On 10 May 1940 German Fallschirmjager stormed the Dutch fort of Eben-Emael, south of Maastricht. The brilliantly executed operation was the first signal success by airborne troops in the Second World War and it made the military world sit up and take notice. Improved parachutes and the creation of gliders that could carry troops meant that assault forces could be dropped or landed behind enemy lines. This was a significant new tactic which had a dramatic impact on several of the key campaigns, and it is the subject of Simon and Jonathan Forty’s in-depth, highly illustrated history. They tell the story of the development of airborne forces, how they were trained and equipped, and how they were landed and put into action in every theatre of the global conflict. The results were mixed. German airborne forces were victorious on Crete, but the cost was so great that Hitler vowed never to use them in the same way again. The Allies saw things differently. After Crete they built up elite units who would play important roles in later battles -in Normandy, for example, where the British 6th Airborne Division took vital bridges prior to the D-Day landings. These are just two examples of the many similar operations on the Western and Eastern Fronts and in the Pacific which are covered in this wide-ranging book. It offers the reader a fascinating insight into airborne warfare over seventy years ago. AUTHOR: Simon Forty was educated in Dorset and the north of England before reading history at London University’s School of Slavonic and East European Studies. He has been involved in publishing since the mid-1970s, first as editor and latterly as author. Jonathan Forty was educated in Dorset and the north of England before attending Queen Mary College, London. He designed and worked on military magazines, including for many years Tank magazine. Sons of author and RAC Tank Museum curator George Forty, they have continued the family tradition, writing mainly on historical and military subjects including books on Hadrian’s Wall, the Napoleonic wars and the two world wars, often in collaboration. They are also co-authors of Tank Warfare 1939-1945, Infantry Warfare 1939-1945 and Artillery Warfare 1939-1945.
400 b/w illustrations