Whatever It Took

An American Paratrooper's Extraordinary Memoir of Escape, Survival, and Heroism in the Last Days of World War II

Henry Langrehr, Jim DeFelice

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9780063027435
• eBook ISBN:
  9780063027442
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

Published to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, an unforgettable never-before-told first-person account of World War II: the true story of an American paratrooper who survived D-Day, was captured and imprisoned in a Nazi work camp, and made a daring escape to freedom. 

Now at 95, one of the few living members of the Greatest Generation shares his experiences at last in one of the most remarkable World War II stories ever told. As the Allied Invasion of Normandy launched in the pre-dawn hours of June 6, 1944, Henry Langrehr, an American paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne, was among the thousands of Allies who parachuted into occupied France. Surviving heavy anti-aircraft fire, he crashed through the glass roof of a greenhouse in Sainte-Mère-Église. While many of the soldiers in his unit died, Henry and other surviving troops valiantly battled enemy tanks to a standstill. Then, on June 29th, Henry was captured by the Nazis. The next phase of his incredible journey was beginning.

Kept for a week in the outer ring of a death camp, Henry witnessed the Nazis’ unspeakable brutality—the so-called Final Solution, with people marched to their deaths, their bodies discarded like cords of wood. Transported to a work camp, he endured horrors of his own when he was forced to live in unbelievable squalor and labor in a coal mine with other POWs. Knowing they would be worked to death, he and a friend made a desperate escape. When a German soldier cornered them in a barn, the friend was fatally shot; Henry struggled with the soldier, killing him and taking his gun. Perilously traveling westward toward Allied controlled land on foot, Henry faced the great ethical and moral dilemmas of war firsthand, needing to do whatever it took to survive. Finally, after two weeks behind enemy lines, he found an American unit and was rescued.

Awaiting him at home was Arlene, who, like millions of other American women, went to work in factories and offices to build the armaments Henry and the Allies needed for victory. Whatever It Took is her story, too, bringing to life the hopes and fears of those on the homefront awaiting their loved ones to return.

A tale of heroism, hope, and survival featuring 30 photographs, Whatever It Took is a timely reminder of the human cost of freedom and a tribute to unbreakable human courage and spirit in the darkest of times. 

Appendix A:

Timeline

MAJOR EVENTS IN WORLD WAR II THAT AFFECTED HENRY

1939

September—Germany invades Poland; Great Britain and France declare war

1940

April—Germany invades Norway and Denmark

May—Germany invades Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, then attacks France

May—Churchill becomes prime minister of Great Britain

June—Italy joins Germany, invading southern France

June—France surrenders to Germany

July—Germany begins regular bombing of England, initiating the air war known as the Battle of Britain

September—Jews in Germany are ordered to wear yellow stars on their clothes, making it easier to persecute them

September—The United States initiates the draft, part of a general mobilization

1941

February—German troops join Italian forces fighting the British in northern Africa

March—Roosevelt’s plan to aid Britain, “Lend-Lease,” is signed into law

May—German paratroopers assault Crete

June—Germany invades the Soviet Union

June—Mass executions of Jews in the occupied territories has begun

August—The United States and Great Britain announce the Atlantic Charter, summarizing goals for peace following the war

September—Though technically neutral, the United States escorts convoys across the Atlantic

December—Japan attacks Pearl Harbor

December—The United States declares war on Japan; Germany and Italy declare war on the United States

1942

January—German U-boats step up attacks on ships off the Atlantic seaboard

January—American troops arrive in Great Britain

April—German U-boats attack shipping in the Gulf Coast region

May—The last American troops in the Philippines surrender to Japan

June—The United States wins a major victory at Midway over the Japanese fleet

June—The Manhattan Project begins, working on an atomic bomb

August—U.S. Army Rangers see action at Dieppe, France

September—The battle for Stalingrad begins in Russia, a major turning point in the war on the Eastern Front

November—American troops land in Africa as part of Operation Torch

1943

February—Shoe rationing begins in the United States

March—Losses by American troops in Africa lead to a change in command, thrusting Patton and Bradley into key roles

April—While still a high school senior, Henry enlists in the Army as a paratrooper

May—The Allies secure North Africa

July—Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, begins; paratroopers from the 82nd play a key role in the battle

August—Allied troops take control of Sicily

August—The 82nd Airborne is readied for a secret mission to land in Rome in conjunction with an Italian surrender. The Italians surrender, but the mission is never put into action.

September—The Allies invade Italy; the 82nd joins the fight, by air and sea

September—The Pathfinder Concept, using highly skilled paratroopers to guide mass jumps, is conceived and used for the first time

Fall–early winter—Henry is trained as a paratrooper and demolitions expert

December—Most of the 82nd Airborne is moved to England to rest and restock. One regiment remains in Italy.

1944

January—Eisenhower arrives in England and begins planning the Normandy invasion

January—American troops land in Anzio, Italy

January—Henry completes airborne training

February—Henry ships out for Great Britain; he begins training for D-Day as soon as he arrives

April—Several hundred Allied troops training for D-Day die off Slapton Sands when their unarmed landing craft are attacked by German E-boats

June 4—Allied troops enter Rome

June 5/6—The 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions jump into Normandy ahead of the seaborne D-Day forces

June 6—“D-Day”—the invasion of France—begins

June 7—After securing the beachheads, Allied forces begin to advance inland. The 82nd Airborne helps cut off the Cotentin Peninsula from the rest of France. Troops face the hedgerows for the first time.

