17th Airborne Division (United States) Standish on 12 August 1944 before departing Boston Port of Embarkation on 20 August 1944. The 17th Airborne Division arrived in the United Kingdom on 26 August. Once in Britain the division was attached to U.S. XVIII Airborne Corps, under Major General Matthew Ridgway, which commanded all American airborne formations, and which in turn became part of the First Allied Airborne Army when it was formed on 21 August, under the command of Lieutenant General Lewis H. Brereton. Although attached to XVIII Airborne Corps, the division was not chosen to participate in Operation Market Garden, a large-scale airborne operation intended
Operation Rösselsprung (1944) Luftwaffe aircraft in the skies over Yugoslavia. This offensive included over one thousand sorties by the newly formed Balkan Air Force. A costly ground attack was also launched by a combined Partisan, British and US force on the German-held Dalmatian island of Brač. Code-named "Operation Flounced", the assault was mounted from the British-held island of Vis further out in the Adriatic Sea on the night of 1/2 June. Fighting continued late into 3 June 1944 and resulted in the reinforcement of the island by a further 1,900 German troops. The assault force on Brač consisted of 13 battalions from the