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Voorbereiding in Engeland

Sept. 1943 t/m juni 1944

In september 1943 werd de gehele 101 Airborne Division naar Vliegveld Greenham Common, Newbury, Berkshire in Engeland gestuurd om zich voor te bereiden op de invasie van Europa. Aan de vooravond van D-Day leidde Cole zijn goede vriend generaal Dwight D. Eisenhower rond.

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D-Day

Utah Beach, 6 juni 1944

Op D-Day had Cole als luitenant-kolonel het commando over het 3e bataljon van het 502 Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101 Airborne Division. In de vroege uren van 6 juni werden ca. 13.000 paratroopers vlak achter de Duitse verdedigingslinies langs de kust gedropt.

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Cole’s charge

Carentan, 11 juni 1944

101 Airborne Division moest oprukken naar het strategisch gelegen Carentan. Daarvoor moest 502 PIR vier bruggen oversteken onder constant voor van Duitse troepen. Cole en zijn mannen bereikten de verdedigingslinies en overmeesterden de Duitsers. Maar de verliezen waren enorm.

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Terug naar Engeland

Juli - september 1944

In juli 1944 keerde 101 Airborne Division terug naar vliegveld Greenham Common in Engeland. Eerst om tot rust te komen, en daarna om zich onder leiding van Robert binnen korte tijd klaar te maken voor Operatie Market Garden.

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Operatie Market Garden

Son, 17 september 1944

Op 17 sept .1944 ging de grootste luchtlandingsoperatie ooit van start: Operatie Market Garden. Die dag sprongen er 41.628 paratroopers. 502 PIR werd gedropt bij Son en moest o.a. een brug over het Wilhelminakanaal innemen in Best. Hun taak was de drop zone te beveiligen.

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Gesneuveld

Best, 19 september 1944

Cole besloot om na een noodoproep het H-bataljon rond Best te hulp te schieten. Hij riep de hulp in van P-47 Thunderbolt jachtvliegtuigen. Maar die begonnen per abuis op Amerikaanse stellingen te schieten. Toen Cole een herkennings- baken wilde plaatsen werd hij in zijn slaap geraakt door Duits vuur.

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July 1943 (?)

Registration ARC

September 1943

to the UK

July 16, 1944

Landing on Utah Beach

March 15, 1945

Siegfriedlinie

May 1, 1945

Died on pleasure flight

June 19, 1945

Buried in Margraten, Block RR, Row 12 Grave 290

September 1, 1942

US Army Nurse Corps
February 18, 1943

Air Evac. Nurse diploma

July 16, 1943

In Europe
June 11, 1944

1e 1st evacuation flight
Dec. 5, 1944

To Orly
Jan. 15, 1944

Married

April 14, 1945

Killed in Evacuation flight
June 24, 1945

Buried in Margraten, Block QQ, Row 263, Grave 11
December 1942

Stationed in England

May 14, 1943

the first mission

May 17, 1943

the second mission
July 26, 1943

Body washed up

After the war

last resting place
October 1, 1944

to the war
November 9, 1944

Operation Clipper
November 20, 1944

Killed

December 25, 1944

To the front
March 1, 1945

Venlo released
March 2, 1945

Small Bastogne
March 4, 1945

Killed
March - Augus 1943

Panama

June 1944

To Europa

September 13, 1944

Liberation of Southern Limburg
2-5 November 1944

Restcenter Rolduc
November 16, 1944

Killed
November 23, 1943

Departure for Europa

January 20, 1944

Arriving in England

June 1944

Landing Omaha Beach

July 1944

Operation Cobra
August 1944

building bridges in France
September 9, 1944

Killed during patrol
September 1943 - juni 1944

preparation in England
June 6, 1944

D-Day
June 11, 1944

Cole’s charge
July 1944

back to England/p>

September 17, 1944

Operation Market Garden
September 18, 1944

Killed
December 15, 1942

The North African Campaign
July 10, 1943

Invasion of Sicily
June 8, 1944

Landing Normandy
September 1944 – January 1945

march to Germany

March 6, 1945

the taking of Cologne

3March 30, 1945

Killed

August 25, 1945

Buried in Margraten, Block C, Row 1, Grave 1

Early 1942

Called to the army
September 1943 - June 1944

Stationed in England

June 6, 1944

D-Day
September 17, 1944

Operation Market Garden
December 18, 1944

the Battle of the Bulge
April 13, 1945

Killed

Start World War II

September 1, 1939

Germany invades Poland, Britain
and France declare war on Germany

US enters the war

December 11, 1941

Nazi Germany declares war on the US

Turnaround WWII

Februari 2, 1943

Battle of Stalingrad: Red Army defeats Germans

D-Day [Decision Day]

June 6, 1944

Allied Normandy invasion

war in Europe to an end

May 7, 1945

The whole of Europe is liberated

End of World War II

August 14, 1945

Japan surrenders: End of World War
May 10, 1940

Germany invades the Netherlands, Belgium
and Luxembourg ; the Netherlands at war
1944

The first soldiers
to be buried

1945 The cemetery is growing
1946

more than 20,000 killed
1947

Margraten remains cemetery

1948 - 1949

Repatriation and reburial
1950 - 1960

Setting up and opening
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July 10, 1940

Battle of Britain
September 13, 1940

Italy attacks Egypt
December 7, 1941

Attack on Pearl Harbor
June 22, 1941

Operation Barbarossa
March 16, 1943

Battle of Atlantic
September 8, 1943

Italy surrenders
July 1944

Operation Cobra
September 12 – 17, 1944

Liberation South Limburg

December 16, 1944

Battle of the Bulge
August 19 - 25, 1944

Paris, Brussels, Antwerp liberated
September 22 - November 9, 1944

Liberation of South Limburg

September 17 - 25, 1944

Operation Market Garden

September 19 - December 16, 1944

Battle of the Hürtgenwald

February 8 - March 28, 1945

Hthe Rhineland Offensive
August 6, 1945

Atomic Bomb

Robert Cole

The Medal of Honor Hero

Name: Robert G. Cole
Born: March 19, 1915
Deceased: September 18, 1944, 29 years
old
Rank & Military
component:		 Luitenant-kolonel, 502
Parachute Infantry Regiment,
101 Airborne Division
Cemetery: Block B, Row 15, Grave 27

Lieutenant Colonel Robert G. Cole was a paratrooper
with 101st Airborne Division, the division which included the legendary men of Band-of-Brothers. He took part in the airborne landings on D-Day. and in Operation Market Garden.

In the days following D-Day Cole led his men through the heavily defended Normandy coast. He earned the highest US military decoration, the Medal of Honor. for an attack on a German defensive battery. The attack has since become known as Cole’s charge.

On September 18, 1944 – the 2nd day of Operation Market Garden - he was killed near Best.
Robert Cole was 29 years old.

Paratroopers in World War II

The story of the US paratroopers in
World War II became world famous in the Second World War
by the book and the TV series Band of Brothers. Robert Cole did not belong to the same regiment, but his story is the same: as a paratrooper he jumped during D-Day and a few months later during Operation Market Garden.

Robert Cole and the men of Band of Brothers were paratroopers: were paratroopers: infantry soldiers who were trained as paratroopers. Their training was brutally hard. But the American paratroopers were the cream of the crop. They were elite troops.