No Victory in Valhalla: The untold story of Third Battalion 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment from Bastogne to Berchtesgaden

No Victory in Valhalla: The untold story of Third Battalion 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment from Bastogne to Berchtesgaden

No Victory in Valhalla: The untold story of Third Battalion 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment from Bastogne to Berchtesgaden

No Victory in Valhalla: The untold story of Third Battalion 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment from Bastogne to Berchtesgaden

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Overview

Based on extensive interviews with the survivng veterans, No Victory in Valhalla relives the dramatic struggle of the famed "Screaming Eagles" paratroopers in some of the toughest fighting of World War II. Famously profiled in Band of Brothers, the division as a whole was awarded Unit Citation for its heroic defense of Bastogne - a first in the history of the US armed forces.

It's late November 1944, after 71 days fighting in Holland, and the 506th Parachute Infantry are withdrawn having suffered heavily during Operation Market-Garden, and are looking forward to three months R&R. However, this is not to be. On December 16, 1944, the Germans launched the offensive which came to be known as the Battle of the Bulge and the 101st Airborne Division was rushed into action to stem the German tide. The ensuing large-scale combat operation would write the most dramatic chapter in the history of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment and Third Battalion in particular. Bitter fighting in unbearable conditions saw the battalion reduced to the size of a company before its relief on January 17.

Following this the battalion took part in the reduction of the Colmar Pocket, the Ruhr Pocket, and the liberation of the concentration camps in Germany itself, with Ed Shames being the first Allied soldier to cross the gates of Dachau. The Third Battalion finished the war occupying Hitler's mountain retreat of Berchtesgarden, held on readiness for deployment to the Pacific until Hiroshima and Nagasaki precipitated the Japanese surrender.

This book is the final book in a gripping trilogy which includes Tonight We Die as Men and Deliver us from Darkness.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781472801333
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Publication date: 10/21/2014
Series: General Military
Pages: 384
Product dimensions: 6.50(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Ian Gardner served for five years in Support Company, 10th Battalion, the Parachute Regiment as a medic before leaving the Territorial Army in 1993 due to injury. Always enthusiastic about military history, several years after leaving 10 Para Ian became interested in World War II US Paratroopers. After a visit to Normandy in 2000 he decided to focus on the 101st Airborne Division, and in particular the 3rd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, which led to the critically acclaimed Tonight We Die As Men, co-written with Roger Day. This book, continues their story. Currently self-employed, he is married with two grown up children and lives near Aldershot in Hampshire. The author lives in Hampshire, UK.

Table of Contents

Foreword Ed Shames 9

Preface George Koskimaki 10

Acknowledgments 12

Introduction James "Pee Wee" Martin 16

1 "Johnny, we hardly knew you" 19

Camp Chalons, Mourmelon-le-Grand - November 28 - December 18, 1944

2 "Ghost front" 38

December 17-19, 1944

3 "Today is the only reality" 81

December 20, 1944

4 "Epitaph for a generation" 105

December 21-24, 1944

5 "The deep six" 130

The worst winter in 50 years

6 "Steel whirlwind" 152

Post-Christmas breakthrough

7 "Hell night" 171

Clearing the Fazone Woods - January 9, 1945

8 "Salute the new dawn" 190

The final attacks on Foy and Noville - January 13-17, 1945

9 "After the storm" 217

Alsace Lorraine and the Colmar Pocket - January 21- February 25, 1945

10 "Home alive in '45" 232

Return to Mourmelon - February 26-April 2, 1945

11 "Setting sons" 243

The Ruhr, western Germany - April 3-24, 1945

12 "Striking back" 250

The plight of the 3rd Battalion POWs - June 1944-May 1945

13 "Candle for the dead" 272

Southern Bavaria - April 28-May 3, 1945

14 "The roaring silence" 290

Berchtesgaden, Austria, and France - May 4-November 30, 1945

Epilogue 338

Bibliography 341

Glossary 343

Index 344

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