One of a series of books describing the Second World War with aerial photography, examining the birth and rapid expansion of the airborne movement, from the early raiding forces to the complex divisional and corps operations of the final years. It describes many of the famous actions which one would expect, including the German attacks on Norway, Belgium, Holland and Crete, and the Allied efforts in Sicily, D-Day and Operation Market Garden, but it also looks at less familiar operations such as those carried out by the Russians and Japanese, and the Americans in the Pacific. This is not a conventional history of these operations and no attempt is made to describe how they unfolded, instead Colonel Stanley is solely concerned with the landing of the airborne troops and the first critical hours. As a retired photographic interpreter, he uses his skill together with a quite wonderful array of rare and mostly aerial photographs to describe the scene in each and so illustrate the growing capabilities and ambition of airborne warfare.

Pegasus Archive

A well balanced examination of the subject that is worth a look and would be a good starting point for the novice airborne historian.

The Eagle Vol. 14

Aircraft was invented in the early 1900’s and there was much pioneering work conducted in World
War 1. During the inter-war period the design and development work continued and airborne troops,
originally in the format of paratroopers, were conceived.

By the time World War 2 started a few nations had experimented with airborne troops particularly
the Russians and Germans. When the Germans invaded Norway and Belgium they used airborne
troops and were the 'first off the mark'. Subsequently many more nations developed this branch of their armed forces.

The author is an avid photograph collector and this volume is packed full of them. He traces the
development of air transport and how military strategists considered the option of inserting light infantry at key points behind enemy lines via air landing and air drop.

Although the Germans were the first to use airborne troops offensively their ultimately victorious operation in Crete was exceedingly costly in terms of men and equipment. After this operation their elite paratroopers were used as regular infantry.

The Allies developed the Germans’ ideas and had a very successful airborne operation as part of
Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily. Although they were costly with massive loss of life and aircraft the airborne elements of Overlord (D-Day) and Market Garden (Arnhem) were successful. Arnhem was in many ways a defeat for the Allies but the airborne elements to various degrees were successful whilst in Overlord they were vital to the overall success. The last and largest airborne operation of World War 2 was Operation Varsity – the crossing of the Rhine. This was a multi-division operation and went well for the Allies.

In this excellent book the author charts the successes and failures of airborne operations in World War 2. There is an exceedingly large number of period photographs and there is a considerable element of photographic interpretation. Overall this is an exceedingly interesting volume – full of facts and period evidence.

Military Archive Research – Dr Stuart C Blank