Secret Cable from General Eisenhower to General Marshall Reporting on Airborne Success of June 6

Predictions prior to the assault estimated that 70 percent of the gliders, and nearly 50 percent of the airborne troops, would become casualties on D-Day.  For gliders, the Norman hedgerows posed a very real threat, as there were few places to land between them and most pilots were not briefed about their size and scale. While the glider losses were heavy, they were not as high as predicted, and the men and equipment that did survive proved invaluable as the Allies sought to rout the Wehrmacht. The cable from General Eisenhower highlights that losses among the more than 1,000 aircraft that took part in D-Day were not as severe as expected.

Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration