More Than Courage: The Combat History of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment in World War II: Sicily, Naples-Foggia, Anzio, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe: the Combat History of the 5 - Hardcover

Phil Nordyke

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0760333130 ISBN 13: 9780760333136

Publisher: Zenith Press, 2008

Synopsis

Drawing on both oral and written accounts from over 300 veterans of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Phil Nordyke brings the thrilling history of this remarkable regiment to life, conveying with the intimate immediacy of first-person accounts what it was like to be there. From training at Fort Benning, Georgia, to deployment in Tunisia, desert parachute training in high winds that left the unit with a 30% casualty rate from fractures and injuries; the shipping to Italy, and involvement in spearheading that invasion, battles at Gela, Sicily, the landing at Salarno beach, fighting at Altavilla, the Anzio beachead, and the the long march through France and Belgium to Germany and victory.The 504th lost 318 soldiers killed by enemy fire on a parachute drop at Farrell Airfield, were involved in Operation Market Garden, and drove the German offensive at the Battle of The bulge in the Ardennes back. Their motto became 'Strike, Hold', and the German soldiers called them 'devils in baggy pants', with one German famously saying 'We never know when one will appear form nowhere'. A remarkable story, full of disasters, triumphs, battles lost and won, bravery, courage, and sheer tenacious determination, these first-person accounts will rivet any reader right from the start of combat operations to the final victory parade down Fifth Avenue in New York.

About this title

Review:

The list is incredible and includes Sicily, Salerno, Naples (Chiunzi Pass), Anzio Beach, Nijmegan (Holland), the Battle of the Bulge, the Siegfried Line and the push to secure areas around the Rhine & Elbe rivers. Citizen soldiers, with a world at war. Citizen soldiers, the men of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Citizen soldiers, real heroes. Through research, which includes a bevy of interviews, oral histories, unpublished accounts by veterans and the analysis of archival materials, historian Phil Nordyke delivers a definitive history of the remarkable men who fought for the 504th. The story travels through the period before America's entry into World War II to the massive victory parade in New York City. The scholarship is impressive and truly honors those who answered the call when democracy was teetering on the brink of ruin. It is an enlightening salute and a story that must be remembered and appreciated by future generations. --Military dot com

This is an in depth study of the actions of the 504th in combat in WW II. It helps to have a background in WW II as the author does not attempt to give the reader an idea as to the "larger picture". It does give an excellent view of actions of the 504 men without any varnish. A German prisoner laughed when a Private knelt and covered his dead Lieutenant's body with a shelter half, so the trooper straightened up and shot the prisoner twice, killing him(good thing the Press and JAG lawyers weren't present). A Major was shot through the chest, causing the right lung to fill up with fluid, but the officer stayed on the line with his men for two days of fighting. He only evacuated after that fire fight was won. The book does a good job of covering the part of the war that involved the 504th --military review dot com

From the Back Cover:

The World War II combat record of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment was incredible. Its 3rd Battalion jumped into Sicily, spearheading the invasion. It was the first to jump at Salerno, which stabilized and saved the beachhead there. Company H was awarded the first of four Presidential Unit Citations that units of the regiment would be awarded during the war for its defense of the Chiunzi Pass area outside Naples as part of the Ranger Force. The 504th Regimental Combat Team (RCT) went on to fight in the Italian mountains, then came ashore at Anzio, where the 3rd Battalion stopped the breakthrough by the Hermann Göring Panzer Division and was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation. The regiment jumped into Holland in a daring daylight operation, capturing the Grave bridge and the bridge over the Maas-Waal Canal. Three days later, in one of the greatest feats of arms of the war, it made an assault crossing of the Waal River to capture the north ends of the two huge bridges at Nijmegen. In Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge it fought side-by-side with its sister regiments of the 82nd Airborne Division, stopping the three best-equipped and most powerful SS Panzer divisions in the entire German Army. Together with the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment, it cracked the Siegfried Line, then defended the western side of the Rhine River, ultimately pushing east of the Elbe River where it met soldiers from the Soviet Union’s Red Army.

Ross Carter spoke for all 504th RCT combat veterans when he described the dead comrades and friends he had left behind in those cemeteries: “tough-fibered, hard-living, and reckless; but no braver, more loyal, or better fighting men ever lived.”

Drawing on personal interviews, oral histories, and unpublished written accounts of veterans of the 504th RCT, More Than Courage brings the history of the parachute regiment and the associated units of the regimental combat team to life, conveying with remarkable immediacy and power what it was like to be there. This is history as it was lived by these intrepid paratroopers, from their prewar coming of age as young men new to soldiering, through the end of World War II, when they marched in the Victory Parade up Fifth Avenue in New York.

About this edition

• Publisher: Zenith Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0760333130
• ISBN 13: 9780760333136
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 480