Paratrooper
A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to
Overview
Paratroopers jump out of airplanes and use parachutes to land safely on the ground. This is one of the three types of "forced entry" strategic techniques for entering a
The first extensive use of paratroopers (
In World War II, paratroopers most often used parachutes of a circular design. These parachutes could be steered to a small degree by pulling on the risers (four straps connecting the paratrooper's harness to the connectors) and suspension lines which attach to the parachute canopy itself. German paratroopers, whose harnesses had only a single riser attached at the back, could not manipulate their parachutes in such a manner. Today, paratroopers still use round parachutes, or round parachutes modified so as to be more fully controlled with toggles. The parachutes are usually deployed by a static line. Mobility of the parachutes is often deliberately limited to prevent scattering of the troops when a large number parachute together.
Some military exhibition units and
Paratrooper forces around the world
Many countries have one or several paratrooper units, usually associated to the national Army or Air Force, but in some cases to the Navy.
Argentina
In 1944, Argentina became the second country on the continent of South America to use Paratroopers, after Peru. The first paratroopers were issued jump helmets similar to that used by the British at the time,
- 4th Airborne Brigade HQ (Córdoba)
- 2nd Paratroopers Regiment "General Balcarce" (Córdoba)
- 14th Paratroopers Regiment (Córdoba)
- 601st Air Assault Regiment (Campo de Mayo)
- 4th Paratrooper Artillery Group (Córdoba)
- 4th Paratrooper Cavalry Scout Squadron (Córdoba)
- 4th Paratrooper Engineer Company (Córdoba)
- 4th Paratrooper Signal Company (Córdoba)
- 4th Paratrooper Jump Support Company (Córdoba)
- Logistic & Support Base "Córdoba" (Córdoba)
Australia
Airborne forces raised by Australia have included a small number of conventional and special forces units. During the Second World War the Australian Army formed the 1st Parachute Battalion; however, it did not see action. In the post-war period Australia's parachute capability was primarily maintained by special forces units. In the 1970s and 1980s a parachute infantry capability was revived, while a Parachute Battalion Group based on the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR) was established in 1983.[12] However, following a reorganisation 3 RAR relinquished the parachute role in 2011, and this capability is now maintained by units of Special Operations Command.[13][14]
France
Constant "Marin" Duclos was the first
In 1935, Captain Geille of the
Following the
In May 1943, the 1er Régiment de Chasseurs Parachutistes was created from the 601e Groupe d'Infanterie de l'Air in Morocco and the 3e and 4e Bataillons d'Infanterie de l'Air (BIA) in England in the Special Air Service. The 2e and 3e Régiments de Chasseurs Parachutistes followed in July 1944. During the
After
When the French left Vietnam in 1954, all airborne battalions were upgraded to regiments over the next two years. Only the French Air Force's Commandos de l'Air (Air Force) were excluded. In 1956, the 2e Régiment de Parachutiste Coloniaux took part in the Suez Crisis.
Next, the French Army regrouped all its Army Airborne regiments into two parachute divisions in 1956. The 10th parachute division (10e Division Parachutiste, 10e DP) came under the command of General Jacques Massu and General Henri Sauvagnac took over the 25th Parachute Division (25e Division Parachutiste, 25e DP). Again the Commandos de l'Air were kept under command of the Air Force.
By the late 1950s, in Algeria, the FLN had launched its War of Independence. French paratroopers were used as counter insurgency units by the French Army. This was the first time in airborne operations troops used helicopters for air assault and fire support.
But in the aftermath of the
In the aftermath of the Cold War, the French Army reorganised and the 11e DP become the 11th Parachute Brigade in 1999.
