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Paratroops

• Message 1.Μύ

  Posted by Ninja-Badger (U1689794) on Tuesday, 30th August 2005

  Whilst a large number of armies contain a parachute regiment, which nation has made the most effective use of airborne drops of men?
  
  I know Britain, Germany and America used paras in WW2 but did the Russians or Japanese?
  
  The French made extensive use of parachute drops in Indo-China, but I'm unaware of any large scale drops into combat since the end of WW2 by the Brits or Americans. Is this because of the rise of the helicopter/portable anti-aircraft weapons or is there another reason massed drops of elite troops fell out of favour?
  
  

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  Posted by Dirk Marinus (U1648073) on Tuesday, 30th August 2005

  Yes Ninja-Badger, the Japanese also had paratroops .
  
  As a matter of fact the Japanese Navy had their own ( Yokosuka or Special Navy Landing Force) and the Japanese Army had their own parachute troops.
  
  You may not believe this but the Japanese even had their gliders.
  
  There were quite a few airborne attacks carried out by the Japanese i.e:
  
  11th Jan 1942 Menado, 14th Feb 1942 Palembang ( Dutch East Indies) ,20th Feb 1942 West Timor Island.
  
  
  
  
  

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  Posted by Gilgamesh of Uruk (U211168) on Tuesday, 30th August 2005

  The Italians were certainly pioneers in this field - there are (disputed) stories that they parachuted officers behind the Austro-Hungarian lines in WWI, and had paratroops by the late 1920s. Russian was also amongst the pioneer nations, with paras, air landing forces, and gliders in the 1930s. If memory serves, they did use air supply and reinforcement to keep troops cut off behind the German lines in the field during WWII.

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  Posted by Lyceum2 (U1941441) on Tuesday, 30th August 2005

  The most effective use of para troops in WW2 was the German attack on the Belgium fortress of Eben Emael. Not only did they utilise the para tactics but also the use of gliders and pioneers to knock out the so called impreginable fortification. It paved the way the German conquest of France.
  
  Also, the para troops were the main stimulas to the production the sub-machine gun and the assault rife.

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  Posted by Tim of Acleah (U1736633) on Wednesday, 31st August 2005

  The Israelis used paratroopers to capture the Mitla pass in 1956.
  
  The first use of an assault landing by Helicopter was I believe by the British in the Sueez invasion also in 1956.
  

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  Posted by henrylee100 (U536041) on Thursday, 1st September 2005

  it would appear that the german manged to pull off some of the most effective para ops, like the seizure of that Belgian fort.
  
  The Russians used paras a couple of times in the early stages of the war. There was one rather effective drop during the defense of Odessa in 1941, but it was rather small scale and in a way a special op, because the main objective was just to wreak havoc in the rear of the romanians that were deployed there at which the paras succeded. Then later on there was a pretty large scale drop in the vicinity of Vyazma, a town on the way between Moscow and Smolensk.
  
  By that time the Germans had already taken Vyazma, had routed the Red Army east of Smolensk and were now advancing on Moscow. The drop was basically a suicide mission whose sole purpose was to slow down the German advance. In effect a large pocket of resistance was artificially created on the road west of Vyazma so that to deal with it the Germans had to divert troops which could otherwise have been deployed against the defenses of Moscow. The Germans reported rather intense fighting in the area to go on for several months until all the paras either died or joined local guerillas. That I think was the last para op on the eastern front. After the war paras spearhead the invasion of Checkoslovakia in 1968 and later were used extensively in Afghanistan, but there they were more often deployed from helicopters rather than dropped from planes, sort of like the US air cav units in Vietnam.

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  Posted by arnaldalmaric (U1756653) on Friday, 2nd September 2005

  Whilst a large number of armies contain a parachute regiment, which nation has made the most effective use of airborne drops of men?
  
  I know Britain, Germany and America used paras in WW2 but did the Russians or Japanese?
  
  The French made extensive use of parachute drops in Indo-China, but I'm unaware of any large scale drops into combat since the end of WW2 by the Brits or Americans. Is this because of the rise of the helicopter/portable anti-aircraft weapons or is there another reason massed drops of elite troops fell out of favour?
  
  Μύ
  
  Ninja-Badger,
  
  Further to others comments for the most effective operation Eben Emael certainly is worthy of consideration I'd also like to add the operation of D Company 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (together with attached Royal Engineers) 6th Airborne Division who captured and held the bridges over the Orne and Caen canal on D Day. Not strictly a paratroop drop as it was a glider operation. This effectively denied the Germans the easiest approach to the eastern flank of the D Day invasion forces.
  
  The use of massed drops fell out of favour due to the high casualties that could occur and the uncertainty of dropping the troops in the right place. The rise of the helicopter meant that troops could be landed with accuracy and fewer losses (as helicopters can drop troops in areas that are not suitable for a parachute landing, thus less likely to be protected, it's also easier to divert to a different landing zone if the one chosen proves to be defended).
  
  Cheers AA.

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  Posted by pop-picker (U1244478) on Friday, 2nd September 2005

  I think there may have been a parachute drop when the Americans invaded Grenada in the early 80's. Might be talking nonsense though wouldn't be the first time. Seem to remeber something about the Rangers being dropped on an airfield ??

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  Posted by Ninja-Badger (U1689794) on Friday, 2nd September 2005

  I'm fairly certain either the 82nd or 101st (maybe both) were involved in Grenada.
  
  It just seems that the elite British Parachute Regiment don't seem to have made any drops in the last 20 years or so. I know they are considered elite forces, but why not disband them and increase the size of the Marines - a force which seems to have far more practical uses in modern warfare?

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• Message 10

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  Posted by arnaldalmaric (U1756653) on Friday, 2nd September 2005

  I know they are considered elite forces, but why not disband them and increase the size of the Marines - a force which seems to have far more practical uses in modern warfare? Μύ
  
  Ninja-Badger, I can almost hear the jaws dropping amongst the Parachute Regiments and the Marines. They agree on very little, but both would agree they don't want the other (at least in the British armed forces)! Cheers AA.

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