17th Airborne Division (United States) - Formation

Formation

The German military pioneered the use of large-scale airborne formations, first during the Battle of France in 1940 and later in the Battle of Crete in 1941. The Allied governments were aware of the success of these operations (but not of the heavy German casualties incurred, particularly during the invasion of Crete) and decided to form their own airborne formations. This decision would eventually lead to the creation of five American and two British airborne divisions, as well as many smaller units. The 17th Airborne Division was activated on 15 April 1943 at Camp Mackall in North Carolina, under the command of the newly-promoted Major-General William M. Miley. The division was originally composed of the 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment, activated on 11 January 1943 at Fort Benning, the 193rd Glider Infantry Regiment, and the 194th Glider Infantry Regiment. The official dedication ceremony for the unit took place on 1 May 1943 with thousands of civilian and military spectators, including Major-General Eldridge G. Chapman, overall commander of Airborne Command and of all American airborne forces during World War II.

Once activated, the division remained in the United States for training and exercises. As the division, like all airborne units, was intended to be an elite formation, the training regime was extremely arduous. There were 250 feet (76 m) and 34 feet (10 m) towers built from which prospective airborne troops would jump off of to simulate landing by parachute, lengthy forced marches and practice jumps from transport aircraft; to pause in the doorway of an aircraft during a practice jump resulted in an automatic failure for the candidate. The resultant failure rate was accordingly high, but there was never a shortage of candidates, especially for the American divisions, as the rate of pay was much higher than that of an ordinary infantryman. As the division trained, a debate developed in the United States Army over whether the best use of airborne forces was en masse or as small compact units. On 9 July 1943, the first large-scale Allied airborne operation–the Allied invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky)–was carried out by elements of the 82nd Airborne Division and the British 1st Airborne Division. The commanding officer of the 11th Airborne Division, Maj. Gen. Joseph M. Swing, had been temporarily assigned to act as airborne advisor to General Dwight D. Eisenhower for the invasion of Sicily, and had observed the airborne assault, which went badly. The 82nd Airborne Division had been deployed by parachute and glider and had suffered high casualties, leading to a perception that it had failed to achieve many of its objectives.