Author: Stephen G. Rabe
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009206427
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 265
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Book Description
The fateful days and weeks surrounding 6 June 1944 have been extensively documented in histories of the Second World War, but less attention has been paid to the tremendous impact of these events on the populations nearby. The Lost Paratroopers of Normandy tells the inspiring yet heartbreaking story of ordinary people who did extraordinary things in defense of liberty and freedom. On D-Day, when transport planes dropped paratroopers from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions hopelessly off-target into marshy waters in northwestern France, the 900 villagers of Graignes welcomed them with open arms. These villagers – predominantly women – provided food, gathered intelligence, and navigated the floods to retrieve the paratroopers' equipment at great risk to themselves. When the attack by German forces on 11 June forced the overwhelmed paratroopers to withdraw, many made it to safety thanks to the help and resistance of the villagers. In this moving book, historian Stephen G. Rabe, son of one of the paratroopers, meticulously documents the forgotten lives of those who participated in this integral part of D-Day history.
Author: Stephen G. Rabe
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1009206370
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 265
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Book Description
The inspiring story of 162 US paratroopers, dropped hopelessly off target, and the French villagers who assisted and supported them.
Author: Gilberto Villahermosa
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473847117
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 448
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Book Description
A retired U.S. Army Master Parachutist, strategist, and military historian analyzes the actions of one German special forces group during World War II. In June 1944, Allied forces fighting desperately to establish a foothold in Normandy and then breakout of the confining bocage found themselves opposed by a bewildering array of formations of the German Wehrmacht. Among them were the newly formed German II Parachute Corps. This gripping new account examines the exploits of Germany’s II Parachute Corps and its commander, Eugen Meindl, from the Allied invasion on June 6 to the end of August 1944. Meindl was the epitome of the senior German airborne commander in the Second World War. Tough, experienced, and aggressive, he cared deeply for his troops. His Parachute Corps fought stubbornly for three weeks, before being forced to fall back. Trapped along with the bulk of the German Seventh Army in the Falaise pocket, Meindl and his paratroopers maintained their discipline and were selected by the Commander in Chief of OB West to lead the German breakout to the east. That they managed to do so, despite suffering grievous losses, while so many around them died or surrendered, is a testament to their dedication and fighting ability. Theirs is a story that deserves to be told.
Author: Michel de Trez
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : World War, 1939-1945
Languages : en
Pages : 200
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Book Description
Author: Yves Buffetaut
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1612005241
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 219
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Book Description
“A condensed ‘Band of Brothers’ with profiles of Richard Winters and Easy company as well as the German and American Generals . . . 5 stars” (Army Rumour Service). 101st Airborne Division was activated in August 1942 in Louisiana, and its first combat mission was Operation Overlord. On D-Day—June 6, 1944—101st and 82nd Airborne dropped onto the Cotentin Peninsula hours before the landings, tasked with capturing bridges and positions, taking out German strongpoints and batteries, and securing the exits from Utah and Omaha Beaches. Things did not initially go smoothly for 101st Airborne, with cloud and antiaircraft fire disrupting the drops. Casualties were high in some areas due to heavy pre-registered German fire. Nevertheless, the paratroopers fought on, and they did manage to secure the crucial beach exits, even if they only achieved a tenuous hold on some other positions. A few days later, 101st Airborne was tasked with attacking the German-held city of Carentan as part of the consolidation of the US beachheads and establishment of a defensive line against the anticipated German counteroffensive. The 101st forced its way into Carentan on June 10 and 11. The Germans withdrew the following day, and a counteroffensive was put down by elements of the 2nd Armored Division. This fully illustrated book details the planning of the airborne element of D-Day and the execution of the plans until the troops were withdrawn to prepare for the next big airborne operation, Market Garden. “Always good to read a detailed account of one division’s contribution to Operation Overlord. The detail is exceptional and fascinating.” —Books Monthly
Author: Terry Copp
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1442619457
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 406
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Book Description
With Fields of Fire, Terry Copp challenges the conventional view that the Canadian contribution to the Battle of Normandy was a “failure” – that the allies won only through the use of brute force, and that the Canadian soldiers and commanding officers were essentially incompetent. His detailed and impeccably researched analysis of what actually happened on the battlefield portrays a flexible, innovative army that made a major, and successful, contribution to the defeat of the German forces in just seventy-six days. Challenging both existing interpretations of the campaign and current approaches to military history, Copp examines the Battle of Normandy, tracking the soldiers over the battlefield terrain and providing an account of each operation carried out by the Canadian army. In so doing, he illustrates the valour, skill, and commitment of the Allied citizen-soldier in the face of a well-entrenched and well-equipped enemy army. This new edition of Copp’s best-selling, award-winning history includes a new introduction that examines the strategic background of the Battle of Normandy.
