Gunners from the Sky

1st Air Landing Light Regiment in Italy and at Arnhem, 1942–44

Paul Chrystal, David Chrystal

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
• Year: 2023
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781399088091
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

This is the story of the 1st Air Landing Light Regiment RA and its role in the Italian campaign and at the Battle of Arnhem. It is also the story of one of its soldiers: 14283058 Gunner Eric Wright Chrystal, father of the authors. Eric joined the army in September 1942 and, after training, joined the newly formed glider-borne regiment the following year. He first saw action in Italy in 1943, where he was seriously wounded. On 17 September 1944, two years to the day since he enlisted, he and the regiment were landed by glider near to Arnhem in the Netherlands. The authors recount set their father's experiences in context by describing the formation of the unit and the many months of training in England. Their involvement in the Italian campaign, where Eric served with E Troop, 3 Battery, is then recounted, detailing their actions at Rionero, Foggia and Campobasso, where Eric was wounded. It then moves on to describe 1st Air Landing Light Regiment's preparation for and involvement in Operation Market (the Airborne half of Market Garden). This very detailed account of the fighting highlights the regiment's pivotal (but often neglected) role near Arnhem bridge. Here, after nine days of intense combat, Eric was among the many captured and held until the end of the war. The inclusion of Eric's own eyewitness testimony lends a very personal touch to this excellent account of the regiment's experience of combat and life in the PoW camps.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• About the Authors
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Maps
• Glossary
• Chapter 1 The History of Airborne Warfare
• Chapter 2 The 1st Air Landing Light Regiment RA
• Chapter 3 14283058 Gunner Eric Chrystal
• Chapter 4 The 1st Air Landing Light Regiment’s Italian Campaign
• Chapter 5 Wounded and Recovery in Malta
• Chapter 6 Operation MARKET GARDEN: The Plan
• Chapter 7 The 1st Airborne Division
• Chapter 8 The Royal Artillery at Arnhem
• Chapter 9 The 1st Air Landing Light Regiment’s Battle of Arnhem
• Chapter 10 A Week in Oosterbeek September 1944, the Account of the Battle by Sergeant George Nattrass
• Chapter 11 Day 1: Sunday, 17 September
• Chapter 12 Day 2: Monday, 18 September
• Chapter 13 Day 3: Tuesday, 19 September
• Chapter 14 Day 4: Wednesday, 20 September
• Chapter 15 Day 5: Thursday, 21 September
• Chapter 16 Day 6: Friday, 22 September
• Chapter 17 Day 7: Saturday, 23 September
• Chapter 18 Day 8: Sunday, 24 September
• Chapter 19 Day 9: Monday, 25 September
• Chapter 20 Operation BERLIN
• Chapter 21 The Fallout from the Failure
• Chapter 22 Prisoner of War: Stalag XII-A Limburg, Stalag IV-B Mühlberg and Stalag IV-A Hohenstein and Zwickau
• Chapter 23 Epilogue: Back to Boston, PTSD and Reprisals
• Appendix I: 3rd Air Landing Light Battery, E Troop
• Appendix II: Other Airborne at Arnhem apart from the 1st Airborne Division
• Appendix III: Arnhem Order of Battle
• Appendix IV: Arnhem Town
• Appendix V: Theirs is the Glory
• Appendix VI: Allied Firepower at Arnhem
• Appendix VII: How Much is a Dutch Bridge Worth?
• Appendix VIII: German Forces at Arnhem
• Appendix IX: Some of the PoW Camps Where the Arnhem Captured Were Sent
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Plates