Robert Adleman; Author of War Novels

Robert H. Adleman, author of more than a dozen books, including “The Devil’s Brigade,” has died. He was 76.

Adleman died Thursday at Ashland Community Hospital.

“The Devil’s Brigade,” a World War II story written in collaboration with Col. George Walton, was Adleman’s first published book. A 1968 film based on the novel starred William Holden and Cliff Robertson.

Other novels that he wrote with Walton, “The Champagne Campaign” and “Rome Fell Today,” also were set during the war.

The books sprang partially from Adleman’s experience as a bomber gunner in World War II. He earned the Air Medal, the Presidential Unit Citation and six battle stars.

Among Adleman’s other books are “The Bloody Benders,” “Annie Deane,” “Baker,” “The Black Box,” “Alias Big Cherry,” “Sweetwater Fever” and a nonfiction work, “What’s Really Involved in Writing and Selling Your Book.”

He attended Rutgers University and later earned a law degree at Temple University.

Adleman was a reporter for the Philadelphia Bulletin for more than 15 years and published a weekly newspaper in a Philadelphia suburb.

He considered one of the high points of his career to be an interview with President Dwight D. Eisenhower about European combat.

Adleman and his wife, Margie, moved to Jacksonville, Ore., in 1975 from Malibu. They returned to California in 1987 and moved to Ashland a few years ago.

A dedicated environmentalist, he transformed his Oregon ranch into a wildlife preserve.