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The Sky Men: A Parachute Rifle Company’s Story of the
Battle of the Bulge and the Jump Across the Rhine
Kirk B. Ross
The Sky Men is the story of F Company of the 513th Parachute
Infantry Regiment, 17th U.S. Airborne Division. They were all vol-
unteers to a new, dangerous, and elite corps - Airborne. From the
beginning, it was clear that this type of warfare demanded soldiers
who could operate beyond the normal mental and physical ex-
pectations of regular infantry as a matter of course and parachute
training was designed to be the most physically and mentally
demanding of any service. The 513th was a school regiment of The
Parachute School. Their personnel were selected men, even beyond
the normal selective process in Airborne troops, and F Company’s
junior officers were among the finest in the regiment. The 513th was
the best trained parachute infantry regiment to see action in World
War II and for much of its war, F Company would lead the way.
In the midst of the hardest European winter in forty years, the 17th
Airborne Division was committed to action against the German Army
west of Bastogne, Belgium. From their first day in action, the green
paratroopers - caught up in the toughest fighting of the Bulge when
the American Army stood up and began slugging its way back to the
start line - attacking through knee deep snow and over bald terrain,
demonstrated exceptional courage in closing with the enemy. Trained
to kill - and it had been drilled into them that they were the best killers
in the world – it is not surprising that on the battlefield, F Company
men quickly shed the values of home and family and set ruthlessly to
the grim task at hand. Throughout, the author carefully threads the
saga of F Company’s war within the fabric of overall military operations
and demonstrates how sometimes deadly mistakes in judgment by
higher commanders were transcribed on the battlefield. The regiment'
s “peculiar” attack plans and resulting high casualties ultimately brings
into question the competence of leaders from battalion to division.
In March 1945, Operation VARSITY sends F Company parachuting
across the Rhine and into the final battle for the conquest of Nazi
Germany. The men fought well, yet so limited were the operation’s
goals that even the division conceded Operation VARSITY’s profit was
abrogated before the first planes took to the air. In the end, Operation
VARSITY is shown to have proffered very little advantage to the
amphibious crossing it was intended to support at the expense of too
many men and a great many aircraft. During the days following the
drop, however, in an advance that was nothing short of brilliant, the
sky men spearheaded the drive to capture the city of Munster, F
Company again was out in front.
The Sky Men is a stark, honest even if ignoble, often humorous, and
sometimes contradictory ground level account of garrison life and
frontline infantry combat, welding together primary research, including
many never before used documents, with the personal accounts of
nearly one hundred men of F Company and other associated
organizations. The story of F Company, however, is more than just
one of men in battle. Their story is one of triumph and tragedy, and of
grand strategy and life and death. The Sky Men is a unique portrayal
of young men and soldiers, and of war and of a brotherhood of
warriors.
Hardcover, 272 pages, over 130 b/w photographs.
$35.00
Battle of the Bulge and the Jump Across the Rhine
Kirk B. Ross
The Sky Men is the story of F Company of the 513th Parachute
Infantry Regiment, 17th U.S. Airborne Division. They were all vol-
unteers to a new, dangerous, and elite corps - Airborne. From the
beginning, it was clear that this type of warfare demanded soldiers
who could operate beyond the normal mental and physical ex-
pectations of regular infantry as a matter of course and parachute
training was designed to be the most physically and mentally
demanding of any service. The 513th was a school regiment of The
Parachute School. Their personnel were selected men, even beyond
the normal selective process in Airborne troops, and F Company’s
junior officers were among the finest in the regiment. The 513th was
the best trained parachute infantry regiment to see action in World
War II and for much of its war, F Company would lead the way.
In the midst of the hardest European winter in forty years, the 17th
Airborne Division was committed to action against the German Army
west of Bastogne, Belgium. From their first day in action, the green
paratroopers - caught up in the toughest fighting of the Bulge when
the American Army stood up and began slugging its way back to the
start line - attacking through knee deep snow and over bald terrain,
demonstrated exceptional courage in closing with the enemy. Trained
to kill - and it had been drilled into them that they were the best killers
in the world – it is not surprising that on the battlefield, F Company
men quickly shed the values of home and family and set ruthlessly to
the grim task at hand. Throughout, the author carefully threads the
saga of F Company’s war within the fabric of overall military operations
and demonstrates how sometimes deadly mistakes in judgment by
higher commanders were transcribed on the battlefield. The regiment'
s “peculiar” attack plans and resulting high casualties ultimately brings
into question the competence of leaders from battalion to division.
In March 1945, Operation VARSITY sends F Company parachuting
across the Rhine and into the final battle for the conquest of Nazi
Germany. The men fought well, yet so limited were the operation’s
goals that even the division conceded Operation VARSITY’s profit was
abrogated before the first planes took to the air. In the end, Operation
VARSITY is shown to have proffered very little advantage to the
amphibious crossing it was intended to support at the expense of too
many men and a great many aircraft. During the days following the
drop, however, in an advance that was nothing short of brilliant, the
sky men spearheaded the drive to capture the city of Munster, F
Company again was out in front.
The Sky Men is a stark, honest even if ignoble, often humorous, and
sometimes contradictory ground level account of garrison life and
frontline infantry combat, welding together primary research, including
many never before used documents, with the personal accounts of
nearly one hundred men of F Company and other associated
organizations. The story of F Company, however, is more than just
one of men in battle. Their story is one of triumph and tragedy, and of
grand strategy and life and death. The Sky Men is a unique portrayal
of young men and soldiers, and of war and of a brotherhood of
warriors.
Hardcover, 272 pages, over 130 b/w photographs.
$35.00
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