The gripping story of the men of 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, the comrades of the Band of Brothers, from their formation through the D-Day landings and beyond, in their own words. The exploits of the 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment have long been overshadowed by those of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion. Yet the actions of the 3rd Battalion during the D-Day landings were every bit as incredible. This is the astounding story of how, after suffering many immediate casualties on landing, the surviving paratroopers fought on towards their objective against horrendous odds. Using fascinating first-hand accounts of the soldiers and the French civilians who witnessed the Normandy campaign, and illustrated with black and white photographs and maps throughout, the authors offer a unique and comprehensive account of the experiences of the 3rd Battalion from training through to D-Day and beyond.

The exploits of the 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment have long been overshadowed by those of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion. Yet the actions of the 3rd Battalion during the D-Day landings were every bit as incredible. This is the astounding story of how, after suffering many immediate casualties on landing, the surviving paratroopers fought on towards their objective against horrendous odds. Using fascinating first-hand accounts of the soldiers and the French civilians who witnessed the Normandy campaign, and illustrated with black and white photographs and maps throughout, the authors offer a unique and comprehensive account of the experiences of the 3rd Battalion from training through to D-Day and beyond.

This follow-up to Tonight We Die As Men continues the story of the 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division as they dropped into Holland as part of Operation Market Garden. The following 72-day campaign saw the 506PIR constantly on the move, defending various transport hubs around Eindhoven, desperately trying to keep open 'Hell's Highway'. From there, the airborne troopers moved north to near Arnhem where they took a new position around Betuwe. For two months, the Americans battled against German tanks, constant artillery barrages and driving rain and they grimly held their ground, until the Germans finally abandoned the effort. Written with the help and input from numerous veterans, this book tells the complete story of many of America's best soldiers as they fought and died in Holland.

The final volume of Gardner's critically acclaimed biography of the Third Battalion 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment – the sister company to the famed Band of Brothers – this book traces the battalion's actions in the frantic final days of the war in Europe. Exhausted and battered following the disastrous Market-Garden campaign, the 506th were due three months of R&R, but were rushed back in to halt the desperate German attack during the Battle of the Bulge. When the offensive was finally halted after months of fighting the 506th pushed on into Germany where Ed Shames was the first Allied soldier to enter Dachau before the unit were sent to occupy Hitler's mountain retreat at Berchtesgarden. Based on extensive interviews and first-hand accounts, this volume relives the struggles of the paratroopers of the renowned 'Screaming Eagles' in some of the toughest fighting of World War II, bringing the story of their defiant unit to its conclusion.

On 18 December 1935 when the first flight of the Douglas DC-3 took place, few could have imagined that it would become one of the world’s most celebrated aircraft of all time, not just as a commercial airliner but also as the C-47 military transport. When production ceased in the summer of 1945, a total of 10,926 had been built. This wonderfully versatile aircraft played a significant part in airborne operations around the world; but perhaps its most notable employment occurred during the June 1944 Normandy campaign. This important episode within the wider history of ‘D-Day' is enlivened here in classic fashion by Martin Bowman, in a narrative that features both extensive historical notes as well as deeply personal accounts of endurance and individual gallantry. This amplified account of events as they unfolded in the skies above France on D-Day (5/6 and 6/7 June, 1944) reveals the invaluable contribution these workhorses of World War II made to the overall success in Normandy. It follows the author’s comprehensive five part work published by Pen & Sword (Air War D-Day) that included a multitude of personal military accounts from both Allied and German personnel who took part in Operation ‘Overlord’ and the Normandy campaign.

The engrossing account of one of World War II's legendary figures. A member of the legendary Band of Brothers, Ed Shames was involved in some of the most important battles of World War II. His incredible combat record includes parachuting into Normandy on D-Day, and service during Operation Market Garden, at Bastogne and in Germany itself. Shames' own words and recollections fuel a searing account that gives a soldier's glimpse into the ferocity of the fighting on the ground and the close fellowship that developed between the men in Easy Company. The first member of the 101st Airborne Division to enter Dachau concentration camp, just days after its liberation, Shames ended the war in the bombed out shell of Hitler's Eagles Nest, surrounded by his comrades in arms. Written by the author of the critically acclaimed Tonight We Die As Men, this is the phenomenal story of a remarkable young lieutenant during World War II, from training at Toccoa, Georgia right through to the collapse of the Third Reich.

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 for a new readership. 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.