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17thfabn
Ohio
OH USA
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Posts: 187
Joined: 2008
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Plan for the 82nd Airborne to capture Rome fall 1943
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In the Autumn 2022 issue of World War II there is an article about negotiations for the surrender of Italy in 1943.
One of the wildest ideas was for the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division to conduct an air assault on air fields around Rome and in conjugation with Italian troops secure the City of Rome.
Of course fortunately for the 82nd Airborne, and the Allied cause this didn't happen. We all know how well the Anzio landings worked. Or the Market Garden operation in the Netherlands. Imagine the 82nd being that much more isolated. It is hard to think of any outcome other than the entire division being killed or captured.
Per the article it appears that some aircraft were already in the air with troops on board when the mission was scrubbed at the last minute.
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Withdrawal in disgust is not the same as apathy.
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NYGiant
home
USA
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Posts: 953
Joined: 2021
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Plan for the 82nd Airborne to capture Rome fall 1943
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It will have been a debacle
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DT509er
Santa Rosa
CA USA
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Posts: 1258
Joined: 2005
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Plan for the 82nd Airborne to capture Rome fall 1943
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Lessons lost but recalled at the last minute saved the "All Americans" from surely a suicidal jump into Rome. Sicily avoided a massacre with troopers scattered about, jumps in Africa by the 509th were at best haphazard, while the jump into Avellino, Italy was a failure; although the jump onto the beach at Salerno was very successful, but that was a much smaller unit than a division jump.
I imagine the 82nd would have fared about as well as the Russian Paratroopers at Hostemel airfield had they made the jump into Rome.
"Airborne!"
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"American parachutists-devils in baggy pants..." German officer, Italy 1944.
“If your experiment needs statistics, you ought to have done a better experiment.” Lord Ernest Rutherford
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RichTO90
Bremerton
WA USA
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Posts: 711
Joined: 2004
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Plan for the 82nd Airborne to capture Rome fall 1943
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Quote: In the Autumn 2022 issue of World War II there is an article about negotiations for the surrender of Italy in 1943.
One of the wildest ideas was for the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division to conduct an air assault on air fields around Rome and in conjugation with Italian troops secure the City of Rome.
Of course fortunately for the 82nd Airborne, and the Allied cause this didn't happen. We all know how well the Anzio landings worked. Or the Market Garden operation in the Netherlands. Imagine the 82nd being that much more isolated. It is hard to think of any outcome other than the entire division being killed or captured.
Per the article it appears that some aircraft were already in the air with troops on board when the mission was scrubbed at the last minute.
Since I responded to your question on TankNet I guess I'll post that here too.
In the original plan for AVALANCHE the 82d Airborne was to be dropped the night of D-1/D-Day in the vicinity of Capua to close off Naples and the south from German reinforcements advancing south on the A1 Highway. Then, on 18 August, the CCS informed Eisenhower of the status of negotiations for an Italian Armistice, which then looked to be near certain and to occur before the 9 September D-Day for AVALANCHE. Eisenhower then conceived GIANT II, which shifted the 82d from landing by parachute and glider at Capua, to an airlanding at four airfields around Rome - Roma Urbe "Littoria", Alfredo Barbieri Guidonia, and the Aeroporto Militare at Furbara and Cerveteri, with the Italians supplying transportation, fuel and ammunition. Plans were in place by 6 September but then on 7 September Maxwell Taylor and Colonel William Gardiner of Troop Carrier Command slipped into Rome to finalize discussions. They realized the plan was unworkable, the Germans were disarming Italian forces who weren't resisting and had control of all the tranport, fuel, and ammunition, while they were rapidly moving reinforcements into the city. On 8 September, Eisenhower cancelled GIANT II. No aircraft were in the air, no troops had boarded aircraft, no aircraft were even warming up...poetic license at best by the article.
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DT509er
Santa Rosa
CA USA
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Posts: 1258
Joined: 2005
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Plan for the 82nd Airborne to capture Rome fall 1943
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Quote: The best in the business, you will not be disappointed. https://stcloudfencingcompany.com/kissimmee-fence-company/
Someone SPAM this post and poster out of here!
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"American parachutists-devils in baggy pants..." German officer, Italy 1944.
“If your experiment needs statistics, you ought to have done a better experiment.” Lord Ernest Rutherford
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Brian W
Atlanta
GA USA
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Posts: 1204
Joined: 2004
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Plan for the 82nd Airborne to capture Rome fall 1943
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He's gone
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"Take it easy. But take it" - Tom Morello's mom.
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