A Paratrooper's Panoramic View: Training with the 464th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion for Operation Varsity's 'Rhine Jump' with the 17th Airborne Division [Paperback]

Philip Wilson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 5, 2005

At 10:00 AM on March 24, 1945, a literal "sky train" of two and one-half hours in length flew in 226 C-47 and 72 C-46 transport planes carrying 17,122 paratroopers together with 906 gliders being pulled by 610 C-47 tow planes. Paratrooper Robert L. Wilson jumped from the lead serial of planes in this largest airborne assault in military history. He landed in the designated drop zone near Wesel. There, with others in "Branigan's Bastard Battalion," - the 464th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion - he made history as part of the first artillery airborne outfit to land, reassemble, and fire their howitzer's east of the Rhine River. Field Marshall Montgomery, who had elaborately orchestrated this airborne assault, gathered Prime Minister Churchill together with Generals Eisenhower, Ridgway, and Brereton on the western bank of the Rhine to watch the air spectacle unfold. The objectives of this airborne assault - Operation Varsity - were achieved predominantly through the efforts of the U.S. 17th and British 6th Airborne Divisions. These troopers closed in along the Rhine all along its length to prevent any German stronghold from being secured on its bank. They later thrust across Germany's northern plains en route to Berlin. In sum, Varsity's success accelerated the Nazi collapse. A Paratrooper's Panoramic View provides readers a historical perspective of Varsity from one of the Operation's participants. In it, Wilson vividly recounts the attractions of the airborne during the early days of Army parachute training. From entering Ft. Benning's Parachute School in 1943, to Camp Mackall, to Europe's "Cigarette Camps," to the Marshalling Area in Chalons-sur-Marne, France, in March 1945, this book closely follows the preparations that guided this trooper towards the "Rhine Jump."

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

After his induction into the U.S. Army in February 1943, Robert L. Wilson was lured into the airborne by the extra $50 per month hazardous duty pay. Upon earning his wings, he was sent to Camp Mackall where he was inducted into the 464th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion (PFAB) under the command of Lt. Colonel Edward S. Branigan. There he worked as a cook through February, 1945, when he and 5,000 other rotation troops were shipped overseas. Wilson arrived in LaHarve, France on February 22, 1945 - his 22nd birthday. Although initially assigned to the 13th Airborne Division, a new Table of Operation reassigned him to the 17th Airborne Division - the Golden Eagle Claw Division - known as "Thunder From Heaven." On March 24, 1945, Wilson - heavily laden with gear - boarded a "Gooney Bird" (C-47) in Chalons-sur-Marne, France, and flew as part of the 507th Combat Team in the largest airborne assault in military history. Wilson remained in Germany, moving beyond Wesel, guarding bridges, receiving a "battlefield promotion" to Cpl. T-5, and celebrating V-E Day before returning to the States in August 1945. While en route, he learned of the Hiroshima attack and arrived back at Camp Mackall as the U.S. declared victory over Japan. Robert L. Wilson, a salesman retired from Manufacturing Tool and Supply in Wichita, KS, together with his son, Philip K. Wilson, Ph.D., a historian in the Humanities Department at Penn State's College of Medicine in Hershey, Pennsylvania, recounts paratrooping adventures before, during, and after this historical period of Airborne warfare. Their historical memoir is substantiated by the authors' work in the U.S. Army Military History Institute and recent reunion discussions with other WWII troopers.

Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: AuthorHouse (December 5, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1420854291
• ISBN-13: 978-1420854299
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #696,105 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating W.W. 2 history, highly recommended, September 25, 2006

By 

Laurel Johnson (Kansas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Paratrooper's Panoramic View: Training with the 464th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion for Operation Varsity's 'Rhine Jump' with the 17th Airborne Division (Paperback)

Paratrooper Robert L. Wilson lived the experiences in this book. It tells of a pivotal operation during World War II that abruptly ended German-Nazi domination of the European continent. Historically, Operation Varsity was overshadowed by Patton's push across Germany. Wilson and his co-author son give full credit to those courageous ground troops commanded by Patton and Montgomery, but the focus of this book is on the lesser known paratroop action.

In December 1942, Robert L. Wilson joined the Army. At that time, Parachute troops were a fledgling group. When approached to join this elite group. Wilson agreed. The training was rigorous, but young Wilson fully ascribed to the Parachutist's creed, which said in part:
"I realize that a parachutist is not merely a soldier who arrives by parachute to fight, but is an elite shocktrooper and that his country expects him to march farther and faster, to fight harder, to be more self-reliant, and to soldier better than any other soldier."

