James M. Fenelon is a historian and former paratrooper, whose last book was Four Hours of Fury,

a story on an airborne division at the Rhine River in March 1945.

His new book is Angels Against the Sun, a World War II saga of grunts, grit, and brotherhood,

which takes us to the Pacific Theater in World War II saga of grunts, grit, and brotherhood, which takes us to the Pacific Theater in World War II.

Welcome. Welcome, Mr. Fenelan.

Thank you, Mark. I appreciate the invitation.

Just let's open with a big, broad question, setting the context. What was the 11th Airborne Division? Sure. So I think, you know, a lot of your

listeners and yourself may be familiar with Band of Brothers, which is kind of a lot of people's

gateway into World War II history. So that was about the 101st Airborne Division, which went to

Europe. The United States had five airborne divisions in World

War II. The 11th Airborne Division was the only one that they sent to the Pacific at the time.

And so the Angels was their nickname, and that was their, so the book is the story of their campaign

in the Philippine Islands.

How did airborne units in general typically operate in battle plans?

At one point, you call them shock troops.

What role do they play?

It's a great question, because I think it has a direct bearing on kind of how things unfolded for the 11th during their time in the Philippine campaign.

So initially, airborne divisions were envisioned as being shot troops, meaning that they would jump in or use gliders to land in front of advancing ground forces to seize specific objectives such as bridges or airfields,

things of that nature. They would then be quickly linked up with those advancing ground elements,

pulled out of the front lines, and then refitted and reconstituted for their next airborne mission.

Now, the way things kind of unfolded during World War II, it didn't quite work out that way.

So initially, the beginning stages of an airborne operation very much matched that doctrine.

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