Author: Michael E. Haskew
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1250124476
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 224
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Book Description
D-Day, Operation Market Garden, Battle of the Bulge—the US Airborne divisions were integral at all these major points in World War II. But they also played a significant role in North Africa, where they first saw action, and in Italy in 1943. Right on the tail of these planes, this expert history follows the airborne divisions from the redesignation and initial training of the 82nd in 1942 through to their final, momentous missions in the Pacific. Featuring the equipment, division structure, and uniforms, as well as first-hand accounts, this book is the true history popularized by such titles as Band of Brothers, A Bridge Too Far, and The Dirty Dozen. With one hundred and sixty photographs, maps, and illustrations, The Airborne in World War II is an accessible account of remarkable men and the battles that they fought.
Author: Georges Bernage
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 9782840481591
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Sometimes it is easy to forget that the US 82nd and 101st airborne divisions were not the only paratroopers to drop into Normandy on D Day!The British 6th Airborne Division had a vital task in securing the flank at the opposite end of the invasion zone from Utah Beach. The landings, both by glider and parachute, by these intrepid soldiers and their taking of the strategically important Pegasus Bridge and the silencing of the battery at Merville contributed greatly to the success of the invasion.This highly illustrated book, with detailed photo captions, depicts the soldiers and their equipment and analyzes the tactics and success of their mission.
Author: Jerome Preisler
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0425265986
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 290
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Book Description
With firsthand accounts of WWII heroism from the US Army Pathfinders, New York Times bestselling author Jerome Priesler chronicles their escapades scouting behind enemy lines ahead of the Band of Brothers. “When you land in Normandy, you will have only one friend: God.” —General “Jumpin’” Jim Gavin to the Pathfinders of the 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions before D-Day, June 1944 When the invasion of Sicily almost ended in disaster, General Jim Gavin was determined to form a unit of special operations commandos who would jump ahead of the airborne forces—including the now legendary Easy Company—stealing across enemy terrain to scout and mark out drop zones with a unique array of homing equipment. The first into combat and the last out, their advance jumps were considered suicide missions by those who sent them into action. Sporting Mohawk haircuts and war paint, they were the best of the best. Their heroic feats behind enemy lines were critical to nearly all of the Allies’ major victories from Normandy to Bastogne—where they saved the day for thousands of American troops in an operation almost forgotten by history—to the attack on the Ruhr Valley in Germany. This is the story of the U.S. Army Pathfinders—their training, bonding, and battlefield exploits—told from the perspectives of the men who jumped, and those who risked everything to fly them into action. INCLUDES PHOTOS
Author: Mary Louise Roberts
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022613704X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 220
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Book Description
“A moving examination of how French civilians experienced the fighting” at Normandy during WWII from the acclaimed author of What Soldiers Do (Telegraph, UK). “Like big black umbrellas, they rain down on the fields across the way, and then disappear behind the black line of the hedges.” Silent parachutes dotting the night sky—that’s how one Normandy woman learned that the D-Day invasion was under way in June of 1944. Though they yearned for liberation, the French had to steel themselves for war, knowing that their homes, lands, and fellow citizens would have to bear the brunt of the attack. With D-Day through French Eyes, Mary Louise Roberts turns the conventional narrative of D-Day on its head, taking readers across the Channel to view the invasion anew. Roberts builds her history from an impressive range of gripping first-person accounts by French citizens throughout the region. A farm family notices that cabbage is missing from their garden—then discovers that the guilty culprits are American paratroopers hiding in the cowshed. Fishermen rescue pilots from the wreck of their B-17, then search for clothes big enough to disguise them as civilians. A young man learns to determine whether a bomb is whistling overhead or silently plummeting toward them. When the allied infantry arrived, French citizens guided them to hidden paths and little-known bridges, giving them crucial advantages over the German occupiers. As she did in her acclaimed account of GIs in postwar France, What Soldiers Do, Roberts here sheds vital new light on a story we thought we knew. "In the great tradition of Studs Terkel and Is Paris Burning?, Mary Louise Roberts uses the diaries and memoirs of French civilians to narrate a history of the French at D-Day that has for too long been occluded by the mythology of the allied landing.”—Alice Kaplan, author of Dreaming in French
