Frank van Lunteren

My interest in Lunteren's trilogy on the 504th PIR of the 82nd Division stems from my late father's membership in this storied parachute regiment in North Africa, Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, Holland, Belgium and Germany. Dad didn't speak much about his combat experiences except when asked directly. He did say to my Mom that after early 1944 nothing ever in life could worry him. He said he was injured at Anzio and the book mentions an incident where one soldier from HQ Company (his outfit) was killed and two were injured by a German shell. I wonder if he was one of the two as he said he spent some time in a hospital in Naples and was the recipient of a Purple Heart. He also said that he survived the war in part because HQ Company was usually not at the point of the spear in terms of combat action, although they saw plenty of combat. He told me he was a communications specialist responsible for running telephone wire to keep up communications between the various units. There's a photo in the book of several soldiers making radio communications one of whom looks like him as a young man.

Like most military histories it is hard to follow the actual campaign details as one doesn't know the topography of the terrain and the movements of military units. But, unlike others, this book features the testimony of soldiers involved in the action and thus gives a vivid sense of what it was like to be engaged in combat. These soldiers were remarkably brave and willing to put themselves in grave danger in order to carry out their missions. The casualty losses were high and there was a constant flow of replacements joining the regiment throughout the campaign. I do recall my father saying that the rookie replacements were so inexperienced in combat preservation skills that they often didn't last days in actual combat and the stories in the book confirm this sad fact.

Lunteren, a Dutch historian, has done a remarkable research job in providing great detail about the history of the 504th in WWII.… (mais)

I spotted this book on a WWII history blog. It is of particular interest to me as my late father was in the 3rd Battalion of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division. I knew he participated in the Market Garden campaign in Holland in September 1944. This was his third combat jump after Sicily and Salerno. (His involvement was more significant as he was born in Holland and moved to the US at a young age.) As a soldier in the 3rd Battalion he took part in the famous amphibious crossing of the Waal River. His company was in the second wave of crossing this river, an amazing action that is remembered for its audacity.

Dad didn't talk much about this campaign other than to say it was a very fearful thing. He mentioned that the river's water looked like heavy rain falling in it from the bullets striking it. Of the 26 boats in the first wave only eleven returned to pick up the second wave.

What's especially good about this book is the use of first person recollections of the action from the drop on September 17 until the relief of the division in October. The author collected accounts from unit histories and the like, but he interviewed many surviving participants from 2002 to 2013. It is indeed fortunate that he did so as the number of living paratroopers rapidly declined throughout the decade. The maps are quite good, but like all military histories it's difficult to fully imagine the settings if one is not familiar with the terrain. This is why the troopers eyewitness accounts make this story so vivid. One certainly gets a full understanding at how incredibly brutal was this fight and a sense of the aggressiveness and bravery of the regiment.

The author (a young Dutchman) has a second book on the 504th detailing its role in blocking the advance of the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge. I am looking forward to reading it.… (mais)