And which they were tasked with protecting the flank of the main advance of the seventh army of the river valley, that came from the operation from the invasion of southern faced, august and the forgotten invasion overshadowed by Operation Overlord the victim enormity operations, originally both operations were designed to take place simultaneously, they would hammer in the anvil and trap the germans and liberate france but unfortunately due to lack of Landing Craft they were, higher command was not able to have both operations at the same time in normandy was team the most important operation as we know from history what happened there, but operational again this Southern Operations were delayed and that originally took place on august 15th. Troops were stranded along the beach, they were prepared for an onslaught but not a single german soldier appeared, not even something sort of overhead, mine detector squads clear the roads so that things could continue on their way, and prisoners were headed to the beaches form of a onto the ships, and the french commandoes had been contacted, operations had progressed so smoothly that by noon the following day a beach 20 miles long and nine miles steve had been established. As i said we are representing them during their campaign which was during the initial invasion when they were protecting the right flank of the advance they were in combat from 90 days from august to december, they were on the lines fighting against germans in the south of france. They were in the Maritime Alps protecting the rights length, they were in combat for approximately 90 days and the germans were dug in from the entire occupation of france and they had to go to the hill talk to hilltop to find it well again germans, what we have here we have what is called an outpost which would be ahead of the main line of the troops that word again. Youd be like an Early Warning system, to manna foxhole, we have sandbags in protection from the weather, you see more incidences of locks in tree for heavy duty protection, normally the longer you are in an area the deeper you would begin to give yourself more protection, troops would stop for any period of time for a couple of hours to a day or two and you dig down maybe a couple of inches to dig yourself some protection. And during the Maritime Alps they were in a set area that they were working from sitting there for trolls out so they had tried to dig deeper because the germans were firing at them with there were pieces to their incidences of the soldiers meaning better foxhole protections like we have here, and you are right we have a larger foxhole that would see three or four men, that would be an example away from here, that is essentially where they were living in at that time during the campaign. We like to do this here because they get an opportunity to see what it was like that some of the soldiers and how their lives were. You might be surprised how heavy this is. And we have this fear display and it took several hours for several of us to be here and we have the polls that were issued and we filled up the sandbags and being that they were in for a long period of time this gives the idea of the more well entrenched foxhole that they would have at that particular campaign and simple as digging down and building up around you but it gives you protection from the artillery mortar fire that they were receiving, where their lines were you get below the ground level and the more cover you have on top that is going to protect you from any old hillary or border blessed, road or to shelter can only help so much, the rain that we had last night kept us relatively dry from that rain but the time period these soldiers ran into snow in the end of september and there is one day that they woke up and they had six inches of snow, and in the rear timeouts he was a little cooler down in the riviera where they had come from different days they woke up in shelter felt like a piece of plywood on them, they felt like they had a piece of plywood on them on a piece of canvas and you had i might have one over here. They would make a bad rule which is essentially one shelter have with one or two blankets and a suspension i like that the soldiers could carry with them and i would kind of be like a sleeping bag that you could easily carry what you need to keep you dry and warm, with the five 17th being that they were in an established area for almost 90 days, they dont carry too much around and they wanted to patrol they would take their ammunition with them because they would of course be back to line their main foxholes but especially towards the end of the war as units were advancing soldiers would carry what they would need, they would carry essentially what they had in their pockets, they would carry a gdp bag or a gas mask bag, this is a gps bag that they would carry maybe an extra pair of socks, just the bare essential is because theyre on their feet on that time and the more hearing the hard its going to be so they want to be as light as possible. Well we have here is somebody to have a small supply point, we have ammunition creates in the final one rashes, that the army had and take a russian was boxed meal, three meals and three days worth of rations you had breakfast dinner and lunch and supper, various many breakfast may had canned hammer aids, chicken, two types of crackers, essentially like a graham cracker, for pack of cigarettes, you would have either instant coffee, orange powder to make a drink, a fruit bar like a breakfast bar, or a chocolate bar, maybe caramels. It was designed by a nutritionist to get soldiers the needed nutrients when they are away from a meal, and it was not designed for that long of intake, where they were having adverse effects and where they were suffering as well. This was a squad level stove, for our instance from our research and photographic evidence there is incidents in the Maritime House where they had a whole kitchen with them because where they were established, but this would be carried by a squad because it runs on modern camp fuel but its enough to heat up coffee or a plot to make some proper meals, talking to one of the companies recently, the man originally from bethlehem pennsylvania told us once that they had a can of roast beef that they were cooking. He was actually on a campfire but they were cooking the canada roast beef and the nice thing there hurt is german artillery any ad is canteen cup of coffee that he just made and they go into their foxhole just as the german artillery shell came in they had zeroed in on their fire and he said he dove in luckily he didnt spill his coffee cup but he came out and he said if we had it moved we might have all been done because they wouldve bond we were looking for a tour roast beef. But if the soldiers had a luxury of a stove like this they would heat up their coffee or even they cant meet, other instances they would actually rip apart the box and have two lawyers, who acts layer which was a waterproof box and youre out or cardboard layer and they would rip these up and bring them to make a small fire that they could possibly heat up their rations with, so this is an item that you would not see with all soldiers during the war but