Operation Varsity

Operation Varsity was WWII's last major airborne assault, aimed at supporting the Allied crossing of the Rhine into Germany in March 1945. While airborne assault had become a well-practiced sport by that time in the war, these kind of operations were still limited by the capacity of existing troop carrier units, which had been using mostly the Douglas C-47 Skytrain for the task. Varsity saw the introduction of the Curtiss C-46 Commando as a troop carrier aircraft on the European theatre. The Commando could carry twice as many paratroopers as the C-47 (thirty-six, an entire platoon, versus eighteen). Furthermore, it was faster and had doors on either side of the cabin, allowing troops to exit the aircraft quickly. One drawback for Varsity planners was that only 75 Commandos would be available, and most soldiers would still be carried by the older, slower C-47's. Despite these advantages, the Commando would prove to have a fatal flaw that only became apparent during the actual combat drop, with tragic consequences.

The first planes carrying the 17^th Airborne Division took off at dawn on 24 March 1945, between 0700 and 0900. The airborne lift included a total of 9,387 paratroopers and glider-borne soldiers, carried aboard 72 C-46's, 836 C-47's, and 906 CG-4A gliders. This, combined with the British airborne armada of nearly 800 aircraft and 420 gliders carrying over 8,000 soldiers, stretched nearly 350 km and took 37 minutes to pass a given point. The two formations rendezvoused in the skies near Brussels, Belgium before proceeding to the drop zones 160 km away. In addition, nearly 1,000 Allied fighters escorted the transports.

The first aircraft carrying the 17^th Airborne reached the target area at 0953, slightly ahead of schedule. While the weather was sunny and bright, the drop zones were obscured by haze caused by the massive smoke screen covering the river crossings and Allied artillery. As a result, the first troops from the 1^st Battalion, 507^th Parachute Infantry, which included Colonel Raff, the regimental commander, landed nearly 4 km away from their planned drop zone. Raff gathered a group of paratroopers together, while Major Paul Smith, the battalion commander, organized another, and both set out to take their objectives and to eliminate enemy positions firing on the landing zones. As Smith’s force took out some German anti-aircraft positions, Raff’s group eliminated several machine guns and rooted out some dug in infantry. As Raff’s men worked their way south to the regimental objective, the town of Diersfordter, they spotted a battery of 150mm guns firing from a clearing in some nearby woods. Raff’s men quickly eliminated the battery, killing 55 Germans and capturing over 300.

The 2^nd and 3^rd Battalions of the 507^th, commanded by Lt. Colonels Charles Timmes and Allen Taylor, respectively, along with Lt. Colonel Edward S. Branigan’s 464^th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion, landed on their assigned drop zones, assembled quickly, and set out to seize Diersfordter and the castle that dominated the area. Two German tanks emerged from the castle grounds, but both were quickly knocked out, one by a well-placed shot from a 57mm recoilless rifle, the first successful use of the weapon in combat. By 1500, resistance in the castle ended after Company G cleared the structure room by room. The troopers collected over 300 prisoners, including a number of senior officers from the German LXXXVI Corps and 84^th Infantry Division.

In one instance, a stick of paratroopers from the 507^th’s Company G came under fire from German riflemen and a machine gun shortly after hitting the ground. As the troopers struggled to get out of their harnesses, Private George J. Peters charged the enemy machine gun position alone. Despite being hit and knocked down twice, he continued his one-man assault and eliminated the gun with grenades. Peters died shortly after from his wounds and was subsequently awarded the Medal of Honor.

Within a couple of hours, the 507^th had taken most of its objectives, taking 1,000 prisoners, destroying five tanks, and capturing or destroying several batteries of artillery. Compared to other units in the 17^th Airborne Division, the 507^th Combat Team’s casualties had been light–about 150 killed and wounded. Shortly after Raff set up his regimental command post, MG Miley established the divisional headquarters in the nearby village of Fluren to await the eventual arrival of Ridgway and the XVIII Airborne Corps staff.

Unlike the 507^th’s drop, which faced relatively light anti-aircraft fire, the planes carrying the 513^th Parachute Infantry ran into an intense flak barrage as they approached the drop zones. Many enemy gun positions survived the Allied aerial and artillery bombardment and now turned their attention to the low-flying transport planes and descending paratroopers overhead. Almost immediately, the C-46’s fatal flaw became apparent. The planes lacked self-sealing fuel tanks; if a fuel tank was punctured, high octane aviation gas would stream along the wings towards the fuselage. All it took was a single spark to turn each plane into a flying inferno. German 20mm incendiary rounds proved extremely lethal and set several damaged aircraft ablaze. Ridgway later reported that the heaviest losses during Varsity came during the first thirty minutes of the 513^th’s drop. The C-46 carrying the 513^th’s commander, Col. Coutts, was hit by long-range anti-aircraft fire and was ablaze as it crossed the Rhine. Coutt’s stick managed to hook up one wounded soldier and shove him out of the plane before the rest followed. Nineteen of the seventy-two C-46's were lost, with fourteen going down in flames, some with paratroopers on board. Another thirty-eight were severely damaged. Many soldiers wounded during the flight to the drop zones chose to jump and take their chances rather than remain in the dangerously flawed aircraft.  After Varsity, Ridgway issued orders prohibiting the use of C-46's in future airborne operations.

