Glider assault on Eben Emael as an archetype for the future

Infantry Magazine, March-April, 2004 by Paul Witkowski

The Allies also used gliders in small-scale operations. The British seized two bridges in Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Six Horsa gliders, each containing a platoon of glidermen, landed on a small strip of land between the two bridges, destroyed the defending Germans, defeated any counterattacks and held the bridges until relieved by follow-on forces of British paratroopers and Lord Simon Lovat's commandos landing on the beachhead. Major Howard's men defeated German counterattacks of tanks, infantry, gunboats, and frogmen until the linkup occurred. This operation was carried out successfully due to the silent insertion of Howard's men by glider on top of their objective.

Gliders were also used by the Allies to execute critical resupply missions in Europe, Pacific, and in the China-India-Burma theaters of operation. A striking example is the glider resupply mission launched to assist the encircled 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944. As the Germans tightened their encirclement of Bastogne, the American field hospital was overrun and ammunition was running low. General Anthony McAuliffe, the assistant division commander of the 101st, sent a message to Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force, to request delivery of medical teams, supplies, and ammunition. This request was approved on December 26, 1944, and 11 gliders were sent into Bastogne. The following day a serial of 50 gliders were sent in with more ammunition, gasoline, and supplies,

but only 35 gliders successfully landed inside the Bastogne perimeter. Mrazek argued, "That all of the 15 were shot down is entirely possible, particularly if these were near the end of the air serial, for by that time the Germans were fully alerted." The supplies delivered by the gliders helped bolster the beleaguered defenders until General George Patton's Third Army broke through the German lines.

The glider as a means of insertion of troops and equipment had a very short life span, starting with its premier at Fort Eben Emael and ending with the only glider use in the Pacific at Luzon in the Philippine Islands in June 1945. In spite of the advantages gliders provided, military planners focused on their drawbacks, and this led to their demise. Gliders were difficult to maintain and required special maintenance crews detracted from the pool of maintainers for powered aircraft. In addition, gliders were easily damaged in landings. Another disadvantage of gliders was that they tied up powered aircraft to be tow planes that could have been used in other ways to support the mission. This is especially true for the British who lacked a good transport plane and were forced to use bombers as tow planes. The construction of gliders with their fabric skin and wooden supports in an age of metal powered aircraft made the glider easily susceptible to adverse weather, both on the ground and in the air. For these aforementioned reasons the glider's combat existence only spanned the last five years of World War II.