Germany
The first known airborne commando operation in military history was conducted by Maximilian Hermann Richard Paschen von Cossel, then Leutnant of the Royal Prussian Army and his new pilot, then Royal Saxon Vice Sergeant Rudolf Windisch. Windisch flew the Roland Walfisch used for this purpose and set Cossel down in a wooded area behind the Russian front. During the night of October 2/3, 1916, Cossel blew up the Rowno–Brody railway line, 85 kilometers behind the eastern front, in several places. This was acknowledged in the army report of October 4, 1916: Eastern theater of war: ... Oberleutnant v. Cossel, who was set down from the plane southwest of Rowno by Vice Sergeant Windisch and picked up again after 24 hours, interrupted the Rowno-Brody railway line at several points by means of explosives. ... The First Quartermaster General. Ludendorff. According to Russian reports, however, the tracks were only slightly damaged in one place, so that a train just passing them could continue its journey unhindered.
Hence later in the war, the
After mid-1944, Fallschirmjäger were no longer trained as paratroops owing to the realities of the strategic situation, but retained the Fallschirmjäger honorific. Near the end of the war, the series of new Fallschirmjäger divisions extended to over a dozen, with a concomitant reduction in quality in the higher-numbered units of the series. Among these divisions was the 9th Fallschirmjäger Division, which was the final parachute division to be raised by Germany during World War II. The Russian army destroyed the division during the Battle of Berlin in April 1945. The Fallschirmjäger were issued specialist weapons such as the FG 42 and specially designed helmets.
In the modern German Bundeswehr, the Fallschirmjägertruppe continue to form the core of special operations units. The division has two brigade equivalents and several independent companies and battalions. All told, about 10,000 troops served in that division in 2010, most of them support or logistics personnel. The Fallschirmjägertruppe currently uses the Wiesel Armoured Weapons Carrier (AWC), a light air-transportable armoured fighting vehicle, more specifically a lightly armoured weapons carrier. It is quite similar to historical scouting tankettes in size, form and function, and is the only true modern tankette in use in Western Europe.[16]
India
The Parachute Regiment is the Special Forces/airborne regiment of the Indian Army. The Regiment was formed in 1952
The regiment has a total of 14 regular, one Rashtriya Rifles and two Territorial Army (India) battalions; of the regular bns, five are Airborne battalions, while nine are Special Forces battalions. Formerly designated "Commando" units, they are now designated Special Forces:
Three of the Special Forces battalions were originally trained for use in certain environments; 1st Bn [strategic reserve], 9th Bn [mountain] and 10th Bn [desert]. Subsequently, the 21st Bn was raised for jungle warfare. Currently, all Special Forces battalions are cross trained for all environments.
The 8th Battalion became 16th Battalion, Mahar Regiment in 1976 before reconverting to the 12th Battalion, Mechanised Infantry Regiment. A sizable part of the battalion was retained in the airborne role for some time, forming the armoured element of the 50th (Independent) Parachute Brigade and equipped with their BMP-2 Infantry Combat Vehicles. But due to administrative and logistic reasons, it was discontinued and their role being taken over by the para battalions themselves, with a platoon strength of each battalion being trained and equipped for the mechanized role within the brigade.
The 50th (Independent) Parachute Brigade comprises the following units:
- 03 Airborne battalions
- 01 Parachute Field Regiment (Artillery) (9 & 17 Parachute Field Regiments in rotation)
- 60 Parachute Field Hospital
- 411 (Independent) Parachute Field Company (Bombay Sappers)
- 622 Parachute Composite Company (ASC)
- 50th (Independent) Parachute Brigade OFP (Ordnance)
- 50th (Independent) Parachute Brigade Signal Company
- 2 (Independent) Parachute Field Workshop Company (EME)
- 252 (Para) Air Defence Battery
( 50th (Independent) Parachute Brigade Provost Section.
The President's Body Guard also forms part of the brigade as the pathfinders company.
Three Airborne units in rotation form part of the Parachute Brigade alternatively serving their field tenures in counter-insurgency/high altitude areas. One of the two field regiments (9 Para Fd Regt and 17 Para Fd Regt) also forms part of the brigade while the other serves out its field tenure on rotation.
