Cancelled Airborne Operations

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Delta Tank
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Cancelled Airborne Operations

#1

Post by Delta Tank » 31 Oct 2014, 19:32

To all,
(I posted this question on another thread not realizing I was in the "What If" section)

Of the 16 cancelled Airborne Operations how many were proposed by American commanders and how many were proposed by British/Canadian commanders?

If there was pressure on Eisenhower to use these airborne forces, did he send out a memo to all commanders to propose airborne operations so that we could use these assets?

Mike

steverodgers801
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Re: Cancelled Airborne Operations

#2

Post by steverodgers801 » 01 Nov 2014, 00:26

The main reason for cancelling the operations is that most of the objectives were taken by the time planning ha started.


Delta Tank
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Re: Cancelled Airborne Operations

#3

Post by Delta Tank » 01 Nov 2014, 01:09

steverodgers801 wrote:The main reason for cancelling the operations is that most of the objectives were taken by the time planning ha started.

Yep, I knew that! But, the questions were:
Of the 16 cancelled Airborne Operations how many were proposed by American commanders and how many were proposed by British/Canadian commanders?

If there was pressure on Eisenhower to use these airborne forces, did he send out a memo to all commanders to propose airborne operations so that we could use these assets?
Mike

Delta Tank
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Re: Cancelled Airborne Operations

#4

Post by Delta Tank » 01 Nov 2014, 20:01

To all,
Found this here: http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA ... me-16.html (Green Series book)
In agreeing to the operation MARKET-GARDEN, General Eisenhower seems to have been influenced not only by a desire to get a bridgehead across the Rhine but by the hope of utilizing the First Allied Airborne Army, which had been awaiting action since July and August. Aware that Generals Marshall and Arnold were both deeply interested in the strategic use of airborne forces, General Eisenhower had sought a suitable occasion for employing these resources. In mid-July he asked for an airborne plan marked by imagination and daring which would make a maximum contribution to the destruction of German armies in western Europe. The desire to implement such a plan helped to influence the foundation of the First Allied Airborne Army.
And after reading some more paragraphs below this one I posted above, I do believe SHAEF was searching for a way to use these airborne forces regardless if it was necessary or not. So, we are going to use these formations, so come up with a plan that fits our desires.

Mike

Aber
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Re: Cancelled Airborne Operations

#5

Post by Aber » 02 Nov 2014, 13:52

I don't have a definitive list of the cancelled operations, but I believe that many were contingency plans. I think there were 10 before FAAA was activated in mid- August, which would have been planned by 21st Army Group and Browning, although there were limited airborne forces available until the 3 divisions returned from Normandy and refitted. These were:
Tuxedo– reinforce Normandy bridgehead
Wastage – reinforce Normandy bridgehead
Wild Oats – expand Normandy bridgehead
Beneficiary - Brittany ports
Swordhilt - Brittany ports
Handsup - Brittany ports
Transfigure – cut line of retreat
Boxer – Channel coast
Axehead - Channel coast
Linnet - Channel coast

After FAAA was formed the planned operations were:
Transfigure – Landing of airhead at Rambouillet in support of US Third Army (cancelled 18 August)
Boxer – seize Boulogne area (cancelled 25 August)
Axehead – support 21st Army Group Seine crossing
Linnet – seize Tournai area, bridges over Escault (cancelled 1 September)
Linnet II – Aachen-Maastricht gap, bridges over Meuse
Comet – Rhine bridges between Arnhem and Wesel (upgraded 9 September)
The bolded names are those that were seriously considered - Axehead was not needed as opposition on the lower Seine was less than expected and Linnet II was a plan proposed by Bereton at such short notice that Browning resigned over it.

There were other plans made as well:
Naples I & II – East of Aachen and bridges over Rhine at Cologne
Milan I & II – Trier and Rhine crossings at Coblenz
Choker I & II – Saarbruken & Rhine crossing at Mainz
Made by Ridgeway for support of 12th Army Group
Talisman – Berlin airfields
SHAEF contingency plan for German collapse
Infatuate – Walcheren
Rejected after short study as unsuitable for airborne forces
Understudy - unknown
Fields of Eton - unknown
From Bereton's correspondence with SHAEF

The politics of airborne forces got complicated especially after FAAA was set up. As I understand it:
FAAA would plan operations focussing on the airborne element, which AEAF then had to execute. Ground planning relied on co-operation between the Airborne Corps and the Army Groups on whose front they were operating. Co-ordination between the FAAA and its airborne corps was not great. SHAEF saw FAAA as its strategic reserve, while the Army Group's focussed on their own sectors, and FAAA also had their own ideas. British doctrine and practice focussed on coup de main operations, while the US liked the strategic airhead of multiple divisions around airfields with tactical aircraft based there.

Mix this in with the personal tensions between Eisenhower, Montgomery, Bradley, Tedder, Leigh-Mallory, Brerton, Browning and Ridgeway and it is surprising that anything happened at all.

Delta Tank
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Re: Cancelled Airborne Operations

#6

Post by Delta Tank » 02 Nov 2014, 16:31

Aber,

Thanks! I know someone listed them on this site once before, and I thought it was you, but I was still trying to find that post. Now, off the top of my head, I get the impression that Bradley did not like or was not inclined to use Airborne forces and Dempsey seemed to always look for ways to use them. Is that statement correct? I will now run down and see who proposed what to benefit whom.

Watching Manchester United vs Manchester City 0-0 tie at the half.

Mike

Aber
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Re: Cancelled Airborne Operations

#7

Post by Aber » 03 Nov 2014, 22:11

Bradley certainly didn't seem keen on airborne operations, but there were a lot of others looking at potential operations, both in the ground forces and FAAA. There was pressure for them to be used on a really strategic operation, and in June Eisenhower had noted that after September 20th the weather was unlikely to be favourable. Therefore once Market Garden had been proposed it would have been very hard to stop.

Delta Tank
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Re: Cancelled Airborne Operations

#8

Post by Delta Tank » 03 Nov 2014, 23:34

Aber wrote:Bradley certainly didn't seem keen on airborne operations, but there were a lot of others looking at potential operations, both in the ground forces and FAAA. There was pressure for them to be used on a really strategic operation, and in June Eisenhower had noted that after September 20th the weather was unlikely to be favourable. Therefore once Market Garden had been proposed it would have been very hard to stop.
Aber,

Weather, yep that would put a damper on things to include using the transport aircraft for resupply missions.

Mike

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