during their maritime out camping thousand item that we saw that they used. What we have here, this is a standard rifle, it will hold the 30 odd six grams and this is the cover for the drenching tool, you have the pouch that had the first aid kit, which also had software powder that would be administered to the rules and help fight infection and the canteen poach. Right here, that isnt and won beam and a car beam that was the paratrooper model that a folding star and who a folding for ease of jumping with but even though it wasnt Airborne Unit they would initially have a stop but we found that the longer they were on the lines they would be really supplied with whatever was available, so easy instances of the carbon come into play for this unit and this is a b ar an automatic rifle, it fired a round and a 21 box magazine, this is a weapon there you dont know we see with the Airborne Units, in the case of the five 17th though we saw evidence of them using it in the maritime maps and they found it was a good wrap and that helped germans, for their type of warfare they found news a good way to put down fire as they were cleaning out. We are very fortunate that the, and had website and run by their family members but there is a ton of information photographed, history personal accounts that they had submitted that is one of the resources that we take from personal counts and photographs and based solely on those accounts, there is also great books the battle of blizzards, and its about the great history of the task for us, when it covers the first airborne cast force that took place and was part of operation dragoon where the famous Airborne Division that one in the night before operation dragoon it was the same, they went in the night before behind the invasion beaches before they hit the beach it, at that time there was no Airborne Division in the mediterranean needed because they were in normandy so there are multiple airport units which one of them was a five 17th bill together to make the task force which was another at hockey unit, others that were involved worthy 5 50, eight five 50th first, an independent British Airborne regiment and actually if youve heard of the four 42nd combat team needed of the war there was a anti tank unit that was actually giving a very quick wire training, pulled from their units and said here is some quick training and they were attached for about a month or month and a half, that is important to know because you had the glider troops that were trained and these are just standard infantry in this was not part of it and here is the gliders in training and you are attached to this Airborne Unit. This aerial vanguard was to destroy their defenses by keeping me Russian Troops to the coast and moving to troops and supply chains, in the calm of the summer morning these bombers bring in the structured, while the war strips were anemone batteries. So when they went in you hear stories of the enormity operations and the airplanes making invasive newcomers to avoid the aircraft and that caused many missed drops so the same pilots and planes at a drop enormity did the operation dragoon a drop due to the areas during the enormity drops they needed to make up for the airport mistakes they made so they tried their best to stay on course, and there was miss trust due to heavy because a pilot cannot see the path finder begins to zero in on the proper drop zone so many soldiers, many of the airports it dropped when they jumped out of the airplanes and they saw this they actually thought they were dropping into the mediterranean ocean so they were starting to strip their equipment off to light in their load because they were preparing for a water landing and many soldiers stripping the gear off in the life best prepared for a water landing, and they are going through the fog and the next thing you know there on the ground, that is how thick the fog was. And unfortunately we dont have any because of the campaign but along with the First Airborne Task force and the uniform item there was an experimental camouflage of the First Airborne Task force for the operation which they need a release of a painted where if you see the am 42 paratrooper which is a khaki looking uniform, whats First Airborne Task forested, the spray guns filled with green and black and they have the guides lineup and put a Cardboard Box over their head and their engineers would hit them with camouflage and then off they go, it was actually from the commander that came to camouflage because at the time, here we have an example, this was here where you have the green and the black and they would put the helmet on spray for silhouette. Another example of the home it is they did not have the proper comment that you saw with other Airborne Units, they had the standard at one moment which was not good for jumping and they actually modified their chin straps, we have an example right here. , going back to the camouflage uniforms that they had, veteran accounts, if you were on the mediterranean august 1944 its very hot humid area at the time so it is a cotton uniform that actually made it thicker and heavier and small bad so the soldiers did not like that very much because it made them even more uncomfortable in a more serious issue they had was with fresh painted this rogers that got wounded found that the page would go in their bloodstream and they would get an infection, so once they were on the ground the paint that the uniform had the wind issues there was accounts of soldiers moving if they came from the stream they were going off the road trying to wash this pant off and get back on the road so just to get rid of that paint. But it was an improvised camouflage system that did not work the best. As i said this is an overshadow, somewhat forgotten unit because they were a smaller unit, the mediterranean, the south of france and we do that to keep their story alive to tell the public about their story and keep the stories of the man alive and this is a great way to do it but to do firsthand accounts like this especially the young kids get that firsthand experience try the helmet on and equipment its just another way to teach and its another way for us to learn about them, theres always something to learn about them and more personal counsel we can learn and pass on. So that they are not forgotten. The final line had been forced between our forces, those that had landed enormity on the 6th of june. This junction close to the last escape route for the germans thus the fighting qualities of the soldiers, sailors, and men of the United Nations defeated the enemies, their valor stamina and devotion to duty were beyond praise. You can learn more about the parachute Regimental Team at five one seven dot or grow youll find the history photographs and an extensive collection of soldiers stories, you can watch this and all other American History tv programs online at seaspan dot or, all week we are featuring tv programs as a preview of whats available every weekend on seaspan three, lectures and history, american artifacts, real america, this civil war, oral histories, the presidency and special event coverage about our nations history, to enjoy American History tv now and every weekend on a seaspan three