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Silent Invaders: Combat Gliders of the Second World War
Combat gliders were called by some as ‘Death Crates’, ‘Purple Heart Boxes’, ‘Flying Coffins’ and ‘Tow Targets’. They were not pretty and had no graceful lines. Viewed from the front, they had a pug nose and a sloping Neanderthal forehead. Their wings looked like the heavily starched ears of a jackrabbit placed at right angles on a canvas-covered frame. Twice the length of the body, these wings were eighty-four feet in length, 70 per cent as long as the Wright Brothers’ first powered flight at Kitty Hawk. They could not become airborne, let alone fly, unless assisted by an engine-powered tow plane. And for those riding in the back, it was like flying ‘through the gates of hell’. The men who were trained and assigned to guide gliders into battle were said to be the only pilots who had no motors, armament, parachutes and no second chances. Like the aircraft they commanded, they were called inglorious names such as The Bastards Nobody Wanted, Glider Gladiators in Wooden Chariots; Hybrid Jackasses and Glory Boys. Beautifully written, profoundly illustrated and researched, Silent Combat Gliders of the Second World War is a work that is dedicated to those brave men under impossible odds from the British and American servicemen on D-Day, the doomed Operation Market Garden in Holland and Hitler’s radical commando raid to rescue Mussolini.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published September 19, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 19, 2025
Rated 5 stars as this is a clearly well researched book, and there were plenty of new stories I had not been aware of. Great datapoint for your personal understanding of the Second World War.
March 16, 2018
A quick over view of the training Glider pilots and crew went through and then a good read on the history of the Glider operations used in World War 2.
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March 30, 2018MWSA Review
This is a fine book by author Gary Best, which provides a good overview of glider attacks launched by both the Allies and the Axis.
Best, the author of previous World War II books uses material from previous publications and some new materials and interviews with veterans from the war, to examine the strengths – and weaknesses – of using lightweight, engineless aircraft to launch surprise attacks on enemy installations. After some short chapters describing the development of the gliders used by Germany, Britain, and the United States, Best looks at the training of the glider pilots, tow-aircraft pilots and the men who rode these delicate craft into combat. Best then examines the major missions in which gliders were used.
These chapters include the better-known missions like the German assault on the Belgian Eben Emael fortress, the bloody attack on British installations in Crete, and the Allied mass-drops at D-Day and in Operation Market Garden. He also summarizes lesser-known uses of Gliders in brief accounts of Burma in 1943, the German rescue of Benito Mussolini in northern Italy, and the commando attack on German nuclear research facilities in Norway. There is even a small section on what is known about glider use by Japanese and Russian forces. These accounts are enhanced by very good use of first-hand memories of participants. In all, this slim volume gives the reader a very fine succinct account of the glider’s role in the war.
Gliders were, admittedly, very dangerous, especially in the early training of the pilots. As one veteran noted after the war, “I am sure we lost more pilots in death glide training . . . than we ever did in combat.” This proved markedly true in night drops; the number of men lost crashing into trees or wetlands during the D-Day assault has never been fully tabulated. Even in the daylight landings for Market Garden, British glider troop losses on the first day contributed to the failure to hold the last, vital bridge at Arnhem. The anguish of that is very clear in the book’s first-hand accounts by the participants.
The combination of background on the development of gliders and the number of examples on their use in the war make this a most useful and impressive book.
Reviewed by: Terry Shoptaugh (2015)
This is a fine book by author Gary Best, which provides a good overview of glider attacks launched by both the Allies and the Axis.
Best, the author of previous World War II books uses material from previous publications and some new materials and interviews with veterans from the war, to examine the strengths – and weaknesses – of using lightweight, engineless aircraft to launch surprise attacks on enemy installations. After some short chapters describing the development of the gliders used by Germany, Britain, and the United States, Best looks at the training of the glider pilots, tow-aircraft pilots and the men who rode these delicate craft into combat. Best then examines the major missions in which gliders were used.
These chapters include the better-known missions like the German assault on the Belgian Eben Emael fortress, the bloody attack on British installations in Crete, and the Allied mass-drops at D-Day and in Operation Market Garden. He also summarizes lesser-known uses of Gliders in brief accounts of Burma in 1943, the German rescue of Benito Mussolini in northern Italy, and the commando attack on German nuclear research facilities in Norway. There is even a small section on what is known about glider use by Japanese and Russian forces. These accounts are enhanced by very good use of first-hand memories of participants. In all, this slim volume gives the reader a very fine succinct account of the glider’s role in the war.
Gliders were, admittedly, very dangerous, especially in the early training of the pilots. As one veteran noted after the war, “I am sure we lost more pilots in death glide training . . . than we ever did in combat.” This proved markedly true in night drops; the number of men lost crashing into trees or wetlands during the D-Day assault has never been fully tabulated. Even in the daylight landings for Market Garden, British glider troop losses on the first day contributed to the failure to hold the last, vital bridge at Arnhem. The anguish of that is very clear in the book’s first-hand accounts by the participants.
The combination of background on the development of gliders and the number of examples on their use in the war make this a most useful and impressive book.
Reviewed by: Terry Shoptaugh (2015)
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews