As I mentioned in my previous post, the 82nd Airborne, along with the 101st Airborne, were the elite American divisions in the European Theater of Operations. These divisions were called upon countless times to take the hardest positions and defend against overwhelming odds.
Phil Nordyke has compiled hundreds of photographs about the 82nd in his photographic history of the Division in The All Americans in World War II: A Photographic History of the 82nd Airborne Division at War.
The photographs trace the 82nd from its formation to its many combat missions to the end of the war. Many of the photographs have been published in other books (the gliders smashed to pieces in Normandy), but others have not been published as much (or never before). Each photograph captures the the experiences of the troopers as they slogged through Western and Southern Europe and into Germany.
Nordyke also includes a short narrative of the Division’s actions during the war. It is not too detailed, but it gives you a general idea of where the Division fought and against whom. He includes many compelling stories, such as the fighting that occurred when the Americans took the offensive in the Battle of the Bulge (the Division suffered grievously with many companies taking fifty percent or more casualties).
