this country is at war with Germany. We shall go on to the end. I remember the

sheets of plane which came up and almost blinded us for my guns.

Hello and welcome to another episode of the World War II podcast time and as

when we think of airborne operations in World War II, the historiography is dominated by

operations in the European theatre. Parachute drops on Sicily, the Normandy course for Day Day

and the Netherlands for Operation Market Garden. But in the Pacific, Joseph Swing's

Eleventh Airborne Division, nickname the Angels, were making combat drops too.

They fought in some of the most dramatic campaigns from bloody skirmishes in Leite's

unforgiving rainforests to the ferocious battles on Luzon, including the hellish urban

combat of Manila. Joining me is James Fenland. Long-time listeners might remember I

chatted with James about the US 17th Airborne Division during Operation Vastancy, the Crossing

of the Rhine. This time we're discussing James's new book, Angels Against the Sun,

a World War II saga of Grunts, Grit and Brotherhood. Welcome back, James, nice to see you again.

So we're going to be discussing the eleventh Airborne Division, the well-known Airborne

units of World War II, the 82nd and the 101st, which were active in the European theatre. Did

the eleventh Airborne Division come about at the same time? Where is it created on the timeline

of airborne units? It was formed in February of 43, of course, at which time the 82nd had already

been formed, the 101st. I don't know what their formation date was, but I suspect that it was

right around that same period as well, because they were all kind of fighting for the same cadre of

guys, right? I mean, they kept like taking units, expanding them and then splitting them up to go

form cadres at other units and expand expansion. So the eleventh was right in there. From a training

perspective, are they all doing the same thing? Or does the 82nd and 101st know they're going to

...