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The untold story of Third Battalion 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment from Toccoa to Berchtesgaden #1
Tonight We Die As Men: The untold story of Third Battalion 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment from Toccoa to D-Day
The exploits of the 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) have been long overshadowed by those of Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, who were immortalized in Stephen Ambrose's book Band of Brothers. Yet the actions of the 3rd Battalion were every bit as incredible and this book finally gives them deserved attention. Formed in 1942, the 506th PIR were shortly after attached to the 101st Airborne Division. After training they were transported to Wiltshire in 1943 to prepare for the invasion of Europe. Whilst taking part in the D-Day landings, the battalion suffered many immediate casualties, including the battalion commander. This is the astounding story of how the surviving paratroopers fought on towards their objectives against horrendous odds, told in their own words, and those of the French civilians who witnessed the Normandy campaign. Through many hours of interviews, and in-depth research, the authors have pieced together the perspectives of the soldiers to create a unique, comprehensive account. Including a foreword by Ed Shames, veteran of the 3rd Battalion, and illustrated with black and white photographs and maps throughout, this book vividly details the experiences of the 3rd battalion from training through to D-Day and beyond.
344 pages, Hardcover
First published April 21, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
October 5, 2015
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.
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.
Currently reading
April 30, 2009How my uncle really died in Normandy, on page 203
February 13, 2023
Excellent coverage of the history, battles and more importantly, the men of the 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment. Though not as famous as the men from Easy Company of the 2nd Battalion otherwise known as the Band of Brothers, these men fought the same battles and suffered the same as their well known brethren. Personal memories of surviving members of their times in training, in England and the D-Day jump and subsequent battles are integrated throughout the book and lets the reader understand the struggles, the victories and the losses through the eyes of the men who lived them.
November 11, 2011
Not a bad book, interesting stories, but not a huge fan of the author's writing style.
October 23, 2019
This is an excellent, thought-provoking account of the US 3rd Battalion 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment from its training through to D-Day and subsequent operations in Normandy. The authors take the readers along with the soldiers into often terrifying combat with an emphasis on individual experience in keeping with the best of the 'new' military history. Some of the men died, some were captured, and others survived with various wounds, physical and mental. Gardner and Day go further, however, bringing civilians into the story in England and France. They use the words of those involved as much as possible. The result is a vivid description of the chaos of combat complete with heroes, cowards, criminals, and the innocent. It is arguably the best book about soldiers in WWII that I've read. 10/10
April 16, 2022
As a former soldier with the 101st Airborne Division's 506th Infantry Regiment, I knew this story had to be read. I thoroughly enjoyed the chapters on the 3rd Battalion's pre-deployment experiences at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, and have made it a point to visit there soon. The book reads like a recorded history of the veterans who served in the 3/506th, and does a great job painting a picture of their D-Day deployment and operations later that summer.
A great read for all military history fans, and would coincide well with the Band of Brothers series. Just like most books, I got a little bored about halfway through, and started to glaze over many pages. Overall, though, this book is an excellent summary of one of WWII's most important units.
A great read for all military history fans, and would coincide well with the Band of Brothers series. Just like most books, I got a little bored about halfway through, and started to glaze over many pages. Overall, though, this book is an excellent summary of one of WWII's most important units.
February 14, 2021
This book is a very readable book. Unlike many of the war history books, this one though full of facts and directions keeps you involved with many individual accounts of the Battle of D Day and the events leading up to it. It is full of not just heroic accounts but mundane and foibles. It has humous events along with the more grizzly. You share in the questioning, wondering what should I do now as well as the fear and horror of the event. I decided to read this book after visiting Normandy a few years ago, I wish I had read it before I went, I think it would have added and extra addition to my understanding the the enormous undertaking our boys went through.
September 7, 2017
Combination of several hundred short stories
An important book, covering an important unit, comprised of many heroes. Almost too many segments and stories of gallant men, to be intertwined into one story. I had a difficult time following who was writing, and the authors didn't pull it together as well as "Band of Brothers" although this unit fought as brilliantly and were devastated by war. Not a book to be missed.
An important book, covering an important unit, comprised of many heroes. Almost too many segments and stories of gallant men, to be intertwined into one story. I had a difficult time following who was writing, and the authors didn't pull it together as well as "Band of Brothers" although this unit fought as brilliantly and were devastated by war. Not a book to be missed.
September 6, 2021
The new standard on small unit story/history telling, at the time. In his epic series about 3/506 Gardner goes above and beyond his duty as a historian to take the reader through training, movements and all the action, with an eye for detail and the skills of a master story teller.
