First Time Jitters
Official wartime caption: “Members of the IX Troop Carrier Command hold a last-minute briefing session before another glider mission in Holland. 2 September 1944.”
U.S. Air Force Number 83086AC, NARA 342-FH-3A26203-83086AC
Note the invasion-striped CG-4 Waco glider behind the group along with the uncensored shoulder patches of the 101st “Screaming Eagles” Airborne Division.
Also seen, on the camo-net-clad M1 helmets of the assembled men, are the “clubs” markings for the 327th Glider Infantry Regiment (GIR).
The 101st’s helmet markings circa 1944:
With a lineage that dates back to the old 82nd “All American” Infantry in the Great War, the 327th was only redesignated as a glider unit and swapped over to the 101st on 15 August 1942.
Moving to Britain in September 1943, they spent eight months getting ready for the Overlord landings but, due to the shortage of C-47s on the early morning of D-Day (the Allied dropped the bulk of three airborne divisions at roughly the same time), the 327th wound up hitting the sand as “leg” infantry with the 4th Infantry Division on Utah Beach on D-Day.
“Hey, Mack, where’s the wings on this thing?” 327th Glider Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne, GIs mix with Joes from the 4th Infantry Division aboard an LCT on the way to Tare Green Sector, Utah Beach, Normandy, on D-Day.
They spent the next two weeks fighting around Carentan and in the hedgerows then another two in static defense.
Pulled back to England in mid-July to reform (the regiment had suffered over 100 KIAs at Carentan alone) and reequip for future operations, the 327th was placed on alert to glider into France (Operation Transfigure) and Belgium (Operation Limet 1) but both missions were scrapped as rapidly advancing ground forces made them irrelevant.
Glider troops were the “heavy” option for airmobile infantry as they could carry Jeeps, pack artillery, and other items in their Wacos or Horsas that were far too big to fit through the jump door of a C-47. This even trickled down to the squad level, with glider troops carrying M1918 BARs, a platform rarely strapped to the back of a paratrooper.
Soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division Load a Jeep Into the Open Nose of a Glider in Preparation for Airborne Landings in Holland, in early September 1944. 111-SC-198683_001
Then came a big lift– Operation Market Garden– in which the 327th finally got the green light to ride their gliders into battle for the first time. Carried into German-occupied Holland over three days, they were tasked with Landing Zone – W, north of Eindhoven.
A glider-dotted area where the First Airborne Army landed, Holland. 18 September 1944. (U.S. Air Force Number 75246AC)
The 327th would spend the rest of the war in heavy combat, earning the name “Bastogne Bulldogs” during the Battle of the Bulge for their tenacity.
The 327th would go on to earn campaign honors for Normandy (with arrowhead), Rhineland (with arrowhead), Ardennes-Alsace, and Central Europe.
The regiment suffered 524 casualties in Normandy, 662 in Holland, and 580 in Bastogne.
Today, two of its battalions (1st BN “Above the Rest” and 2nd BN “No Slack”) are still on active duty with the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne, but prefer UH-60s and CH-47s over gliders.
