
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.
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
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.
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

©2000 Herbert Holeman, Ph.D.