Battling Buzzards
The Odyssey of the 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team 1943-1945
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4.0 • 4 Ratings
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
The Few and the Brave
Convinced by 1943 that the assault upon Nazi-held Europe would yield swiftly to elite troops, the U.S. Army created parachute regimental combat teams. Drawing on daring volunteers willing to hurl themselves from airplanes and hit the ground fighting, the 517th PRCT became one of the most highly trained airborne units in the world.
Blooded in northern Italy in 1944, the Battling Buzzards dropped at night in southern France for the second D-day to spearhead a savage advance through the Champagne region and then into the Alps.
Gerald Astor, acclaimed author of A Blood-Dimmed Tide, draws on the words of the men of the 517th to create this gripping, action-packed account of a unit that existed for only two years but fought heroically to defeat the vaunted German forces.
From its campaign in Italy to its assault in the French Alps, the Battling Buzzards helped push the Germans out of southern Europe one fierce, close-quarter battle at a time. Then, after six months of nonstop action, the exhausted, battle-hardened 517th was called into the ultimate battle — at a place called The Bulge....
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The 517th saw action in Italy, southern France, the Ardennes Forest and the final thrust into Germany. What makes this account one of the best WW II unit histories is the attention Astor pays to the leadership aspect, particularly the regimental and battalion commanders. The reader gets a clear and detailed look at the bombastic, hard-driving Lt. Col. Louis Walsh's leadership style and that of his low-keyed, self-effacing successor, Lt. Col. Rupert Graves. Their approaches differed drastically, but both elicited a high level of combat performance from the troops, giving the 517th its reputation as one of the U.S. Army's elite outfits. Astor traces the unit from its inception, through its innovative training and confrontation with the realites of war, to its deactivation in 1946. Astor is the author of A Blood-Dimmed Tide: The Battle of the Bulge by the Men Who Fought It. Photos.
