Why is the 101 more famous then the 82nd?

Tittle says it all. Why is the 101 more known to the common men then the 82nd? The 82nd did more jumps, was earlier in combat, had 2 great leaders (Ridgeway and later Gavin) and was thougher.
Honestly why does the 101 is more known? Is it because they got surrounded in Bastogne?
(nice fact. Originally the 82nd was heading for Bastonge but Peiper caused to much trouble up north so they had to go to Viesalm that was orignaly the place where the 101 was going to be stationed.)

 

I was thinking to start a topic on that...It troubled me these days...

Most probably it's because later literature(i.e. Ambrose),Bastogne became one of the most famous battles,mainly i think, due to the famous message of McAuliffe "Nuts!"...

 

I have always thought of them equally, mainly because of early exposure to "The Longest Day" and "A Bridge Too Far"

Tom

 

I think Bastogne is the major reason for their better publicity.

Another factor I'd throw out would be the pre-invasion (Normandy) publicity photos of the Dirty Thirteen, with their Mohawk haircuts and war paint.

Another point is that it seems like more 101 vets than 82 vets wrote memoirs, which would make them more well known.

Were they better than the 82d? I doubt it. Better represented in the media? Yup!

 

The "Screaming Eagles" nickname and the patch give a lot of cool factor to them.

However, the US Army thought otherwise and deactivated the 101 after the war and kept the 82d as the airborne division. The 101 was reactivated as Air Assault in the early 1960's.

 

I favor the 82nd. as it did more jumps and saw more action but also because they had not the material that the 101 had when it entered combat. The 82 showed how to improve airborn invasions with the use of pathfinders, no letting your ships for on your planes (these tragedies happend on Sicily and Italy), better maps, better navigation, etc.

Also, they had a thougher fight at Nijmegem, unlike the 101 who was dropped close after the front. So i favor the 82 for it's fighting capabilities.

As for the Battle of the Bulge, the 82nd also saved the day (and the front). The 101 may have kept the 5th Panzeraway down by holding Bastogne, the 82nd saved the front with the 6th SS Panzerarmee that was actually the strongest of both.

And i found some more info in Gavins book. Gavin says that after the battle for Arnhem, both airborn divisions were putted in reserve. Gavin let his division immediatly pack for three day's of combat because that would save a lot of time when they would be needed at once. So unlike the 101, the 82nd arrived on the front with food, ammo and guns, unlike the majority of the 101 who had to get their equipment from retreating units. (Now that i think of it, i must say that i have some more respect for the 101 for their defence of Bastogne)

 

I've always been a 82nd AB guy Also maybe the patch and the name the 101st Is more easily remembered then the 82nd & just has the thing about it.

 

airborne

We still have a '82ndAA' tunic hanging in our town museum, belonged to my brother-in-law., as well as AA insignia also has '1st Allied Airborne' and 'Blue Citation'. ribbon.

 

It is true that the 82nd Airborne performed admirably in Market, however to say they had harder tasks than the 101st is arguable. The 101st had to deal with the majority of the German counterattacks as well as the situation at Best, which is one of the best examples of "reinforce victory, don't reinforce defeat"; both sides kept sending more and more troops to the area even though it was a secondary objective to both.

The 101st did little more initially than holding the depleted 26th Volksgrenadier and a regiment of the Panzer Lehr tied down around Bastogne - which hardly took the steam out of the 5th Tank Army's advance. The significance of Bastogne increased dramatically when Hitler ordered it to be taken to facilitate a smoother German retreat, and concentrated all his remaining reserves in the area; however, by that time the encirclement had already been broken.

 

I think the 82nd would of done the same thing if they were surrounded.