Download or read book Four Hours of Fury written by James M. Fenelon and published by Scribner. This book was released on 2019-05-21 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this viscerally exciting account, a paratrooper-turned-historian reveals the details of 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. 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.
Download or read book Operation Plunder written by Tim Saunders and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2007-03-26 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This WWII history and battlefield guide examines the Allied push across the Rhine with maps, photos, and informative text. By late March of 1945, the advance through Europe had brought Allied forces to Hitler’s doorstep. Second British Army and Ninth US Army were poised to carry out an assault crossing of the Rhine. In the British part of the operations, Field Marshal Montgomery’s best assault divisions were assembled to carry out the British and Canadian part of the attack between Emmerich and Wesel. A commando brigade and two Scottish divisions carried out the initial assault under cover of darkness and a tremendous bombardment on the evening of March 23rd. They fended off the German first Parachute Army, and by dawn they had established a bridgehead. During the following morning 6th British Airborne Division dropped around Hamminkeln, in the immediate rear of the Germans, in an operation codenamed VARSITY. By March 27th, after some heavy combat, the Allies were prepared to launch their final drive to the Baltic. The Rhine crossing, though by no means the final battle, sealed the fate of Nazi Germany. This comprehensive guide provides essential information on historic sites along with maps and photographs.
Download or read book Operation Varsity written by Tim Saunders and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2008-01-01 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "[This book] covers the airborne aspects of the operation, focusing on the British 6th Airborne Division, but also includes sufficient background to place Varsity into its correct context alongside the other operations to cross Germany's last strategic barrier"--Introd.
Download or read book Montgomery s Rhine River Crossing written by Jon Diamond and published by Pen & Sword Military. This book was released on 2019-10 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After the Normandy break-out, the Allies' headlong dash east came to a halt in the autumn with the ill-fated MARKET GARDEN operation and over-extended supply lines short of the Rhineland. After repulsing the Nazis' daring Ardennes offensive, Montgomery's and Bradley's Army Groups cleared the Reichwald and Rhineland and closed on the Rhine. With both sides aware of the strategic significance of this physical barrier the stakes could not have been higher. Eisenhower's plan involved a vast airborne assault by General Ridgway's XV11 Airborne Corps (codename VARSITY) and the simultaneously coordinated river crossing by Monty's 21 Army Group codename PLUNDER with Dempsey's British Second Army and General William H. Simpson's US Ninth Army. This superbly illustrated and researched book describes the March 1945 assault crossing involving naval amphibious craft, the air and artillery bombardment and diversionary attack by the British 1st Commando brigade at Wesel. In concert with VARSITY and PLUNDER, Patton's US Third Army Group crossed further south. As a result of this triumph of strategic planning and tactical execution, the fate of Hitler's 'Thousand Year Reich' was finally sealed.
Download or read book Onslaught on Hitler s Rhine written by Patrick Delaforce and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 239 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Operation Plunder was Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery's swan song. It is rarely mentioned in the Second World War history books, and when it is, both American and British military historians dismiss it as being ultra-cautious. Monty was by nature a cautious commander with dwindling manpower resources. Operation Market Garden in September 1944 had not been successful in achieving a major lodgement over the Rhine. Monty knew that Hitler regarded the Rhine as his final barrier, and his storm-troopers and paratroops had fought like demons for four weeks in February/March 1945 defending the Siegfried Line in Operations Veritable and Blockbuster. Presumably they would continue to defend their own country to the bitter end. So, in command of a British, a Canadian and an American army Monty ensured by very careful planning, including a huge airborne drop in Operation Varsity, that the great onslaught would be furious, quick, ruthless and highly successful. And so it was. Patrick Delaforce fought in Blockbuster, Plunder and all the river battles in his armoured battle group, which reached the Danish frontier just before Stalin's Cossacks. The book is part of a Fonthill trilogy by Delaforce: Monty's Rhine Adventure (Market Garden); and Invasion of the Third Reich (the campaign after Plunder)"--Publisher description.
