The British airborne forces were soon to be born on 22 June 1940 when Winston Churchill called for the formation of 'a corps of at least five thousand parachute troops, suitably organized and equipped'. From these thoughts the British airborne forces grew from battalion to regimental strength, in which paratroop drops were conducted in Africa, Greece, Italy, and in France on D-Day, Normandy, and continuing on culminating in the largest airborne attack in history with the British First Airborne Division in the battle at Arnhem.

In recent times, the Parachute regiment has often been deployed, but, according to a secret document obtained by the Daily Telegraph, the head of the Army has issued a dire warning that Britain has almost run out of troops to defend the country or fight abroad. The document said that Britain's second back-up unit, called the Airborne Task Force formed around the Parachute Regiment, was unavailable. It was unable to fully deploy "due to shortages in manpower, equipment and stocks". Most of the Paras' vehicles and weapons have stayed in Afghanistan with other units using them in intense battles against the Taliban.

Parachute Regiment officers are deeply concerned that with nearly all their equipment abroad they are unable to train properly for future operations. The Paras also no longer have the ability to parachute as a 600-strong battalion because no RAF planes were available to drop then en-masse. Click here to read the document or go to the URL:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/20/ntroops121.xml

In the following pages, the visitor can learn the role of British airborne forces, its history, traditions, and training. Visits can also be made to the British Airborne Forces Museum and with paratrooper organizations.

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Ride of the Valkyries (Wagner) uploaded by surrealmod