1st Airborne Task Force (United States)
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The 1st Airborne Task Force was an ad-hoc United States Army airborne force activated for Operation Dragoon, the invasion of Southern France, during World War II.
The task force was activated on July 11th, 1944, under the command of Major General Robert T. Frederick. It consisted of the British 2nd Independent Parachute Brigade, the U.S. 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion (PIB) with the attached 463rd Parachute Field Artillery Battalion, the 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team (PRCT), the 550th Glider Infantry Battalion, and the 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion.
The 509th PIB had the most combat experience of all the U.S. airborne units. It fought in French Northwest Africa and saw extensive action in Italy including storming ashore with the Fifth United States Army at Anzio. The 517th PRCT, commanded by Colonel Rupert D Graves, was the largest unit assigned to 1st ABTF. It included the 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment, the 460th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion and the 596th Parachute Combat Engineer Company (596th PCEC).
The final plan of the attack ordered the 1st ABTF to jump into the Le Muy area just before dawn to seize strategic high-ground positions in order to repel German forces attempting to overrun the assault areas.
In the pre-dawn hours of August 15th the pathfinders were misdropped. However, the skill of the transport pilots enabled 85% of all the paratroopers to jump directly on their assigned DZ. By that evening Operation Dragoon was considered a huge success.
After the success of Operation Dragoon the 1st ABTF was assigned to liberate Cannes and Nice, then to secure strategic mountaintop positions in the Maritime Alps along the Franco-Italian border.
The 1st Airborne Task Force was disbanded after Thanskgiving in November, 1944 and its units moved to Soissons, France where the warmth of Southern France would soon be replaced by the brutal winter of the Ardennes.