Download or read book The Rhine Crossing written by Andrew Rawson and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In spring 1945, the outcome of the war was beyond doubt. Yet with the Russians closing fast on Berlin, the speed of the US & British advance was of the essence. One major hurdle remained - the mighty Rhine. This text follows the river crossings by 30th & 79th US Divisions & the parachute assault by 17th US Airborne Division.
Download or read book Crossing the Rhine written by Lloyd Clark and published by Open Road + Grove/Atlantic. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The fighting spirit of Allied paratroopers comes through with exciting clarity” in this account of two separate invasions of Germany in World War II (Kirkus Reviews). A main selection of the Military Book Club In September 1944, as the Allies drove across Europe after Normandy, British field marshal Bernard Montgomery launched Operation Market Garden to secure the lower Rhine—Germany’s last great natural barrier in the west—and passage to Berlin. Though Allied soldiers outnumbered Germans two to one, they suffered devastating casualties and were forced to retreat. Then, in March 1945, Montgomery orchestrated another airborne attack on the Rhine, called Operation Plunder. This time the Allies overwhelmed the German defenses, secured the eastern bank, and began their final march into the heart of the Third Reich. Including detailed maps and personal accounts from those on both sides of the battle, this “vivid war story” examines Allied attempts to breach Germany’s borders, and illustrates how lessons learned from failure helped form the second plan of attack—and seal Germany’s defeat (Publishers Weekly).
Download or read book Montgomery s Rhine River Crossing written by Jon Diamond and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2019-10-30 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Highly recommended . . . excellent maps, [a] large number of black and white images, and detailed coverage of the subject.” —AMPS After the Normandy breakout, the Allies’ headlong dash east came to a halt in the autumn with the ill-fated Market Garden operation and overextended supply lines short of the Rhineland. After repulsing the Nazis’ daring Ardennes offensive, Montgomery’s and Bradley’s Army Groups cleared the Reichwald and Rhineland and closed on the Rhine. With both sides aware of the strategic significance of this physical barrier, the stakes could not have been higher. Eisenhower’s plan involved a vast airborne assault by General Ridgway’s XV11 Airborne Corps (codename VARSITY) and the simultaneously coordinated river crossing by Monty’s 21 Army Group (codename PLUNDER) with Dempsey’s British Second Army and General William H. Simpson’s US Ninth Army. This superbly illustrated and researched book describes the March 1945 assault crossing involving naval amphibious craft, the air and artillery bombardment, and diversionary attack by the British 1st Commando brigade at Wesel. In concert with VARSITY and PLUNDER, Patton’s US Third Army Group crossed further south. As a result of this triumph of strategic planning and tactical execution, the fate of Hitler’s “Thousand Year Reich” was finally sealed.
Download or read book The Guns at Last Light written by Rick Atkinson and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2013-05-14 with total page 897 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The magnificent conclusion to Rick Atkinson's acclaimed Liberation Trilogy about the Allied triumph in Europe during World War II It is the twentieth century's unrivaled epic: at a staggering price, the United States and its allies liberated Europe and vanquished Hitler. In the first two volumes of his bestselling Liberation Trilogy, Rick Atkinson recounted how the American-led coalition fought through North Africa and Italy to the threshold of victory. Now, in The Guns at Last Light, he tells the most dramatic story of all—the titanic battle for Western Europe. D-Day marked the commencement of the final campaign of the European war, and Atkinson's riveting account of that bold gamble sets the pace for the masterly narrative that follows. The brutal fight in Normandy, the liberation of Paris, the disaster that was Operation Market Garden, the horrific Battle of the Bulge, and finally the thrust to the heart of the Third Reich—all these historic events and more come alive with a wealth of new material and a mesmerizing cast of characters. Atkinson tells the tale from the perspective of participants at every level, from presidents and generals to war-weary lieutenants and terrified teenage riflemen. When Germany at last surrenders, we understand anew both the devastating cost of this global conflagration and the enormous effort required to win the Allied victory. With the stirring final volume of this monumental trilogy, Atkinson's accomplishment is manifest. He has produced the definitive chronicle of the war that unshackled a continent and preserved freedom in the West. One of The Washington Post's Top 10 Books of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2013
