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Frank Soboleski | First Sergeant Frank Soboleski Joining the Army in 1943, Frank Soboleski parachuted into Holland in September 1944 as part of the 101st Airbornes reserve unit, ready to help if the first two units needed it - they did. Franks unit, Easy Company, was next in combat at Bastogne; surrounded by Germans in the freezing cold for a month. The company then moved on to Haguenau in France, and finally to Berchtesgaden in southern Germany when the war ended. Frank remained in southern Germany and Austria for another six months and was discharged in January 1946. |
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Easy Company - The Taking of Carentan by Chris Collingwood. You have a rendezvous with destiny! - promised Major Gen William Lee to his men as the 101st Airborne Division was activated at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, 15 August 1942. And the first place they kept that rendezvous was Normandy. At precisely 23.00 hours on the night of 5th June 1944, aircraft containing the men of Easy Company, 506th Parachute Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, thundered down the runway at Upottery Airfield. Lifting off into the night, the hazardous mission given to the paratroopers of the 101st was to speaerhead the Allied invasion of Hitler occupied Europe - a rendezvous with destiny if ever there was one. Crossing the French coast two hours later, the vast air armada was met by heavy German AA fire and hampered by heavy banks of cloud, scattering the Division over a wide area. Few units landed in their designated drop zones and by dawn on the morning of 6th June, Easy Company comprised just nine rifle men, two officers, a couple of machine guns, and a mortar. The task of these eleven men - to annihilate a German battery targetting the landings on Utah Beach! Undaunted, this tiny group of young paratroopers ferociously assaulted and captured the battery, their action saving the lives of hundreds of their comrades coming ashore on the beach head below. In the gruelling days that followed, the men of Easy Company fought their way through dense hedgerows, across fields and orchards, through farms and villages towards their next objective - the strategic town of Carentan. Heavily defended by German forces, its seizure was vital to the Allied advance. Portrays the men of Easy Company as they fight their way through the bullet-swept streets of Carentan. Facing the enemy in close combat house-to-house street fighting, the paratroopers relentlessly pounded the enemy until the last vestiges of German resistance were overwhelmed and the objective taken. But for the men of Easy Company and the 101st Airborne, this action is just the beginning of their distinguished but savage war. Others will follow: the liberation of the first Dutch city, Eindhoven; the siege of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge; and ultimately, the capture of Hitlers Eagles Nest at Berchtesgaden. |
Easy Company - Moving On by Chris Collingwood. Major Dick Winters and the men of Easy Company, 101st Airborne Division, as they take up a holding position in the Normandy town of Carentan on 14 June 1944, eight days after their dramatic parachute drop into Normandy on D-Day. |
Road to the Rhine by Robert Taylor. As the Allied armies dashed across France after victory in Normandy, they remained reliant on one thing - supplies. With Cherbourg the only port in use, everything depended on trucks to deliver enough fuel, food and ammunition to keep the momentum going. But there was a problem. Too few trucks, and too few drivers. The invasion was in danger of stalling, and if it did, the Germans might just regain the initiative. Action was needed, and quickly. Montgomery argued that all resources be channeled into a single, powerful thrust into Germany, but Eisenhower disagreed. the Allies would advance on a broad front. But he did give Montgomery the First Allied Airborne Army to try and capture the major bridges in Holland on the road to the Rhine, ahead of the Allies advance. For the men of the 101st Airborne, the Screaming Eagles, their task was to seize the bridges at Eindhoven. The 82nd would do the same at Nijmegan, and the British 1st Airborne would capture the farthest bridge, at Arnhem. On the ground the British 30th Corps would advance northwards and link up with them, and, if successful, turn the German flank on the Rhine. On 17th September 1944 the plan was put into action, the 101st quickly securing all of its objectives, and the 82nd capturing one bridge. The British 1st Airborne fought its way into Arnhem and seized the bridge over the Rhine. Now all they had to do was hold out until the 30th Corps arrived. But 30th Corps was making slow progress, and although the men of the 101st and the 82nd held out until relieved, in Arnhem it was too late to save the British 1st Airborne. Battle-weary, without ammunition or supplies, only a few survivors escaped back across the Rhine. Of the 10,000 men who had landed, just 2,000 made it out. If the operation had succeeded the war in Europe might have been over by Christmas 1944. Instead, hostilities would continue through the bitter winter. |
Day Drop - Stick 21 by Robert Taylor. At 23.45 on the night of 5 June 1944, the 101st Airborne's most legendary unit of combat paratroopers - the notorious 'Filthy Thirteen' - jumped into France near the village of Sainte Mere Eglise, in the final hours before the D-Day landings. They were the Screaming Eagles' most notorious unit, a small bunch of raw, tough, ruthless young men. Hard drinking and savage fighting - and that was only in training - with scant regard for authority. And if the reputation of this unique bunch of renegades within the ranks of the 101st was formidable, for the Germans it became one of sheer terror. Officially they were the First Demolition Squadron, HQ Company, 506th PIR, 101st Airborne. Unofficially they were the 'Filthy Thirteen'. Superbly crafted in his unique blend of pencil and paint on tinted paper, Robert Taylor's classic new Master Drawing captures the moment on the night of 5 June 1944 when the 101st Airborne's legendary squad of elite paratroopers jump into battle in the vital hours before the D-Day landings commence. The pilots of the 440th Troop Carrier Group struggle to keep their Dakotas level as deadly flak pummels the formation. |
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