In my last article (appearing in issue number 8 of this magazine), a U.S. Army unit listing appropriate to GDW's Road to the Rhine game appeared. This detailed troop list covered dates and locations of arrivals for U.S. infantry divisions, armor divisions, airborne divisions, separate infantry regiments, and mechanized cavalry groups in the European Theater of Operations 1944-1945.

As stated in that article, the multitude of separate U.S. airborne regiments had been deleted in the interest of game simplicity and only divisions used, and thus airborne units were not detailed to any extent other than to list these large divisional formations. Due to the peculiar nature of U.S. airborne operations, such divisional "lumping" is somewhat inaccurate. Due to reader response, a more exact presentation of the U.S. airborne effort during the time span of Road to the Rhine follows.

U.S. Army Airborne Regiments and Separate Battalions ETO 1944-45
Regiment	Division	Arrival England	Arrival France	Combat Assaults
88th Glider	13th Abn	from U.S.A.	6 Feb 45	none
193rd Glider [1]	17th Abn	28 Aug 44	31 Dec 44	none
194th Glider	17th Abn	28 Aug 44	24 Dec 44	Wesel
325th Glider	82nd Abn	14 Feb 44	6 Jun 44	D-Day, MG
326th Glider	13th Abn	from U.S.A.	6 Feb 45	none
327th Glider	101st Abn	15 Sep 43	6 Jun 44	D-Day, MG
401st Glider [2]	101st Abn	18 Oct 43	6 Jun 44	D-Day, MG
501st Parachute	separate	31 Jan 44	6 Jun 44	D-Day, MG
502nd Parachute	101st Abn	18 Oct 43	6 Jun 44	D-Day, MG
504th Parachute	82nd Abn	23 Apr 44	Sep 44	MG
505th Parachute	82nd Abn	14 Feb 44	6 Jun 44	D-Day, MG
506th Parachute	separate [3]	15 Sep 43	6 Jun 44	D-Day, MG
507th Parachute	separate [4]	16 Dec 43	6 Jun 44	D-Day, MG, Wesel
508th Parachute	separate [5]	13 Mar 44	6 Jun 44	D-Day, MG
513th Parachute	17th Abn	28 Aug 44	24 Dec 44	Wesel
514th Glider	separate	28 Aug 44	24 Dec 44	none
515th Parachute	13th Abn	from U.S.A.	6 Feb 45	none
517th Parachute	separate [6]	from Italy	15 Aug 44	Southern France
509th Parachute	separate	from Italy	15 Aug 44	Southern France
550th Glider [7]	separate	from Sicily	15 Aug 44	Southern France
551st Parachute	separate	from Italy	15 Aug 44	Southern France
(MG = Market Garden)

Notes:

1. disbanded 3 Jan 45 in Belgium
2. elements only; entire regiment in France 28 Nov 44; disbanded 1 Mar 45 in France.
3. assigned officially to 101st Airborne Division 1 Mar 45.
4. assigned to 17th Airborne Division 1 Mar 45.
5. was always attached to the 82nd Airborne Division, but was officially an independent parachute infantry regiment.
6. assigned to 13th Airborne Division 25 Jan 45.
7. disbanded 1 Mar 45 in Belgium.

Addenda

by Frank Chadwick

401st Glider

The 401st Glider Regiment did not drop as a regiment at D-Day but was instead broken up with one battalion going to the 325th Glider and one to the 327th Glider. The pre- war organization of a glider regiment was two battalions, but by breaking up the 401st both of the other two glider regiments listed above fought throughout the war with three battalions.

82nd Airborne Division

The 82nd was deployed at Salerno with its "official" organization of two parachute regiments (504 and 505) and one glider regiment (325). These remained the organic regiments of the division throughout the war. When the division was transferred to England to prepare for Overlord, however, the 504th remained behind.

The 504th followed the division later and arrived in England before Overlord, but not in time to participate sufficiently in the training to take part in the jump. To bring the 82nd up to strength for the operation, the 11th Airborne Brigade (507th and 508th Parachute Regiments) was attached to the division, thus giving the division its more familiar strength of three parachute and one glider regiments. When the 504th later rejoined the division for Market Garden, the 507th was detached.

Interestingly enough, this constant shuffling of regiments has confused even the U.S. Army. The 504th Parachute to this day carries D-Day as a battle honor, while in fact it did not enter Europe until September.