Fighting Fox Company Of The 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment

“Intense . . . anyone familiar with the Band of Brothers story will want to read this book” (Military Review). Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division has become one of the most famous small units in US history. But fewer people are aware of Fox Company of that same regiment—the men who fought alongside Easy Company through every step of the war in Europe, and who had their own stories to tell. WWII vet Bill Brown decided to research the fate of a childhood friend who had served in Fox Company. Along the way, he met Terry Poyser, who was on a similar mission to research the combat death of a Fox Company man from his hometown. Together, the two authors proceeded to locate and interview every surviving Fox Company vet they could find. The ultimate result was this book, a decade in the making, offering a wealth of fascinating firsthand accounts of WWII combat as well as new perspectives on Dick Winters and others of the “Band.” Told primarily through the words of participants, Fighting Fox Company takes us through some of the most horrific close-in fighting of the war, beginning with the chaotic nocturnal paratrooper drop on D-Day. After fighting through Normandy, the drop into Holland saw prolonged, ferocious combat and even more casualties; and then during the Battle of the Bulge, Fox Company took its place in line at Bastogne during one of the most heroic against-all-odds stands in US history. As always in combat, each man’s experience is different, and the nature of the German enemy is seen here in its equally various aspects. From ruthless SS fighters to meek Volkssturm to simply expert modern fighters, the Screaming Eagles encountered the full gamut of the Wehrmacht. The work is also accompanied by rare photos and useful appendices, including rosters and lists of casualties, to give the full look at Fox Company that has long been overdue.

The final volume of Gardner's critically acclaimed biography of the Third Battalion 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment – the sister company to the famed Band of Brothers – this book traces the battalion's actions in the frantic final days of the war in Europe. Exhausted and battered following the disastrous Market-Garden campaign, the 506th were due three months of R&R, but were rushed back in to halt the desperate German attack during the Battle of the Bulge. When the offensive was finally halted after months of fighting the 506th pushed on into Germany where Ed Shames was the first Allied soldier to enter Dachau before the unit were sent to occupy Hitler's mountain retreat at Berchtesgarden. Based on extensive interviews and first-hand accounts, this volume relives the struggles of the paratroopers of the renowned 'Screaming Eagles' in some of the toughest fighting of World War II, bringing the story of their defiant unit to its conclusion.

Following on from the success of Ian Gardner's critically acclaimed trilogy on the exploits of the 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division in World War II, Sent by the Iron Sky tells their exhilarating story for a new readership. From the moment they entered the war in June, 1944, the men of 3rd Battalion were faced with brutal fighting against horrendous odds. Later in the year, nearly five months in combat with no relief lead to heavy losses that reduced them to the size of a company. Their heroic defence of Bastogne saw their division awarded a Unit Citation, a first in the history of the US armed forces, and they subsequently fought on across Europe, finishing the war occupying Hitler's mountain retreat of Berchtesgaden. Drawing on years of research and interviews with veterans of some of the toughest battles of World War II, together with maps and over 200 vintage images, Ian Gardner brings to life some of the most bitter fighting of the war in Europe, laying bare the horrors of war, the deprivations of day-to-day living and the chaos of the front line. Additional material includes a chapter on the fate of the men captured in Normandy and a foreword by Lee Wolverton, the grandson of the commander of 3rd Battalion, Col Robert Wolverton.

This follow-up to Tonight We Die As Men continues the story of the 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division as they dropped into Holland as part of Operation Market Garden. The following 72-day campaign saw the 506PIR constantly on the move, defending various transport hubs around Eindhoven, desperately trying to keep open 'Hell's Highway'. From there, the airborne troopers moved north to near Arnhem where they took a new position around Betuwe. For two months, the Americans battled against German tanks, constant artillery barrages and driving rain and they grimly held their ground, until the Germans finally abandoned the effort. Written with the help and input from numerous veterans, this book tells the complete story of many of America's best soldiers as they fought and died in Holland.

