Mission Detroit was a pre-dawn glider-borne combat assault in the

American airborne landings in Normandy The U.S. airborne landings in Normandy were the first U.S. combat operations during Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy by the Western Allies on June 6, 1944, during World War II. Around 13,100 American paratroopers of the 82nd and 1 ...

, made by elements of the

U.S. 82nd Airborne Division The 82nd Airborne Division is an airborne infantry division of the United States Army specializing in parachute assault operations into denied areasSof, Eric"82nd Airborne Division" ''Spec Ops Magazine'', 25 November 2012. Archived from thori ...

on the early morning of June 6, 1944, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. It was part of

Operation Neptune Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...

, the assault portion of the Allied invasion of Normandy, Operation Overlord. Originally slated to be the main assault for the 82nd Airborne, the glider operation instead became the first reinforcement mission after the main parachute combat assault,

Mission Boston Mission Boston was a parachute combat assault at night by Major General Matthew Ridgway's U.S. 82nd "All American" Airborne Division on June 6, 1944, part of the American airborne landings in Normandy during World War II. Boston was a component e ...

. The landing zone for mission Detroit was near

Sainte-Mère-Église Sainte-Mère-Église () is a commune in the northwestern French department of Manche, in Normandy. On 1 January 2016, the former communes of Beuzeville-au-Plain, Chef-du-Pont, Écoquenéauville and Foucarville were merged into Sainte-Mère-Ég ...

, to the west of

Utah Beach Utah, commonly known as Utah Beach, was the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944 (D-Day), during World War II. The westernmost of the five code-named la ...

. The objective of the division was to secure the town of

and to take the bridges along the Merderet River. By doing this, the U.S. 4th Infantry Division coming in at

would have easy access to making their way northwards towards the ports at Cherbourg. Casualties for the 82nd Airborne Division on D-Day were about 1,260 of 6,600, or about 20%. On 6 June 1944 the heavier elements of the division landed by glider in Mission Elmira.

Air movement table - mission Detroit

SOURCE: D-Day Etat des Lieux

External links

D-Day : Etat des Lieux : Glider missions in Normandy
American airborne landings in Normandy Operation Overlord {{World-War-II-stub

Air movement table - mission Detroit

See also

Further reading

External links