Tag
World War II paratroopers
From Husky to Hell: How Sicily Broke the 82nd Airborne Before Italy Even Began
By the time the 82nd Airborne Division hit Sicily in July 1943, they were already being sold to the public as something close to myth. America’s first airborne division. Volunteers. Paratroopers. The best of the best. That’s the version everyone remembers. The truth is less clean, and far more useful …
First in the Sky: How the 509th Parachute Infantry Battled Weather, Confusion, and Chaos in Operation Torch
When the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion lifted off from English airfields on the night of November 7–8, 1942, they were about to make history, and nearly disaster. It was the first American airborne combat operation of World War II, part of Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of French North Africa. …