The two Territorial Army battalions, 106th (Bangalore) and 116th (Deolali) form the airborne element of the Terriers (as the Territorial Army is popularly known) and are presently involved in COIN operations.
31st Battalion (Commando), Rashtriya Rifles, is also affiliated to the Parachute Regiment, for special operations conducted by the counter-insurgency force.
Israel
- 35th Paratroopers Brigade - Has been active since 1955 and is part of Central Command
- 55th Paratroopers Brigade (Reserve)
- 226th Paratroopers Brigade (Reserve)
- 551st Paratroopers Brigade (Reserve)
- 646th Paratroopers Brigade (Reserve)
Italy
The first units of Italian parachutists were trained and formed shortly before the Second World War in
Moved back to Italy in 1941, the staff of the Castel Benito school was expanded into the Paratroopers School at
Another major paratroopers division was formed during 1942 (the 184rd Parachute Division "Nembo") and a third had started forming in 1943 (the 184rd Parachute Division "Ciclone"). After the September 8th 1943 Armistice, elements of the "Nembo" division joined the Allies against the germans as part of the Italian Liberation Corps (Corpo Italiano di Liberazione) and later as part of the "Folgore" Combat Group (Gruppo di Combattimento "Folgore") of the Italian Co-belligerent Army. Other scattered elements joined the Italian Social Republic, where they formed several Parachute units that continued to operate alongside the Germans against the Allies, fighting with distinction during the Battle of Anzio.
After WW2, the
In 1982 the Italian Brigade Folgore landed in
Other paratroopers units operate as part of the Army Special Forces Command and of the other Special Forces components provided by the Navy, Air Force and Carabinieri.
Japan
Teishin Shudan (挺進集団, Raiding Group) was a
It was commanded by a major general, and was organized as follows:
- Headquarters company (220 personnel)
- Aviation brigade
- Raiding brigade
- Two glider infantry regiments
- Raiding artillery company (120 personnel)
- Raiding signals company (140 personnel)
- Raiding engineer company (250 personnel)
Notably, Japanese troopers fought in the Battle of Palembang and in the takeover of Celebes in the Dutch East Indies.
The 1st Airborne Brigade (Japanese: 第1空挺団, Dai-Ichi Kūtei Dan), established in 1958 is the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force’s elite airborne unit meant for anti-guerilla and commando operations. The unit is currently used for homeland defense and international combat operations as part of the JGSDF’s Ground Component Command (Japanese: 陸上総隊).
Peru
During the Ecuadorian–Peruvian War, the Peruvian army had also established its own paratrooper unit and used it to great effect by seizing the Ecuadorian port city of Puerto Bolívar, on July 27, 1941, marking the first time in the Americas that airborne troops were used in combat.[17][18][19]
In 1965, a paratrooper unit known as the Sinchis was established under the Civil Guard as a counterinsurgency and anti-narcotics force. With the dissolution of the Civil Guard in 1991, the unit became part of the National Police of Peru.
Poland
The 1st (Polish) Independent Parachute Brigade was a parachute
The Brigade was originally trained close to RAF Ringway and later in Upper Largo in Scotland. It was finally based in Lincolnshire, close to RAF Spitalgate (Grantham) where it continued training until its eventual departure for Europe after D-Day.
The Brigade was formed by the Polish High Command in exile with the aim of it being used to support the
During the operation, the Brigade's
The following day, the Poles were able to produce some makeshift boats and attempt a crossing. With great difficulty and under German fire from the heights of Westerbouwing on the north bank of the river, the 8th Parachute Company and, later, additional troops from 3rd Battalion, managed to cross the Rhine in two attempts. In total, about 200 Polish paratroopers made it across in two days, and were able to cover the subsequent withdrawal of the remnants of the
On 26 September 1944, the Brigade (now including the 1st Battalion and elements of the 3rd Battalion, who were parachuted near to Grave on 23 September) was ordered to march towards Nijmegen. The Brigade had lost 25% of its fighting strength, amounting to 590 casualties.[20]
In 1945, the Brigade was attached to the
Portugal
The first Portuguese paratroopers were part of a small commando unit, organized in Australia, during World War II, with the objective to be dropped in the rearguard of the Japanese troops that were occupying Portuguese Timor.
