STEPHEN G. RABE
THE LOST
PARATROOPERS OF
NORMANDY A STORY OF RESISTANCE, COURAGE, AND SOLIDARITY IN A FRENCH VILLAGE
UK publication November 2022 US publication November 2022 264 pages 9781009206372
Hardback
£20.00 / $24.95 USD / $27.95 CAD
At a glance • Sheds light on a compelling yet forgotten part of D-Day history • A story of how ordinary people did extraordinary things in defense of liberty • Highlights the integral role the village women played in harboring the paratroopers • Provides a unique discussion of the effect of war on civilian populations • Based on US, French, and German documents and interviews with French citizens and children of the Graignes veterans
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The Lost Paratroopers of Normandy A Story of Resistance, Courage, and Solidarity in a French Village Stephen G. Rabe
The fateful days and weeks surrounding June 6, 1944 have been extensively documented in histories of the Second World War, but less attention has been paid to the tremendous impact of these events on the populations nearby. The Lost Paratroopers of Normandy tells the inspiring yet heartbreaking story of ordinary people who did extraordinary things in defense of liberty and freedom. On D-Day, when transport planes dropped paratroopers from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions hopelessly off-target into marshy waters in northwestern France, the 900 villagers of Graignes welcomed them with open arms. These villagers – predominantly women – provided food, gathered intelligence, and navigated the floods to retrieve the paratroopers’ equipment at great risk to themselves. When the attack by German forces on June 11 forced the overwhelmed paratroopers to withdraw, many made it to safety thanks to the help and resistance of the villagers. In this moving book, historian Stephen G. Rabe, son of one of the paratroopers, meticulously documents the forgotten lives of those who participated in this integral part of D-Day history.
Stephen G. Rabe is the Ashbel Smith Professor in History (emeritus) at the University of Texas at Dallas. He is a veteran of the US Marine Corps. The Lost Paratroopers of Normandy is his thirteenth book.
Advance praise ‘Lost no longer, the American paratroopers who helped liberate Normandy find a sympathetic chronicler in Stephen G. Rabe. This is micro-history at its most intimate. In granular detail, Rabe recounts the story of how American troops and French villagers rescued Graignes from German occupation. Drawing on deep research and even deeper feeling, the author pays tribute to his veteran father, to a generation, and to enduring ties between two nations bound together by collective sacrifices and shared valour.’ Susan Carruthers, author of Dear John: Love and Loyalty in Wartime America
