US Airborne Units in the Mediterranean Theater 1942-44

By Gordon Rottman

This book is the first of three to examine the genesis, organization and operational deployment of the US airborne divisions in World War II. It discusses early airborne units, detailing how and why they were formed. Task organization for combat, details of attached units, tactics, and weapons and equipment are examined, together with command relationships. The units discussed in this book include the 82d Airborne Division, 1st Special Service Force, 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team and 1st Airborne Task Force, and the operations in North Africa, Sicily, the Italian mainland, and in southern France are covered.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jan 1, 2002
• ISBN: 9781472804655

Gordon Rottman

Gordon Rottman lives outside of Houston, Texas, served in the Army for twenty-six years in a number of “exciting” units and wrote wargames for Green Berets for eleven years. He’s written over 130 military history books, but his interests have turned to adventurous young adult novels—influenced by a bunch of audacious kids, Westerns owing to his experiences on his wife’s family’s ranch in Mexico, and historical fiction focusing on how people lived and thought—history does not have to be boring. His first Western novel, The Hardest Ride, garnered three writing awards and was a USA Today and Amazon best seller.