I WAS AMONG THE FORTUNATE PARATROOPERS and glidermen of the 82d Airborne Division who survived World War II and returned home from Europe. As a member of A Company, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR), I am particularly lucky to have survived the battle for the small but crucial bridge and causeway at La Fière in Normandy, a vicious four-day battle beginning on D-Day which the US Army’s chief historian, S.L.A. Marshall, described as “probably the bloodiest small unit struggle in the experience of American arms.”
If you were not a participant in this epic battle you may choose to disagree with historian Marshall. If you took part in the battle I trust you would agree with him. The aim of this book is to cover the events of those momentous days, help complete the historical record, and explain an essential battle that remains to this day little understood, partly because most of the officers and so many other participants were killed.
Scores of books have been written on World War II regarding all the Allied forces in Europe as well as the intimate details of the planning and execution of the armed forces assembled for D-Day. Two of the foremost airborne accounts still remain Lt. Gen. James M. Gavin’s On to Berlin and Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway’s memoir, Soldier. My own book specifically targets the mission of my own company on D-Day, Company A, 1st Battalion, of the 505 PIR (A/505), and is not meant to cover the entire Normandy Campaign.