Key Facts
- Paratroopers deployed
- 6,928
- Aircraft used
- 443 C-47 Skytrain troop-carriers
- Planned landing area
- ~15 square miles
- Actual scatter area
- ~30 square miles (up to 20 miles off)
- Jump time ahead of beach landings
- 5 hours before H-Hour
- Days to consolidate units
- 4
Strategic Narrative Overview
At night on June 5–6, 1944, 443 C-47s lifted 6,928 paratroopers toward a 15-square-mile drop zone. Bad weather and intense German anti-aircraft fire disrupted formations, scattering troops across roughly 30 square miles, with some sticks landing up to 20 miles from their intended zones. Despite the dispersion, small scattered groups improvised and seized most of their assigned D-Day objectives, creating widespread confusion among German defenders across the peninsula.
01 / The Origins
Operation Overlord, the Allied plan to liberate Western Europe from Nazi occupation, required securing the flanks of the Normandy beaches before the amphibious assault. The U.S. 101st Airborne Division was assigned to protect the left flank and rear of U.S. VII Corps by seizing key causeways and road junctions on the Cotentin Peninsula. Mission Albany was the nighttime parachute element of this plan, launched five hours before the D-Day beach landings on June 6, 1944.
03 / The Outcome
Although the 101st Airborne took most of its D-Day objectives, the division spent four days consolidating its widely scattered units. This process was reinforced by 2,300 glider infantry troops. The mission ultimately succeeded in securing the left flank and rear of U.S. VII Corps, enabling the broader Utah Beach landings to proceed and contributing to the establishment of the Allied lodgment in Normandy.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Side B
1 belligerent
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.