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he had reached his forward line for the day.
To my horror at 2100 the glider lift came
in low over the valley. Every enemy
weapon opened fire on the train
of C-47s and gliders (some British built
gliders and some American). Like watching
a movie in which the full plot was
known I realized that [crossed out] my [end crossed out] the smoking
knocked-out tanks were [crossed out]really [end crossed out]
appearing [crossed out] as [end crossed out] LZ markers in
the evening light to the pilots
in the troop carriers, so unerringly
did they release the gliders over
that valley.
Some troop carrier aircraft
then circled slowly around flying
over the enemy across the valley
on the way back to England. At least
two were hit by fire and exploded
over the enemy held hill. Gliders
were crashing into hedgerows all
around the valley. Some even
landed in the enemy held woods.
The British gliders, made of wood,
completely disintegrated in the crashes.
Men tumbled out completely ^stunned and inarticulate.
It was useless to try to direct them. But
out of all this confusion units grew
as individuals came together and
in the morning of D + 1 a break-
thru was effected to the 82nd AB
division and reinforcements of