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Boston was the second of two combat jumps, with "Mission Albany" preceding it by one hour to drop the 101st Airborne Division. Each mission consisted of three regimental-sized air landings. Drop Zones T and N were west of the Merderet River from north to south, and Drop Zone O was east of it, just northwest of Sainte Mère Église.
Each mission consisted of three regiment-sized air landings. The drop zones of the 101st Airborne Division were east and south of Sainte-Mère-Église and lettered A, C and D from north to south. (Drop Zone B had belonged to the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) before the plan was changed on May 27.)
Those of the 82nd were west (T and O, from west to east) and southwest (Drop Zone N) of Sainte-Mère-Eglise. Each parachute infantry regiment (PIR), a unit of approximately 1800 men organized into three battalions, was transported by three or four serials , formations containing 36, 45, or 54 C-47s, and separated from each other by specific ...
Despite the opposition, the 506th's 1st Battalion [notes 1] (the original division reserve) was dropped accurately on DZ C, landing two-thirds of its sticks and regimental commander Col. Robert F. Sink on or within a mile of the drop zone. Most of the 2nd Battalion had jumped too far west, near Sainte-Mère-Église.
The landing zone for mission Detroit was near Sainte-Mère-Église, to the west of Utah Beach. The objective of the division was to secure the town of Sainte-Mère-Église and to take the bridges along the Merderet River .
D-Day at Utah began at 01:30, when the first of the airborne units arrived, tasked with securing the key crossroads at Sainte-Mère-Église and controlling the causeways through the flooded farmland behind Utah so the infantry could advance inland. While some airborne objectives were quickly met, many paratroopers landed far from their drop ...
On the east side of the river, 75 per cent of the paratroopers landed in or near their drop zone, and within two hours they captured the important crossroads at Sainte-Mère-Église (the first town liberated in the invasion) [123] and began working to protect the western flank. [124]
The 82nd objectives were to capture Sainte-Mère-Église, secure crossings at the Merderet River near La Fiere and Chef-du-Pont, and establish a defensive line north from Neuville-au-Plain to Breuzeville-au-Plain.