Four Hours of Fury

by James M. Fenelon

  “Here I am—happy and well”: Steltermann Collection.

  The speed at which the Allies: Lewis Brereton, The Brereton Diaries, 416.

  The Allies had closed the noose: Bart Hagerman, “17th Airborne Division History,” 9.

  Ridgway’s corps attacked north: Matthew B. Ridgway, Soldier, 139. The divisions attached to Ridgway’s corps included four infantry divisions (the 9th, 78th, 86th, and the 97th) and an armored division, the 13th.

  “meat-grinder”: Ibid.

  160,892 prisoners: Lewis Brereton, The Brereton Diaries, 421.

  More poignant was the: Matthew B. Ridgway, Soldier, 140.

  There they finished out: FAAA. “History of Headquarters,” 89.

  In several of the villages: 513 PIR, I Co., World War II: Battle of the Bulge and Rhine Jump, E58.

  GIs sent to prevent: IX TCC, “Activities Final Phase,” 85.

  “even the most conservative”: FAAA, Operation Varsity, 48.

  Of the 889 American: Ibid.

  Quartermaster units scoured fields: Ibid.

  Most of the parachutes: Boyd Daniels, The Riggers Cross the Rhine, 43, and Johann J. Nitrowski, “Varsity Folder.”

  One farmer found a: Johann J. Nitrowski, Die Luftlandung, 310.

  Over the next several days, 411 AQQC, “After Action Report,” 1.

  Count Bolko Graf von Stolberg-Wernigerode: Johann J. Nitrowski, Die Luftlandung, 286.

  One child lost his hand: Ibid., 239.

  Another was killed digging: Ibid., 238.

  Troopers of the 17th Airborne: Bart Hagerman, “17th Airborne Division History,” 10.

  They were transferred out: Kurt Gabel, Making of a Paratrooper, 271.

  “a Missouri hillbilly who”: Lynn W. Aas, “Remembering the Price of Freedom,” 8.

  Dozens were sent to the: Bart Hagerman, “17th Airborne Division History,” 10.

  After two and a half years: Ibid.

  Scattered across those battlefields: Compiled from Army Battle Casualties and Non-Battle Deaths in World War II: Final Report (Washington, DC: Statistical and Accounting Branch, Office of the Adjutant General, 1953), 80.

  The division’s sixty-six days: John Kormann, Little Known Sacrifices, 11.

  The final resting place: 17ABN Biographies, “Stephen Milewski.”

  I have heard the reports: Richard H. Haney, When Is Daddy Coming Home?, 84.

  Epilogue

  made VARSITY the largest single-day airborne mission of World War II: While MARKET GARDEN dropped three divisions, it used less aircraft and delivered troops over a period of five days, making VARSITY the largest single-day drop of the war.

  their combined resources marshaled an air armada of 1,596 transports: Aircraft numbers are based on John C. Warren, “U.S. Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 228.

  deliver 19,782 armed men: Troop numbers are again based on Warren, which consists of 8,834 American, Canadian and British paratroopers (there was a Canadian battalion in the 6th Airborne Division), 8,298 British and American glider troopers and approximately 2,650 RAF and US Army Air Force glider pilots. I have included the glider pilots as part of the troop strength as they were armed and organized for combat.

  “most successful airborne operation carried out to date”: James P. Lyke, “The Operations of the 17th Airborne Division in the Crossing of the Rhine River, 24 March 1945,” 59, and Eisenhower’s Crusade in Europe (New York: Doubleday, 1948).

  The 17th Airborne division sustained 1,307 casualties: Determining exact casualty counts (defined as both killed and wounded) is difficult given the number of men who later died of wounds or were listed as missing in action. I have used the most exhaustive analysis of the division’s casualties, which was conducted by surviving veterans of the 513 PIR. Led by William Mitchell (“17th Airborne Casualties”), the group successfully identified 1,267 dates of death out of the 1,276 men killed in action or who later died of their wounds. For their purposes, the group bucketed VARSITY’s casualties by the duration of the entire operation from March 24 to April 15, resulting in 639 soldiers killed in action during the operation, an average of just under 28 men per day. The veteran study cites 430 killed in the first twelve hours of VARSITY.

  British airborne troops suffered another 347 dead: John C. Warren, “U.S. Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 177. However, the 6th Airborne Division’s “Report on Operation Varsity and the Advance from the Rhine to the Baltic” states “600 graves had been located by the end of May, but it is estimated that 700 men actually lost their lives either killed or died of wounds.” These graves most likely include those of RAF glider pilots and downed aircrews.

  The glider pilots of both nations were also hard hit: American numbers are based on John C. Warren, “U.S. Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater,” 191.

  The power aircrews: IX TCC, “Activities Final Phase,” 81.

  The B-24 crews of the Eighth Air Force: Peter Lonke, The Liberators Who Never Returned.

  MacDonald debated: Charles B. MacDonald, The Last Offensive, 313.

  While upstream bridges were in operation: Napier Crookenden, Airborne at War, 144.

  VARSITY’s vertical envelopment of two German: Ibid., 144.

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