CLICK HERE -- YOUR INPUT NEEDED!
American Airborne Forces

AMERICAN PARATROOPERS

ORIGIN, UNITS, HISTORY, and ORGANIZATIONS

A Brief Summary of Military Parachuting

The image of paratroopers bring to mind masses of well-armed soldiers and their equipment dropping out of the sky from airplanes into enemy territory. American General Billy Mitchell had such a concept in mind when he submitted a proposal during the First World War in 1917 about the practicality of tactical paratrooper warfare. But, it would the Italian forces that would pioneer parachuting and the airborne soldier with the first combat jump in 1918 during the war.

The year 1927 would see a further demonstration of General Mitchell's concept at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas. Six soldiers parachuted from a Martin Bomber, safely landed, and in less than three minutes after exiting the aircraft had their weapons assembled and were ready for action. No action was taken by the American military to further develop the concept of paratroops.

But, in 1930 Russian parachute troops jumped in a military exercise to demonstrate the use of parachute troops to conduct a flanking attack of the enemy from the air. And, in 1933 there were five 10,000 man parachute units in the Russian Army. A German Army paratroop unit came into existence in 1935


By 1936, a true tactical mass jump of some 1,800 Russian paratroopers was conducted. Interestingly, most of the jumpers were carried face down on the wings of bombers. The paratroopers held onto a rope to keep from being blown off before the jump point


During the late 1930's schools were training military parachutists on a large scale in Germany, Italy, and Russia, but it would not be until the eve of World War II, however, when in 1940 the American War Department approved a plan for the formation of a test platoon of Airborne Infantry at my alma mater -- Fort Benning.

On the night of May 10th. 1940, the first airborne drop in World War II was made when the Netherlands was invaded by a German paratroop assault.


Interestingly, in 1944, it would once again be the Netherlands where the First Allied Airborne Army conducted the largest wartime paratrooper attack in history. The Battle of Arnhem ended in a defeat for the Allies. Never again has such a massive airborne operation been attempted.


Since the end of the second world war, as the following pages will depict, American paratroopers have been in action in such major conflicts as Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Desert Storm, Afghanistan, and most recently the war in Iraq. In the latter conflict, two plans were originally proposed for an airborne operation:

Plan B, Pentagon, as planners had dubbed it envisioned either U.S. troops swinging west in Iraq and racing to the northwest near Mosul, or flying airborne troops to the area, deploying them by parachute or landing on rough air strips in protected Kurdish territory. Supporting that scenario, the full 101st Airborne Division received deployment orders.

In the end, the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade out of Vicenza, Italy conducted a mass drop and with the Kurdish militias established a bridgehead to hold northern Kurdish-held territories and to secure the oil fields.

Establishing a northern front has been a high priority for the U.S. Central Command, as is plainly evident by the fleet of C-17 transport aircraft assembled to move the brigade. The number of planes being used represents a significant portion of U.S. airlift capacity worldwide.

Nonetheless, the overall size of the operation is significantly smaller than initially conceived by U.S. war planners. The earlier plan would have had the Army's 4th Infantry Division invading Iraq through Turkey. The 173rd Airborne was to accompany the armored force on the attack. Instead, because Turkey refused to host U.S. troops, the light infantry brigade represents the United States' major ground combat force in the north.

Near the border with the Kurdish-controlled region are 10 Iraqi army divisions, including one Republican Guard Division, near Mosul.

Without the immediate use of main battle armor and Bradley Fighting Vehicles, the brigade is vulnerable to the superior armed Iraqi forces in the area. But having established a base of operations at the airfield, the brigade is enhancing its combat power, and is capable of holding its position 48 to 72 hours while C-17 and C-130 transport aircraft fly in armored Humvees with TOW antitank missiles, Apache attack helicopters and possibly a handful of advanced M1 Abrams tanks.

Once equipped, the brigade could secure the oil fields around Mosul and Kirkuk, then move on to Tikrit, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's home town and main base of support.

  • Learn about Kurdish forces in the north of Iraq.

  • Learn about paratroop/spec ops forces of Iraq.

  • Visit 173rd Airborne.com

The American aiborne forces are continuously maintaining mission readiness.

The green light is a go!. Click on it to jump to the page.

  • Origin of the American military paratrooper, jump training, riggers and gliderman, jump wings, etc.

  • The branches and major airborne commands of the U.S. Army

  • Brigade, Regiment, Battalion, and subordinate airborne units of the U.S. Army.

  • History and tradition of the American Paratrooper -- historical museums and web sites dedicated to veteran paratroopers.

New Document

Thanks for visiting!

You are visitor number 1241 since 28 July 2007

footer

[Red Mail Box]
Links on the Web come and go.
If you encounter a broken image or dead link,
please let me know by clicking on the icon above and sending me a message.

Back To The Para Pages

©2000 Herbert Holeman, Ph.D.