When Dragons Flew Second Edition
Subtitle: An Illustrated History of the 1st Battalion, the Border Regiment 1939-45
Edition: 2nd
Publisher: Silver Link Publishing Ltd
Published: August 2009
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 272
ISBN-13: 9781857943498
First sentence: The 1st Battalion left Palestine in April 1939 after an extremely active three year tour, during which they reached high peaks of success and efficiency under the command of Lt.Col. W. O. Lay DSO.
Description: The book chronicles the history of the 1st Battalion The Border Regiment from the outbreak of War in September 1939, through service with the BEF in France, to its training in an independent role, then as part of the 1st Air Landing Brigade of the 1st Airborne Division from October 1941 to October 1945. The Battalion moved to North Africa in May 1943 and took part in the first major Allied glider operation of the Second World War, the landings on Sicily on 9-10 July, when tragically many lives were lost as gliders crashed in the sea.
    
The Battalion went on to serve in Italy, then played a significant and distinguished role defending the western side of the Division’s perimeter at Oosterbeek near Arnhem in the famous Operation Market Garden of September 1944, and it is this action that receives closest attention in the book. In May 1945 the Battalion was sent to Norway to supervise the surrender of German forces.
    
The authors carried out research principally from original sources to provide this chronology of the Battalion’s wartime history. These are supported by a wealth of personal reminiscences of veterans who served with the Battalion during the War years, and the book is very much their story. Ten detailed appendices include a Roll of Honour, Battalion Roll for Arnhem, and Honours and Awards gained, all of which complete this comprehensive and gripping account.
Table of contents: pagenum: 7
title: Introduction; title: Off to War: BEF and Dunkirk
pagenum: 9
label: 1; title: From Mules to Gliders
pagenum: 25
label: 2; title: A Soldiers Guide to North Africa and Sicily
pagenum: 49
label: 3; title: For Those in Peril on the Sea
pagenum: 65
label: 4; title: The Road to Waterloo
pagenum: 74
label: 5; title: Italian Interlude
pagenum: 89
label: 6; title: Home and The Long Wait
pagenum: 94
label: 7; title: Operation Market
pagenum: 101
label: 8; title: Rebuilding The Battalion and Norway
pagenum: 180
label: 9; title: Battalion Portraits
pagenum: 191
label: 10