The division arrived in England by May 1918, then was shipped over to France and deployed alongside British forces near the Somme. Initially, only small units were sent to the front to gain hands-on experience and take it back to the rest of the unit. The division’s first major trial was the Saint-Mihiel Offensive, the first occasion American forces used the phrases “D-Day” and “H-Hour.” (What is a “D-Day,” anyway?) The division suffered heavy casualties from artillery fire which the soldiers were not prepared for. It was sent to reserve for about a week, but was then deployed again for the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the largest offensive in American military history to this day, which lasted until the day of the Armistice.

The division returned home in the following year and settled in for peacetime duties, mainly training, conducting Citizens’ Military Training Camps, and participating in command post exercises. Peacetime cutbacks cost the division practically all of its enlisted men and equipment, leaving only the officers. In 1940, the division was reorganized from its World War I-era “square” organization (two brigades, with two regiments in each) to the “triangular” system that was standard in World War II (three regiments).
 
The 82nd gets its wings
America entered World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The division was ordered into active service in March 1942 under the command of Major General Omar Bradley (Omar Nelson Bradley). Most of the officers and enlisted of the newly revitalized division came from the 9th Infantry Division. During this period, the division had three officers who would play important roles not only in World War II, but also the post-war development of the military: Matthew Ridgway (The American War Hero Who Also Saved Korea), James M. Gavin (James M. Gavin, the “Jumping General”), and Maxwell D. Taylor (“The Last of the World War II Heroic Generals”).

The paratroopers of the 82nd (but still not yet the glider infantrymen) were next supposed to jump behind enemy lines near Salerno during the first Allied landings in mainland Italy. The Italian surrender on September 3 mooted the plan, but a new one was quickly drawn up: the airborne were now supposed to jump northwest of Rome, far away from the Allied beachhead, in an attempt to prevent the Italian capital from falling into German hands. In order to scope out the viability of the plan, Brigadier General Maxwell Taylor, the acting assistant division commander, snuck into Rome with an intelligence officer, both men disguised as prisoners of war. The mission was called off at the last minute: the paratroopers were already in the air when Taylor recalled them by radio after learning that German troops had just occupied the planned drop zones. In the end, two battalions performed a jump inside the Allied beachhead to reinforce it against a fierce German counterattack, and the division saw more fighting and suffered heavy casualties during the advance inland.

Normandy
The All American division’s next jump came in Normandy the night before D-Day, when they and the 101st Airborne Division (The Screaming Eagles) descended all over the Cotentin Peninsula to sow confusion and capture important locations ahead of the beach landings. Both divisions ended up scattered all over the place due to navigation problems arising from overcast skies and radio silence, and also due to anti-aircraft fire. (Jumping Into Chaos) Lieutenant Robert P. Mathias, a platoon leader in the division, became the first American officer killed during the liberation of Normandy. He was standing in the door of his stick’s C-47 (The C-47) when he was struck and mortally wounded by enemy fire, but he still managed to lead his team out of the plane. In the end, the massive paratrooper operation (and the glider reinforcements they received over the following days) were a clear success. It was noted that the 101st, for whom this was their first combat jump, were far more upset about the tough circumstances of the night than the 82nd, who had already experienced something like it in Sicily. The division suffered a 46% casualty rate during the fighting in Normandy, 5,245 soldiers killed, wounded or missing. The divisional commander, Major General Matthew Ridgway wrote in his report: "... 33 days of action without relief, without replacements. Every mission accomplished. No ground gained was ever relinquished." 

One act of valor that stands out among many was the 82nd's capture of the La Fiére bridge (“It took airborne soldiers to do this”), described as “probably the bloodiest small unit struggle in the experience of American arms.” During the ferocious fight Generals Gavin and Ridgway both personally exposed themselves to fire by stepping out onto the exposed bridge to tie a cable around a truck and help pull it out of the way.
Another D-Day story linked to the 82nd is that of Private John Steele, whose parachute famously got snagged on the church tower of Sainte-Mère-Église during the nighttime jumps (while his less-known comrade, Ken Russell, landed on the roof). (Trapped on the Church Tower)

The 82nd was sent back to England for rest and refit. It was organized into the XVIII Airborne Corps alongside the 17th and 101st Divisions. Ridgway became the corps commander, and Brigadier General (soon to be promoted Major General) James Gavin took his place at the head of the division, becoming the youngest commander of a U.S. division since the Civil War.
 
Through Market Garden and into Germany
The division’s fourth and final combat jump in World War II was Operation Market Garden in the fall of 1944. We have already written about the ill-fated operation (Operation Market Garden), and will only highlight a small part of it here. After landing in the area of Nijmegen, Gavin decided to first secure the high ground of Groesbeek Heights to his southeast, and only then move to capture the Nijmegen bridge to his northwest. He did this because some rumors suggested a large German tank force in the forest beyond the heights, and wanted to secure good defensive ground against them. Now we know the tanks were never there, but this several hour delay meant that the critical bridge was reached not when it was only guarded by a few dozen Germans, but after a significant armored reinforcement had arrived. The failure to capture the bridge meant that the British XXX Corps, which was ahead of schedule up till that point, lost much time and could not relieve the British airborne at Arnhem. Many historians place the blame on Gavin’s shoulders, but some claim that he was just following orders when prioritizing the heights. Even primary sources seem to contradict each other, so the truth might never come to light now. Regardless, the 82nd’s eventual crossing of the Waal River in the face of German defenses undisputably remains a great act of valor.

The 82nd was deployed to the north side of the German salient during the Battle of the Bulge. Early in the battle, it managed to recapture territory originally captured by the notorious Kampfgruppe Peiper (The War Crimes of Joachim Peiper), leading to that unit’s surrounding and isolation, and fighting off a German thrust that could have reestablished contact with Peiper.
 
On December 24, the division, which had an official strength of 8,520 men, found itself facing over 43,000 Germans and over 1,200 armored vehicles and artillery. For the first time in its history, the All American was forced to withdraw under heavy attacks, which only relented when Patton’s (The Wars of George S. Patton) forces got close to Bastogne and forced the Germans to reorient and face the new threat.