Первая союзная воздушно-десантная армия во Второй мировой войне.

Commanding unit of all Allied airborne troops in Europe during WW2. The First Allied Airborne Army was an Allied formation formed on 2 August 1944 by the order of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force. The formation was part of the Allied Expeditionary Force and controlled all Allied airborne forces in Western Europe from August 1944 to May 1945. These included the U. S. IX Troop Carrier Command, the U. S. XVIII Airborne Corps, which controlled the 17th, 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions and a number of independent airborne units, all British airborne forces including the 1st and 6th Airborne Division plus the Polish 1st Parachute Brigade. From the time of its creation until the end of World War II, the formation commanded the Allied airborne forces that participated in the Allied advance through North West Europe, including Operation Market Garden in September 1944, repelling the German counter offensive launched during the Battle of the Bulge between December 1944 and January 1945, and Operation Varsity in March 1945. After the surrender of Nazi Germany, the formation was deactivated, the constituent units reverting to their national armies on 20 May 1945.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force believed that a unified command was required with authority to coordinate all airborne and troop carrier units, direct airborne operations and command attached army, naval and air force units. The organization would be based on the model of a modified corps headquarters and be commanded by a high ranking officer of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). On 20 May 1944, a sub section of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) recommended that all British and American airborne forces be unified under a single formation; troop carrier units, however, would still remain independent and under the control of the Allied Expeditionary Air Force (AEAF). This recommendation was sent to 12th Army Group, 21st Army Group and the AEAF.

The recommendation to create a unified airborne army was criticized and opposed by the Chief of Staff of 12th Army Group, Major General Leven Cooper Allen. Allen argued that the larger number of American airborne troops, the differences in equipment and staff between British and American formations, and the fact that the available transport aircraft only had the capacity to carry the total number of American airborne troops and not British as well, all meant that there was no need for a unified command for both American and British airborne forces. The Royal Air Force, was an independent organization, unlike the USAAF, and senior British airborne commanders were apprehensive about having an Air Force officer command soldiers, in case the RAF could then use this at a later date as precedent to command British airborne troops. Further objections were raised by officers of the AEAF, regarding the administrative problems of assigning RAF units to the proposed combined headquarters. Air Chief Marshal Trafford Leigh Mallory, commander in chief of the AEAF, argued that the original recommendation should be followed – unifying American and British airborne forces but leaving troop carrier units under the command of the AEAF. Having solved the problems of what the commander of the unified headquarters would control, and when, the search then began for qualified personnel who could serve at the headquarters. The United States Department of War indicated that some personnel from the Airborne Center at Camp Mackall would be available for the new headquarters, and that the headquarters of Second Airborne Brigade, would be disbanded and its personnel transferred to the new unit. In addition, the United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe would allocate ten officers and fifty enlisted men. After discussion between Eisenhower, Arnold and Marshall, it was decided that the first commanding officer of the formation was to be USAAF Lieutenant General Lewis H. Brereton, who was commanding the USAAF Ninth Air Force. The new organization was assigned operational control over IX Troop Carrier Command, XVIII Corps (Airborne), and British I Airborne Corps and all their subsidiary units. RAF troop carrier units would be assigned as necessary.

During August 1944, American forces under General Omar Bradley had launched Operation Cobra, designed to allow Allied forces to break out of Normandy after several months of slow progress against heavy German resistance. The operation had been a success, despite a fierce German counter attack on 7 August codenamed Operation Lüttich, and a number of German divisions had become trapped near Falaise in what was labelled the Falaise Pocket. Following this, the Allies began to advance rapidly. Several airborne operations were planned for First Allied Airborne Army in late August and early September to support the rapid advance of Allied ground forces. Operation Transfigure was to close the gap between Orléans and Paris in order to block the retreat of German forces. The operation was cancelled before it could begin when Allied forces captured Dreux, the town which had been the planned dropping point for the airborne forces. General Eisenhower's fears that such an airborne operation would create a heavy burden on the limited ground transport available to the Allied forces also contributed to the decision to cancel the operation. Operation Axehead was to seize the bridges over the River Seine in support of 21st Army Group. Operation Boxer was concerned with the capture of Boulogne using the same forces as Transfigure. Operation Linnet was to seize crossings around Tournai and create a bridgehead over the River Escaut, which would cut off a large number of retreating German formations in a similar manner to Transfigure. Operation Linnet II was to land forces in the area of Aachen and Maastricht in order to cut off retreating German forces. Operation Infatuate was to land forces on Walcheren Island to assist in opening the port of Antwerp by cutting off any German retreat across the Scheldt estuary. Operation Comet envisioned using the British 1st Airborne Division, along with the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade, to secure several bridges over the River Rhine to aid the Allied advance into the North German Plain. However several days of poor weather and concerns over increasing levels of German resistance caused the operation to be cancelled on 10 September. Most of the operations were cancelled due to the rapid movement of Allied ground forces as they advanced through France and Belgium, as it did not allow First Allied Airborne Army enough time to plan an operation and deploy its forces before the objectives were overrun by ground forces. This situation changed, however, by the middle of September, as Allied forces came into contact with the German frontier and the Siegfried Line and encountered considerable German resistance, with German forces beginning to set up organized defensive positions and the Allied advance slowing.

Several airborne operations were planned for the divisions under the control of First Allied Airborne Army after the end of Operation Varsity. Operation Arena envisioned landing between six and ten divisions into what was termed a 'strategic airhead' in the Kassel region of Northern Germany in order to deny a large swathe of territory to the German defenders and give the Allied armies a staging area for further advances into Germany. The 13th was chosen to participate, along with the US 17th, 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, as well as the British 6th Airborne Division and the 1st Airborne Division. A preliminary date for 1 May was set for the operation once all of the required airborne and air landed infantry divisions had been located and supplied, but it was ultimately cancelled on 26 March due to the rapid movement of Allied ground forces negating the requirement for the operation. Operation Choker II was to be an airborne landing on the east bank of the Rhine near Worms, Germany, and during which the division was only hours from taking off before the operation was cancelled due to Allied ground forces overrunning the proposed landing areas. Operation Effective was designed to deny the Alps area from the Germans to prevent the creation of a last ditch stronghold, but was cancelled when intelligence indicated such a stronghold did not exist.

The First Allied Airborne Army was officially deactivated on 20 May 1945, with the British units under its command returning to the United Kingdom and the American units being renamed as First Airborne Army and taking over command of the American Sector of Occupation in Berlin.