LoFaro - The Sword of St. Michael: the 82nd Airborne Division in World War II

The Sword of St. Michael: the 82nd Airborne Division in World War II — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "The Sword of St. Michael: the 82nd Airborne Division in World War II" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

1234567...227

Table of Contents

To the troopers of The Division, past, present, future

... but the sword
Of Michael from the Armorie of God
Was givn him tempered so, that neither keen
Nor solid might resist that edge: it met
The sword of Satan with steep force to smite
Descending, and in half cut sheere, nor staid,
But with swift wheele reverse, deep entering shard
All his right side; then Satan first knew pain...

JOHN MILTON, PARADISE LOST

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

MORE THAN ANYONE, I owe a debt that I will never be able to repay to Starlyn Jorgensen. I met Star many years ago through a mutual friend who, when he learned I was working on a history of the 82nd Airborne Division, told me that I had to get in touch with Star because she knew more about the division than anyone hed ever met. He was right. Star provided me with counsel, contacts, and, most important, comfort over the course of this project. She and her husband, Al (to whom I owe the title), have been the best of friends. Though I have dedicated this book to the troopers of the division, it is also here dedicated to Star.

I also want to thank my professors at Stony Brook University, in particular Professor Michael Barnhart, my adviser, who hung with me and this project well beyond the point when most would have abandoned a foundering student, and Professors Herman Lebovics and Ian Roxborough, who agreed to read a much larger (and poorer) version of this work. Thanks also go to Professor John Shy of the University of Michigan, who taught me how to read and write history, and Professor Dennis Showalter of Colorado College, who took the time while he was a visiting professor at West Point to help me hone my message.

I had the great fortune to have been afforded the opportunity to teach at West Point on two separate occasions and while there was mentored by two outstanding soldier-scholars, Colonels Jim Johnson, PhD, and Cole Kingseed, PhD. They not only afforded me the time I needed to get this project off the ground, they also provided encouragement, friendship, and leadership.

For getting this project to someone who would take the time to look at it I owe my agent, Gayle Wurst at Princeton International Agency for the Arts, a huge debt of gratitude. I also want to thank Bob Pigeon, Annie Lenth, and Annette Wenda of Perseus/Da Capo for guiding me through the publication process and making this work much better than the one I submitted. Thanks go to Chris Robinson, as well, for the beautiful maps.

One of the great pleasures of doing history like this is the opportunity it affords to meet some wonderful persons, not last of whom were the veterans who took the time to tell me their stories and take phone calls from an unknown would-be author. Without exception they were wonderful men and exemplars of Americas Greatest Generation. Their names are listed in the bibliography. Others I met along the way who were both kind and helpful were the staffs of the Alden Library at Ohio University; the U.S. Military History Institute at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania; and the National Archives and Records Administration at College Park, Maryland.

Then there is the great list of persons who helped me in ways large and small, by either providing me with information, pictures, or advice or by offering their support and encouragement. They are, in alphabetical order: Doug Bekke, Nick Benne, Mike Bigalke, Carolynn Cavanaugh, Laurier Fish, Barbara Gavin Fauntleroy, Larry Junek, Al Larson, Len Lebenson, John Lee, J. J. Marzullo, Emily Norman, Don Patton, Jason Pogacnik, Cary Russell, Dave Schmitt, Les Schwarm, Bill Solis, Tristan To, Chris Turner, Marilyn Wasleski, and Cheryl Weissman.

I want to thank my parents, Tony and Judy, for their love and encouragement, not only with this project, but in life; my daughter, Beth, who endured years of grumbling from a distracted father but who never failed to happily read parts of the manuscript aloud so I could make sure that what I wrote made sense; and Max and Jake, for keeping their friends out of the house when I was struggling over some particularly difficult sentences and for providing humor and a sense of proportion.

Finally, I could not have done this without my wife, Diane. Not only did she read several drafts of this book, she also endured hours of my thinking aloud as I tried to work out just what it was I wanted to say. She never wavered in her faith in me and this project, even when subjected to days on end of tromping through battlefields in France, Belgium, and Holland. Through it all she loved me, and because of it all I love her more.

TABLE OF EQUIVALENT RANKS

U.S. ARMY	GERMAN ARMY	WAFFEN SS
General of the Army	Generalfeldmarschall	Reichsfhrer SS
General	Generaloberst	Oberstgruppenfhrer
Lieutenant General	General der Infanterie (or Artillerie, Panzertruppen, etc.)	Obergruppenfhrer
Major General	Generalleutnant	Gruppenfhrer
Brigadier General	Generalmajor	Brigadefhrer
(None)	(None)	Oberfhrer
Colonel	Oberst	Standartenfhrer
Lieutenant Colonel	Oberstleutnant	Obersturmbannfhrer
Major	Major	Sturmbannfhrer
Captain	Hauptmann	Hauptsturmfhrer
First Lieutenant	Oberleutnant	Obersturmfhrer
Second Lieutenant	Leutnant	Untersturmfhrer

Next page

1234567...227

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «The Sword of St. Michael: the 82nd Airborne Division in World War II»

Look at similar books to The Sword of St. Michael: the 82nd Airborne Division in World War II. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

R. E. Urquhart

Arnhem

Mark J. Alexander

Jump Commander: In Combat with the 505th and 508th Parachute Infantry Regiments, 82nd Airborne Division in World War II

General James Maurice Gavin

Airborne Warfare

Robert J. Dvorchak

The Golden Brigade: The Untold Story of the 82nd Airborne in Vietnam and Beyond

Simon Forty

A Photographic History of Airborne Warfare, 1939–1945

Stephen Smith

82nd Airborne

Middlebrook

Arnhem 1944: the airborne battle, 17-26 September

Zaloga

Operation Market-Garden 1944 (1): the american airborne missions

Great Britain. Army. Airborne Division 6th.

The Pegasus and Orne Bridges: their capture, defence and relief on D-Day

USA Airborne Division

D-Day with the Screaming Eagles

Tim Saunders

Nijmegen US 82nd Airborne And Guards Armoured Division

Phil Nordyke

All American, All the Way: A Combat History of the 82nd Airborne Division in World War II: From Market Garden to Berlin

Discussion, reviews of the book The Sword of St. Michael: the 82nd Airborne Division in World War II and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.