Paratroopers

Learn about WW II paratrooper battles with these old magazine articles. Find information on parachute infantry battles in WW II.

The 82nd Airborne in Sicily (Collier’s Magazine, 1943)

An article from the Fall of 1943 that reported on the second campaign fought by the men of the 82nd Airborne Division, the invasion of Sicily:

These air-carried forces were will be in a position to assist seaborne invaders not only by harassing the rear of the foe’s first lines, but by standing in the way of his attempts to bring up his reserves…These men were also to show that an airborne force can assail and capture and enemy’s strategic strong points, can man his bridges and his highways, can dominate his high-banked rivers and fight off his counterattacks.

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The Jumping General: James Gavin of the 82nd Airborne (Yank Magazine, 1945)

In the fall of 1978 former TIME MAGAZINE war correspondent Bill Walton remarked privately about how wildly inappropriate it was to cast the pretty-boy actor Ryan O’Neal in the roll as General James M. Gavin (1907 – 1990) for the epic war film, A Bridge Too Far. Having dropped into Normandy in 1944 with a typewriter strapped to his chest, Walton witnessed first-hand the grit and combat leadership skills that made Gavin so remarkable. The attached YANK article tells the tale of Gavin’s teen-age enlistment, his meteoric rise up the chain of command and his early advocacy for a U.S. Army parachute infantry divisions.


Another article contrasting the Germans and the Japanese can be read here…


Is your name Anderson?

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Operation Varsity: The Last Parachute Drop of the War (Collier’s Magazine, 1945)

The seasoned war correspondent explained in the attached article as to why Operation Market Garden was such a disaster (and the censors let him) and why the next ambitious Allied parachute assault, Operation Varsity, would be different. Reminiscing about all that he saw of the famed parachute jump beyond the Rhine prior to being forced to turn-tail and bail out over English-occupied Belgium, he observed:

…the C-46s come in and apparently walk into a wall of flak. I could not see the flak, but one plane after another went down. All our attention was on our own ship. It could blow up in mid-air at any moment. From the pilot’s compartment came streams of stinging smoke.

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The Birth of American Parachute Infantry (The American Magazine, 1941)

Here is an account of the earliest days of the paratrooper branch of the U.S. Army. It is told by a man who claims the unique distinction of being the first volunteer to be recruited into the organization, Captain William T. Ryder (1913 – 1992). At this point in history the word paratrooper was not is use – the author uses the term jump-fighter, instead.

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The 101st Division at Bastogne (Combat Studies Group, 1986)

Attached is the concluding essay from a U.S. Army report written in 1986 concerning the spirited defense that was offered by the 101st Airborne Divisionstyle=border:none at the Battle of the Bulge.

At Bastogne, well-coordinated combined arms teams defeated uncoordinated armored and infantry forces committed to an unrealistic plan.


Click here to read more about W.W. II parachute infantry…


Another article about this battle can be read by clicking here…

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