Hell's Highway

Chronicle of the 101st Airborne Division in the Holland Campaign, September - November 1944

by George Koskimaki

Imprint: Casemate

504 Pages, 6 x 9 in, b/w photos

Paperback
9781612000732
December 2011
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$29.95

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Hardcover
9781932033052
March 2008
Out of print. Available in digital formats at the links below.

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9781480406599
March 2008

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Description
Contents
Authors
Praise

Hell's Highway is a history, most of which has never before been written. It is adventure recorded by those who lived it and put into context by an author who was also there. It is human drama on an enormous scale, told through the personal stories of 612 contributors of written and oral accounts of the "Screaming Eagles" part in the attempt to liberate the Netherlands.

George Koskimaki was an expert in weaving together individual recollections to make a compelling and uniquely first hand account of the bravery and deprivations suffered by the troops, their hopes, fears, triumphs and tragedies as well as those of Dutch civilians caught up in the action.

There have been many books published on Operation Market Garden and there will surely be more. This book, however, gets to the heart of the action. The "big picture" which most histories paint, here is just the context for the real history on the ground.

Glossary/U.S. Army Rankings
Foreword

1. Introductory Review
2. English Summer
3. Occupation
4. Liberation
5. Pathfinders
6. Parachute Drops
7. Glider Lifts
8. The Son Bridge
9. Eindhoven
10. The Fight for Best
11. St. Oedenrode
12. Veghel
13. 1st Battalion Moves North
14. Eerde
15. Division CP at Son
16. Black Friday
17. Send Us Some Tanks!
18. Third Road Cut
19. Behind Enemy Lines
20. Watch on the Rhine
21. Opheusden
22. Dodewaard and Hien
23. Other Memorable Experiences

Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Contributors
Notes
Bibliography
Index

George Koskimaki was born in Michigan in 1922. While still in college, he enlisted in the Army and joined the famous 101st Airborne Division, The Screaming Eagles as a paratrooper and radio operator. After retiring, Koskimaki served as the Executive Secretary of the 101st Airborne Division Association.

He was a, teacher, military historian and author of multiple books on United States military operations in the European Theater of World War II, particularly operations carried out by the 101st Airborne Division.

He passed in 2016 at the age of 93.

“Koskimaki, a World War II veteran who parachuted into Normandy during the D-Day invasion with the 101st Airborne Division, offers a "You were there" account of the 101st's participation in the war's Holland Campaign in 1944. The author created his account from both oral and written recollections of soldiers who were involved in the campaign to give a rare perspective on what war was really like on the ground. “ ~Book News, Inc.

"Hell's Highway gives us something not covered in the other books. It tells of the Dutch people and members of the underground and their liberation after five years of oppression by the Nazis. It shares how they have never forgotten America's airborne heroes and how the 101st endangered and even sacrificed their lives for the freedom of the Netherlands and Europe.... superb job of telling the history the 101st Airborne Division during Operation Market Garden." ~Kepler’s Military History

"One might think that a book of this length would drag on because of the seemingly endless battle situations covered and documented. This is not the case with Hell’s Highway and its companion volumes. The reader is carried along with the troops with an intensity that is as good as most movies. It is a study of humans under the greatest pressure responding as only the best can. It gives the reader plenty to think about and reflect upon for some time afterward. This reviewer would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in WWII …" ~The Journal of America’s Military Past