Full Description
Following on from the success of Ian Gardner's critically acclaimed trilogy on the exploits of the 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division in World War II, Sent by the Iron Sky tells their exhilarating story.
From the moment they entered the war in June, 1944, the men of 3rd Battalion were faced with brutal fighting against horrendous odds. Later in the year, nearly five months in combat with no relief lead to heavy losses that reduced them to the size of a company. Their heroic defence of Bastogne saw their division awarded a Unit Citation, a first in the history of the US armed forces, and they subsequently fought on across Europe, finishing the war occupying Hitler's mountain retreat of Berchtesgaden.
Drawing on years of research and interviews with veterans of some of the toughest battles of World War II, together with maps and over 200 vintage images, Ian Gardner brings to life some of the most bitter fighting of the war in Europe, laying bare the horrors of war, the deprivations of day-to-day living and the chaos of the front line.
Additional material includes a chapter on the fate of the men captured in Normandy and a foreword by Lee Wolverton, the grandson of the commander of 3rd Battalion, Col Robert Wolverton.
Contents
Introduction
Chapter One: "Guiding Star"
Selection, training & Colonel Sink & Bob Wolverton
Chapter Two: "Get Loaded"
Deployment to UK & Ramsbury
Chapter Three: "Reclaim The Name"
D-Day & Normandy
Chapter Four: "Searching Souls"
POWs 1944 - 1945
Chapter Five: "Time is Short"
Return to UK & false alarms
Chapter Six: "Fire Like a River"
Operation Market Garden
Chapter Seven: "Words Like Stone"
Bastogne
Chapter Eight: "Dying For A Dream"
Hell Night & the final attack on Foy
Chapter Nine: "Distant Flags"
Alsace Lorraine & the Colmar Pocket
Chapter Ten: "Earth Stained Tears"
Western Germany & The Ruhr
Chapter Eleven: "A Principle of Faith"
Southern Bavaria
Chapter Twelve: "Living in the Machine"
Berchtesgaden & Austria
Chapter Thirteen: "Tho' Our Pictures Fade"
Coming Home
