The Lost Paratroopers of Normandy: A Story of Resistance, Courage, and Solidarity in a French Village

Historian Rabe (Eisenhower and Latin America) documents in this dramatic account the collaboration between American paratroopers and residents of Graignes, Normandy, during the D-Day invasion. More than 150 members of the 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions landed near the French village (35 kilometers away from their assigned drop zone) and were immediately welcomed by locals, who carried out reconnaissance missions, cooked for the soldiers, and salvaged their equipment. Five days after the landings, a recently commissioned Waffen-SS Panzergrenadier division battered its way into Graignes, forcing most of the paratroopers to withdraw. The remaining U.S. soldiers, including a medical doctor and a dozen wounded men, were massacred, along with more than 30 townspeople. Rabe, a son of one of the paratroopers who landed in Graignes, contends that the Waffen-SS, who wore “death skull” insignia and reported to Heinrich Himmler, “made a habit of violating customary laws of war.” He also sketches the history of American airborne warfare and its development as a highly motivated, elite unit operating under charismatic generals. Based on extensive conversations with village families and surviving paratroopers, including Rabe’s own father, this history combines heroism and tragedy in equal measure. WWII buffs will be engrossed. Photos. (Nov.)