September 14, 2017
Great read brilliantly told. I've read numerous books regarding this period and this rates up there as one of the best.
January 5, 2020
Heartbreaking but very well.written. couldn't put it down.
December 30, 2013
Webster, who fought with E company of the 101st airborne, was mentioned by Ambrose in his book and he was represented in the miniseries. He was perhaps the best educated enlisted man in the regiment having attended Harvard. He chose to not accept promotions and vowed to never volunteers for anything. He viewed the army with a jaundiced eye and seems to have been more than a little passive-aggressive but he was a capable and dutiful soldier who loved the men he served with and was sad when he finally left them. But his hatred for the Army and war would never allow him to consider staying. His book reflects an intelligent, honest and clear eyed observer with a detached and keen insight into both the men and events around him. He wrote the book long before Ambrose wrote his famous "Band of Brothers" or his book might have had a different slant. Ambrose drew on his many shrewd comments for his own book and he was the driving force behind getting Webster's memoir published. Webster mentions many of the incidents that Ambrose wrote about and Hanks portrayed in his miniseries but we get a slightly different take on some of them. He doesn't write about combat so much as the day to day life of a private and I find that an interesting take since the miniseries filled in the blanks for me. His writing style is breezy, competent and interesting. He will sometimes jump from one subject to another or start a story in the middle instead of the beginning but his deft hand makes this seemingly disjointed dialogue acceptable, even fun, for the reader. It is not surprising to find that Webster became a professional writer. I'm glad I read the book although I wouldn't have had I not seen the TV show. Webster was unable to get his book published and it wasn't printed until Ambrose forced the issue with publishers he knew. Sadly Webster died before he could see it in print. He died while hunting sharks. How he died is an unknown but his boat floated ashore damaged so he may have found a shark too large to handle.
August 10, 2017
Band of Brothers was about Easy Company in the 2nd battalion of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. This book is about the lesser known men in the third battalion of the same regiment. As a battalion history it is very good and covers the period of their training through the Normandy invasion. It is written in a similar format featuring numerous first person narratives. However as a book it just doesn't have to readability of Band of Brothers. i think that part of the problem comes from covering a full battalion rather than one company. I was never able to really get to know or identify with the men. There were just too many. It was difficult to keep them separate. Another thing that hurt was that the officer corps just did not seem as strong. The officers and non-coms in Band of Brothers were an outstanding group that pulls the story together just like they pulled the men together in battle. Certainly Captain Dick Winters of Easy Company stands out as one of my heroes. Certainly from the standpoint of depicting the horror and chaos of battle the book does a very good job. It is really remarkable that scattered over such a wide territory in the midst of a heavy pocket of enemy soldiers those small groups of 1-5 paratroopers were able pull together against impossible circumstances and accomplish their mission. For pure history this is the better book, but for a more enjoyable read go with Band of Brothers.
November 28, 2012
History benefits from the publication of Tonight We Die As Men not simply because of the new attention paid to the equally deserving Third Battalion, but because the scholarship was approached with such care. Local historian Roger Day lives a few miles outside the English village of Ramsbury, which is where Third Battalion was stationed in the build up to the Normandy invasion. Coauthor Ian Gardner is a retired British paratrooper. Their personal connections granted a passion and an interest that might be lacking in other authors. In addition to their textual research Gardner and Day interviewed multiple Third Battalion airborne veterans as well as English and French civilians who encountered them during the war. These individual perspectives are what really make the book.
The airborne veterans recount stories of training in the States and life in England, including charming anecdotes of their pre-invasion antics. In Normandy the mission of the battalion was to secure a pair of bridges. The battle narrative reminds readers that confusion and frustration can be a part of the reality of combat. Several of the veterans had been captured by the Germans. Some escaped, while others spent the duration of the war as prisoners.
Tonight We Die As Men is a valuable addition to the greater WWII airborne saga and a darn good read.
The airborne veterans recount stories of training in the States and life in England, including charming anecdotes of their pre-invasion antics. In Normandy the mission of the battalion was to secure a pair of bridges. The battle narrative reminds readers that confusion and frustration can be a part of the reality of combat. Several of the veterans had been captured by the Germans. Some escaped, while others spent the duration of the war as prisoners.
Tonight We Die As Men is a valuable addition to the greater WWII airborne saga and a darn good read.
July 2, 2015
Story of the "Other Brothers"
I commend the authors for their excellent compilation of numerous first person accounts of the actions of the 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division in Normandy. In addition, they corrected some historical inaccuracies that have survived since the War; i.e. the location of the bridges over the canal the 3rd Battalion was assigned to seize. And the maps were both thoroughly detailed and helpful, if not essential, to understanding the tactics and the action.