In March 1945, the 464th Parachute Field Artillery Battallion joined several other Paratroop divisions in an unprecedented airborne drop into Germany. No enemy force since Napoleon had effectively crossed the Rhine River but Operation Varsity changed that. The paratroopers had been told to expect a 50% casualty rate because the Germans knew they were coming. That day, 17,122 paratroopers landed en masse to do battle with the Germans for control of their territory.

Paratroopers and planes faced heavy artillery flak, anti aircraft cannons, and small arms fire. On the ground, under grueling artillery fire, the 464th swiftly assembled Howitzers airdropped with them. They were the first airborne artillery unit to fire a Howitzer east of the Rhine, and surely earned their place in history that day. Meter by meter the Paratroopers and their Howitzers blasted a path through the Germans dug in along the battle's perimeter. Man to man and hand to hand, for one full day then two, paratroopers who survived hacked their way through the German lines. The paratroopers had been advised to take no prisoners, but hesitated to kill first hundreds, then thousands of surrendering German troops. Instead, they utilized German prisoners to pull cannons and dig foxholes. This continued until all fighting ceased and thousands of Nazi soldiers lay face down at their feet in a posture of surrender.

Robert L. Wilson's first hand report of his training stateside and in France, culminating with the Rhineland battle, is a fascinating story. This is a precious history of unsung American heroes from an aging generation of warriors. What truly magnificent men these were! I highly recommend A Paratrooper's Panoramic View to mature readers of all ages.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book with some limitatinos, November 18, 2011

By 

RC - See all my reviews

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This review is from: A Paratrooper's Panoramic View: Training with the 464th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion for Operation Varsity's 'Rhine Jump' with the 17th Airborne Division (Paperback)

I wanted to read this book to learn more about Operation Varsity (larger than D-day and in the daylight)in part because my father jumped with the 507 PIR, and there are not many books out about Varsity or the 17 th Airborne, at least not compared to D-Day. I found the book to be excellent regarding background and organizational information, to the point that I may send it to my Dad. It is particularly informative as it pulls information on Paratroopers from many sources, some of which I had already read, an excellent job in that regard. The reservation on this book is that there is relatively little information on what happens past two days after the jump.

2.0 out of 5 stars Limited combat involvement, January 8, 2009

By 

John E. Larsen "Larso" (Brisbane, Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: A Paratrooper's Panoramic View: Training with the 464th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion for Operation Varsity's 'Rhine Jump' with the 17th Airborne Division (Paperback)

`A Paratrooper's Panoramic View' by Robert L. Wilson and Philip K. Wilson

Subtitled: Training with the 464th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion for Operation Varsity's Rhine Jump with the 17th Airborne Division. P/back 229 pages.

This is a fairly unique, if slight, account from a veteran of an under-recorded unit in an often glossed over battle. Robert is a veteran of the jump with an artillery battalion of the 13th Airborne Div, which is attached to the 17th division for this operation. Philip is his son.

There is a lot about the training of an airborne trooper. The author, a young and fit farm boy quite enjoyed this. Fleshing out his recollections are also reproductions of lots of posters, cartoons and pages from manuals about the training process. So in terms of primary source material, this book is quite useful. There are also many quotes from other memoirs and histories - all these being well referenced. But too much is expressed in terms of `we' and `us' as opposed to `I' and `me', so it read more like a general history at times than a personal account. I was also thrown when the author revealed he became the company cook but he also trained as part of a gun crew and he performed this role for several days in battle.

Prior to `Varsity' there is a reasonable amount of detail and thinking about this first combat jump, though the actual fighting phase is quite brief. Upon landing Wilson assists with finding, assembling and firing his piece. He is under fire on the ground (and in the air beforehand) but this is not delivered in a gripping or minutely detailed way. He sees casualties and dead and captured Germans but the author is a reticent/reserved man so this phase is lacking much in the way of excitement.

The author is clearly the real deal in terms of being a combat soldier (and was being shipped to the Pacific for more - back with the 13th Division I think) so full credit to him but this book is an uninspiring read. He just didn't see enough combat. And while there are spots of interest, there is not much in the training phase that stands out either. This book does fill a void in that it deals with a unit and a battle that is not often mentioned. However, it offers very little to change this state of affairs. Not recommended for anyone who is not an airborne obsessive.