THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER From bestselling historian Saul David, a riveting new history of the British airborne experience across the Second World War. The legendary 'Red Devils' were among the finest combat troops of the Second World War. Created at Churchill's instigation in June 1940, they began as a single parachute battalion of 500 men and grew into three 10,000-strong airborne divisions: the 1st, 6th and 44th Indian, each composed of parachutists and glider-borne troops. Wearing their distinctive maroon berets, steel helmets and Dennison smocks, they served with distinction in every major theatre of the conflict - including North Africa, Sicily, mainland Europe and the Far East - and played a starring role in some most iconic airborne operations in history: the Bruneval Raid of February 1942; the capture of the Primasole, Pegasus and Arnhem Bridges in July 1943, June 1944 and September 1944 respectively; and Operation Varsity, the biggest parachute drop in history, near Wesel in Germany in March 1945. Lead title * THIS IS THE FIRST BOOK THAT TELLS THE COMPLETE WARTIME STORY OF BRITISH AIRBORNE FORCES IN A SINGLE VOLUME * EXTREMELY COMMERCIAL MILITARY HISTORY * BESTSELLING AUTHOR, with SBS breaking him confidently into the Sunday Times bestseller chart (at #4 in September 2021). This takes him to another commercial territory of WW2. * DEVIL DOGS: 8,828 PB, 2,870 PB * SBS: 26,750 HB, 18,983 PB * Source material will come from UNPUBLISHED DIARIES AND LETTERS, MEMOIRS and INTERVIEWS WITH PARTICIPANTS * INTERNATIONAL APPEAL: Focusing on operations staged in northern France, Norway, North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Normandy, Holland, Germany and the Far East * The 80th anniversary of the Arnhem operation is September 2024 Competition: SAS; Masters of the Air; Abyss; Rogue Heroes; The Red Arrows; Red Devils; Spitfire. Damien Lewis; Donald L.

Miller; Max Hastings; Ben Macintyre; David Montenegor; James Holland; Mark Urban; John Nichol; Antony Beevor.