World War II D-Day: 101st Airborne in France

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This photo was taken 8 June 1944 by a U.S. Army Signal Corps photographer in a French village at St. Marcouf, near Utah Beach, France, part of the historic D-Day invasion that began only two days earlier. It shows a group of 101st Airborne paratroopers at an assembly point. A captured German small tracked vehicle is in the foreground. The book and TV series "Band of Brothers" was based on Company E, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, possibly this Company or a closely related one.

This photo was released by Army censors on 10 June 1944, with the directive that the insignia be deleted.

Today in WW II: 8 Feb 1940 Germans establish the first large Jewish ghetto in Poland in the city of Lodz. More ↓

8 Feb 1941 US House of Representatives passes the Lend-Lease Act [265 to 165].
8 Feb 1942 Battle of Sarimbun Beach begins, the first stage of the Japanese assault on Singapore.
8 Feb 1942 Japanese Offensive in Burma begins [8 Feb-2 May].
8 Feb 1945 Battle of the Reichswald: British and Canadian forces under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery begin Operation Veritable [8 Feb-11 Mar].
Visit the Olive-Drab.com World War II Timeline for day-by-day events 1939-1945! See also WW2 Books.