Comes with a hand-signed C.O.A. and a multi-page historical researched write-up:

This EXTREMELY RARE and museum-grade WWII Operation Overlord D-Day artifact is one of a handful of original D-Day combat reports to exist detailing the AIRBORNE, GLIDER, TANK, AND INFANTRY assault on D-Day June 6th, 1944 as well as D-Day +1 June 7th, 1944. This very rare Airborne D-Day combat report is extremely detailed with DROPS ZONES, OBJECTIVES, MISSION OUTCOMES, DIVISIONS, ETC. and detailed D-Day June 6th, 1944 RESTRICTED battle combat reports as reported to command from multiple very famous D-Day Divisions such as the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, 82nd Airborne Division, 80th Airborne Antiaircraft Battalion, 307th Airborne Engineer Battalion, 307th Medical Company, and 82nd Airborne Signal Company.

Missions and details listed in this D-Day June 6th Combat report:

LA FIERE BRIDGE, SAINTE-MERE-EGLISE, CHEF DU PONT BRIDGE, UTAH “RED BEACH” , FLAUX, MERDERET RIVER, PICAUVILLE, GUETTEVILLE.

The airborne assault into Normandy, as part of the D-Day allied invasion of Europe, was the largest use of airborne troops up to that time. Paratroopers of the U.S. 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, the British 6th Airborne Division, the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, and other attached Allied units took part in the assault. Numbering more than 13,000 men, the paratroopers were flown from bases in southern England to the Cotentin Peninsula in approximately 925 C-47 airplanes. An additional 4,000 men, consisting of glider infantry with supporting weapons, medical, and signal units were to arrive in 500 gliders later on D-Day to reinforce the paratroopers. The parachute troops were assigned what was probably the most difficult task of the initial operation - a night jump behind enemy lines five hours before the coastal landings.

To protect the invasion zone's western extremity and to facilitate the "Utah" landing force's movement into the Cotentin Peninsula, the U.S. 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions descended on the peninsula by parachute and glider in the early hours of D-Day. The paratroopers were badly scattered. Many were injured and killed during the attack, and much of their equipment was lost, but the brave paratroopers fought fiercely, causing confusion among the German commanders and keeping the German’s troops occupied. Their efforts; hampered by harsh weather, darkness and disorganization, and initiative of resourceful Soldiers and leaders, ensured that the Utah Beach assault objectives were eventually accomplished. The British and Canadian attacks also accomplished their primary goal of securing the left flank of the invasion force.

Mission Boston:

Mission Boston was a parachute combat assault at night by Major General Matthew Ridgway's U.S. 82nd Airborne Division on June 6, 1944, part of the American airborne landings in Normandy during World War II. Boston was a component element of Operation Neptune, the assault portion of the Allied invasion of Normandy, codenamed Operation Overlord. 6,420 paratroopers jumped from nearly 370 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 D-Day landings.

The drops were scattered by bad weather and German anti-aircraft fire over an area three to four times as large as that planned. 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 veteran 505th PIR jumped accurately and captured its objective, the town of Sainte-Mère-Église, which proved essential to the success of the division.

The U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, commanded by Major General Matthew Ridgway, was a veteran outfit, with two of its units, the 504th and 505th Parachute Infantry Regiments (PIR), making combat jumps into Sicily and Italy. However, the 504th had not arrived in England in time to train for Operation Neptune, and had been replaced in the mission by the unblooded 507th and 508th PIRs, both temporarily attached for the operation (the 507th later transferring to the 17th Airborne Division). Because of its previous combat experience, the 82nd Airborne Division was assigned the riskier of the two jump missions, into the center of the Cotentin. Its final regiment, the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, was scheduled to fly in on June 7.

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. They were to seize causeways and bridges over the Merderet at La Fière and Chef-du-Pont, destroy the highway bridge over the Douve River at Pont l'Abbé (now Étienville), and secure the area west of Sainte Mère Église to establish a defensive line between Gourbesville and Renouf.

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.

Missions and details listed in this D-Day Combat report:

#1. LA FIERE BRIDGE:

West of Ste Mere Eglise and of Drop Zone “O” for the 505th P.I.R, and also close to the railroad from Cherbourg, the bridge over the Merderet was to be taken during the night before D-day. Fairly small bridge itself, yet very strategic as it stood on the edge of the flooded marsh, it was attached to the causeway. After it was secured by the 82nd Airborne, it was to be the starting point of the big offensive pushing west across the Peninsula. There was fierce fighting here for three days : coming from the Cauquigny Chapel on the other side were several German counter-attacks, but no enemy forces managed to get across the Merderet. The imposing statue “Iron Mike” now overlooks this battlefield and beautiful surrounding countryside.

#2. SAINTE-MERE-EGLISE:

Sainte-Mere-Eglise and its surroundings are a strategic area along the national road connecting Cherbourg to Paris, at a junction between five departmental roads. On the night of 5^th to 6^th June 1944, the 82^nd Airborne Division was experiencing difficulty in destroying the bridges on the river Douve and establishing a line of defence. The flooding of rivers was worse than expected. Sainte-Mere-Eglise was a key location in the line of defence along the road to Omaha Beach.

During the Normandy invasion, 30 paratroopers landed in the town of Sainte-Mère-Eglise , including 20 on the church square. German soldiers hurled into the attack and a battle raged on for two days. U.S. forces’ resistance was put to the test. The Allies were forced to defend many places simultaneously, including the bridges of la Fière and Chef-du-Pont. On 7^th June at noon, reinforcement troops, who had landed on Utah Beach were there to clear Sainte-Mere-Eglise. 

#2. CHEF DU PONT BRIDGE:

The village of Chef-du-Pont, occupied in the spring of 1944 by the German soldiers of the Grenadier-Regiment 1058 (91. Infanterie Division), is in the immediate vicinity of a crossing point on the Merderet river. During the preparatory phase of Operation Overlord, the latter became a priority objective of the Allies: its control depended on maintaining the bridgehead in the Cotentin which is surrounded by the Douve in the south and the Merderet in the south- Where is.

The capture of Chef-du-Pont is entrusted to the 1st Battalion of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment (82nd Airborne Division) commanded by Major Frederick C. A. Kellam. Although the 505th PIR parachutes were the most accurate of all the allied drops on the night of June 5-6, Kellam failed to muster enough soldiers to divide his forces into two groups as agreed Towards the bridge of La Fière, the other towards that of Chef-du-Pont). He made the decision to go to La Fière as a priority.

In the middle of the morning, General James Maurice Gavin, second in command of the 82nd Airborne Division, ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur A. Maloney commanding the 3rd Battalion of the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment to recognize the bank of the Merderet in the direction of Chef- Du-Pont in search of another crossing point. To this end, he is accompanied by 75 paratroopers from his unit. Later, General Gavin was informed that the approaches to the bridge at Chef-du-Pont were not forbidden: he then decided to seize it and ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Edwin J. Ostberg, commander of the 1st battalion of the 507th PIR, to complete this mission with a hundred paratroopers (from both the 507th PIR and the 508th PIR). Around 10 o’clock, Ostberg and his men reached the station in the center of the village without encumbrance. A battle group is responsible for securing the northern part of Chef-du-Pont, which he does without incidents. The other elements follow Lieutenant-Colonel Ostberg through the village towards the bridge; The Germans opened fire from several buildings, touching four parachutists and forcing others to stop. During the next two hours, Ostberg secures Chef-du-Pont and the Germans retreated towards the bridge.