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17th Airborne Division Photos

Troops of the 17th Airborne Division move up toward the front over snow-covered roads near Houffalize, Belgium.	Vehicles in Belgium.
German POWs in the Bulge.	Signalmen of the 17th Airborne Division are laying wire through the town of Marnach to an artillery observation post. 31 Jan 1945.
Marnach, Luxembourg	Pilot briefing prior to Operation Varsity.
Soliders of the 437th Troop Carrier Squadron, 17th Airborne Division [sic], wait by glider at field somewhere in France, before takeoff of First Allied Airborne Army's invasion of Germany, east of the Rhine River.	Men of the 17th Division, First Allied Airborne Army, get ready to move off field near Wesel, Germany, shortly after landing.
Air view of loaded gliders awaiting marshalling before takeoff for an airborne invasion over the Rhine River, in Germany.	US Army paratroops climbing up ramp leading into the new C-46 Commando, used for the first time in this theater in what was perhaps the greatest airborne operation in the history of the war. The landing of the paratroops and airborne infantrymen on the 2nd British Army front.
	17th Airborne Division troops near Orleans, France, install parapacks under C-47 planes for a supply mission east of the Rhine River in Germany.
Troopers of the 17th Airborne Division, First Allied Airborne Army, prepare for the mass airborne assault east of the Rhine River.	C-47s and CG-4As, towplanes and gliders of the US troop carrier forces line a field in France. All loaded and ready to take off in what was the greatest airborne operation in the history of the war, the dropping of paratroops and airborne infantry over the British 2nd Army front.
Troops of the 17th Airborne Division march to the gliders that will carry them over the Rhine River on an airborne mission.	Equipment is loaded under belly of C-46 transport as men of the First Allied Airborne Army to embark for Rhine crossing and Wesel landing.
Men of the 17th Division, First Allied Airborne Army, wait for jeep to hook to loaded supply trailer. This picture was taken minutes after the troops landed near Wesel, Germany in the war's biggest airborne assault.	Sky troopers of the 17th Airborne Division, load equipment on planes and gliders at airport, Coulmiers, France, prior to takeoff of First Allied Airborne Army's invasion of Germany east of the Rhine River.
Men of the First Allied Airborne Army board transports about to take off for the Rhine crossing and landing near Wesel, Germany.	Trucks unload men and equipment to embark on transports and gliders for Rhine crossing to Wesel with First Allied Airborne Army.
Men perform final check before crossing the Rhine River by Airborne Army gliders	Troops of the First Allied Airborne Army walk to their assigned ships as as preparations are made to cross the Rhine River.
Troops of the 17th Airborne Division load on gliders before takeoff on the airborne mission over the Rhine River.
Equipment is loaded under the belly of a C-46 in preparation for the First Allied Airborne Army crossing of the Rhine and landing near Wesel, Germany.	Troopers of the 17th Airborne Division get together with their generals prior to a jump over the Rhine River in Germany. The generals are (standing, center) Brig. Gen. JT Dalby, Staff Officer of the First Allied Airborne Army, who is to make his first jump, and Brig. Gen. Gaither, right, Baltimore, MD, training officer of the parachute school at Ft. Benning, GA, who is making his 13th jump.
Troops of the 17th Airborne Division, First Allied Airborne Army, enter C-46 at at airfield somewhere in England prior to landing of airborne troops east of the Rhine River. This was first use of C-46s in airborne invasion.	Troops of the 17th Airborne Division, First Allied Airborne Army, are marched to the gliders which will carry them on an airborne mission over the Rhine River in Germany.
