Word: 82nd
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...other airborne outfit, the Army decided to take a hot infantry division and convert it. The choice fell on the 82nd-once commanded by Lieut. General Omar N. Bradley, then by his friend and deputy, Matt Ridgway. As Ridgway recalls it, his introduction to the airborne merry-go-round was brisk and informal. The War Department simply called him up and said: "Would you like to become airborne?" Said Ridgway, no hater of change or challenge...
...luck of the draw and the schedules, the 82nd was the first airborne divi sion to go overseas and into action. Ridgway and his outfit became the test case for the whole airborne program. Elements of the division went first to North Africa, and the entire division was first committed in Sicily, July...
...Last, Airplanes. At week's end the 30th Infantry and 82nd Airborne delivered a massive blow at the German bulge northwest of Saint-Vith. The enemy reaction was instant and furious : the Yanks were rocked back by counterattacks with infantry and tanks. But U.S. troops took the blow, and shoved forward again. The weather cleared at last, and a huge swarm of Allied fighter bombers set out to smash the enemy columns on the roads. It was good hunting, though probably too late to inflict more than superficial wounds. Even when the Yanks cut the main highway between Houffalize...
...north, pushing slowly south on a half-dozen sectors, the First Army cut the road between Saint-Vith and Laroche-leaving only one main road out of the salient's western end. A German regimental commander, who saw his outfit hacked to pieces by the 82nd Airborne, drew his Luger and shot himself dead...
Rocks in the Stream. The German drive had already been slowed down by the heroic stand of the 101st Airborne at Bastogne (see below), which confined Rundstedt's columns to secondary roads north and south of the town. The 82nd Airborne had put up a fierce defense around Stavelot, the 7th Armored between Saint-Vith and Vielsalm, the 1st Infantry at the north shoulder of the salient below Monschau, and the 4th Infantry at the south shoulder, around Echternach. The two infantry outfits had prevented Rundstedt from widening the salient's base. They were pegs that...