Author: Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
ISBN: 0938021958
Category : Air pilots, Military
Languages : en
Pages : 170
Book Description
Author: Heinz J. NowarraGerman Gliders in World War II
Author: Heinz MankauPublisher: Schiffer Pub Limited
ISBN: 9780764335198
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304
Book Description
Gliders formed a special category of aircraft within the Luftwaffe. While other aircraft types were used for many years, as a rule gliders were conceived for short service lives, in some cases just a single mission. The purpose of the glider, most of which were built using the simplest materials, was to deposit soldiers and materiel behind enemy lines undetected. In this book the various types used by the Luftwaffe in World War II, and their development are described in detail from military gliders for a few soldiers to large-capacity gliders capable of transporting tanks.
World War II Glider Assault Tactics
Author: Gordon L. RottmanPublisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 178200775X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 146
Book Description
Military gliders came of age in World War II, when glider assault infantry were the forerunners of today's helicopter-delivered airmobile troops. From the light pre-war sports and training machines, several nations developed troop-carrying gliders capable of getting a whole squad or more of infantry, with heavy weapons, onto the ground quickly, with the equipment that paratroopers simply could not carry. They made up at least one-third of the strength of US, British, and German airborne divisions in major battles, and they also carried out several daring coup de main raids and spearhead operations. However, the dangers were extreme, the techniques were difficult, the losses were heavy (particularly during night operations), and the day of the glider assault was relatively brief. This book explains the development and organization of glider troops, their mounts, and the air squadrons formed to tow them, the steep and costly learning-curve and the tactics that such troops learned to employ once they arrived on the battlefield.
Glider Infantryman
Author: Donald J. RichPublisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 1603449620
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 286
Book Description
A member of the famed Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne Division, Donald J. Rich went ashore on D-Day at Utah Beach, was wounded in the bloody conflict at Carentan, landed in a flimsy plywood-and-canvas glider on the battlefields of Holland, and survived the grim siege with the "Battling Bastards of Bastogne" during the Battle of the Bulge. Glider Infantryman is his eyewitness account of how he, along with thousands of other young men from farms, small towns, and cities across the United States, came together to answer the call of their nation. It is also a heartfelt tribute to the many thousands who gave their lives in this struggle. Coauthored by Kevin Brooks, the son of Rich's best friend and World War II comrade, Glider Infantryman covers a span of nearly three years; his return home, five months after the war's end, as a toughened bazooka gunner and veteran of five campaigns. Rich's first-person narrative includes vivid coverage of the action, featuring an especially rare account of arriving on a combat landing zone by glider. Detailed, day-to-day depiction of some of the heaviest fighting in Holland follows, including the action at Opheusden, the center of the infamous "Island." Later highlights include the Battle of the Bulge, where Rich recounts his experiences in some of the hottest defensive fighting of the European Theater, including the epic tank battles at Marvie, Champs, and Foy.
Silent Wings at War
Author: John L. LowdenPublisher: Smithsonian Books (DC)
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
The pilots were known as "suicide jockeys" and the aircraft they flew were called "flak bait." Towed behind modified bombers or transport aircraft, Allied combat gliders were used in some of the riskiest missions of World War II, landing miles behind enemy lines with specially trained assault forces. In "Silent Wings at War," John L. Lowden combines his own recollections with those of fellow veterans to create a vivid, gritty, jocose memoir of war as he and other glider pilots and their passengers knew it. These true tales of courage, as well as command blunders, make a substantial contribution to WWII literature.