Maj. Gen. William M. Miley (left) Commanding General, 17th Airborne Division, chats with Brig. Gen. Floyd L. Parks, Greensburg, SC, Chief of Staff, First Allied Airborne Army, prior to take-off for an airborne mission over the Rhine River into Germany. General Miley comes from Starkville, Miss.	440th TC Group, Airfield A-50, Orleans, France. First Allied Airborne Army.
The sky over an airfield in France is filled with gliders and planes of the 17th Airborne Division, taking off on an invasion of Germany, east of the Rhine River.	Transports and gliders fill the air as the 17th Airborne Division takes off for the airborne mission over the Rhine River in Germany.
US Army Paratroopers are seen jumping from two doors in the new C-46 Commando over the British 2nd Army front, in what was perhaps the greatest airborne operation in the history of the war. The Commando was used for the first time in this theater of operations and carries 40 men, fully equipped.	A First Allied Airborne Army trooper hangs suspended from a tree near Wesel, Germany
Members of the glider-borne forces unload a glider near Wesel, Germany.	Troops of the First Allied Airborne Army take cover as enemy fire comes close. This landing was made near Wesel, Germany.
Men of the 17th Airborne Division, First Allied Airborne Army, found these German cars and a dead German soldier in the woods near Wesel, Germany. Soldier was believed to have been murdered by a neighboring farmer.	A First Allied Airborne Army glider frames troops in the background who have just landed near Wesel, Germany (note trooper suspended by chute from tree).
This British Horsa glider crashed during the Allied airborne landing near Wesel, Germany.	An Allied transport plane burns overhead during the First Allied Airborne Army's landing near Wesel, Germany.
One of the gliders that crashed while landing near Wesel, Germany, during the newest Allied airborne operation. Note supply canisters in foreground.	Glider troops of the First Allied Airborne Army leave their gliders and prepare for enemy resistance near Wesel, Germany. They are part of the 40,000 troops that made up this airborne invasion, the greatest in history.
Men of the First Allied Airborne Army stay on the ground as enemy fire comes close. The landing was made near Wesel, Germany.	17th Airborne troops of the First Allied Airborne Army advance through German territory near Wesel, during the greatest airborne assault in history.
First Allied Airborne troopers hug the ground as small arms fire whistles overhead. The paratrooper on the right crawls out of his harness after landing in a field in Wesel, Germany. They are part of the 40,000 troops that made up the greatest Allied airborne invasion in history.	One of the casualties in the newest Allied airborne operation near Wesel, Germany. Note shrouds and chute in background.
Injured trooper, Varsity.	Officers of Signal Battalion with First Allied Airborne Army are pinned down by German 88s firing over slope near Schermbeck, Germany L-R: Lt. Powell, of 995 Somerset St, Plainfield, NJ, and 2nd Lt. BE Killian, Jr of 503 N. School Lane, Lancaster, PA. 54th Sig Bn.
	US Army Airborne troops and British tanks fighting in the streets of Munster, Germany. Men of the 17th Airborne Division, 9th US Army, supported by British tanks of the 6th Guards Armored Brigade have a couple of Nazis on the run.
Supervised by soldier of the 17th Airborne Division, First Allied Airborne Army, German prisoners of war, captured during the first phase of landing near Wesel, Germany, straighten out parachute which dangled from tree.	One of the supply chutes that landed near a tree. German prisoners assist in moving the dropped supplies, for use of skyborne forces near Wesel, Germany
Somewhere near Druen, Germany, General Matthew Ridgeway of the XVIII Airborne Corps talks with Col. Frank Moorman of the 17th Airborne Division, First Allied Airborne Army.	Tech Sgt Erick Swarzkoff, of New York, NY, questions Nazi top kick attached to an anti-aircraft gunnery unit taken in seizure of Appelhusen.
