A Paratrooper's Panoramic View: Training with the 464th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion for Operation Varsity's "Rhine Jump" with the 17th Airborne Division

Robert Wilson, Phillip Wilson (SIGNED BY ROBERT WILSON)

ISBN 10: 1420854291 / ISBN 13: 9781420854299

Published by Self-Published by the Author/Author House, Bloomington, IN, 2005

About this Item

Self-Published by the Author/Author House, Bloomington, IN. 2005. Softcover/Trade Wraps. Stated First Published 11/29/2005. Signed by the author on the title page. Book is tight, square, and unmarked. Book Condition: Near Fine; scant edge and tip bumping. No DJ. Pictorial card stock wraps. Wraps are not bent or folded; spine is not creased or split; text is secure in binding. 229 pp 8vo. This book provides the reader with a historical perspective of Operation Varsity in World War II from one of the Operation's participants. The author vividly recounts the attractions of the airborne during the early days of Army parachute training. From entering Ft. Benning's Parachute School in 1943 to Camp Mackall, to Europe's "Cigarette Camps" to the Marshalling Area in Chalons-sur-Marne, France in March 1945. This book closely follows the preparations that guided the troopers towards the "Rhine Jump." This book recounts his adventures before, during, and after this historical period of Airborne warfare. A clean very presentable copy.

Seller Inventory # 014935

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Paratrooper's Panoramic View: Training with the 464th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion for Operation Varsity's "Rhine Jump" with the 17th Airborne Division
• Publisher: Self-Published by the Author/Author House, Bloomington, IN
• Publication Date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1420854291
• ISBN 13: 9781420854299
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Autobiography
  • United States Army
  • World War II

About this title

Synopsis

At 10:00 AM on March 24, 1945, a literal "sky train" of two and one-half hours in length flew in 226 C-47 and 72 C-46 transport planes carrying 17,122 paratroopers together with 906 gliders being pulled by 610 C-47 tow planes. Paratrooper Robert L. Wilson jumped from the lead serial of planes in this largest airborne assault in military history. He landed in the designated drop zone near Wesel. There, with others in "Branigan's Bastard Battalion," - the 464th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion - he made history as part of the first artillery airborne outfit to land, reassemble, and fire their howitzer's east of the Rhine River. Field Marshall Montgomery, who had elaborately orchestrated this airborne assault, gathered Prime Minister Churchill together with Generals Eisenhower, Ridgway, and Brereton on the western bank of the Rhine to watch the air spectacle unfold. The objectives of this airborne assault - Operation Varsity - were achieved predominantly through the efforts of the U.S. 17th and British 6th Airborne Divisions. These troopers closed in along the Rhine all along its length to prevent any German stronghold from being secured on its bank. They later thrust across Germany's northern plains en route to Berlin. In sum, Varsity's success accelerated the Nazi collapse. A Paratrooper's Panoramic View provides readers a historical perspective of Varsity from one of the Operation's participants. In it, Wilson vividly recounts the attractions of the airborne during the early days of Army parachute training. From entering Ft. Benning's Parachute School in 1943, to Camp Mackall, to Europe's "Cigarette Camps," to the Marshalling Area in Chalons-sur-Marne, France, in March 1945, this book closely follows the preparations that guided this trooper towards the "Rhine Jump."

Product Description

Rare Book