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Mitchell A. Yockelson
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The Paratrooper Generals: Matthew Ridgway, Maxwell Taylor, and the American Airborne from D-Day through Normandy Kindle Edition

by Mitchell Yockelson (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 out of 5 stars 48 ratings
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A military history detailing the key role two US Army special forces commanders and their infantry divisions played in during the second world war. 
 
Generals during World War II usually stayed to the rear, but not Matthew Ridgway and Maxwell Taylor. During D-Day and the Normandy campaign, these commanders of the 82nd “All-American” and the 101st “Screaming Eagle” Airborne Divisions refused to remain behind the lines and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with their paratroopers in the thick of combat. Jumping into Normandy during the early hours of D-Day, Ridgway and Taylor fought on the ground for six weeks of combat that cost the airborne divisions more than forty percent casualties. The Paratrooper Generals is the first book to explore in depth the significant role these two division commanders played on D-Day, describing the extraordinary courage and leadership they demonstrated throughout the most important American campaign of World War II.
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  1. Print length
    321 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Stackpole Books
  4. Publication date
    June 14, 2023
  5. File size
    7.6 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
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  8. Enhanced typesetting
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Mitchell Yockelson, recipient of the Army Historical Foundation's Distinguished Writing Award, is an investigative archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration, as well as a former professor of military history at the United States Naval Academy. He currently teaches at Norwich University. One of America's foremost experts on the First World War, he holds a doctorate from the Royal Military College of Science, Cranfield University, in the United Kingdom.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08998BBW7
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Stackpole Books (June 14, 2023)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 14, 2023
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 7.6 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 321 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 out of 5 stars 48 ratings

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Mitchell A. Yockelson

Mitchell A. Yockelson

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
48 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book highly informative, with one review noting its well-researched content. The narrative receives positive feedback, with one customer describing it as engagingly written.

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5 customers mention "Information quality"5 positive0 negative

Customers find the book highly informative, with one customer noting its well-researched content and another mentioning its concise history and anecdotal accounts.

"...This work is well-researched, highly informative, and an engagingly written narrative about the role that US Army Airborne units played in the..." Read more

"...buffs may nt find much that is new, but there are some nice tidbits regardless...." Read more

"...This book does provide thumbnail biographical sketches and anecdotal accounts of what the senior leaders of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Division..." Read more

"...It is a concise history well worth the read." Read more

4 customers mention "Narrative quality"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book's narrative engaging and well worth reading, with one customer highlighting its outstanding analysis of the military leaders.

"...This work is well-researched, highly informative, and an engagingly written narrative about the role that US Army Airborne units played in the..." Read more

"...It's a quick read of the officers who developed the doctrine and tactics for air assault operations. It is a concise history well worth the read." Read more

"Great narrative especially of the military leaders!" Read more

"Entertaining, but lacking in-depth analysis..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Christopher J. O'Shea
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Terrific Read
    Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    "The Paratrooper Generals: Matthew Ridgway, Maxwell Taylor, and the American Airborne from D-Day Through Normandy", by Mitchell Yockelson, is among the best historical surveys on the topic available today. This work is well-researched, highly informative, and an engagingly written narrative about the role that US Army Airborne units played in the opening hours and days of Operation Overlord. It is a terrific read perfectly aimed at a general audience that is more than seven decades removed from the Second World War.
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  • Brett L.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fresh look at some well trodden ground
    Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2023
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    This book is written in a very light, nagging stlyle. Hard core WWII/Paratrooper buffs may nt find much that is new, but there are some nice tidbits regardless. It's arranged very well and give a high level comprehensive view of the paratroops generals, some of the men who served under them and some who served with leading other units like the troop transport command. Covers all the basic elements very well. Defintiely glad I got it.
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  • Writing Historian
    4.0 out of 5 stars A Bit Superficial for my Tastes
    Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    For those (like myself) expecting a detailed treatment of American airborne generalship during the Normandy campaign, prepare to be somewhat disappointed.

    This book does provide thumbnail biographical sketches and anecdotal accounts of what the senior leaders of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Division encountered after jumping/gliding into Normandy, but the bulk of the narrative is devoted to a myriad of individual experiences at the junior enlisted and company grade level rather than a reasoned analysis of decentralized command at the general officer level under what can be described as trying circumstances given the terrain, dispersion of forces, and lack of operable communications.

