated airframes. It was no longer in a position to stop an amphibious line. But the Wehrmacht, entrenched in what was known as the Atlantic Wall, was still a force to be reckoned with. Its path to the French coast would be hampered by the Transportation Plan, however, an Allied bombing plan which targeted German infrastructure and effectively disabled the French railroad system. By the time of the invasion, it would make transporting reinforcements very difficult for the Germans. So where did the Allied paratroopers fit during all of this? Well, until D-Day itself, they did not play a significant role in shaping the course of the war. In Jonathan Mayo's book, D-Day, Minute by Minute, we learn why this is the case. Airborne forces are a new dimension of warfare. The first parachute regiments in the world were formed only in 1936, as part of the Russian Red Army. The Luftwaffe 7th Air Division soon followed. Its success spurred the British and Americans to follow suit. Thus, the British 6th Airborne Division, along with the American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, were formed. The 101st and 82nd were created at about the same time, with the former taking the colorful name of the Screaming Eagles Division in honor of a renowned Civil War division, and the latter taking the more modest name of the All-American Airborne Division. These divisions, along with the British 6th, consisted of elite trained soldiers who were paid more than infantrymen and were armed to the teeth. Essentially, these paratroopers would be tasked with dropping behind enemy lines and eliminating batteries, securing roads, and halting the movement of enemy reinforcements. They were meant to distract and confuse the enemy, providing the hard-pressed men on the beaches some relief from German artillery fire. These tasks could not be accomplished by bomber planes, owing to the fact that precision bombing was not sufficiently developed, making boots on the ground an absolute necessity. On June 5th, a few hours before the Day of Days, the paratroopers prepared to prove their abilities in combat. The parachutists got dressed for action a few hours ago. They have to be helped into their planes as they can barely walk due to all of the equipment they carried. Some have shaved their heads to make it easier for wounds to be treated by medics. Some have shaved their heads just to look like Mohicans. Faces are black with soot or boot polish. They want to look invisible and as intimidating as possible. And speaking of shaving, today's video is sponsored by Patronblades, as mentioned before. Now, you might not be parachuting into Normandy anytime soon, but every guy needs a good quality razor to stay clean shaven. One question you might be asking is, why is it called Patronblades? Well, this service offers you the unique opportunity to support your favorite content creators or charity organizations, as 50% of the money from your monthly subscription goes straight to the creator or charity in question. You can support the Armchair Historian channel by listing us as the organization you wish to patronize when placing your order. And now, back to the video. Don Malarkey, who served alongside Richard Winters, tells us that Easy Company's flight was largely uneventful. But when crossing France's Cherbourg Peninsula, all hell broke loose. Big guns thumped below. Searchlights rolled around the clouds, searching for the likes of us. Tracer bullets from anti-aircraft and machine guns zinged through what was now darkness. Fires burned on the grounds from planes that had already been shot down. All I was thinking was, get the hell out of this plane, Malarkey. Then the light turned green and stayed green. I yelled and jumped into the Normandy night. What followed was, for the most part, chaos. The experiences of Jim Wallwerk and Oliver Boland, pilots of the British 6th Airborne Division, reflect the tumult of the situation. Both were ordered to make crash landings. Upon impact, Wallwerk and his navigator were flung through the cockpit window, still in their seats. Everyone else in the plane was knocked unconscious, but Boland was still very much awake. After the plane he had been flying landed and broke in half, he told his stunned men, We're here. Do what you're paid to do. Only a few short seconds before a third plane crash-landed behind him. But even though everything did not go according to plan, to say the least, the British 6th Airborne Division carried out all of its objectives and secured the east flank of Normandy. By capturing Pegasus Bridge, which crossed the Caen Canal, the 6th provided Allied forces with valuable time to land over Sword Beach. With ingenuity, initiative, and determination, the 6th Airborne Division had secured the Allied left flank at a cost of 821 dead, 2,709 wounded, and 927 missing. About evenly divided, the dead and prisoners. The American divisions, meanwhile, tasked with securing the west flank, were hindered by the indecisive command of Generals Bradley, Ridgway, and Taylor. We turn to the D-Day Companion once more to sum up the result. The American Airborne Division behind Utah Beach, by the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, remained second only to Omaha Beach, landing in near disaster. Never have so many dropped in so small an area with so little purpose and so much loss. Only the fighting heart of younger officers and sturdy troops saved the operation. Richard Winters, in his memoir titled Beyond Band of Brothers, recalls the following from his landing. Armed with the knife that I had stuck in my boot, I struck out in the general direction where I thought my leg bag had landed. Just as I started off, trench knife in hand, another paratrooper landed close by. I helped him cut free from his chute, then grabbed one of his grenades and said, let's go search for my equipment. Although the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions failed to take Carentan in time, and did not stop the German 6th Parachute Regiment from launching a counter-attack, the Germans were disoriented by their landing, and repelled in some locations from strategic choke points. The 101st was able to encircle six artillery batteries of the German 709th Division, and kept the infantry of that division distracted until the beaches were stormed. In recognition of these efforts, the body of historians whose work we referred to earlier wrote that, No one quibbles about the fortitude and tactical skill of the three Allied Airborne Divisions that participated in Operation Neptune. Thus, we can conclude that, although in all likelihood D-Day would have succeeded without the use of paratroopers due to Germany's disadvantage in the air and at sea, the Allies would have sustained significantly more casualties, and their progress would have been slowed. Thanks for watching. I'd like to thank my general staff on Patreon. Derek Bellow, Jake Hart, PJ Knave, Eric Greenwood, Joe Crispin, Gibbsy, Fritz, Patrick Reardon, James Thompson, Jim Talbot, Demetrius Tilleman, and everyone else listed on screen. I'd also like to thank those working on the Armchair History team for making this video possible. Thanks again, and I'll see you next time with our War Story video on D-Day.