Author: Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
ISBN: 0938021958
Category : Air pilots, Military
Languages : en
Pages : 170
Book Description
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.
Four Hours of Fury
Author: James M. FenelonPublisher: Scribner
ISBN: 1501179381
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 448
Book Description
“Compellingly chronicles one of the least studied great episodes of World War II with power and authority…A riveting read” (Donald L. Miller, New York Times bestselling author of Masters of the Air) about 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. In this viscerally exciting account, paratrooper-turned-historian James Fenelon “details every aspect of the American 17th Airborne Division’s role in Operation Varsity...inspired” (The Wall Street Journal). 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.
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.
Glidermen of Neptune
Author: Charles J MastersPublisher: SIU Press
ISBN: 9780809320080
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 116
Book Description
Masters has also assembled the finest existing collection of photographs of the American D-Day glider attack. These photographs - many of which have never before been publishedafford the opportunity to examine the inside of the combat gliders used on D-Day, to observe the glidermen in action, and to witness the often tragic consequences of the glider attack.
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.
Author: Gale Richard AmmermanLuftwaffe Test Pilot
Author: Hans-Werner LerchePublisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : da
Pages : 216
Book Description
Afprøvning af erobrede flytyper (Beuteflugzeugen) i det tidligere Luftwaffen-Testzentrum, Rechlin, under 2. verdenskrig. Forfatteren virkede endvidere som testpilot på mange af Tysklands egne nyudviklede fly. Fløj ialt 125 forskellige flytyper.
Author: Maurer MaurerThe Osprey Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft
Author: Bill GunstonPublisher: Osprey Publishing
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 572
Book Description
Sweeping away the "red herrings" and spurious details invented in the West between 1950 and 1970, this exhaustive volume can be offered to the public with the knowledge that it documents the true histories of some 1000 aircraft types. Much of what was believed to be fact has been proven wrong in various degrees, and it can confidently be claimed that no book in the history of aviation has ever contained so much new information. The volume is prefixed by sections on aircraft designations, engines, air launched weapons and much more - this really is the definitive work on Russian aircraft.
