Cornelius Ryan

William Welsh’s Best World War II Books List

William Welsh, editor of Military Heritage Magazine, has compiled a list of personal favorites for books on the Second World War. Read more

Cornelius Ryan

The Longest Day and Other Books by Cornelius “Connie” Ryan

Brooke Stoddard

Throughout his career, Cornelius “Connie” Ryan wrote a number of stunning books on World War II: The Last Battle, about the struggle for Berlin; A Bridge Too Far, about the ill-fated race to cross the Rhine bridge at Arnhem in 1944; and, of course, the book with which his fame will always be linked, The Longest Day. Read more

Cornelius Ryan

D-Day Casualties: Operation Overlord by the Numbers

The largest amphibious invasion in history began on the night of June 5-6, with the roar of C-47 engines preparing to take off , and climaxed on the beaches of Normandy. Read more

Cornelius Ryan

Operation Market Garden: the 82nd Airborne Division’s Pivotal Role

By Martin K.A. Morgan

By mid-August 1944, roughly one month before the now-famous Operation Market Garden, the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division had been fighting off and on for over a year. Read more

Cornelius Ryan

Soldiers of Juno: The Canadian Invasion of Normandy

By Dorothy Brotherton

As John Wesley Pointon jumped into the cold English Channel water with the Royal Canadian 7th Brigade Signal Corps and struggled with a heavy radio strapped to his back toward the beach that was being torn apart by shot and shell, the farm boy from Saskatchewan tried to make his mind go blank. Read more

Cornelius Ryan

­Battle of Nijmegen Bridge: Taking the Crossings Over the Waal

By Jan Bos

The city of Nijmegen, in the southeastern part of Holland and about six miles from the Dutch-German border, is believed to be Holland’s oldest city, going back some 2,000 years. Read more

Cornelius Ryan

Sainte-Mere-Eglise: The 82nd Airborne Drops into France

By Flint Whitlock

The night of June 5, 1944, was pretty much like every other night in Sainte-Mère-Église since the Germans had occupied Normandy and the Cotentin Peninsula in the summer of 1940: dark, quiet, chilly, and mostly boring. Read more

Cornelius Ryan

The Airborne Infantry “Cricket”: Dime Store Toy Becomes D-Day Legend

By Richard A. Beranty

Made popular by the Band of Brothers portrayal of Easy Company, the U.S. paratrooper “cricket” was in fact used to identify each other in the predawn hours of the D-Day invasion. Read more