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Author : William G. Lord II Publisher : Pickle Partners Publishing Page : 328 pages File Size : 45,5 Mb Release : 2018-12-01 Category : History ISBN : 9781789125344
History of the 508th Parachute Infantry by William G. Lord II Pdf
The 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment was an airborne infantry regiment of the United States Army, first formed in October 1942 during World War II at Camp Blanding, Florida by Lieutenant-Colonel Roy E. Lindquist, who would remain its commander throughout the war. The 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment participated in Operation Overlord, jumping into Normandy at 2:15 a.m. on 6 June 1944, and was awarded the Distinguished Unit Citation for its gallantry and combat action during the first three days of fighting. The Regiment also saw active service in Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands, jumping on 17 September 1944, and continued fighting the Germans in the longest-running battle on German soil ever fought by the U.S. Army, before crossing the border into Belgium. They played a major part in the Battle of the Bulge in late December 1944, during which they screened the withdrawal of some 20,000 troops from St. Vith, defended their positions against the German Panzer divisions, and participated in the assault led by the 2nd Ranger Battalion to capture (successfully) Hill 400. U.S. D-Day paratrooper William G. Lord II’s History of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, which was originally published in 1948, provides an extensive and fascinating chronicle for the period from October 20, 1942 to January 1, 1946, and will appeal to discerning World War II historians and scholars alike. Richly illustrated throughout with photographs and maps, this volume also includes in its appendix a list of combat awards, unit citations, and battle casualties.
The 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment by Dominique François Pdf
Following the successof the 507th, here is the story of the airborne 508th PIR packed with color illustrations.This new work is outstanding, with numerous photos of veterans in action and eye-witness accounts covering such areas as training and also key events such as the death of General Falley. This publication follows the paras through Normandy [as far as La Haye du Puits], Holland [Nijmegen] and the Ardennes.
Author : William G. Lord Publisher : Unknown Page : 140 pages File Size : 54,6 Mb Release : 1948 Category : World War, 1939-1945 ISBN : UOM:39015013348027
Presents a comprehensive history of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, an elite regiment attached to the 82nd Airborne Division during World War II.
Summary of The 508th Connection by Zig Boroughs When I arrived home after my army discharge in 1945, the challenges of adult civilian life excited me tremendously. I passionately anticipated living as a husband and father, no longer separated by the Atlantic Ocean and a dangerous war from my wife and child. I eagerly plunged into active civilian employment, impatient to establish a career of peaceful service to humanity. Although the experiences and feelings of World War II affected by attitudes and ideals, my energies were so devoted to other interests, the memories of the war years were pushed into an inactive part of my brain. For many years I thought very little about the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, and I lost contact with all but one of my paratrooper buddies. Then at 11:00 PM, Christmas Eve 1983, a memory of Christmas Eve 1944 forced its way to the surface. My wife and I were visiting with our daughter, Gini, and her family. We were waiting for our grandchildren to go to bed so that Santa Claus could prepare for Christmas morning. Noticing that it was 11:00 PM, I announced, "Let me tell you what I was doing at this hour thirty-nine years ago!" I told the story "Burial and Birth," which you may read in this volume. When I finished the story, Gini told me, "Dad, you should write this story and send it to all our family members." Once I wrote one story, the dam burst and a floodgate of stories awoke in my memory, which resulted in the book, A Private's Eye View of World War II. Many details had faded with time, and I needed to check with my paratrooper buddies to get my stories straight. Senator Strom Thurman's staff helped me locate Jim Allardyce, secretary of the 508th Parachute Infantry Association. Allardyce provided a roster of the association membership with their addresses. This enabled me to verify or correct my stories, A Private's Eye View of World War II. Other veterans of the 508th began to tell me their stories. Some suggested that I write another book and tell their experiences, which resulted in The Devil's Tale. For over twenty years, I have collected information from others. The most important source of information has come from the 508th veterans. Since I have been associated with the 508th Parachute Infantry Association, I have met hundreds of fellow veterans of the regiment and have listened to their stories. Through the association, I have also met friends of the 508th from England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, and Israel. These friends have also given me valuable information. I have chosen the title The 508th Connection to give credit to all those who have so generously helped as friends and as sources of information. The "connections" are much more than sources for writing a book. They are friends whom I treasure. They are closer than friends. We are family. The 508th Connection tells the stories of the lives of men of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Eighty-second Airborne Division. As you read the stories in The 508th Connection, you will become connected with their lives in the barracks, in the pubs, and on the battlefield. The stories are both entertaining and educational. They will capture your heart, your imagination, and your understanding of what it was like for the paratroopers to live through the horrors of war while keeping their sanity and humor. There are humorous stories, romantic stories, and battle stories, stories about being captured by the enemy. There are stories of men who killed to survive, who lived in foxholes, who helped and were helped by local people. Throughout the book, we connect with the paratroopers who relied on each other for survival. This is their story.
