Mission Boston Campaign.Mission Detroit

DATE: 21/06/2026

TIME (GMT): 18:00

ERA: WW2

MAP(S): Utah Beach

TYPE: COOP

TEAMSPEAK: ts1.biaarma.com

GAME: Arma 3

EVENT: Official

AUTHOR(S): Aris and Lord for Brothers in Arms

SLOTS: 68 / 82

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RATING: (25)

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Mission Boston was a parachute combat assault at night by Major General Matthew Ridgway U.S. 82nd Airborne Division on June 6, 1944, part of the American airborne landings in Normandy during World War II. Boston was a component element of Operation Neptune, the assault portion of the Allied invasion of Normandy, codenamed Operation Overlord. 6,420 paratroopers jumped from nearly 370 Douglas C-47 Skytrain troop carrier aircraft into an intended objective area of roughly 10 square miles located on either side of the Merderet river on the Cotentin Peninsula of France, five hours ahead of the beach landings.

The drops were scattered by bad weather and German anti-aircraft fire over an area three to four times as large as that planned. Two inexperienced units of the 82nd, the 507th and 508th Parachute Infantry Regiments (PIR), were given the mission of blocking approaches west of the Merderet River, but most of their paratroops missed their drop zones entirely. The veteran 505th PIR jumped accurately and captured its objective, the town of Sainte-Mere Eglise, which proved essential to the success of the division.

Boston was the second of two combat jumps, with Mission Albany preceding it by one hour to drop the 101st Airborne Division. Each mission consisted of three regimental-sized air landings. Drop Zones T and N were west of the Merderet River from north to south, and Drop Zone O was east of it, just northwest of Sainte Mere Eglise.

Each of its parachute infantry regiments (PIR) was transported by three or four , formations containing 36, 45, or 54 C-47s, totalling ten serials and 369 aircraft. The planes, individually numbered within a serial by chalk numbers (literally numbers chalked on the airplanes to aid paratroopers in boarding the correct airplane), were organized into flights. The serials were scheduled over the drop zones at six-minute intervals.

The main combat assaults were preceded at each drop zone by three teams of pathfinders that arrived thirty minutes before the main assault to set up navigation aids, including Eureka radar transponder beacons and marker lights, to aid the C-47s in locating the DZs in the dark.

To achieve surprise, the parachute drops were routed to approach Normandy at low altitude from the west. The serials took off beginning at 22:30 on June 5, assembled into formations, and flew southwest over the English Channel at 500 feet above sea level to remain below German radar coverage. Once over water all lights except formation lights were turned off, and these were reduced to their lowest practical intensity. At a stationary marker boat code-named Hoboken and carrying a Eureka beacon they made a left turn to the southeast and flew between the Channel Islands of Guernsey and Alderney to their initial point on the Cotentin coast near Les Pieux, code-named Peoria.

Over the Cotentin Peninsula numerous factors negatively affected the accuracy of the drops, including a solid cloud bank over the entire western half of the 22-mile wide peninsula at penetration altitude (1500 feet MSL), an opaque ground fog over many drop zones, and intense German anti-aircraft fire . The weather conditions broke up and dispersed many formations and the ground fire scattered them even more. However, the primary factor limiting success of the paratroop units, because it magnified all the errors resulting from the above factors, was the decision to make a massive parachute drop at night.

Timely assembly enabled the 505th PIR to accomplish two of its missions on schedule. The 3rd Battalion captured Sainte Mere Eglise by 04:30 after hard firefights. It set out roadblocks and took up defensive positions against expected counterattacks. The 2nd Battalion established a blocking position on the northern approaches to Sainte Mere Eglise with a single platoon (3rd Platoon, D Company) while the rest of the unit reinforced the 3rd Battalion when it came under heavy attack from the south by infantry and armor at mid-morning. The platoon delayed two companies of the 1058th Grenadier Regiment at Neuville-au-Plain for eight hours, allowing the troops in Sainte Mère Église to repel the southern threat. The 3rd Battalion, 505th PIR may have been given credit for securing Sainte Mere Eglise, but it was parts of F Company of the 2nd Battalion which landed in downtown Sainte Mere Eglise. Private John Steele, one of the men hanging on the church steeple, was in F Company. Additionally, some of the RAF Cottesmore aircraft used for the Normandy drop were C-53 Skytroopers.

Mission Detroit was a morning glider-borne combat assault in the American airborne landings in Normandy (2^nd Wave), made by elements of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division and especially from the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment the early morning of June 6, with the aim of reinforcing the paratroopers with vehicles and Cannons.