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The 6th Airborne Division advance to the River Seine occurred in August 1944, in the later stages of Operation Overlord following the German Army's defeat in the Falaise pocket, during the Second World War. The British 6th Airborne Division was one of the first Allied units to arrive in Normandy on D-Day, 6 June 1944, and successfully secured the left flank of the invasion zone. Resisting efforts to dislodge them by the combined efforts of two infantry and one panzer division, a month later they were ordered to prepare to advance.〔Saunders, p.180〕 Their objective was the mouth of the River Seine, away. To assist them in carrying out their mission, the division was reinforced by two Commando brigades, the 1st and 4th, a Belgian infantry brigade and a Dutch infantry brigade, as well as increased artillery support. To reach the Seine, the division had to cross three rivers that had been flooded by the Germans, and had only two roads available to them. The division began their advance on 17 August after the German Army started to withdraw. Fighting several small battles, by the end of the month they reached their objective at the River Seine. Here the division halted until early in September, when they returned to England to prepare for further airborne operations later in the war. ==Background== On 6 June 1944, the 6th Airborne Division landed in Normandy. Their mission was to secure the left flank of the invasion zone, by occupying and dominating the high ground between the River Orne and the River Dives.〔Saunders, p.143〕〔Gregory, p.101〕 Despite the parachute troops being widely scattered, they managed to complete all of their objectives. After six days of counter-attacks by German armour and infantry, the division's position was secure by the end of the Battle of Breville on 12 June. Thereafter, they suffered only artillery bombardments.〔Cole, p.93〕 Almost two months later on 7 August, the division was warned to prepare to advance. Their objective would be the mouth of the River Seine.〔Otway, pp.187–188〕 To reinforce the lightly armed and equipped airborne division, the British 1st and 4th Special Service Brigades, together with the 1st Belgian and the Netherlands Infantry Brigades were placed under their command.〔Cole, p.97〕 Additional artillery support was provided by two field artillery regiments, a medium artillery battery, and a heavy anti-aircraft artillery regiment used in a field artillery role.〔Saunders, pp.196–197〕 In the operation the 6th Airborne Division together with the 7th Armoured Division, the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division and the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division, formed the I Corps, attached to the First Canadian Army. When issuing his orders, Lieutenant General John Crocker, the Corps commander, aware that the 6th Airborne had almost no artillery, vehicles or engineer equipment, did not expect them to advance quickly. To reach the River Seine the division would have to cross three main rivers, along only two main lines of advance. One route was in the north, running along the French coast, while the other route was further inland between Troarn and Pont Audemer.〔Saunders, p.196〕 By this stage of Operation Overlord, German forces were of an unknown quantity and quality, but the division would be confronted by elements of Germany's 711th Infantry Division, a part of the 15th Army.〔 The 711th was composed of the 731st and the 744th Grenadier Infantry Regiments, together with artillery and other supporting arms.〔Mitcham, p.192〕 Even before the invasion the German division had not been considered a front line formation, but rather a static division on anti-invasion duties, and many of its units had not been at full strength. Furthermore, many of its troops were older than was normal in a first line division, or were conscripted foreigners from Poland and Russia. Being a static division, it was hampered further by having almost no transport of its own, and what was available was mostly horse drawn.〔Horn and Wyczynski, p.130〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「6th Airborne Division advance to the River Seine」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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