On the other side of the ledger, the chronology was a bit difficult to follow at times, probably owing to the great number of paratroopers involved. It was enjoyable and enlightening to read their personal recollections on different aspects of the action but the comments often broke the flow of the narrative and lost the essential tactical point of the action being described.
Reading this book was a little harder than most World War II books I have read but interesting nonetheless. I understand the importance of compiling the recollections of these men before they are lost forever and I enjoyed reading their words and understanding their thoughts. This book is worth reading for that reason alone.
John E. Nevola - Author of The Last Jump
U.S. Army Veteran
Military Writer's Society of America
I commend the authors for their excellent compilation of numerous first person accounts of the actions of the 3rd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division in Normandy. In addition, they corrected some historical inaccuracies that have survived since the War; i.e. the location of the bridges over the canal the 3rd Battalion was assigned to seize. And the maps were both thoroughly detailed and helpful, if not essential, to understanding the tactics and the action.
On the other side of the ledger, the chronology was a bit difficult to follow at times, probably owing to the great number of paratroopers involved. It was enjoyable and enlightening to read their personal recollections on different aspects of the action but the comments often broke the flow of the narrative and lost the essential tactical point of the action being described.
Reading this book was a little harder than most World War II books I have read but interesting nonetheless. I understand the importance of compiling the recollections of these men before they are lost forever and I enjoyed reading their words and understanding their thoughts. This book is worth reading for that reason alone.
John E. Nevola - Author of The Last Jump
U.S. Army Veteran
Military Writer's Society of America
June 18, 2012
On June 5, 1944 -- D-Day minus one -- more than 800 young Americans of the Third Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, stepped out into the slipstreams of their C-47 transports over France's Cotentin Peninsula, destined to begin Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower's "great crusade" to liberate Europe from Adolf Hitler's armies. Their objective was to take and hold two bridges, stopping any German effort to reinforce their defenses at Utah beach.
Although only about a third of the battalion actually landed in the intended place and their commander was dead before his boots touched the ground, courage, training and dedication to the task assigned to them took over.
British researchers Ian Gardner and Roger Day undertake to tell the story of the 506th. Gardner's interest springs from his own experience as a modern-day paratrooper, and Day's from growing up near the English village of Ramsbury, where the 506th lived and trained while preparing for its jump into Normandy. Along the way, they correct some long-held misconceptions about the battlefield itself, and provide a rich and skillfully woven collection of Stephen Ambrose-style oral histories.
Although only about a third of the battalion actually landed in the intended place and their commander was dead before his boots touched the ground, courage, training and dedication to the task assigned to them took over.
British researchers Ian Gardner and Roger Day undertake to tell the story of the 506th. Gardner's interest springs from his own experience as a modern-day paratrooper, and Day's from growing up near the English village of Ramsbury, where the 506th lived and trained while preparing for its jump into Normandy. Along the way, they correct some long-held misconceptions about the battlefield itself, and provide a rich and skillfully woven collection of Stephen Ambrose-style oral histories.
January 17, 2013
This is a really good book - easy to read - about the 3rd Bn, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne from Camp Taccoa to just past D-Day. I found it to be a very interesting story. The common reference point in this work and all of the books I've read to date about the 2nd Bn, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne (including but not limited to the original Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose) is Ed Shames. The book is very detailed and well researched but suffers a little bit from a couple of mistakes and also a bit of disjoint in the testimonies of the people who were interviewed. The most glaring mistake they made was the recognition code word and response for the troops on D-Day. The authors originally said the challenge was "Welcome" and the response was "Thunder" but then later correct themselves to the right terms of "Flash" and "Thunder". There were a couple of other minor items that weren't correct but other than that it was definitely well researched.
I highly recommend this book if you're a fan of the WWII history and more specifically of the history of the 101st Airborne.
I highly recommend this book if you're a fan of the WWII history and more specifically of the history of the 101st Airborne.
March 20, 2013
I wanted to love this book, and parts of it I did. It certainly covers a lot of detail, with loads of personal anecdotes from veterans and from the civilians who encountered them. What it's missing is the big picture. Towards the end there's a line that says something like "The battle at Bloody Gully was the most important engagement for the 101st during the D-Day invasion" but it didn't explain why. I felt that way for most of the book. I knew what individual men were doing, but I couldn't quite put it into view as to what it all meant in terms of the war. It is fair to add that if I'd been able to see the maps (not legible on my kindle screen), I might have had better luck.