However, the first regular parachute unit was only created in 1955, by the Portuguese Air Force, as the Parachute Caçadores Battalion. This unit adopted the green beret, which has become, since then, the principal emblem of the Portuguese paratroopers. The Battalion was expanded to a Regiment and additional parachute battalions were created in the Portuguese overseas territories of Angola, Mozambique and Guinea. These units were actively engaged in the Portuguese Colonial War, from 1961 to 1975, being involved both in airborne and air assault operations. In addition to the regular units of paratroopers, in Mozambique were also created the Parachute Special Groups, composed of African irregular troops who wore a maroon beret.
With the end of the Colonial War, the Portuguese parachute troops were reorganized as the Paratroopers Corps, with the Light Parachute Brigade as its operational unit. In 1993, the Paratroopers Corps was transferred from the Portuguese Air Force to the Portuguese Army and become the Airborne Troops Command, with the Independent Airborne Brigade as its operational unit.
The reorganization of the Portuguese Army in 2006 caused the extinction of the Airborne Troops Command. The Independent Airborne Brigade was transformed in the present
Russia
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, there has been a reduction in airborne divisions. Three
VDV troops participated in the rapid deployment of Russian forces in and around
South Africa
Spain
In Spain, the three branches of the Armed Forces have paratrooper units, the biggest in number being the Army's Paratrooper Brigade in Paracuellos de Jarama
United Kingdom
The
Enthusiasts within the British armed forces were inspired in the creation of airborne forces (including the Parachute Regiment,
Britain's first airborne assault took place on February 10, 1941, when, what was then known as II Special Air Service (some 37 men of 500 trained in No. 2 Commando plus three Italian interpreters), parachuted into Italy to blow up an aqueduct in a daring raid named Operation Colossus. After the Battle of Crete, it was agreed that Britain would need many more paratroopers for similar operations. No 2 Commando were tasked with specialising in airborne assault and became the nucleus of the Parachute Regiment, becoming the 1st Battalion. The larger scale drops in Sicily by the 1st Airborne Division in 1943 met with mixed success, and some commanders concluded the airborne experiment was a failure.[25] Once again, it took the reintervention of senior British political leaders, looking ahead to the potential needs of the invasion of France, to continue the growth in British airborne resources.
Extensive successful drops were made during the
Several parachute squadrons of the
United States
In 1930, the U.S. Army experimented with the concept of parachuting three-man heavy-machine-gun teams. Nothing came of these early experiments.[30]
The first U.S. airborne unit began as a test platoon formed from part of the
Although airborne units were not popular with the top U.S. Armed Forces commanders, President
The U.S. Armed Forces regards Major General William C. Lee as the father of the Airborne.
The first U.S. combat jump was near Oran, Algeria, in North Africa on November 8, 1942, conducted by elements of the
U.S. Combat Jumps in WWII
- Operation Torch
- Operation Husky
- Operation Postern
- Operation Avalanche
- Operation Overlord
- Operation Cyclone
- Operation Dragoon
- Operation Market Garden
- Operation Shoestring
- Operation Topside
- Raid at Los Baños
- Operation Varsity
- Operation Gypsy
See also
- List of paratrooper forces
- Airborne forces
- Air Assault Troops
- Military Free Fall– HALO/HAHO
- Jumpmaster
- Pathfinder (military)
- National Airborne Day
- Airdrop
- Parachuting
- Smokejumper
- Static line
- Treejumping
- Gryphon (parachute system)
- Parachute tower
References
- ISBN 9780850451634.