A platoon of the 17th Airborne Division uses salvaged bricks in the ruins of Holsterhausen, Germany to make an approach to a bridge to Dorsten, Germany	Germans shown in prisoner of war stockade of 17th Airborne Division, 9th US Army near Essen, Germany
Polish soldiers though taken prisoner were only too willing to work for the 17th Airborne Division, First Allied Airborne Army, moving supplies near Wesel, Germany	Infantrymen of the 17th Airborne Division, 9th US Army, pick up some extra ammunition on their way into Muenster, Germany.
Battle for Munster. 17th Division troops of the First Allied Airborne Army and British tanks of the 6th Guards Armoured Brigade advance through the outskirts of Munster, Germany during the battle for the city.	Troops of the 17th Airborne Division and tanks of the British 6th Guards Armoured Brigade advance towards Muenster, Germany
Munster, Sherman tanks	Munster, Sherman tanks
General view of the mass burial of Russian civilians executed by the Germans before the arrival of American troops in the town of Duisberg, Germany. The Germans who had been Party members were forced to bury the victims, and the graves were dug in a central location in the town as a constant reminder of the atrocity.	Former members of the Nazi Party in Duisberg, Germany lower the bodies of Russian civilians murdered by the Germans into graves. They were forced to dig the graves, and inter the bodies in a central spot in the town as a constant reminder of the atrocity.
German civilians watch in silence as former members of the Nazi Party in the town of Duisberg, Germany are forced to bury the bodies of Russians who were murdered by the Germans prior to the occupation of the town by American troops. The graves were placed in a central portion of the town as a constant reminder of the atrocity.	German townspeople of Duisberg, Germany, view the body of Russian civilians who was killed by Germans before the arrival of American troops. Burial services were conducted by troops of the 17th Airborne Division, and the former Nazi Party members were forced to dig the graves in a central part of the town, where they would always be a reminder of the atrocity.
German civilians stand silent around the burial place of the Russian civilians who were murdered in the town of Duisberg, Germany, before the occupation of the town by American forces. The Germans were forced to attend the funeral and dig the graves, and the burial plot was placed in a central part of the town as a constant reminder of the atrocity.	Members of an Airborne unit, relieved from frontline duty, relax and enjoy a beer in their EM club opened tonight in a German town. L-R: PFC Richard C. Turner, E. Hartford, CT, Sgt. Louis T. Hurtado, Redondo Beach, CA, Pvt. NA MacFayden, Baltimore, MD, Pvt. Robert Bargy, Rochester, NY, and Pvt. Fred Bright, Marlow, OK. Marxloh, Germany.
Pvt Sidney Rosenfeld of 1001 42nd St, Des Moines, IA, known as one of the most ingenious and energetic men of his outfit, waded ashore at Omaha Beach with the US 6th Engineer Special Brigade and then volunteered for the paratroopers. He is now enroute home with the 17th Airborne Division, having left from Marseilles, France.	Maj. Gen. William M. Miley, CG, 17th Airborne Div, sitting at his desk in Marseilles, France, tells of his experiences in the Rhineland Campaign and the capture of Franz von Papen, German diplomat now awaiting trial as a war criminal.
Maj. Henry G. Plitt, former New York attorney climbed a mountain when his borrowed jeep gave out, and captured Julius Streitcher, Nazi war criminal at Waidring, Germany. Maj. Plitt, a member of the 17th Airborne Division, is enroute to the US having left Marseilles, France.	Join the Glider Troops!
17th Airborne Division officers pose in front of CG-4A Waco glider.

