The First Men In / U.S. Paratroopers and the Fight to Save D-Day, AND A SECOND BOOK, Utah Beach / The Amphibious Landing and Airborne Operations on D-Day / June 6, 1944

Ruggero, Ed / Author of "Combat Jump," AND A SECOND BOOK, by Joseph Balkoski, "The top living D-Day historian" -- USA Today

ISBN 10: 0060731281 / ISBN 13: 9780060731281

Published by HarperCollins Publishers, AND A SECOND BOOK, from Stackpole Books, New York / Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, 2006

About this Item

"First Edition" stated. Number line complete 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 -- the first printing. The struggle to hold St. Mere Eglise and the bridge causeways over the flooded Merderet until the D-Day landing forces could link up (they were days late -- and Bernard Montgomery wouldn't take his D-Day objective, the crossroads town of Caen, for six weeks) are depicted as a victory. And indeed, the 82nd and 101st Airborne seized and held their objectives. But they did it at a terrible cost in brigade commanders -- who led from the front, often with ad hoc assemblages of fewer than 5 percent of the men they expected to have, since few men came down anywhere near where they expected, and dozens drowned in fields that Allied intelligence failed to notice were flooded. Worst of all, in what Ruggero properly describes as their greatest failure, those analysts failed to discern (and thus to warn anyone) how hard it was going to be to move through the Norman hedgerows. Ruggero also notes that the bazooka rocket-launcher was effective only against the more vulnerable sides and rear of enemy tanks -- even the light, German-captured Renault tanks which the paratroopers faced on D-Day. 349 pp. including index. OUR SECOND BOOK, "Utah Beach," ISBN 9780811701440 , is an 8v0 2005 trade paperback "Advance Uncorrected Proof," "First Edition" stated, number line complete 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. Original publicity sheet laid in. The tale of the Normandy landings told largely in quotations from the commanders or from men who were there, with each citation followed by brief commentary or explanation. 375 pp. without index. The pair of titles on related topics now reduced from $32.

Seller Inventory # 006195

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The First Men In / U.S. Paratroopers and the Fight to Save D-Day, AND A SECOND BOOK, Utah Beach / The Amphibious Landing and Airborne Operations on D-Day / June 6, 1944
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers, AND A SECOND BOOK, from Stackpole Books, New York / Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania
• Publication Date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060731281
• ISBN 13: 9780060731281
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • War

About this title

Synopsis

In the hours before the D-Day landing, their brilliant success behind enemy lines changed the course of history.

In the tradition of Steven Ambrose's D-Day and Band of Brothers, The First Men In tells the remarkable story of the American paratroopers who took on one of the most important and dangerous missions of World War II. On the eve of D-Day, the 82nd Airborne Division parachuted into key positions along the Normandy coast, spearheading the assault on Fortress Europe. Using extensive firsthand interviews with the men of the 82nd, Ed Ruggero vividly brings them to life. This "first-rate story-teller" (Denver Post) weaves their improbable achievement into an unforgettable narrative.

Only one unit of the 82nd -- the 3,000 men of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment -- had previously been tested in battle. These heroes of the brutal 1943 invasion of Sicily -- whose story was brilliantly told in Ruggero's Combat Jump -- were given one of the toughest assignments, that of securing the critical crossroads town of Ste. Mère Eglise, the gateway to Utah Beach, through which half of the U.S. invasion force had to pass. Within hours of landing in Normandy, the 505th had accomplished its mission and seized Ste. Mère Eglise, the first town in Europe to be liberated. But as the sun rose on June 6, 1944, and as the assault waves struggled ashore on fire-swept beaches, the airborne commanders realized that most of the nearly 14,000 paratroopers dropped on the extreme right flank of the Allied invasion area had missed their targets.

The scattered troopers fought in small groups, cut off from one another by the dense Norman hedgerows and cleverly dug-in German defenders. Putting themselves between the vulnerable landing beaches and repeated enemy assaults, the lightly armed paratroopers fought for no-name crossroads and isolated fields on the first few miles of the long road to Berlin. Their training, courage, and leadership paid off; with their blood, they purchased the critical hours the Allies needed to get ashore. Often outnumbered and frequently outgunned, the men of the 82nd accomplished every mission, held every piece of ground they gained, and thus helped secure the success of the greatest amphibious invasion in history.

About the Author

Ed Ruggero is the author of Combat Jump: The Young Men Who Led the Assault into Fortress Europe, July 1943 and Duty First: A Year in the Life of West Point and the Making of American Leaders. He was an infantry officer in the United States Army for eleven years and is an experienced keynote speaker on leadership development. He lives in Wallingford, Pennsylvania.