The engrossing account of one of World War II's legendary figures. A member of the legendary Band of Brothers, Ed Shames was involved in some of the most important battles of World War II. His incredible combat record includes parachuting into Normandy on D-Day, and service during Operation Market Garden, at Bastogne and in Germany itself. Shames' own words and recollections fuel a searing account that gives a soldier's glimpse into the ferocity of the fighting on the ground and the close fellowship that developed between the men in Easy Company. The first member of the 101st Airborne Division to enter Dachau concentration camp, just days after its liberation, Shames ended the war in the bombed out shell of Hitler's Eagles Nest, surrounded by his comrades in arms. Written by the author of the critically acclaimed Tonight We Die As Men, this is the phenomenal story of a remarkable young lieutenant during World War II, from training at Toccoa, Georgia right through to the collapse of the Third Reich.

This follow-up to Tonight We Die As Men continues the story of the 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division as they dropped into Holland as part of Operation Market Garden. The following 72-day campaign saw the 506PIR constantly on the move, defending various transport hubs around Eindhoven, desperately trying to keep open 'Hell's Highway'. From there, the airborne troopers moved north to near Arnhem where they took a new position around Betuwe. For two months, the Americans battled against German tanks, constant artillery barrages and driving rain and they grimly held their ground, until the Germans finally abandoned the effort. Written with the help and input from numerous veterans, this book tells the complete story of many of America's best soldiers as they fought and died in Holland.

“An excellent read for anyone interested in men at war, as well as for students of the airborne operations, the Italian Campaign, and the war in Europe” (The NYMAS Review). Upon the completion of the Sicily and Salerno Campaigns in 1943, the paratroopers of Col. Reuben Tucker’s 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment were among the first Allied troops to enter Naples—a ghost town at first sight. The residents soon expressed their joy at being liberated. Four weeks later, the 504th—upon the special request of Gen. Mark Clark—spearheaded Fifth Army’s drive through the notorious Volturno Valley—the Germans’ next stand. January 1944 seemed to promise a period of rest, but the landing at Anzio meant deployment for the paratroopers again, this time by ship. A bombing raid during their beach landing was a forecast of eight weeks of bitter fighting. Holding the right flank of the beachhead along the Mussolini Canal, the paratroopers earned their nickname “Devils in Baggy Pants” for their frontline incursions into enemy lines, as well as their stubborn defense of the Allied salient. In this work, H Company’s attachment to the British 5th Grenadier Guards—and the Victoria Cross action of Maj. William Sidney—are painted in comprehensive light for the first time. The story of honorary member of the 504th PIR, Italian veteran Antonio Taurelli, is also included. Using war diaries, personal journals, letters, and interviews with nearly eighty veterans, an up-close view of the 504th PIR in the Fifth Army’s Italy Campaign is here in unsurpassed detail. From the author of two previous works on the 504th PIR, The Battle of the Bridges and Blocking Kampfgruppe Peiper, this book shows that the Italian theater was second to none in terms of grueling combat, courage against formidable odds, and an extremely expert enemy.

Includes six maps. This is actual story of parent regiment of the famous “Band of Brothers” Easy company. As the tens of thousands of American troops began their approach toward the forbidding German-defended Normandy coast, their comrades in the 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions had already flown over the Channel and began dropping and gliding into enemy territory. The Airborne Divisions had a role critical to the success of the entire Normandy Landings; beyond the initial beach landing areas were miles of flooded defended ditches and waterways. If the German troops managed to defend these bottlenecks the Americans on Utah Beach, at the extreme right of the operation, would be unable to move forward and might have foundered on the beach. The capture and retention of the two southernmost exits were assigned to the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment; the plan was well thought-out and would have in all likelihood have succeeded handsomely. However the drop of the 506th like many of their comrades on D-Day was wide and scattered all across the Normandy landscape. As groups of paratroops nervously grouped together in the darkness they started small actions against whatever German positions that they came across; as officers and NCOs struggled to gain some control over the chaos the most organized moved toward their objectives. They bravely pushed forward toward their targets and held them against the rising numbers of German reinforcements; before the major link-up with the beach landings they fought and won the engagement at St-Mairie-Du-Comt against their toughest enemies, the German paratroops. S L A Marshall, the Official Historian for the European Theatre of Operations, interviewed the men of the 506th on their return to the U.K. and from this collected material set about recording this story of their courage, dedication and fighting skill.