After assembling under heavy fire, the battalions of the 513^th fought their way south towards their assigned objectives, destroying two tanks, a self-propelled gun, and two batteries of 88mm guns. One battalion reached the Issel River, the easternmost of the first day’s objectives. The 507^th, however, in being dropped in the wrong area, had already seized many of the 513^th’s objectives by the time they reached their intended drop zones. As the 513^th’s Company E advanced south, it came under heavy fire from some buildings. Machine guns immediately pinned down one platoon. With complete disregard for his own safety, PFC Stuart S. Stryker rose and led a charge towards the enemy. Stryker was cut down by enemy fire, but his actions rallied others in the company, and shortly thereafter, they overran the German position, taking over 200 German prisoners and freeing three American airmen who had been shot down and captured. Stryker was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for his actions, the second trooper from the 17^th Airborne to earn the Medal of Honor during Varsity.

The 513^th’s supporting artillery, the 466^th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion, commanded by Lt. Colonel Ken Booth, landed on the correct drop zone southeast of Hamminkeln, but enemy fire there was more intense than that faced by the infantry. German fire took a heavy toll among the battalion’s officers, and many artillerymen were forced to fight as infantry while others assembled their 75mm PAK howitzers and gathered ammunition and equipment. Despite the intense fire, the artillerymen assembled several of their guns within a half hour and were soon firing at German targets. By 1200, the 466^th had captured ten German 76mm guns and were providing artillery support for the 513^th Parachute Infantry.

Among the 466^th were two VIP observers from the States: Brigadier General Ridgley M. Gaither, commandant of the Parachute School at Fort Benning, GA, and Brigadier General Josiah T. Dalbey, commander of the Airborne Training Center at Camp Mackall, NC. Dalbey personally led a successful attack on a battery of 20mm anti-aircraft guns that was pouring a deadly fire on the Americans.

By approximately 1530, the 513^th Combat Team had reached all of its objectives, taking over 1,500 Germans prisoner in the process. Compared with the 507^th, however, the 513^th suffered far heavier casualties. For their actions in Varsity, the 513^th Parachute Infantry and the 466^th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion earned a Presidential Unit Citation.

The first American glider troops (Colonel Pierce’s 194^th Glider Infantry Regiment and Lt. Colonel Joseph W. Keating’s 681^st Glider Field Artillery Battalion in double towed gliders) begin arriving at around 1030, with most reaching the correct landing zones despite the haze and heavy ground fire. German flak took a heavy toll on the 295 tow aircraft–twelve were shot down, another fourteen were forced to make crash landings, and 126 suffered heavy damage. Six CG-4A gliders were shot down, and most of the incoming craft were damaged on their final landing approach. German automatic weapons and rifle fire raked many of the gliders once they were on the ground. Unlike previous air assaults, Varsity marked the first time gliders came down in landing zones not already secured by paratroopers. Eighteen glider pilots were killed and another eighty were wounded or injured in crashes.

The second wave of American glider troops (Lt. Colonel Paul F. Oswald’s 680^th Glider Field Artillery Battalion, recently re-equipped with short-barreled 105mm howitzers, and various support elements) transported in single tow gliders, arrived around 1200. Anti-aircraft fire had subsided considerably, but it still took a toll–three C-47s and one glider were shot down and dozens of each were damaged. Fourteen glider pilots were killed and another twenty-six were wounded or injured.

The air supply operation followed within minutes of the last glider landing. Again, German anti-aircraft fire took a heavy toll on the 240 low flying B-24s, shooting down fifteen and badly damaging 104. The drops to the American forces were scattered and only fifty percent of the air dropped bundles were recovered. Further aerial supply drops were cancelled, partly because of the heavy aircraft losses, but also because the Allied amphibious forces were making good progress.

By 1200, most of the 194^th Glider Infantry and its attached 681^st Glider Field Artillery Battalion had assembled under heavy fire amid the wreckage of dozens of gliders. By 1400, the 194^th Combat Team, eager to prove that glider troops were on par with the vaunted paratroopers, had accomplished most of its assigned missions. While suffering heavy casualties, the 194^th took 1,150 prisoners, eliminated fifty artillery pieces, and destroyed ten tanks. Several tanks were knocked out by anti-tank teams carrying bazookas. Private Robert Weber destroyed one tank from several hundred yards away when he miraculously dropped a bazooka round into the open hatch of the approaching panzer.

