The Boldest Plan is the Best - The combat history of the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion during WWII
- Jim Broumley
- Jan 16
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 9
My nonfiction interest is in U.S. Military History, particularly World War II. I enjoy reading (and writing) unit histories. I find them to be the middle ground between a top-down survey, and a personal narrative. A history of a battalion, regiment, or even a division, can provide the right amount of detail so that I have a thorough understanding of not only the sequence of events but also the experiences of those who participated. If you are like me, you enjoy a nonfiction narrative because you want to know what it was like to be swept up in the events of history. We want to look at a conflict through the prism of a military unit so that we find out, not only the background of the circumstances that guided the organization, training, and deployment of the unit but also, when appropriate, the day-to-day view from “the trenches.” Soldiers find themselves at a certain place, at a certain moment in time, not only by the decisions of politicians and generals but also by the decisions of colonels and captains, and sergeants.
The Boldest Plan is the Best: The Combat History of the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion during WWII
In the fall of 1941, as the United States Army scrambled to prepare for the war they knew was coming, a new kind of soldier was training with a new way of getting to the battlefield – the paratrooper. As fate would have it, the fourth battalion of parachute infantry to be activated would be the first to deploy to England and the first to jump into combat, while their more celebrated airborne brothers were still training in the States. This independent airborne unit was designated the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion, nicknamed the Geronimos. The paratroopers of the 509th PIB were also known as “gingerbread men” for the figure on the unit patch they wore. Lieutenant Colonel Edson Raff, the first combat commander of the Geronimos, believed that in military operations “the boldest plan is the best.” That philosophy was demonstrated over and over again by the 509th PIB on the battlefields of World War II. This is the riveting true story of the first American paratroopers to jump into combat during the invasion of North Africa. Follow these same men as they parachute behind enemy lines in Italy, hold the line against a German onslaught at Anzio, and parachute into southern France. Stay with them until their last fight, during the Battle of the Bulge, where only 55 men walked away.
Current Projects:
Coming in the fall of 2023 will be a combat history of the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment during WWII, the unit that took back Corregidor. Those familiar with the 509th PIB know that when the unit deployed to England, they were designated the 2/503rd. The rest of the 503rd Parachute Infantry deployed to the Pacific Theater. While there have been a number of books about the fight to take back Corregidor, the full history of the unit is underserved. The regiment's odyssey includes making the first combat jump in the Pacific, and participating in several operations in both New Guinea and the Philippines, which of course includes taking back "the Rock."
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Book Trailer Video for The Boldest Plan is The Best
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