American Tours
82nd & 101st Airborne Tour
About This Tour
This specialist tour is dedicated entirely to the extraordinary story of the American paratroopers. The 82nd 'All American' and 101st 'Screaming Eagles' Airborne Divisions jumped into Normandy in the early hours of June 6th, scattered across the Cotentin Peninsula by cloud, flak, and navigation errors. Yet from this chaos, they achieved their objectives: securing exits off Utah Beach, capturing Sainte-Mère-Église, and holding the western flank. We trace their drop zones, visiting Neuville-au-Plain and the remarkable church at Angoville-au-Plain, the engagements at La Fière and Brecourt Manor, and the memorials that stand where they fell.
Detailed Itinerary
This specialist tour traces the drop zones and epic engagements of the 82nd 'All American' and 101st 'Screaming Eagles' Airborne Divisions, scattered across the Cotentin Peninsula by cloud and flak, yet achieving their objectives against the odds.
Hiesville
The farmhouse where General Maxwell Taylor established the 101st Airborne's divisional HQ on D-Day morning, one of the first organised command posts on French soil, cobbled together from a scattered, incomplete drop.
Sainte-Mère-Église
The crossroads town captured by the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment in the early hours of June 6, making it the first town liberated in France. Hear the story of the scattered drops that delivered men here in chaos and darkness, and the desperate defence that held it through the first critical days.
Neuville-au-Plain
To the north of Sainte-Mère-Église, a small patrol from the 505th PIR established an outpost at Neuville-au-Plain on D-Day morning, and held it against a determined German counter-attack, buying time for the division's perimeter to consolidate.
Angoville-au-Plain
The village church at Angoville-au-Plain became a field hospital on D-Day, where American paratroopers treated German wounded alongside their own, a remarkable story of compassion under fire that the church commemorates to this day with its stained glass windows.
La Fière Bridge
The most costly engagement of the 82nd Airborne in Normandy. For four days, paratroopers fought to hold the causeway across the flooded Merderet River against repeated German counter-attacks. The Iron Mike memorial stands where the heaviest fighting occurred.
Brecourt Manor
Where Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment silenced four 105mm artillery pieces that were firing onto Utah Beach, a textbook small-unit assault made famous by Band of Brothers. The assault is still studied at West Point as an example of initiative and leadership under fire.
Tour Highlights
- Sainte-Mère-Église
- Neuville-au-Plain
- Angoville-au-Plain
- La Fière causeway
- Brecourt Manor assault site
What’s Included
- Specialist airborne guide
- Private vehicle
- Regimental maps & reference materials