"82nd in Normandy- I&R?" Topic

I tried this earlier but it got hijacked and put into a different thread. Trying again.

Did the regiments of the 82nd – either parachute or glider – have I&R platoons in Normandy?
I realize jeeps might have been a problem initially, but should have access to them after the first couple of days.

Best I've got so far is something on the 101st division recon platoon, which wasn't supposed to exist:

"The 101st did not have an organic recon unit, as Army doctrine believed airborne units would not be in combat long enough to need one. Nevertheless, they unofficially formed the Division Recon Platoon in Division HQ sometime in early 1943. When the Platoon came to England, the roughly 30-ish men were split up among the division glider units for further training.

"When the 401st was split, rather than waste the regimental HQ, it was decided that the Recon Platoon would transfer to HQ/401 and merge with men of the regimental I&R Platoon to form a bolstered Division Recon Platoon. It was here that Paul and around ten other men became official members of Division Recon.

"On June 6, 1944, the Recon Platoon unloaded its 46 men, 10 jeeps, and six motorcycles at Tare Green on Utah Beach off of LST-50. The platoon's orders were to immediately race inland, make contact with division HQ, and begin patrolling along the bridges, rivers, and borders of the division area of operations to determine the location, disposition, strength, and intention of German troops. They did so, but often found themselves caught up supporting various other operations of the division. On June 10, for example, Recon Platoon troops helped Colonel Robert Cole's charge of 3/502 towards Carentan. Two days later, Recon Platoon used their armed jeeps to support the assault of the 327th GIR into Carentan. The Platoon lost several men during the Normandy campaign, big losses for a small platoon, but nevertheless played a critical role as the division's eyes and ears until they went back to England in July."

link

Not directly what you were looking for, but enough to create a presumption that I&R elements, with jeeps, were landed on the beaches on D-Day and then had to link up with the air-landed elements of the divisions.

Here we go! 325th landed on 7 June--including the Headquarters Company, and on the 9th "In the morning, 5 men of Regimental Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon was attached to the Division Reconnaissance Platoon."
link
So (a) the 82nd also had a recon platoon, and the 325th I&R platoon was present no later than the morning of 9 June, and presumably arrived with the rest of the regiment on the 7th.

I'll see what I can do with the airborne regiments.

And the best I did was a reference to a patrol from the 508th's S-2 section--but HHC 508th had a notably bad drop.
link

I think it's a valid presumption that the I&R platoons were all present, and those of the airborne regiments probably landed on the beaches on the 6th.

Close enough to include it in a war game scenario
thanks Robert

Thought I would have a check against the authorised T/Os of the Feb 1944 (which were updated from those of Feb 1942), though of course they wouldn't include any extemporised units.

The Glider Inf Regt included an Intelligence Section in its HQ Coy, in which was a Reconnaissance Group of a Lieutenant, Sergeant and 27 men (3 Corporals, 3 messengers and 21 scouts), presumably deployed as three Squads. All armed with carbines, except the Corporals with rifles.

In the Parachute Inf Regt, HQ Coy had an Intelligence Section, with only 7 dedicated scouts, plus photo and topo pers as well as 4 Corporals and a Staff Sergeant.

In both Glider and Parachute Regts, all the MT was concentrated in the Service Coy, which had a modest number of 1/4-ton, 3/4-ton and 2.5-ton trucks (13 Jeeps for Para and 14 Jeeps for Glider Regts in their respective Transportation Pls).

Gary