FIGHTING WITH SCREAMING EAGLES
The precision of (Bowens) descriptions and his ability to tell a story make his experience come to life, proving once again that there is no substitute for the historian who has lived his or her subject The authors wit and ability to cultivate the images of his experiences in the minds of his readers make Fighting with the Screaming Eagks a valuable contribution to the growing body of works that cover the Allied invasion of Western Europe in World War II.
1st Lt. Jay Hemphill, USAF in Air & Space Power Journal (USA)
One of the best aspects of this book is its collection of photographs. When combined with the descriptive stories, the fifty or so photographs make you feel as if you were lucky enough to have this veteran sit down with you as he brought out his personal photo album Fighting with the Screaming Eagles is a worthy book about a common soldier on an extraordinary journey.
On Point: The Newsletter of the Army Historical Foundation (USA)
Robert Bowen has written an enlightening and riveting book that details his service in the lOlst Airborne Division during the latter half of World War II (with) vivid mental images readers can visualise, smell and conceptualise readers will find Nazi treatment of American POWs gut-wrenching and horrifying. His eye-opening experience at the stalags will keep any reader spellbound
The NCO Journal (USA)
Dedication
For my wife Christine, without whom
none of this would have been possible.
Published in the United States of America and Great Britain in 2010 by Casemate Publishers
908 Darby Road, Havertown, PA 19083
and
17 Cheap Street, Newbury RG14 5DD
Copyright 2001, 2010 Robert Bowen
ISBN 978-1-935149-30-9
eISBN 9781935149903
Cataloging-in-publication data is available from the Library of Congress and the British Library.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the Publisher in writing.
Originally published in 2001 by Greenhill Books, London.
Printed and bound in the United States of America.
For a complete list of Casemate titles please contact:
CASEMATE PUBLISHERS (US)
Telephone (610) 853-9131, Fax (610) 853-9146
E-mail: casemate@casematepublishing.com
CASEMATE PUBLISHERS (UK)
Telephone (01635) 231091, Fax (01635) 41619
E-mail: casemate-uk@casematepublishing.co.uk
List of Illustrations
1. Bowen at Fort Gordon, GA
2. Bowen with Halsey at Fort Gordon
3. & 4. Bowen training at Fort Bragg, NC
5. Christine and Robert Bowen
6. Bowen, Preslar and Hanss
7. Bowen, Preslar and Harrell
8. Company C drilling at Brock Barracks
9. American Red Cross Club, Sens
10. & 11. Red Cross girls assigned to the 401st
12. Post-D-Day furlough in Edinburgh
13. 2d Squad, 3d Platoon, at Zetten
14. Brig. Gen. McAuliffe briefing troops
15. Headquarters troops and CG-4A glider
16. Playing cards in camp
17. In camp at Zetten
18. 3d Platoon HQ West Rhine
19. A short respite from fighting on the Island
20. Bowen with 3d Platoon at Zetten
21. Men of Company C at Zetten
22. Sgt. Jack Emler
23. Victims of friendly fire
24. Ambulances damaged by Luftwaffe attacks
25. Advancing to Bastogne
26. Men of Company B, 401st GIR at the Battle of the Bulge
27. Sgt. Richard Gill
28. Bastogne lies in ruins
29. The 101st advances from Bastogne
30. Glidermen fire on German positions
31. Glider infantryman cleaning his rifle
32. Men of 401st with abandoned German staff car
33. Captured 101st Field Hospital
34. Makeshift hospital at Bastogne
35. & 36. Stalag XIIA
37. Waddlington, OMara and Feldman
38. Garrett, Fortuna and Feldman
39. Robert Lott at Berchtesgaden
40. Wrecked half-track at Berchtesgaden
41. Divisional ceremony at Berchtesgaden
42. Bowen wearing a British battledress jacket
43. Bowen recovering at White Plains, NY M. Colonel Allen with the Regimental flag
45. A post-war dinner for surviving members of the 401st
46. Bowen at home in Linthicum, MD
47. Bowen with Christopher Anderson
All photographs are from the authors collection, unless noted otherwise in the captions.
List of Maps
The D-Day Landings
Operation Market Garden
The Defense of the Island
The Battle of the Bulge: Defense of Bastogne
The Battle of the Bulge: The 401st Holds Positions
Foreword
G EORGE E. K OSKIMAKI
Sergeant Robert Bowen joined the 101st Airborne Divisions 401st Glider Infantry Regiment in 194.3. His wife Christine, to whom he was married in 1939, saved all the letters he wrote while in the service. He wrote every day except when combat situations did not permit that luxury. Later, while trying to recover from horrible wounds received during combat and made worse by time spent as a prisoner of the Germans, Bowen would use these letters to refresh his memory of events as he recorded his memories of his time with the 101st Screaming Eagles Airborne Division. Readers will be amazed at how vividly he recalls incidents from training and combat alike.
The use of airborne troops in combat was first visualized by Benjamin Franklin way back in 1784, a year after the first successful balloon ascent in France. Franklin expounded on this possibility:
Where is the prince who can afford to so cover his country with troops for its defense, as that ten thousand men descending from the clouds might not, in many places, do an infinite deal of mischief before a force could be brought together to repel them?
Though late in developing the concept of overhead envelopment, American military planners did note the success of the German military forces in their lightning-like strikes from the air in Crete and Holland. A test platoon was formed to study the feasibility of dropping men and equipment by parachute and glider. Thus were developed the 82d and 101st Airborne Divisions in August 1942.
In an era when flight was still considered a relatively new and exciting phenomenon, an organization that was trained to be transported to battle from the air was bound to capture popular imagination. From the very beginning, the new airborne divisions were considered elite organizations. Enticed by the jump boots, silver wings and extra jump pay awarded to each paratrooper after completion of his training, the new divisions attracted thousands of volunteers. Even so, the rapid expansion of the airborne divisions meant that the Army was hard pressed to find the necessary recruits, and recruiters, army public affairs officers and the media went out of their way to highlight the daring young airborne soldiers with their jump wings and boots.
Often lost in the telling, however, was the fact that the new airborne divisions included glider infantrymen as well. Unlike the paratroopers, the members of the glider regiments were assigned to their regiments and, at least initially, were not provided with wings, boots or any other special symbol to mark them as members of these new elite organizations, nor were they given extra pay. Despite their relative obscurity, these men were expected to travel to battle in the flimsy metal and canvas CG-4A Waco glider. As many were soon to discover, travel in the primitive gliders of the day could be extremely hazardous. Horrible crashes during training were a common occurrence. A poster frequently seen hanging in the barracks of the glider regiments featured photographs of gliders horribly wrecked during landing. Around the pictures ran the words, Join the glider troops! No flight pay! No jump pay! But never a dull moment!
