08/01/2026
24 March 1945
Robert Capa October 22, 1913 – May 25, 1954
Combat photographer Robert Capa at an airfield at Arras, France just before taking part in a jump with paratroopers of the US 17th Airborne across the Rhine into Germany.
"Hungarian war photographer, photo journalist and also the companion and professional partner of photographer Gerda Taró. He covered five wars: the Spanish Civil War, the Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II across Europe, the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and the First Indochina War. He documented the course of World War II in London, North Africa, Italy, the Battle of Normandy on Omaha Beach and the liberation of Paris.
'Operation Varsity'
The first planes carrying the 17th Airborne took off shortly after 0700, with the last getting aloft just before 0900. The airborne lift included a total of 9,387 paratroopers and glider-borne soldiers, carried aboard 72 C-46s, 836 C-47s, and 906 CG-4A gliders. This, combined with the British airborne armada of nearly 800 aircraft and 420 gliders, carrying over 8,000 soldiers, stretched nearly 200 miles and took thirty-seven minutes to pass a given point. The two formations rendezvoused in the skies near Brussels, Belgium, before proceeding to the drop zones 100 miles away. In addition, nearly 1,000 Allied fighters escorted the transports. For those watching below, including GEN Eisenhower and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, it was an impressive display of Allied might. MG James M. Gavin, commander of the 82d Airborne Division, who had never witnessed a major airborne operation from the ground, called it “an awesome spectacle.”
(armyhistory.org)
