Death Drop

They were the tip of the spear. When Operation Overlord-the Normandy Invasion-was launched on D-Day, June 6, 1944, it was preceded by an airborne landing of more than 13,000 Allied paratroopers and 4,000 glider troops. Included among them were more than 6,000 paratroopers from the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division. Like their sister division, the 101st Airborne, the men of the 82nd were dropped behind enemy lines in the early morning darkness. This is their story-through their eyes, the eyes of the enemy, and the eyes of the French citizens who watched their saviors descend from the sky.
The airborne troops had been given a deadly assignment-to seize and secure the crossroads, causeways, and bridges that would be critically needed when the main Allied invasion force moved inland from the landing beaches. Indeed, the first American officer to die in combat on D-Day was a jumpmaster in the 82nd Airborne-Lieutenant Robert Matthias-who was mortally wounded by antiaircraft fire even before he jumped at the head of his troops. Allied planners feared the casualty rate for the airborne troops could reach eighty percent.
The heroic role of the 101st Airborne Division has been profiled by Stephen Ambrose in the best-selling history Band of Brothers, but military history buffs have long lamented the lack of comparable work on the 82nd Airborne and D-Day-a story that is equally dramatic and important, and perhaps even more so.
In Death Drop award-winning historian Rod Gragg focuses on the epic story of the soldiers of the 82nd Airborne-the "All American Division"-on D-Day and the days following it. Engaging the reader with the natural drama of this exceptional story, Gragg personalizes it with a parade of gripping, personal stories built upon incredible research and interviews with those who were there.