June 19—Severe weather covers the Normandy area, hampering the Allied offensive and destroying one of the Mulberry artificial ports

June 26—Cherbourg is declared liberated, though a few small pockets of resistance remain

June 29—Henry is captured in a German counterattack in the bocage south of Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte

July—Critically wounded, Henry is taken to a hospital in Paris. When he recovers, he is shipped eastward in a boxcar with other prisoners.

July—American forces break through the German lines near Saint-Lô in Operation Cobra

August—The American First and Third Armies race across France

August—Traveling mostly at night, Henry arrives outside a Nazi death camp. Though he and the other prisoners are convinced they will be killed there, they are eventually shipped to another camp.

August—Paris is liberated

September—Sometime this month, Henry begins working in a mine with other prisoners

September—The Allies reach Belgium and the Low Countries

October—The U.S. First Army occupies Aachen, the first sizable German city taken by the Americans

December—The Germans launch an offensive in the Ardennes, throwing Americans back in the Battle of the Bulge

1945

January—The American armies in the Bulge have regained the lost territory and renew their offensive toward Germany

March—Allied armies cross the Rhine

March—Henry escapes from the mines while being escorted back to the prison camp

April—Patton’s Third Army drives across southern Germany

Early April—Henry meets a member of the U.S. Third Army, ending his ordeal

End of April/Early May—Henry returns home

May 8—VE Day: the war in Europe ends with a cease-fire at 00:01. Organized German resistance has ended.

July—Henry and his prewar sweetheart are married

August—America drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, effectively ending the war

August 15—VJ Day—the war is declared over, as the Allies accept Japan’s unconditional surrender

September 2—The Japanese surrender documents are signed

Appendix B:

What They Carried

Aside from government-issued underwear, American paratroopers were equipped differently than other troops, and could be readily identified even when they weren’t wearing their T-5 parachute and related paraphernalia.

Their special gear started with their jump jackets and pants, which had extra-large pockets, intended to hold extra ammo, food, and grenades, all necessary if you were spending two or three days behind enemy lines before being resupplied. Most D-Day paratroopers wore the M2 D-Bale Paratrooper Helmet, which had a liner, neckband, sweatband, and a wide chin cup and leather strap. (Though the helmet is generally associated with the invasion, not all paratroopers had the helmet on June 5, and some were issued to infantrymen as well.) The helmet was called the “D-bale” because of the D-shaped chin strap. The design was supposed to keep it from breaking during a jump.

The T-5 parachute was carried in a backpack, with straps around the torso. The T-5 opened with a hard jerk; when the chute deployed, the shock could be painful, especially if the strap happened to be slightly misaligned in the groin area. But as the saying goes: better to feel it than not.

U.S. paratroopers also carried a small reserve chute in a pouch at the front of their chests. While the main chute would be deployed by a static line attached to the aircraft during normal airborne operations, the reserve was activated by a handle at the front of the bag. Smaller, it was used only during emergencies; landings under the reserve tended to be much faster and harder than with the T-5.

Interestingly, the Americans were the only force that used reserves. The British decided having a backup would make a man lose confidence.

Paratroopers were equipped with a variety of weapons, depending on the date and their assignment. M-1 Garand rifles, the standard infantry rifle of the war, were usually broken down and carried in Griswold bags, quilted bags that were carried on the chest. Leg scabbards—basically very long holsters that were tied to the leg—were also sometimes used instead of the bags or a simpler rig across the chest.

The M-1 was the most common paratrooper weapon at the start of the war. Thompson submachine guns and, as the war progressed, the M-1 carbine, were also commonly used. A small number of paratroopers, designated as snipers or marksmen, carried Springfield bolt-action rifles in combat; these were generally considered more accurate than the M-1 and could be equipped with a scope.

The carbine, a lightweight .30-caliber semiautomatic, was especially popular with the troops; besides being lightweight, most had folding stocks, making them easier to jump with and carry. While it was “standard” to break down a long gun for a jump, arriving on the ground without a working rifle was not a palatable idea for many troopers, and many carried their weapons assembled, even when issued standard M-1s.

A musette bag with ammunition and (at times) spare underwear and toiletries was carried across the chest. Engineers like Henry also used the bags for blocks of TNT ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Map
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Contents
• Prologue: VE Day, 1945
• One: Middle America
• Two: Training Up
• Three: June 1944
• Four: Drop Zone
• Five: Hedgerows
• Six: Prisoner
• Seven: The Mines
• Eight: The War Outside the Fence
• Nine: Opportunity
• Ten: What Had to Be Done
• Eleven: Home
• Twelve: Survival’s Rewards
• Thirteen: Going Back
• Postscript: Collaborator’s Note
• Acknowledgments
• Appendices
• Notes
• Photo Section
• About the Authors
• Copyright
• About the Publisher