    I could not give this book a five star rating based on my own preferences and the fact that I have read a number of better organized and more detailed accounts of airborne operations in Normandy. However, I think that readers unfamiliar with the subject will enjoy this book.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Kayretired
    3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, but lacking in-depth analysis
    Reviewed in the United States on January 16, 2022
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    Mitchell Yockelson has produced an entertaining but brief and superficial outline of the creation and use of American airborne forces through the D-Day Invasion and Normandy. While the title mentions only General Mathew Ridgeway and Maxwell Taylor, brief biographies of the other leading players, including generals James Gavin and William Lee, and some historical background on the origin and training of American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions appears. Also, the author pays some attention to the development of British and German airborne forces. Unfortunately, Yockelson treats the first combat use of American airborne forces in Sicily as little more than a combat training exercise and skims over the lessons learned.
    Once the paratroopers drop into Normandy on D-Day, Yockelson thoroughly covers the confused and scattered action on the ground, following the actions of airborne soldiers dropped over a widely area. However, by concentrating on the airborne units and their leaders, he gives short shrift the troop carrier aircraft and men of the 9th Air Force, which were essential to the success of the operation. The performance of the troop carrier units during the invasion air drops was widely criticized, perhaps unfairly according to Yockelson. They had flown these missions with inadequate equipment, unreliable navigation aids, and pilots lacked training and commitment to airborne operations.
    Yockelson’s conclusion, only two and a half pages (pp. 241-43), is hardly enough to deal with all the questions raised in this volume. Was it appropriate to try to operate airborne forces at the Division level, rather than as smaller more agile units? Yockelson cites their intensive training that allowed them to operate after landing in Normandy, despite being widely scattered on the ground. The paratroopers accomplished much of their mission but suffered 50% casualties in doing so. Yockelson argues, “Both divisions had proven worthy or better than any other American fighting force in the European Theater of Operations,” but provides no explicit documentation for his claim. After Normandy, these divisions were used as shock troops not paratroopers, and fought as elite ground infantry units. Considering the extent and cost of their training, this seems a wasteful employment of these airborne personnel.
    Airborne divisions existed because strong willed individuals saw the potential of the vertical envelopment concept and pushed the Army to create them, perhaps prematurely. In the 1940s, using air forces to insert infantry behind enemy lines seemed, as Winston Churchill said, “the most modern expression of war”. In reality, not until advent of troop-carrying helicopters did infantry truly become “air mobile”.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Michael Zapf
    5.0 out of 5 stars Pioneers of Airborne/Air Assault Capability of the U. S. Army
    Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2020
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    This is an outstanding analysis of the officers who developed and fought the U.S. Army's Airborne battles. It's a quick read of the officers who developed the doctrine and tactics for air assault operations. It is a concise history well worth the read.
    One person found this helpful
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  • John Rader
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great stuff about our military!
    Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2020
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    Great narrative especially of the military leaders!
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  • Vautrin
    2.0 out of 5 stars A Superficial Account
    Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2023
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    This is supposed to be an account of the actions of Major General Matthew Ridgeway, commander of the 82nd Airborne, and Major General Maxwell Taylor, commander of the 101st Airborne, leading up to and during the Normandy invasion and campaign. It is anecdotal and superficial--283 pages long, including notes and the index. It is divided into 32 chapters, and the author does not get to the takeoff for Normandy until Chapter 22.

    Overall verdict---lighter than a feather. The only reason I gave it more than one star is the separate chapter on Brigadier General James Gavin, by far the greatest of the paratrooper generals, but only the assistant division commander of the 82nd at the time. Ridgeway, though a great man, made only one combat jump during WWII. Taylor made two. Gavin made four.

    There are much, much better books about the 82nd and the 101st at Normandy.
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  • Croush
    2.0 out of 5 stars Spine broken
    Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2023
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    It is annoying to buy a book at full price and get one that is in poor condition with a broken spine and appears to have been in storage forever.
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Top reviews from other countries

  • IDIC
    3.0 out of 5 stars Not quite what I expected
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 21, 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Although this seems to promise a biography of these two important airborne Generals it is ,in fact ,a general history of American Airborne Troops in WW2. Its well written and easy to read but just not what is advertised on the cover.
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