A paratrooper’s memoir of survival and close-quarters combat in
WWII: “Well worth reading” (Flight Journal). When Dwayne Burns
turned eighteen, he decided he wanted to fight alongside America’s
best. He joined the paratroopers and was assigned to the 508th
Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division. Little did he suspect that a
year later he’d be soaring in a flak-riddled C-47 over Normandy,
part of the very spearhead of the Allied drive to seize back Europe.
Burns landed behind German lines during the dark early hours of
D-Day and gradually found other survivors of his division. The
paratroopers fought on every side in a confused running battle through
the hedgerows, finally making a stand in a surrounded farmhouse. With
one room reserved for their growing piles of corpses, the paratroopers
held their ground until finally relieved by infantry advancing from
the beaches. After being pulled out of Normandy, the airborne
troops were launched into Holland as part of Montgomery’s plan to
gain a bridgehead across the Rhine. This daytime jump was less
confused than the nocturnal one, but there were more Germans than
expected and fewer Allied forces in support. It was another maelstrom
of point-blank combat in all directions, and though the 82nd achieved
its objectives, the campaign as a whole achieved little but
casualties. The 82nd had hardly refilled with replacements when the
Germans broke through the US front in the Ardennes. The 82nd’s
paratroopers were put aboard trucks and hastened to stand in the way
of the panzer onslaught. Passing through Bastogne, they went farther
north to St. Vith, where the US 7th Armored and other divisions were
reeling. The 82nd held its own with quickly assembled defense
perimeters, allowing other units to escape. After beating off massive
attacks by the German SS, the paratroopers were disgusted to hear that
they, too, had been ordered to retreat. They didn’t feel they needed
to, but Monty was determined to “tidy up the battlefield.” On
January 3, they counterattacked through the freezing hills, sealing
off the Bulge and pursuing the Germans back into the Reich. In this
work, Dwayne Burns, assisted by his son Leland (US Army, 1975–79),
not only relates the chaos of combat but the intimate thinking of a
young soldier thrust into the center of several of history’s
greatest battles. His memories provide a fascinating insight into the
reality of close-quarters combat.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781935149941
Publisert
2014
Utgiver
Vendor
Casemate
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
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