507th Infantry Regiment

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507th Parachute Infantry Regiment
Active	1942–1945, 1948-1949, 1985-
Country	USA
Branch	Army
Type	Parachute Infantry
Nickname	Raff's Ruffians
Battles/wars	Battle of Normandy, Operation Varsity
Commanders
Notable commanders	Edson Raff

During World War II, the 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment (507th PIR) was a regiment of the 82d Airborne Division and, later, 17th Airborne Division of the United States Army.

The regiment was initially formed at Camp Toccoa, Georgia on 20 July 1942. It would participate in three operations during the war: D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge and Operation Varsity.

Assigned to the 82d Airborne Division after arriving in Britain, their D-Day objective was to help secure the Merderet River crossings. Although their target was supposed to be in Drop Zone T, north of Amfreville, the confusion caused by clouds and flak resulted in a wide scattering of the unit. Because their initial commander, Lieutenant Colonel George V Millett Jr was captured after a few days in Amfreville, Colonel Edson Raff, who had recently led the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion, to command the regiment. As such, the regiment became known as Raff's Ruffians. After returning to England, the 507th was permanently assigned to the 17th Airborne Division, because another of the 82d's regiments, the 504th PIR, had returned by then from Anzio.

As part of the 17th, the 507th was not utilized in Operation Market Garden and was still in England training with the new division when the Battle of the Bulge began. The unit redeployed to France on 25 December 1944, and was used in the counter-attacks against the Germans in January and early February of 1945.

Finally, the regiment dropped near Wesel, Germany on 24 March to spearhead the Division's assault during Operation Varsity.

The regiment was shipped home and de-activated in September of 1945.

[edit] Recent history

The regiment was briefly re-activated in the late 1940s, then again in 1985. On 23 October 1985, it was reorganized and redesignated as the 507th Infantry, a parent regiment under the United States Army Regimental System, and transferred to the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command. The 1st Battalion serves as the U.S. Army Airborne School.

In 2004, PBS aired the documentary, D-Day: Down to Earth — Return of the 507th. This film connects the regiment's contribution in the war with their journey back to Normandy for the unveiling of a monument in 2002.

[edit] References

Martin K. a. Morgan (2004). Down to Earth: The 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment in Normandy: June 6-July 11 1944. Schiffer Publishing. ISBN 0-7643-2011-4.