Paratrooper
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A paratrooper or military parachutist is a soldier trained to conduct military operations by parachuting directly into an area of operations, usually as part of a large airborne forces unit. Traditionally paratroopers fight only as light infantry armed with small arms and light weapons, although some paratroopers can also function as artillerymen or mechanized infantry by utilizing field guns, infantry fighting vehicles and light tanks that are often used in surprise attacks to seize strategic positions behind enemy lines such as airfields, bridges and major roads.[1]
Overview
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Paratroopers jump out of aircraft and use parachutes to land. This is one of the three types of "forced entry" strategic techniques for entering a theater of war; the other two being by land and by water. Their tactical advantage of entering the battlefield from the air is that they can attack areas not directly accessible by other transport. The ability of airborne assault to enter the battlefield from any location allows paratroopers to evade emplaced fortifications that guard from attack from a specific direction. The possible use of paratroopers also forces defenders to spread out to protect other areas which would otherwise be safe. Another common use for paratroopers is to establish an airhead for landing other units (as at the Battle of Crete).
This doctrine was first practically applied in 1916 by the Imperial German Army, followed by the Royal Italian Army, in different theatres. The first airborne operation in military history was carried out by Maximilian von Cossel, then an Oberleutnant in the Prussian Army and his pilot, Rudolf Windisch, then a Vizefeldwebel in the Saxon Army. Windisch, flying a Roland Walfisch two-seater, landed in a wooded area behind the Russian front, after which Windisch returned to his base. During the night of October 2/3, 1916, Cossel blew up the Rowno–Brody (Rivne-Brody) railway line, 85 kilometers behind the eastern front, in several places. He was picked up by Windisch the following day. Their mission was mentioned by Ludendorff in the army report of October 4, 1916:[citation needed] "Cossel, who was set down from the plane southwest of Rowno by Vizefeldwebel Windisch and picked up again after 24 hours, interrupted the Rowno-Brody railway line at several points by means of explosives..." According to Russian reports,[citation needed] however, the tracks were only slightly damaged in one place, so that a train just passing them could continue its journey unhindered.
Italian troops made the second operational military parachute jump, from 490 metres (1,600 ft), on the night of August 8—9 1918. Arditi Lieutenant Alessandro Tandura jumped from a Savoia-Pomilio SP.4 aircraft of the Gruppo speciale Aviazione I piloted by Canadian Major William George Barker and British Captain William Wedgwood Benn (both Royal Air Force pilots), when Tandura dropped behind Austro-Hungarian lines near Vittorio Veneto on a reconnaissance and sabotage mission, followed on later nights by Lts. Ferruccio Nicoloso and Pier Arrigo Barnaba.[2]
The first extensive use of paratroopers (Fallschirmjäger) was by the Germans during World War II. Later in the conflict paratroopers were used extensively by the Allied Forces. Cargo aircraft of the period (for example the German Junkers Ju 52 and the American Douglas C-47 Skytrain/Dakota) being small, they rarely, if ever, jumped in groups much larger than 20 from one aircraft. In English, this load of paratroopers is called a "stick," while any load of soldiers gathered for air movement is known as a "chalk." The terms come from the common use of white chalk on the sides of aircraft and vehicles to mark and update numbers of personnel and equipment being emplaned.[3]
In World War II, paratroopers most often used