Talk:17th Airborne Division (United States)

The 17th Division was created as the first Regular Army airborne unit. However, it is less known than the 82nd and 101st National Guard airborne units because it repeatedly suffered heavy casualties and was often drained of personnell to replace losses in the other two divisions. When it was designated as the post-war airborne division and the 82nd and 101st were slated to return to Infantry status, protests from veterans and their families forced it to be disbanded instead and the 8s2nd and 101st became Regular Army divisions. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.194.23.103 (talk) 14:09, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

Order of Battle/World War II Activities

I'm copy and pasting the information that was previously contained under these headings into this talk page for safe-keeping. All of it is either unsourced or poorly sourced, but will be referred to if and when needed: The Division entered the Ardennes campaign, 4 January to 9 January, at the Battle of Dead Man's Ridge. It captured several small Belgian towns and entered Flamierge, 7 January, but enemy counterattacks necessitated a withdrawal. During the battle for Flamierge, S/Sgt I.S. Jachman was killed - he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor[1]. However, constant pressure and aggressive patrolling caused the enemy to retreat to the Ourthe River. On 18 January, the Division relieved the 11th Armored Division at Houffalize, pushed enemy remnants from the Bulge, and seized Wattermal and Espeler, 26 January. Coming under the III Corps, the 17th turned toward Luxembourg, taking Eschweiler and Clervaux and clearing the enemy from the west bank of the Our River. Aggressive patrols crossed the river to probe the Siegfried Line defenses and established a limited bridgehead near Duisburg before being relieved by the 6th Armored Division, 10 February.

A period of reequipment and preparation began. Taking off from marshalling areas in France, the 17th dropped into Westphalia in the vicinity of Wesel, 24 March. Operation Varsity was the first airborne invasion over the Rhine into Germany itself. On the 25th, the Division had secured bridges over the Issel River and had entrenched itself firmly along the Issel Canal. Moving eastward, it captured Haltern, 29 March, and Münster, 2 April. The 17th entered the battle of the Ruhr Pocket, relieving the 79th Infantry Division. It crossed the Rhine-Herne Canal, 6 April, and set up a secure bridgehead for the attack on Essen. The "Pittsburgh of the Ruhr" fell, 10 April, and the industrial cities of Mülheim and Duisburg were cleared in the continuing attack. Military government duties began, 12 April, and active contact with the enemy ceased, 18 April. The Division came under the XXII Corps 24 April. It continued its occupation duties until 15 June 1945 when it returned to France for redeployment.

It was inactivated on September 16, 1945, then reactivated from July 3, 1948 to June 10, 1949 as a non-Airborne training unit at Camp Pickett, Virginia, to absorb the influx of draftees occasioned by the Berlin Airlift crisis.

Units of the 17th Airborne Division during the war included:

• Division Headquarters
• 193rd Glider Infantry Regiment (disbanded 1 March 1945)
• 194th Glider Infantry Regiment (3rd Bn formed on 1 March 1945 from the assets of the separate 550th Airborne Infantry Battalion)
• 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment (attached 27 August 1944 to 1 March 1945, thereafter assigned)
• 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment (replaced 517PIR on 10 March 1944)
• 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment (relieved 10 March 1944 and replaced by the 513PIR)[2]
• HHB Division Artillery
  • 464th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion (75mm) (assigned 4 June 1945)
  • 466th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion (75mm)
  • 680th Glider Field Artillery Battalion (75mm)
  • 681st Glider Field Artillery Battalion (75mm)
• 139th Airborne Engineer Battalion
• 155th Airborne Antiaircraft Battalion
• 224th Airborne Medical Company
• 17th Parachute Maintenance Company
• Headquarters Special Troops
  • Headquarters Company, 17th Airborne Division
  • Military Police Platoon
  • 717th Airborne Ordnance Maintenance Company
  • 517th Airborne Signal Company
  • 411th Airborne Quartermaster Company
  • Band (assigned 1 Mar 45 reorganization)
  • Reconnaissance Platoon (assigned 1 Mar 45 reorganization)
• 550th Airborne Infantry Battalion (not assigned; under division operational control during the Ardennes Offensive)

Source: US Army Center of Military History [3]

Note: The separate 550th Airborne Infantry Battalion was initially formed as a non-parachute, non-glider, air-landed infantry battalion. It was activated at Howard Field, Panama Canal Zone on 1 July 1941 and later moved to Laurinburg-Maxton Army Air Base, NC, for glider training. It sailed in April 1944 aboard the Liberty ship James Whitcomb Riley to Oran, Algeria and, after three weeks of guard duty at the port, the 550th moved to Italy and was based at Bagnoli, ten miles north of Naples. The unit then moved to Sicily on 1 June and conducted combat training near Trapini. As the invasion of Southern France (Operation Dragoon) neared, the 550th returned to Italy and was based at Lido de Roma, seven miles from Rome. It was assigned to the provisional 1st Airborne Task Force (activated 15 July 44; invaded Southern France 15 Aug 44; discontinued in France 23 Nov 44) and, following the invasion of southern France and the end of the 1st ATF, the 550th moved to Aldbourne, England. Although it was not assigned to the 17th Airborne Division, it was under its operational control at the start of the Bulge, being attached to the division’s two-battalion 194th Glider Infantry Regiment. A division reorganization following combat in the Bulge saw the 550th as well as the 193GIR inactivated on 1 March 45 and the assets of both used to form the 3rd Battalion, 194GIR. Skinny87 (talk) 19:23, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Miley

Major General William Miley