Why did some American paratroopers drown after landing in the Cotentin Peninsula?

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Utah Beach on D-Day — Utah Beach Soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division wade ashore at Victor sector, Utah Beach, on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Amphibious tanks are lined up at the water's edge.

American paratroopers from the 82nd and 101st airborne divisions suffered many casualties from drowning because they were dropped into areas of the Cotentin Peninsula that had been intentionally flooded by German forces.1

To impede Allied movement, German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel had ordered the locks near the mouth of the Douve River to be opened at high tide, turning the low-lying lands surrounding the Douve and Merderet rivers into a vast, constant marsh. When the paratroopers were dropped into these zones during the night of June 5–6, 1944, many were unable to escape the deep water and drowned upon landing. These drops were further complicated by significant scattering caused by enemy ground fire and a lack of navigational aids, which forced transport pilots to take evasive action and dispersed the troops far from their intended drop zones.1