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17th Airborne Division Photos

Troops of the 17th Airborne Division move up toward the front over snow-covered roads near Houffalize, Belgium.

Vehicles in Belgium.

German POWs in the Bulge.

Signalmen of the 17th Airborne Division are laying wire through the town of Marnach to an artillery observation post. 31 Jan 1945.

Marnach, Luxembourg

Pilot briefing prior to Operation Varsity.

Soliders of the 437th Troop Carrier Squadron, 17th Airborne Division [sic], wait by glider at field somewhere in France, before takeoff of First Allied Airborne Army's invasion of Germany, east of the Rhine River.

Men of the 17th Division, First Allied Airborne Army, get ready to move off field near Wesel, Germany, shortly after landing.

Air view of loaded gliders awaiting marshalling before takeoff for an airborne invasion over the Rhine River, in Germany.

US Army paratroops climbing up ramp leading into the new C-46 Commando, used for the first time in this theater in what was perhaps the greatest airborne operation in the history of the war. The landing of the paratroops and airborne infantrymen on the 2nd British Army front.

17th Airborne Division troops near Orleans, France, install parapacks under C-47 planes for a supply mission east of the Rhine River in Germany.

Troopers of the 17th Airborne Division, First Allied Airborne Army, prepare for the mass airborne assault east of the Rhine River.

C-47s and CG-4As, towplanes and gliders of the US troop carrier forces line a field in France. All loaded and ready to take off in what was the greatest airborne operation in the history of the war, the dropping of paratroops and airborne infantry over the British 2nd Army front.

Troops of the 17th Airborne Division march to the gliders that will carry them over the Rhine River on an airborne mission.

Equipment is loaded under belly of C-46 transport as men of the First Allied Airborne Army to embark for Rhine crossing and Wesel landing.

Men of the 17th Division, First Allied Airborne Army, wait for jeep to hook to loaded supply trailer. This picture was taken minutes after the troops landed near Wesel, Germany in the war's biggest airborne assault.

Sky troopers of the 17th Airborne Division, load equipment on planes and gliders at airport, Coulmiers, France, prior to takeoff of First Allied Airborne Army's invasion of Germany east of the Rhine River.

Men of the First Allied Airborne Army board transports about to take off for the Rhine crossing and landing near Wesel, Germany.

Trucks unload men and equipment to embark on transports and gliders for Rhine crossing to Wesel with First Allied Airborne Army.

Men perform final check before crossing the Rhine River by Airborne Army gliders

Troops of the First Allied Airborne Army walk to their assigned ships as as preparations are made to cross the Rhine River.

Troops of the 17th Airborne Division load on gliders before takeoff on the airborne mission over the Rhine River.

Equipment is loaded under the belly of a C-46 in preparation for the First Allied Airborne Army crossing of the Rhine and landing near Wesel, Germany.

Troops of the 17th Airborne Division, First Allied Airborne Army, enter C-46 at at airfield somewhere in England prior to landing of airborne troops east of the Rhine River. This was first use of C-46s in airborne invasion.

Troops of the 17th Airborne Division, First Allied Airborne Army, are marched to the gliders which will carry them on an airborne mission over the Rhine River in Germany.

Maj. Gen. William M. Miley (left) Commanding General, 17th Airborne Division, chats with Brig. Gen. Floyd L. Parks, Greensburg, SC, Chief of Staff, First Allied Airborne Army, prior to take-off for an airborne mission over the Rhine River into Germany. General Miley comes from Starkville, Miss.

440th TC Group, Airfield A-50, Orleans, France. First Allied Airborne Army.

The sky over an airfield in France is filled with gliders and planes of the 17th Airborne Division, taking off on an invasion of Germany, east of the Rhine River.

Transports and gliders fill the air as the 17th Airborne Division takes off for the airborne mission over the Rhine River in Germany.

US Army Paratroopers are seen jumping from two doors in the new C-46 Commando over the British 2nd Army front, in what was perhaps the greatest airborne operation in the history of the war. The Commando was used for the first time in this theater of operations and carries 40 men, fully equipped.

A First Allied Airborne Army trooper hangs suspended from a tree near Wesel, Germany

Members of the glider-borne forces unload a glider near Wesel, Germany.

Troops of the First Allied Airborne Army take cover as enemy fire comes close. This landing was made near Wesel, Germany.

Men of the 17th Airborne Division, First Allied Airborne Army, found these German cars and a dead German soldier in the woods near Wesel, Germany. Soldier was believed to have been murdered by a neighboring farmer.

A First Allied Airborne Army glider frames troops in the background who have just landed near Wesel, Germany (note trooper suspended by chute from tree).

This British Horsa glider crashed during the Allied airborne landing near Wesel, Germany.

An Allied transport plane burns overhead during the First Allied Airborne Army's landing near Wesel, Germany.

One of the gliders that crashed while landing near Wesel, Germany, during the newest Allied airborne operation. Note supply canisters in foreground.

Glider troops of the First Allied Airborne Army leave their gliders and prepare for enemy resistance near Wesel, Germany. They are part of the 40,000 troops that made up this airborne invasion, the greatest in history.

Men of the First Allied Airborne Army stay on the ground as enemy fire comes close. The landing was made near Wesel, Germany.

17th Airborne troops of the First Allied Airborne Army advance through German territory near Wesel, during the greatest airborne assault in history.

First Allied Airborne troopers hug the ground as small arms fire whistles overhead. The paratrooper on the right crawls out of his harness after landing in a field in Wesel, Germany. They are part of the 40,000 troops that made up the greatest Allied airborne invasion in history.

One of the casualties in the newest Allied airborne operation near Wesel, Germany. Note shrouds and chute in background.

Injured trooper, Varsity.

Officers of Signal Battalion with First Allied Airborne Army are pinned down by German 88s firing over slope near Schermbeck, Germany L-R: Lt. Powell, of 995 Somerset St, Plainfield, NJ, and 2nd Lt. BE Killian, Jr of 503 N. School Lane, Lancaster, PA. 54th Sig Bn.

US Army Airborne troops and British tanks fighting in the streets of Munster, Germany. Men of the 17th Airborne Division, 9th US Army, supported by British tanks of the 6th Guards Armored Brigade have a couple of Nazis on the run.

Supervised by soldier of the 17th Airborne Division, First Allied Airborne Army, German prisoners of war, captured during the first phase of landing near Wesel, Germany, straighten out parachute which dangled from tree.

One of the supply chutes that landed near a tree. German prisoners assist in moving the dropped supplies, for use of skyborne forces near Wesel, Germany

Somewhere near Druen, Germany, General Matthew Ridgeway of the XVIII Airborne Corps talks with Col. Frank Moorman of the 17th Airborne Division, First Allied Airborne Army.

Tech Sgt Erick Swarzkoff, of New York, NY, questions Nazi top kick attached to an anti-aircraft gunnery unit taken in seizure of Appelhusen.

A platoon of the 17th Airborne Division uses salvaged bricks in the ruins of Holsterhausen, Germany to make an approach to a bridge to Dorsten, Germany

Germans shown in prisoner of war stockade of 17th Airborne Division, 9th US Army near Essen, Germany

Polish soldiers though taken prisoner were only too willing to work for the 17th Airborne Division, First Allied Airborne Army, moving supplies near Wesel, Germany

Infantrymen of the 17th Airborne Division, 9th US Army, pick up some extra ammunition on their way into Muenster, Germany.

Battle for Munster. 17th Division troops of the First Allied Airborne Army and British tanks of the 6th Guards Armoured Brigade advance through the outskirts of Munster, Germany during the battle for the city.

Troops of the 17th Airborne Division and tanks of the British 6th Guards Armoured Brigade advance towards Muenster, Germany

Munster, Sherman tanks

Munster, Sherman tanks

Former members of the Nazi Party in Duisberg, Germany lower the bodies of Russian civilians murdered by the Germans into graves. They were forced to dig the graves, and inter the bodies in a central spot in the town as a constant reminder of the atrocity.

Maj. Gen. William M. Miley, CG, 17th Airborne Div, sitting at his desk in Marseilles, France, tells of his experiences in the Rhineland Campaign and the capture of Franz von Papen, German diplomat now awaiting trial as a war criminal.

Maj. Henry G. Plitt, former New York attorney climbed a mountain when his borrowed jeep gave out, and captured Julius Streitcher, Nazi war criminal at Waidring, Germany. Maj. Plitt, a member of the 17th Airborne Division, is enroute to the US having left Marseilles, France.

Join the Glider Troops!

17th Airborne Division officers pose in front of CG-4A Waco glider.