Battling Buzzards: The Odyssey of the 517th Regimental Parachute Combat Team

The 517th saw action in Italy, southern France, the Ardennes Forest and the final thrust into Germany. What makes this account one of the best WW II unit histories is the attention Astor pays to the leadership aspect, particularly the regimental and battalion commanders. The reader gets a clear and detailed look at the bombastic, hard-driving Lt. Col. Louis Walsh's leadership style and that of his low-keyed, self-effacing successor, Lt. Col. Rupert Graves. Their approaches differed drastically, but both elicited a high level of combat performance from the troops, giving the 517th its reputation as one of the U.S. Army's elite outfits. Astor traces the unit from its inception, through its innovative training and confrontation with the realites of war, to its deactivation in 1946. Astor is the author of A Blood-Dimmed Tide: The Battle of the Bulge by the Men Who Fought It. Photos. (Sept.)