The book and DVD is available from the april 10 2009
The book, provisionally entitled 'D-Day's Forgotten Battalion', and lavishly illustrated with numerous photographs, many previously unpublished, together with highly detailed maps. Using first hand accounts from more than one hundred soldiers and civilians, English authors Ian Gardner and Roger Day have been able to create a compellingly readable account. As an added bonus a number of battlefield locations have been positively identified for the very first time.
The story begins with the battalion's formation at Toccoa, Georgia in 1942 and continues, via the English village of Ramsbury, to the battlefields of Normandy, France.
The battalion's D-Day objectives were two bridges crossing the river Douve on the southern flank of the 101st Airborne Division's area of operations. One hundred and forty men actually made the bridges and alone held them for three days until relieved on the evening of June 8th 1944. The division suffered 4,670 casualties during the campaign with third battalion 506th experiencing the highest concentration. Out of the five hundred and seventy five officers and men who jumped, ninety-three men were killed, including the commander Lieutenant Colonel Robert L. Wolverton, and about seventy-five taken prisoner. Many of those captured thought their war was over, but for some it was just the beginning.
The book also includes an in depth study of the battle known as 'bloody gully' which took place just west of Carentan on June 13th 1944. From an American perspective this was one of the most important and decisive actions of the entire Normandy campaign.
http://www.theforgottenbattalion.com/
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