Glider Pilots at Arnhem
Author: Mike PetersPublisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1844683486
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 826
Book Description
The fierce struggle between the British 1st Airborne Division and the superior German forces in and around Arnhem is well documented. This book tells of the role played in the battle for Oosterbeek and the bridge at Arnhem itself by the men of the Glider Pilot Regiment (GPR). These men were already experienced soldiers who volunteered to join the airborne forces and take the fight to the Germans in a totally new regiment.The men of the GPR were predominantly SNCOs trained to fly wooden assault gliders into occupied territory. Once on the ground they were expected to go into battle with the troops they had delivered onto the Landing Zone. During the Arnhem operation they were involved in the initial defense of the LZs, before fighting house to house leading mixed groups of infantrymen, engineers and medics. In so doing they suffered extensive losses from which the Regiment never fully recovered. This book tells their story in their own words from the moment they landed on Dutch soil through the fierce fighting all around the ever shrinking perimeter until the survivors of the GPR proudly marked the route out for the battered survivors of 1st Airborne Division as they escaped over the Rhine.
Gliders of World War II: ‘The Bastards No One Wanted’
Author: Major Michael H. ManionPublisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1786250683
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 144
Book Description
This study examines the role of combat gliders in Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States during World War II (WWII). This thesis compares and contrasts each country with respect to pre-WWII glider experience, glider and airborne doctrine, glider pilot training, and glider production while outlining each country’s major glider operations. The author then compares the glider operations in the China-Burma-India Theater to the operations in Europe to describe the unique challenges based on the terrain and mission. Next, this thesis presents an analysis of the glider’s precipitous decline following WWII. The study concludes with recommendations for glider operations in the future based on the experiences of the past.
Four Hours of Fury
Author: James M. FenelonPublisher: Scribner
ISBN: 1501179373
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 448
Book Description
In this viscerally exciting account, a paratrooper-turned-historian reveals the details of World War II’s largest airborne operation—one that dropped 17,000 Allied paratroopers deep into the heart of Nazi Germany. On the morning of March 24, 1945, more than two thousand Allied aircraft droned through a cloudless sky toward Germany. Escorted by swarms of darting fighters, the armada of transport planes carried 17,000 troops to be dropped, via parachute and glider, on the far banks of the Rhine River. Four hours later, after what was the war’s largest airdrop, all major objectives had been seized. The invasion smashed Germany’s last line of defense and gutted Hitler’s war machine; the war in Europe ended less than two months later. Four Hours of Fury follows the 17th Airborne Division as they prepare for Operation Varsity, a campaign that would rival Normandy in scale and become one of the most successful and important of the war. Even as the Third Reich began to implode, it was vital for Allied troops to have direct access into Germany to guarantee victory—the 17th Airborne secured that bridgehead over the River Rhine. And yet their story has until now been relegated to history’s footnotes. Reminiscent of A Bridge Too Far and Masters of the Air, Four Hours of Fury does for the 17th Airborne what Band of Brothers did for the 101st. It is a captivating, action-packed tale of heroism and triumph spotlighting one of World War II’s most under-chronicled and dangerous operations.
History of the Glider Pilot Regiment
Author: Claude SmithPublisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 147381507X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 336
Book Description
The untold story of this tiny, little-known British Army regiment and the daring men who piloted engineless aircraft to WWII’s major battlefields. The Glider Pilot Regiment, having been raised as the first element of the new Army Air Corps in 1942 and disbanded in 1957, can probably claim the dubious distinction of having been the smallest and shortest-lived regiment ever to form part of the British Army. Nevertheless, in those few years the regiment gained as much distinction as it has taken other units hundreds of years to achieve. Yet, strangely enough, the story of these heroic men who piloted their flimsy gliders to most of the important battlefields of the Second World War has never before been told. It is indeed a remarkable story, and no one is better qualified to tell it than Claude Smith, who himself served with the regiment and took part in the invasion of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and later in the ill-fated landing at Arnhem, where he was taken prisoner. Smith tells the story of these supremely brave men factually and dispassionately, but it is impossible to read this book without being moved by their courage. As General Sir John Hackett says in his foreword: “Those who went to battle in gliders and above all those who got them there, the Glider Pilots, deserve our enduring esteem.” Includes maps and illustrations
