Badge of the First Allied Airborne Army

The First Allied Airborne Army was part of the Allied Expeditionary Force in North West Europe in 1944 and 1945. It was the largest all airborne military force in history. Image File history File links Allied_Arborne_Army. ... Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (abbreviated as SHAEF), was the command headquarters of the commander of Allied forces in North West Europe in 1944 and 1945. ...

Creation

The First Allied Airborne Army was activated on August 2, 1944 and commanded by USAAF Lieutenant General Lewis H. Brereton; second in command was British Lieutenant General Frederick Browning, succeeded in January 1945 by British Lieutenant-General Richard Gale. The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) was a part of the U.S. Army during World War II. The direct precursor to the U.S. Air Force, the USAAF formally existed between 1941 and 1947. ... Lewis Hyde Brereton was an military aviation pioneer and US Army Air Force general in the Second World War. ... Sir Frederick Arthur Montague Browning, KBE, CB, DSO (December 20, 1896 - March 14, 1965) was a British military officer. ... Gale as GOC 6th Airborne Division, 10 June 1944. ...

Constituent Formations

The First Allied Airborne Army consisted of

• U.S. XVIII Airborne Corps
  • U.S. 17th Airborne Division
  • U.S. 82nd Airborne Division
  • U.S. 101st Airborne Division
  • U.S. 13th Airborne Division (in 1945)
• British I Airborne Corps
  • British 1st Airborne Division
  • British 6th Airborne Division
  • 52nd (Lowland) Division (Air Transportable)
  • British 1st Special Air Service Brigade
  • Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade.
  • French 1er Regiment de Chasseurs Parachutistes
  • French 2ème Régiment de Chasseurs Parachutistes S.A.S
  • French 3è Régiment de Chasseurs Parachutistes S.A.S
• 9th Troop Carrier Command USAAF
• 38 Group Transport Command RAF
• 46 Group Transport Command RAF

Patch of the XVIII Airborne Corps. ... Shoulder sleeve patch of the 17th Airborne Division. ... The 82nd Airborne Division of the United States Army was constituted in the National Army as the 82nd Division on August 5, 1917, and was organized on August 25, 1917, at Camp Gordon, Georgia. ... The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) —nicknamed the Screaming Eagles— is an air assault division of the United States Army mainly trained for air assault operations. ... Shoulder sleeve patch of the 13th Airborne Division. ... The I Airborne Corps was the commanding formation of the airborne forces during Operation Market Garden. ... The British 1st Airborne Division was a military unit that fought in World War II. It suffered terrible casualties, especially in Operation Market Garden. ... The British 6th Airborne Division was an airborne unit of the British Army during World War II. It is best known for its participation in the Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944. ... The British 52nd (Lowland) Division was a Territorial Army division. ... It has been suggested that SAS Troops be merged into this article or section. ... Official force name 1 Samodzielna Brygada Spadochronowa Other names 1st Independent Polish Parachute Brigade 1 SBS Branch Polish Army Chain of Command Directly subordinate to Polish Government in Exile In 1944 transferred under British command Description Airborne force, rapidly deployable aeromobile infantry force. ... The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air force branch of the British Armed Forces. ...

Operations

Although elements of what was to become the Allied Airborne Army (US 82nd and 101st and British 6th Airborne Divisions) took part in the D-Day landings, this was prior to the Army's creation. Land on Normandy In military parlance, D-Day is a term often used to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. ...

The first and most famous combat operation of the First Allied Airborne Army, in September 1944, was Operation Market-Garden during which the British 1st, US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions and the 1st Polish Parachute Brigade, dropped in the Netherlands as part of a plan to outflank the Siegfried Line cross the Rhine and enter Germany. Operation Market Garden was an Allied military operation in World War II, which took place in September 1944. ... The original Siegfried line (Siegfriedstellung) was a line of defensive forts and tank defenses built by Germany as a section of the Hindenburg Line 1916-1917 in northern France during World War I. However, in English, Siegfried line more commonly refers to the similar World War II defensive line, built... Loreley At 1,320 kilometres (820 miles) and an average discharge of more than 2,000 cubic meters per second, the Rhine (Dutch Rijn, French Rhin, German Rhein, Italian: Reno, Romansch: Rein, ) is one of the longest and most important rivers in Europe. ...

Elements of the Airborne Army (US 82nd and 101st Divisions, British 6th Division) took part in the Battle of the Bulge although without aerial delivery. Combatants United States United Kingdom Germany Commanders Dwight Eisenhower George Patton Bernard Montgomery Walther Model Gerd von Rundstedt Strength Dec 16 - start of the Battle: about 83,000 men; 242 Sherman tanks, 182 tank destroyers, and 394 pieces of corps and divisional artillery. ...

The next and final airborne operation conducted by the First Allied Airborne Army was Operation Varsity, during which the British 6th and the US 17th Airborne Divisions landed in Germany, helping to secure the crossing of the Rhine. Operation Varsity was an airborne operation towards the end of World War II, intended to gain a foothold across the River Rhine. ...