Through the words of its veterans, details the regimental history of the 82nd Airborne Division 'All Americans' from Operation Husky in July of 1943 through D-Day and Operation Market Garden to the Battle of the Bulge, and finally ending in Berlin as part of the occupying forces.
Jump Commander by Mark J. Alexander,John Sparry Pdf
The thrilling memoir of the legendary army colonel and paratrooper—the only airborne officer to lead three different battalions into combat during WWII. In his distinguished service during World War II, Col. Mark James Alexander took command of three separate battalions of parachute infantrymen within the 82nd Airborne Division. A legend in his own time, he fought in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and France. Even after sustaining serious wounds in Normandy, he insisted on playing a role in the Battle of the Bulge. Alexander’s exploits in Italy, from capturing hundreds of prisoners in Sicily to holding ground against German counterattacks in Salerno, won him a reputation known from the lowest private to Airborne generals Gavin and Ridgway. At Normandy, Lt. John “Red Dog” Dolan called him “the finest battalion commander I ever served under,” after witnessing his leadership through the bloody battle for La Fière Bridge and Causeway. This memoir is based on the transcription of hundreds of hours of recorded interviews made by Alexander’s grandson, John Sparry, over a period of years late in his life. Providing valuable insight into the beloved commander who led three of the most storied battalions in the US Army, Jump Commander also contains a wealth of new detail on 82nd Airborne operations and unique insight into some of the most crucial battles in the European Theater.
Col. Mark James Alexander was the only airborne officer to lead three different battalions into combat in World War II, successively commanding the 2d and 1st Battalions, 505 Parachute Infantry Regiment, and the 2nd Battalion, 508 PIR, of the 82nd Airborne Division. A legend in his own time, he fought in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and France, and even after being seriously wounded in Normandy, insisted on playing a role in the Battle of the Bulge. Airborne Generals Gavin and Ridgway recognized Alexander's superior battle skills and were more than happy to use him to plug holes in the ranks. His reputation excelled among the rank and file, right down to the lowest private. He led from the front, pressing the attack while simultaneously looking out for his men. In Sicily, Alexander's battalion landed 25 miles from its drop zone, into a network of Italian pillboxes, upon which the Colonel personally directed fire, thence captured hundreds of prisoners. Dropped into the desperate inferno at Salerno, he refused to give ground against German counterattacks, forming his paratroopers against enemy efforts to push Allied forces back into the sea. At Normandy one seasoned lieutenant, John "Red Dog" Dolan, 505 PIR, called him "the finest battalion commander I ever served under," after Alexander had led the 1/505 for ten days through the bloody battle for La Fière Bridge and Causeway. Alexander's passion and truest talent was leading men in the field, and he insisted on sharing their risks. On one occasion in Normandy he and his runner (he went through several) were caught behind German lines and encountered a platoon of SS. Opening fire, the Colonel killed or wounded several and brought the rest in as prisoners. An 88mm shell finally got the best of him, shrapnel tearing through his lungs, and while the 82nd was engaged in the Bulge, Alexander was only allowed to run its base camps in France— despite his protests—as General Gavin noted that he was still coughing up blood. This memoir is based on the transcription of hundreds of hours of recorded interviews made by Alexander's grandson, John Sparry, over a period of years late in his life. Providing valuable insight into the beloved commander who led three of the most storied battalions in the US Army, Jump Commander also contains a wealth of new detail on 82nd Airborne operations, and casts insight on some of the most crucial battles in the ETO. This highly readable and action-packed narrative may well be the last remaining memoir to be written in the voice of a major airborne officer of the Greatest Generation.
