Tonight We Die As Men: The Untold Story of Third Batallion 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment from Toccoa to D-D

By Ian Gardner

The exploits of the 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment have long been overshadowed by those of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion. Yet the actions of the 3rd Battalion during the D-Day landings were every bit as incredible. This is the astounding story of how, after suffering many immediate casualties on landing, the surviving paratroopers fought on towards their objective against horrendous odds. Using fascinating first-hand accounts of the soldiers and the French civilians who witnessed the Normandy campaign, and illustrated with black and white photographs and maps throughout, the authors offer a unique and comprehensive account of the experiences of the 3rd Battalion from training through to D-Day and beyond.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jul 19, 2011
• ISBN: 9781849089593

Ian Gardner

Ian Gardner served for five years in Support Company, 10th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment. Always enthusiastic about military history, several years after leaving 10 Para Ian became interested in World War II US Paratroopers. After a visit to Normandy in 2000 he decided to focus on the 3rd Battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, which led to the critically acclaimed trilogy Tonight We Die As Men, Deliver Us From Darkness and No Victory in Valhalla. He is also the author of Airborne: The Combat Biography of Ed Shames of Easy Company. He is married with two grown-up children and lives near Aldershot in Hampshire.

Reviews for Tonight We Die As Men

[ssimon2000-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book is by a pair of men who recorded the story of a little-known event in WWII history, so obscure that most WWII historians can't even tell you where it happened exactly.

Most of us are familiar with the Band of Brothers and other books/movies like that, of course, and I was hoping for a similar narrative of the 3rd Btl 506 PIR and the events of D-Day and the taking of vital two bridges held by the Germans, but it's written like a cold documentary with little emotion. It was a struggle to read; the author would write a few paragraphs then insert a little paragraph-long anecdote that may or may not have been about the subject the author was addressing at that time. Very tedious writing style, to be sure.

Nonetheless, it is a fascinating topic, and little known. Knowing that someone lived through these events is emotional and motivational, and the book is well worth the struggle to read.