One new innovation employed by the 194^th was to train the 875 glider pilots and co-pilots in rudimentary battlefield tactics in the weeks before Varsity, organize them into a provisional battalion of four companies, and assign them specific infantry missions. In previous operations, some pilots had guarded prisoners and command posts after landing their gliders, but most had nothing to do and often “got in the way.” The pilots were enthusiastic about their new mission and accorded themselves well. On the night of 24 March, one company of pilots repulsed  a German counterattack on the 194^th’s perimeter.

The 17^th’s “divisional” artillery, Lt. Colonel Oswald’s 680^th Glider Field Artillery Battalion, also accorded itself well. Upon landing, while some gunners fought as infantry to clear Germans firing on the landing zone, the rest assembled nine 105mm howitzers and gathered ammunition and equipment from the smashed gliders. By the end of the day, the 680^th had captured 150 Germans and two batteries of  enemy artillery, and provided artillery support for the 17^th Airborne, earning the battalion a Presidential Unit Citation. The 680^th’s losses, however, were heavy–nineteen killed and fifty-six wounded.

At 1458, patrols from the British 1^st Commando Brigade marching out of Wesel reached elements of the 17^th Airborne, marking the first juncture of airborne and amphibious units in Plunder/Varsity. This was also the fastest link-up of ground and airborne forces in the war – about five hours.

By the early afternoon, Ridgway crossed the Rhine in an amphibious tracked vehicle and reached Miley’s headquarters at 1526. Miley explained to Ridgway that the operation had been going well, that he was in radio contact with all units, and that all combat teams were fighting as cohesive units and had reached almost all of their objectives, save for the bridges over the Issel River and Issel Canal (they would be taken later in the day).

Ridgway radioed the news to the XVIII Airborne Corps headquarters still in Xanthen on the western side of the Rhine before setting out in a three jeep convoy to visit the rest of the 17^th Airborne and British 6^th Airborne Division. At around midnight, Ridgway’s party ran into a German patrol and a sharp firefight ensued. Ridgway emptied his weapon and was reloading when a German grenade exploded under his jeep. A fragment lodged in Ridgway’s shoulder, resulting in a painful but relatively minor wound. He received a Purple Heart but ignored a doctor’s advice to have the fragment removed and carried it with him for the rest of his life.

In the days following 24 March, XVIII Airborne Corps consolidated and expanded its sector and prepared for the drive east into the heart of Hitler’s Reich. The corps would soon be attached to the US Ninth Army and Bradley’s 12^th Army Group, and take part in the encirclement of the Ruhr, one of the last major operations in western Germany before VE Day on 8 May 1945.

While tactically successful, many US Army officers at the time, and later, historians studying Varsity, questioned whether the operation should have ever been conducted. While performing spectacularly in its first combat airborne assault, the 17^th Airborne Division alone lost 159 killed, 522 wounded, and 840 missing (many of whom would later turn up in the following days and fight again). IX Troop Carrier Command lost another 41 killed, 153 wounded, and 163 missing. Fifty gliders and forty-four transport aircraft were destroyed, another 332 transport planes were damaged, and only a few of the gliders were salvageable. British losses among the 6^th Airborne Division were even heavier, especially in the number of  killed.

At the end of 24 March 1945, Major General Miley was justifiably proud of his 17^th Airborne Division. In its first combat drop, the division conducted a spectacular operation and achieved its objectives quickly despite the chaos inherent in a massive airborne assault. Whether or not Operation Varsity was actually necessary will be continue to be debated, but that in no way diminishes the courage and resourcefulness demonstrated by the soldiers who proudly served in the 17^th Airborne Division, and in the process, wrote another chapter in the history of the US Army and the American airborne forces.

Ninth Air Force

52^nd Troop Carrier Wing:

313^th Troop Carrier Group: 74 Commandos, 20 lost, 33 damaged, 1 returned early

29^th Troop Carrier Squadron (5X), Chalks 19 to 36 flying from RAF Folkingham, England: 18 Commandos, 2 lost, 7 damaged

47^th Troop Carrier Squadron (N3), Chalks 55 to 72 flying from RAF Folkingham, England: 18 Commandos, 4 lost, 7 damaged

48^th Troop Carrier Squadron (Z7), Chalks 37 to 54 flying from Grevillers-Achiet, France: 19 Commandos, 8 lost, 10 damaged, 1 returned early

49^th Troop Carrier Squadron (H2), Chalks 1 to 18 flying from RAF Folkingham, England: 19 Commandos, 6 lost, 9 damaged

* These statistics take into account one 49^th TCS Commando which crashed on takeoff (Chalk 13) and one 48^th TCS Commando that returned early due to engine problems (Chalk 41). Both were immediately replaced by spare aircraft and kept the same Chalk number.