New Book Release: Operation Dragoon, Jack Bell #5

We are happy to announce that we just released “Operation Dragoon: A Jack Bell WWII Novel.” This is the fifth book of historical military fiction in the Jack Bell Series.

The main characters in the series are part of the 509^th Parachute Infantry Battalion during World War II. Factually, the 509^th PIB was an independent battalion formed before the more well-known regiments of the 82^nd and 101^st Airborne Divisions. The Geronimos, as the members of the 509^th were called, had many firsts during the war. Most noteworthy, they were the first parachute unit to deploy overseas and the first paratroopers to jump into combat. Their story is documented in The Boldest Plan is the Best: The Combat History of the 509^th Parachute Infantry Battalion during WWII by Jim Broumley.

Although works of “WW2 Fiction,” each book in the series is set during one of the deployments of the 509^th PIB. Operation Dragoon is the invasion of Southern France, “the other D-day,” on August 15, 1944. The Gingerbread men (their nickname drawn from the caricature on the unit patch) are part of the First Airborne Task Force that jumped fifteen miles forward of the beach landings. Their mission is to secure the town of Le Muy. This French town and surrounding terrain create a bottleneck that the airborne forces must hold to prevent German armor from attacking the beachhead.

In the novel Operation Dragoon, the fictional Captain Jack Bell is the battalion’s intelligence officer. After the jump, he is tasked to take a squad from his old platoon and go behind the lines to pick up a wounded Air Corps officer who is being hidden by a local French Resistance group. They are set up by a group of Vichy French and ambushed by the Germans. They take refuge with the real French resistance in a remote farmhouse. They are stuck without transportation and in an indefensible position if the Germans show up. But Jack’s former platoon sergeant, “Rube” Roubideaux, has a plan. Complicating matters, the French have a spy in their midst, the Air Corps officer must get to a hospital as soon as possible, and the Americans have to deal with a headstrong girl who leads the resistance group. As if fighting a war wasn’t demanding enough.

Operation Dragoon: A Jack Bell WWII Novel by Jim T. Broumley is available on Amazon in print, Kindle, and Kindle Unlimited. If you’re new to the series, check out the other Jack Bell Novels.

Books by Jim T. Broumley:

The Jack Bell WWII Novels (Fiction)

The Bridge at El Djem
The Avellino Jump
The War in Venafro
Anzio
Operation Dragoon

Nonfiction

The Boldest Plan is the Best: The Combat History of the 509^th Parachute Infantry Battalion during WWII