- ISBN 978-1473848146.
- ISBN 978-1-57638-339-1.
- ^ "Mº 44 "Circa" (E.T.A.) Paracaidista". Archived from the original on March 1, 2014.
- ^ [1] Archived March 29, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Paratrooper photograph". Img856.imageshack.us. Archived from the original on July 26, 2011. Retrieved 2014-02-25.
- ^ "Modelaria". Modelaria.blogspot.com. 2004-02-27. Retrieved 2014-02-25.
- ^ [2] Archived September 1, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Manual de informaciones, VOLUMEN II – ANO 1960 – Numero.
- ^ PARACAIDISTAS, General alemán H. B. RAMCKE, Ediciones Almena 1978.
- ^ "Sitio Oficial del Ejército Argentino – Un Ejército presente". Ejercito.mil.ar. 2014-02-03. Retrieved 2014-02-25.
- ISBN 978-0-19-551784-2.
- ISSN 0729-5685.
- ISSN 1448-2843. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2019-04-15. Retrieved 2017-07-01.
- ^ "Live Tests". Ejection-history.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2015-01-06. Retrieved 2014-02-25.
- ^ "Wiesel AWC". Tanks Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 8 June 2015. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
- ^ The paratroopers were dropped from Italian Caproni Ca.111 bomber-transports. Skydiving in Peru by General Alberto Thorndike Elmore
- ^ "El CAP en la guerra con el Ecuador en 1941". Oocities.org. Retrieved 2014-02-25.
- ^ "El Paracaidismo en el Perú". Arribasiemprearriba.com. Archived from the original on 2014-08-08. Retrieved 2014-02-25.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-85045-417-8. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-89441-8. Retrieved 6 May 2011.
- ^ Reproduced in Blunt, Victor, The User of Air Power. Military Service Publishing Company; Harrisburg, 1943: ppv-ix.
- ^ Browning, F. "Airborne Forces", RUSI Journal 89, no. 556 (1944): pp350-361.
- ^ Slessor, John "Some Reflections on Airborne Forces" Army Quarterly, 1948, p161.
- ^ Hand, Roger "Overlord and Operational Art" Military Review, 1995:87
- ^ See for example, Gale, Richard, With the 6th Airborne Division in Normandy, Sampson Low: London, 1948.
- ^ Slessor, John "Some Reflections on Airborne Forces" Army Quarterly, 1948, p164.
- ^ See for example their contribution to General Slim's Burma campaign.
- ^ "RAF Regiment Roles". Raf.mod.uk. Archived from the original on 2014-03-09. Retrieved 2014-02-25.
- ^ Hearst Magazines (April 1930). Popular Mechanics. Hearst Magazines. p. 566.
- ^ The first public reports in the United States of testing of the airborne principle by the U.S. Army with paratroopers was in a February 1929 issue of Popular Sciences page 55[permanent dead link] in an article titled "When the Sky Rains Soldiers" which stated From three speeding planes over Brooks Fields, San Antonio, Texas, a machine gun, and its crew of three soldiers dropped to earth. It was strictly an ad hoc test of principle and not a recognized official airborne unit.
External links
- Argentine Paratroopers – Historical Equipment etc
- Peruvian Paratroopers in 1941 War between Peru and Ecuador – translated from Spanish to English
- Pathfinder Parachute Group, an international organization based in Europe, composed of active and retired paratroopers, participates in WW2 reenactment events as well as joint military jumps with foreign nations
- The European Military- Parachuting Association (EMFV/EMPA/AEPM) is the first instance for active Military Parachuting in Europe.
- The Airborne Engineers Association is a military association, which is a registered charity and is made up of serving and ex members of Airborne units of the British Corps of Royal Engineers.
- ArmyParatrooper.org
- The Belgian Special Forces Group
- U.S. Navy Parachute Team ("Leapfrogs")
- How Armies Hit The Silk - J. Peck Popular Science, June 1945