As a historical record, this is a valuable book. As a narrative, not so much. I don't regret reading it, but I doubt I'll ever read it again.
As a historical record, this is a valuable book. As a narrative, not so much. I don't regret reading it, but I doubt I'll ever read it again.
February 7, 2017
This is a book about the sister battalion of the famed Band of Brothers made famous by HBO's miniseries. You could almost say that these guys who made the same jumps, fought the same battles, and suffered the same casualty rates got a bum deal by all the publicity going the other way.
That said, this is a really good book and it's only made better by the fact that there are so many direct quotes and parts told by the veterans themselves as they remember it. I would recommend this book as a companion to the other more popular ones on the Airborne operations of WW2. I would also recommend it as a good book for junior enlisted Soldiers and Marines. I can't say that there was a lot of value in terms of leadership, strategy, or even tactics here that would make me put it on a recommended reading list for higher ranking service members.
That said, this is a really good book and it's only made better by the fact that there are so many direct quotes and parts told by the veterans themselves as they remember it. I would recommend this book as a companion to the other more popular ones on the Airborne operations of WW2. I would also recommend it as a good book for junior enlisted Soldiers and Marines. I can't say that there was a lot of value in terms of leadership, strategy, or even tactics here that would make me put it on a recommended reading list for higher ranking service members.
March 14, 2012
As anyone who knows me knows, I like "unknown" history. I've read history non-fiction books my entire life so there is little that I have not encountered. So I look for books that cover obscure aspects or history that has been missed. "Tonight We Die As Men" is such a book. Using mostly first person narratives and interviews of men who were actually there, Ian Gardner has written and excellent D-Day book about a unit and its actions which have been overlooked. It was a first rate read and I recommend it highly.
September 1, 2014
Enjoyed reading the personal journals of various soldiers that have been collected and incorporated into this book. The style of writing isn't my favorite, but I was able to move thru a little at a time. I came away with a greater appreciation for our WW2 vets on the ground in France. Would recommend this to anybody who wants to walk in the shoes of these men who laid it down for our country. This book is loaded with personal diary entries and narrative, but it is difficult to follow frequently, but it is history from the mouths of those fighting for freedom--
December 11, 2014
I really enjoyed this book. I had a hard time putting it down. It told the story of this batallion and what they went through that many people don't know. The hardest part of reading history books is that you start to love the men (or in some books women) and you get sad when they die or when something happens to them even though it happened years ago. This book was a quick read for a history book and I enjoyed it from start to finish.
February 4, 2015
3/506 was definitely messed up but I wasn't intimately connected to the personalities like I was with BoBs. I wanted to know what kind of command and control developed through the staff and command attrition. What happened to Major Grant (President Grant's relative). I'm missing the afterward of what happened to these members of 3/506 in the following 70 years.
November 23, 2012
This is the amazing story of the men who parachuted into France just before troops stormed the beaches at Normandy. A great "first person" account of the war--one of the best I've read. Some of these brave men are still alive today. We owe them a debt of gratitude for preserving our freedom.
May 21, 2013
Pretty Vague and repetitive compared to the other 1000 books our there on this historical topic. Should have been more precise on an a individual situation rather then information we had read and watched over and over.
July 7, 2013
Fantastic chronicle of one of greatest fighting units of WW2. Gardner spent years interviewing hundreds of people for this book. Easy to read and has a very human feel to the stories. Worth the money and time.
August 25, 2013
It started interesting and with a slight promise of a deep and exciting story. Unfortunetaly the story fell on a poor mixture between the soldiers own stories and the fact that the athour was uncomfortable outside of the safety zone of pure historic portrayals.
November 14, 2013
I was completely smitten with this book as "Tonight We Die As Men" was the most detailed and meticulously laid out collection of true war stories I've ever read. For anyone looking to research the 82nd or 101st Airborne Divisions of the Second World War I cannot recommend this book enough!
November 21, 2014
A good book but it covers the story of the 3rd Battalion 506 PIR at the surface. There is so much lurking under the surface that I wished the author had the opportunity to cover to make it more personal and alive to the readers. Good book overall.
August 4, 2014
Good read
Good read
It's not the same stories you've read before. A different cast of characters telling their story of the Normandy invasion. Lots of soldiers accounts to what happened. Looking forward to reading the other books.
Good read
It's not the same stories you've read before. A different cast of characters telling their story of the Normandy invasion. Lots of soldiers accounts to what happened. Looking forward to reading the other books.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews