Mission Albany

Mission Albany
Part of the American airborne landings in Normandy, Operation Overlord
Insignia of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division.
Date 6–15 June 1944 Location Normandy, France Result American victory
Belligerents
United States	Nazi Germany
Commanders and leaders
Maxwell D. Taylor	Friedrich von der Heydte
Units involved
101st Airborne Division 65th Armored Field Artillery Battalion Company A, 746th Tank Battalion	6th Fallschirmjager Regiment German III Battalion-191st Artillery Regiment.
Strength
6,928 paratroops 2,300 seaborne glider troop reinforcements	approx. 6,000 (7 battalions infantry, one regiment artillery)
Casualties and losses
(campaign) 546 killed 2,217 wounded 1,907 missing	estimated 4,500 killed, wounded, and missing

Mission Albany was a parachute combat assault at night by the U.S. 101st Airborne Division on June 6, 1944, part of the American airborne landings in Normandy during World War II. It was the opening step of Operation Neptune, the assault portion of the Allied invasion of Normandy, Operation Overlord. Five hours ahead of the D-Day landings, 6,928 paratroopers jumped from 443 C-47 Skytrain troop-carrier planes into the southeast corner of France's Cotentin Peninsula.^[1] The troops were meant to land in an area of roughly 15 square miles (39 km²), but were scattered by bad weather and German ground fire over an area twice as large, with four sticks dropped as far as 20 miles (32 km) away.

The division took most of its objectives on D-Day, but required four days to consolidate its scattered units and complete its mission of securing the left flank and rear of the U.S. VII Corps, reinforced by 2,300 glider infantry troops who landed by sea.