The Filthy Thirteen: From the Dustbowl to Hitler's Eagle's Nest: The True Story of the 101st Airborne's Most Legendary Squad of Combat Paratroopers

by Richard Killblane

Overview

The true story of the 101st Airborne Division’s most notorious squad of combat paratroopers—the inspiration for the classic WWII film, The Dirty Dozen.
 
Since World War II, the American public has learned of the exploits of the 101st Airborne Division, the paratroopers who led the Allied invasions into Nazi-held Europe. But within the ranks of the 101st, one unit attained truly legendary status. Known as the Filthy Thirteen, they were the real-life inspiration for The Dirty Dozen.
 
Primarily products of the Dustbowl and the Depression, the Filthy Thirteen became notorious within the elite Screaming Eagles for their hard drinking and savage fighting skills. From D-Day until the end of the war, the squad’s heart and soul—and its toughest member—was a half Native American soldier named Jake McNiece. McNiece made four combat jumps, was in the forefront of every fight in northern Europe, yet somehow never made the rank of PFC.
 
The Filthy Thirteen offers a vivid group portrait of hardscrabble guys whom any respectable person would be loath to meet in a dark alley: a brawling bunch whose saving grace was that they inflicted more damage on the Germans than on MPs, the English countryside, and their own officers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781935149811
Publisher:	Casemate Publishers
Publication date:	01/10/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	64,873
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Richard E. Killblane was raised in Oklahoma where he came to know Jake Mc Niece. Richard graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1979 and earned his Master of Arts in history from the University of San Diego in 1992. He served as an officer in the infantry and Special Forces and attained the rank of Captain. He is a veteran of Central American counter-insurgency operations and Operation Just Cause (Panama) He is a published author and currently servesas the Transportation Corps historian.Jake McNiece, who despite making four combat jumps and displaying tremendous battlefield courage during the war, was consistently bumped back to the rank of private. On D-Day, they were assigned to take a bridge over the Douve River in France, a mission that would cost most of the men their lives. Sadly Jake passed away in early 2013.

Table of Contents

	Preface	vii
	Introduction	1
Chapter 1	Creating a Legend	9
Chapter 2	Fuel for the Myth	43
Chapter 3	A Bridge in Normandy	73
Chapter 4	Surviving Holland	119
Chapter 5	Rescue of a Division	153
Chapter 6	End of the War	185
Chapter 7	Get-Together	207
	Epilogue: The Moral of the Story	227
	A Soldier's Prayer	243
	Notes	245
	Bibliography	281
	Index	285