Mission Boston
6,420 paratroopers jumped from nearly 370 Douglas C-47 Skytrain troop carrier aircraft into an intended objective area of roughly 10 square miles (26 km2) located on either side of the Merderet river on the Cotentin Peninsula of France, five hours ahead of the beach landings.
Two inexperienced units of the 82nd, the 507th and 508th Parachute Infantry Regiments (PIR), were given the mission of blocking approaches west of the Merderet River, but most of their paratroops missed their drop zones entirely.
The division was a veteran outfit, with two of its units, the 504th and 505th Parachute Infantry Regiments , having made combat jumps into Sicily and Italy.
The 82nd Airborne Division's objectives were to capture the town of Sainte Mère Église, a crucial communications crossroad behind Utah Beach, and to block the approaches into the area from the west and southwest.
In the process units would also disrupt German communications, establish roadblocks to hamper the movement of German reinforcements, establish a defensive line between Neuville and Baudienville to the north, clear the area of the drop zones to the unit boundary at Les Forges and link up with the 101st Airborne Division, under Major General Maxwell D. Taylor.
The serials took off beginning at 22:30 on June 5, assembled into formations, and flew southwest over the English Channel at 500 feet (150 m) above sea level to remain below German radar coverage.
Over the Cotentin Peninsula numerous factors negatively affected the accuracy of the drops, including a solid cloud bank over the entire western half of the 22-mile (35 km) wide peninsula at penetration altitude (1500 feet MSL), an opaque ground fog over many drop zones, and intense German anti-aircraft fire ("flak").
Pathfinders on DZ O turned on their Eureka beacons as the first 82nd Airborne Division serial crossed the initial point and lighted holophane markers on all three battalion assembly areas.
A platoon leader of the 508th, First Lieutenant Robert P. Mathias, who was struck by a blast of fire yet still managed to lead his team out of the plane.
Estimates of drowning casualties vary from "a few"[5] to "scores"[6] (against an overall D-Day loss in the 82nd of 156 killed in action), but much equipment was lost and the troops had difficulty assembling.
They rallied other stragglers and fought off attacks by the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division for five days before 150 managed to infiltrate back to Carentan in small groups.
The platoon delayed two companies of the 1058th Grenadier Regiment at Neuville-au-Plain for eight hours, allowing the troops in Sainte Mère Église to repel the southern threat.
This version states that Company A was unable to take the bridge near la Fière, a farm two miles (3 km) west of Sainte Mère Église, despite the assistance of several hundred troopers from both the 507th and 508th PIRs that had jumped in the area.
For the record, this bridge was held by Company "A" from the time of its capture on "D" Day, until we were relieved"..[7]Colonel Roy E. Lindquist, commanding officer of the 508th PIR, was left in charge at Manoir de la Fière and led an assault at noon that eradicated the German defense, effecting a link up with an isolated group on the west bank.
overran the 1st Battalion command post late in the afternoon of June 6 before being stopped by bazookas and a 57 mm anti-tank gun, destroying several tanks on the La Fière causeway.
However one makeshift battalion of the 508th PIR seized a small hill near the Merderet and disrupted German counterattacks on Chef-du-Pont for three days, effectively accomplishing its mission.
