Americans Fighting to Free Europe

As a teenager Audie Murphy left his home in Texas to join in the fight against the Nazis. By the end of the war, he had fought in the bloody battle of Anzio, helped liberate Rome, marched his way across France, repelled German counterattacks in Alsace, before finishing in Germany. He was wounded three times, killed over two hundred enemies, and won every medal for valor that the United States had to offer. Charles Whiting charts Murphy's journey through World War Two, shedding light on his courageous actions. Yet what price did young Audie Murphy pay for becoming America's most decorated soldier of the Second World War? Rather than simply focusing on Murphy's achievements in combat, Whiting also explores his life after the war when he struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder, addiction problems, and even twenty years after the war slept with the lights on and a loaded Walther pistol beneath his pillow. American Hero draws upon numerous contemporary sources and a wealth of information drawn from interviews with Murphy's friends and comrades to provide insight into the rise and fall of Audie Murphy.

At the age of fifty Bradley was a career officer who had never seen a day of action on the battlefield. Yet, by the end of the war, he had led American soldiers through some of the bloodiest fighting of World War Two-the final defeat of the Germans' Afrika Korps, the invasion of Sicily, and the historic Normandy invasion, before leading the advance across the Rhine. Despite being such an instrumental leader of World War Two he was a modest man, professing only to do the best he could for his calling and his country. How did this quiet and unassuming teacher from West Point rise to become the commander of the Twelfth United States Army Group, which ultimately comprised forty-three divisions and over one million troops, the largest American force ever united under one man's command? And how did he come to be known as 'the G.I.'s General'? Charles Whiting's enthralling overview of Bradley and his career uncovers what he was like as a person, providing insight into his actions and leadership during the course of World War Two, before discussing his post-war career as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff through the course of the Korean War.

Of the 6,600 paratroopers of the 101st 'Screaming Eagles' Airborne Division who parachuted into France in the early hours of 6 June 1944-D-Day-some 3,500 were listed as missing by midnight that same night. Yet it was only the beginning of their 'rendezvous with destiny.' American Eagles is the remarkable true story of the United States 101st Airborne Division. From their rigorous training in 'Old Jolly' (England) to their first operational jump in Normandy, Charles Whiting tells the story of this 'Band of Brothers', who fought, suffered, and died in the eleven-month campaign that followed. From Normandy and Holland through to the siege of Bastogne and their final triumphant capture of Hitler's Eagle's Nest in the Bavarian Alps, we gain a picture of a brave elite division which kept on getting the tough assignments. Drawing on eyewitness accounts, painstaking research, and his own youthful experiences when his regiment was under the command of 101st Airborne in Holland, Whiting delivers a powerful account of each of the 101st's major operations during the European campaign of 1944/45. He brings to life the full horrors of war while shining a spotlight on the courage and determination of the 'Screaming Eagles' and their role in the destruction of the Nazi regime in World War Two.