Download or read book Battle of Central Europe written by Source Wikipedia and published by University-Press.org. This book was released on 2013-09 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 23. Chapters: Operation Plunder, Operation Varsity, Colmar Pocket, Race to Berlin, Operation Blackcock, Battle of Kassel, Operation Archway, Ruhr Pocket, Operation Lumberjack, Operation Amherst, Operation Grenade, Operation Keystone. Excerpt: Operation Varsity (24 March 1945) was a joint American-British airborne operation that took place toward the end of World War II. Involving more than 16,000 paratroopers and several thousand aircraft, it was the largest single airborne operation in history to be conducted on a single day and in one location. Part of Operation Plunder, the effort by the British 21st Army Group under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery to cross the Rhine River and from there enter Northern Germany, Varsity was meant to help the 21st Army Group to secure a foothold across the Rhine River in western Germany by landing two airborne divisions on the eastern bank of the Rhine near the towns of Hamminkeln and Wesel. The plans called for dropping two airborne divisions by parachute and glider behind German lines near Wesel. Drawn from US XVIII Airborne Corps, they were instructed to capture key territory and to generally disrupt German defenses to aid the advance of Allied ground forces. The British 6th Airborne Division was ordered to capture the towns of Schnappenberg and Hamminkeln, clear part of the Diersfordter Wald (Diersfordt Forest) of German forces, and secure three bridges over the River Issel. The U.S. 17th Airborne Division was to capture the town of Diersfordt and clear the rest of the Diersfordter Wald of any remaining German forces. The two divisions would then hold the territory they had captured until relieved by advancing units of 21st Army Group, and then join in the general advance into northern Germany. The airborne forces made several mistakes, most notably when pilot error caused paratroopers...
Download or read book Fighting the People s War written by Jonathan Fennell and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-01-24 with total page 967 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jonathan Fennell captures for the first time the true wartime experience of the ordinary soldiers from across the empire who made up the British and Commonwealth armies. He analyses why the great battles were won and lost and how the men that fought went on to change the world.
Download or read book The 43rd Wessex Division at War 1944 1945 written by and published by . This book was released on 2020-07-10 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of the 43rd Division from its arrival in France during Operation Overlord in June 1944 through to the end of the war with Germany. It relates how the division fought, and where, and is illustrated with 21 maps. The division was engaged on the River Odon, and at Hill 112, then in the Seine crossing, the attempted relief at Arnhem, at Groesbeek, in Operation Blackcock and the advance to Goch and Xanten. It also took part in the Battle of the Rhineland and in Operations Plunder and Varsity and made its final move to capture Bremen in 1945. A very readable, and an important, Divisional History.
Download or read book On to Victory written by Mark Zuehlke and published by D & M Publishers. This book was released on 2010-08-01 with total page 538 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The eighth Canadian Battle Series volume is the little-told story of the tense final days of World War II, remembered in the Netherlands as “the sweetest of springs,” which saw the country’s liberation from German occupation. The Liberation Campaign, a series of fierce, desperate battles during the last three months of the war, was bittersweet. A nation’s freedom was won and the war concluded, but these final hostilities cost Canada 6,298 casualties, including 1,482 dead. With his trademark “you are there” style that draws upon official records, veteran memories, and a keen understanding of the combat experience, Mark Zuehlke brings to life this concluding chapter in the story of Canada in World War II. May 4, 2010, will mark the 65th anniversary of the Netherlands’ liberation.
