A Photographic History of Airborne Warfare, 19391945 [Hardcover]

...great as reference for any modeler or historian. - IPMS/USAOn 10 May 1940, German Fallschirmj?ger 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 Fortys 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 theater 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.On 10 May 1940, German Fallschirmj?ger stormed the Dutch fort of Eben-Emael, south of Maastricht.Highly illustrated history of airborne forces warfare during the Second World WarCovers Allied and Axis airborne forces on every battlefront during the conflictOver 400 photographs and other illustrations, plus extracts from wartime documents and reportsDescribes all the major uses of airborne forces from Unternehmen Weser?bung (Norway and Denmark, 1940) to Operation Herring (Italy, 1945)Looks at the increasing use of paratrooplã(