Based on the written testimonies and personal archives of two veterans of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment attached to the famous US 82nd Airborne Division, this book tells the story of two young Americans who unwittingly became actors in one of the greatest crusades against tyranny the world has ever known. In order to better understand the motivations of those young men, the author describes their family upbringing, taking us through the youth and adolescence of these heroes in an America directly hit by the crisis of the 1930s. He shows us the similarity in the education received in the family, at school and in church, and belief in the same values which constituted the foundation of rural society in the American Heartland. He then vividly describes -almost on a day-to-day basis - the rigorous training undertaken by a trainee parachutist in different camps throughout the USA, before finally pinning the much-sought-after Wings on his chest. Finally the big day arrived -D-Day. We follow the emotions, fear, but also the feat of arms of our heroes. Together, we jump from a C-47 rocked by the explosions of shells and machine-gun fire, and find ourselves in the hostile Normandy woodland crawling with the enemy, and at times far from the planned Drop Zone. With the help of original plans and unpublished photos, the author discovers unknown details and specifies precisely the movements between June 6th and 10th 1944 of small elements of the 82nd Airborne Division, principally between the two bridges over the flooded valley of the Merderet at La Fière and Chef-du-Pont. The capture of just these two passages was necessary for the American troops whose objective was to cut off the Cotentin peninsula thus isolating Cherbourg and preventing enemy reinforcements to move north. The epilogue tells how these fierce warriors, still alive after three years of war and innumerable battles, returned to their homeland, readapted - at times with difficulty- to civilian life, married and in time had children. This is a worthy addition to the available literature concerning the 82nd Airborne Division and its key role in the Normandy invasion of 1944.
The United States Army’s experiment with airborne forces started at Fort Benning, Georgia, in early 1940 with a single platoon of paratroopers. From this tiny seed grew the mighty American airborne legion that spearheaded America’s attack against Nazi Germany in Sicily and Normandy. Ultimately this branch included an airborne corps headquarters, five full airborne divisions, and several independent battalions and regiments. On the nights of June 5 and 6, 1944, the parachutes and gliders of six regiments of American airborne infantry filled the dark sky over Normandy. Paratroopers and glidermen of the 101st Airborne Division Screaming Eagles were literally dropping into battle for the first time, harbingers of the vast Allied D-day armada. Moments later, they were joined by the veteran All Americans of the 82d Airborne Division, who had first jumped into combat almost a year earlier in Sicily. For the American airborne troopers, the road to victory in Europe led through the ill-conceived Arnhem campaign and on to the Bulge, where the American paratroopers saved the day for the Allies. The 17th Airborne Division “bounced the Rhine” in the last airborne operation in Europe and fought across Germany until VE Day with their band of brothers. In the Pacific, the Angels of the 11th Airborne Division saw hard combat in the Philippines. The independent 503d Regimental Combat Team fulfilled General MacArthur’s promise to return when it daringly parachuted onto the small area known as Topside on the rocky fortress island of Corregidor. Following World War II, the airborne fought with distinction in Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf War. Along the way American paratroopers have also given yeoman service on smaller battlefields such as the Dominican Republic, Grenada, and Panama. Written by a former paratrooper, Airborne is the definitive combat history of these elite forces.
My Clear Conscience by George Shenkle,Adam Berry Pdf
George Shenkle is a WWII veteran of the 82nd Airborne Division who currently resides in Lansdale, Philadelphia. When asked to write down his experiences on D-Day George went one step further, writing down whatever he thought would be interesting before, during, and after WWII. George devoted 59 loving years to his late wife Dolores, with whom he had five children, and continues to actively promote the remembrance of his Regiment. George regularly visits his former battlefields and attends events commemorating WWII in the USA and in Europe.
From decorated veteran, acclaimed West Point lecturer, and inspirational military speaker Guy LoFaro, the first complete history of America's legendary World War II airborne division.
The Airborne in World War II by Michael E. Haskew Pdf
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.