Download or read book Air War varsity written by Martin W. Bowman and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here, Martin Bowman brings us the first book on Operation Varsity to include both British and US air and ground operations, as well as the US, British and Canadian paratroop and resupply missions, all presented together in one ambitious volume. Operation Varsity-Plunder, the last large-scale Allied airborne operation of World War II, was certainly no walk-over. Varsity was the airborne part, whilst Plunder represented the British amphibious operations by the British Second Army. The airlift consisted of 541 transport aircraft containing airborne troops and a further 1,050 troop-carriers towing 1,350 gliders. The American 17th Airborne Division s C-46 Commando transports and Waco gliders joined the British 6th Airborne Division C-54s, C-47 transport aircrafts, Horsas and Hamilcar gliders to form an immense armada that stretched for more than 200 miles across the sky. The successful air attack involved more than 10,000 Allied aircraft and was concentrated primarily on Luftwaffe airfields and the German transportation system. The combination of the two divisions in one lift made this the largest single day airborne drop in history. In this impressive account, Martin Bowman weaves first-hand testimony and a compelling historical narrative together with a variety of photographic illustrations, many of which have never been published before, in order to create a complete and fascinating record of events as they played out in March 1945.
Download or read book Vanished written by Wil S. Hylton and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2014-11-04 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From a mesmerizing storyteller, the gripping search for a missing World War II crew, their bomber plane, and their legacy. In the fall of 1944, a massive American bomber carrying eleven men vanished over the Pacific islands of Palau, leaving a trail of mysteries. According to mission reports from the Army Air Forces, the plane crashed in shallow water—but when investigators went to find it, the wreckage wasn’t there. Witnesses saw the crew parachute to safety, yet the airmen were never seen again. Some of their relatives whispered that they had returned to the United States in secret and lived in hiding. But they never explained why. For sixty years, the U.S. government, the children of the missing airmen, and a maverick team of scientists and scuba divers searched the islands for clues. With every clue they found, the mystery only deepened. Now, in a spellbinding narrative, Wil S. Hylton weaves together the true story of the missing men, their final mission, the families they left behind, and the real reason their disappearance remained shrouded in secrecy for so long. This is a story of love, loss, sacrifice, and faith—of the undying hope among the families of the missing, and the relentless determination of scientists, explorers, archaeologists, and deep-sea divers to solve one of the enduring mysteries of World War II.
Download or read book The Last Offensive written by Charles B. MacDonald and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-07-27 with total page 582 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: (Includes maps) Recovering rapidly from the shock of German counteroffensives in the Ardennes and Alsace, Allied armies early in January 1945 began an offensive that gradually spread all along the line from the North Sea to Switzerland and continued until the German armies and the German nation were prostrate in defeat. This volume tells the story of that offensive, one which eventually involved more than four and a half million troops, including ninety one divisions, sixty-one of which were American. The focus of the volume is on the role of the American armies - First, Third, Seventh, Ninth, and, to a lesser extent, Fifteenth - which comprised the largest and most powerful military force the United States has ever put in the field. The role of Allied armies - First Canadian, First French, and Second British - is recounted in sufficient detail to put the role of American. armies in perspective, as is the story of tactical air forces in support of the ground troops. This is the ninth volume in a subseries of ten designed to record the history of the United States Army in the European Theater of Operations. One volume, The Riviera to the Rhine, is the final volume to be published.
Download or read book With the SAS Across the Rhine written by Ian Wellsted and published by Frontline Books. This book was released on 2020-08-19 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this WW2 memoir, the author of SAS: With the Maquis continues his thrilling account of life as a British Army commando behind enemy lines. Colonel Ian Wellsted, OBE, served with the British Army’s elite Special Air Service during World War II. In this vivid personal account, he vividly recounts his involvement in Operation Archway, a mission supporting Field Marshal Montgomery’s Allied 21st Army Group in operations Varsity and Plunder. In this offensive, the SAS teams were thrust deep into German territory, often having to battle their way through enemy lines to get back to safety. ‘I quickly learned that there was no way to control an SAS battle,’ Wellsted wrote of his first major encounter in charge of a patrol. ‘The din was deafening – seventy odd Vickers and half a dozen Brownings all chattering together.’ In one of these encounters, as the war was drawing to a close, Wellsted’s troop found itself surrounded. In the ensuing firefight, Wellsted was wounded, bringing his active front line career to an end.
