![]() ![]() It serves to show how brave these glidermen must have been. Nevertheless, it is interesting and I learned a lot about Operation Varsity from the perspective of the gliders. It is also made up of accounts of different paratroopers, which makes it a bit hard to digest, because you get the feeling you are reading the same story ten times. The only book I have found so far about the 17th Airborne. Reading it from his first hand account, you really get the shivers of the harsh winter conditions without the proper cold weather uniforms, and the confusion and disorientation that could result from fighting in a surrounded and snowed-in area. I find this to be Burgett’s best book, but I haven’t read all of them yet. A good companion to your battlefield trip to Holland. It comes with a good map of the area indicating all major points of interest. This makes it a little hard to read because the timeline is not always followed and the same ground is covered several times. This book is also about Operation Market Garden, and also written by a veteran who was there, but it’s made up of testimonials from different paratroopers. It’s so captivating because Donald Burgett was there himself. He is specific about the preparations and the initial landings and devotes a good part of the book to the drawn out weeks after the jump, roaming through the Dutch countryside while continously under German counterattack. This is also one of the few good books that describes the Market Garden operation from the American paratroopers’ point of view. This was unequalled by other units.īurgett is my favorite author when it comes to Airborne unit histories. Many man of the 505th had four stars: Africa, Sicily, Normandy and Holland. Paratroopers were allowed to add one star on their jump wings for each combat jump. Here we follow the 505th PIR of the 82nd Airborne division throughout the war. But fortunately it was decided to learn from it, and come back stronger. The operation proved to be a disaster and Eisenhower almost decided not to have any further airborne landings. This is one of the few books about the airborne landing on Sicily by the 82nd Airborne in July 1943, almost a year before the Normandy jump. One small, but interesting piece of information to remember from this book: according to Shifty Powers, neither he nor any of the sharpshooters in the 506th used a rifle with a telescopic sight, as did the paratrooper sniper in Saving Private Ryan. Getting back to civilian life, the bond between veterans, and getting old, are aspects usually left out of other unit histories and are kept brief in most biographies. Especially the part covering the Battle of the Bulge and his post-war biography are very gripping. What’s special is that it’s written in the first person, so like an auto biography. I borrowed this book from the local library, and I warmly recommend this to all Band of Brothers and WW2 paratroopers enthusiasts. He was the sharpshooter and not one of the main characters. Sergeant “Shifty” Darrell Powers was part of the same unit of the famous HBO TV-series. A great book full with interesting facts for the collector, but also with a lot of human interest. Stephen Ambrose follows the 506th PIR, 2nd Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division from its formation at Camp Toccoa through Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest in Germany. The book on which the HBO TV series was based. Most have photo sections in them and provide an insight into how the first paratroops were created and how they fought in WWII. These are books written by veterans and historians about specific Airborne divisions, or smaller units.
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