AIRBORNE AT WAR

In this book a distinguished airborne soldier looks back at some of the airborne operations of World War 2, not to examine outdated techniques, but to see what sort of spirit the airborne assault developed in its soldiers and airmen and to compare the operations of the three nations who used them most often and effectively — Germany, Great Britain and the United States. D-Day in Normandy and the Battle of Arnhem have been well covered in books and films, so the author has taken five lesser-known operations for Airborne at War — two German, one American and one combined British and American. 

The capture of the fort at Eben Emael by German parachute engineers, landing by glider on top of the fort, startled the world in May 1940 and set the pattern for many subsequent glider assaults by both sides. Some of the same men took part in the German Sturmregiment's attack on Maleme airfield at the western end of Crete — the key to the whole German assault and a gamble so nearly lost, as to make it one of the greatest of the many great dramas in the long, violent and bloodstained history of that island. Then, as the war was ending and on the other side of the world, the United States' recapture of Corregidor showed how the bold and unorthodox use of parachute troops solved a difficult problem and saved many lives. Finally, the use of the XVIII Airborne Corps in the crossing of the Rhine by 21 Army Group produced the largest aerial armada ever seen, as two complete airborne divisions were landed on one lift and within 2,5 hours. The already crumbling German resistance was shattered at a stroke. 

Some historians have questioned the use of this airborne sledgehammer to crack such a battered nut, yet the casualties on the first day are comparable with Arnhem and D-Day and the crossings by the XII and XXX Corps might well have been slower and bloodier without the airborne operation. First published in 1978 and long out of print, Airborne at War is one of the classic volumes in the highly successful `at War' series. This new impression makes available to a new generation of military, aviation enthusiasts and historians a superb tribute to the soldiers of all airborne operations.