[RJay]

Just finished reading another history of D-Day. For the most part, the BAR was the only automatic weapon the Airborne had for the first couple of days. Not counting the M1A1 or Thompson. Most of the equipment bundles were lost when they were released too soon. On Market Garden Galvin wanted all of his Airborne to have a sidearm, don't think he was able to fulfill that desire,but many of them were so armed. Basically, the only firepower they had was what was strapped to their bods. They had no heavy weapons other than a few bazookas, They even lost about 90 percent of their radios. They were unaware for most of the day of what was happening on the beaches. Market Garden was much better organized ( for the Americans, the British made a few colossal mistakes ) affair because it was a day light jump and they had learned some valuable lessons. One was, make damn sure everyone was dropped together rather than spread out. To quote Gavin when he briefed the pilot's "Drop us on target or drop us in hell, but drop us together". Book I've read 3 times and will read again is Ryan's " A Bridge too Far, I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in WWII.