Paratroopers in World War II - Research Paper Example

Since most forces do not expect to be attacked from behind, paratroopers also had a distinct advantage which they could exploit to destabilize the enemy in advance of a larger ground-based force. Paratroopers of all services of the United States Military begin training at the U.S. Army Airborne School located in Ft. Benning, Georgia. For three weeks soldiers are trained by the "Black Hats" of the 1-507th Parachute Infantry Regiment. The first week being ground week, where soldiers practice landings and in aircraft procedures, the second week being tower week, where soldiers practice exiting an aircraft out of mock towers and practice landing off the swing lander trainer.

The third week is Jump Week, where soldiers must complete five successful airborne operations. Typically, the first two jumps are conducted wearing only the parachute, reserve chute and harness (referred to as "Hollywood" jumps), followed by two jumps wearing full combat gear and, finally, a night jump. After the successful completion of five jumps out of a high performance aircraft, soldiers are awarded basic parachutist wings. This badge allows the now 'paratrooper' to be assigned to an airborne position within an airborne unit.

(Cited from, wiki Pedia) The largest elite unit among America’s troops was the airborne division. . oordinated with the paratrooper assault, known as a "vertical envelopment." But the war ended before Mitchell's innovative plans could be experimented. (Patrick K. O’Donnell, America’s elite troops in World War II-the Airborne) After the war, the concept of vertical envelopment was neglected in the United States. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, pushed ahead with large-scale airborne exercises in the 1930s.

Germany took notice of the Soviet exercises and began building its own airborne program, made up of paratroopers and infantry that would ride in gliders. The Fallschirmjager, the German paratroopers of World War 2, made the first airborne infantry assaults in history. When Germany invaded Western Europe in 1940, the German paratroopers parachuted and landed with gliders and captured strategic positions. A year later, in May 1941, in their greatest operation, they invaded and conquered the big island Crete in the Mediterranean solely by airborne troops.

Their losses were such that Hitler decided never to do another large airborne operation, so the German paratroopers served the rest of the war as elite infantry. With the outbreak of war, the Germans successfully used paratroopers to seize critical military objectives in Norway, the Netherlands, and Belgium, where a small band of paratroopers and glider men seized Fort Eben Emael, which many had considered unconquerable. Kurt Student, a fighter pilot and squadron leader in World War I, was excited by the military potential of paratroopers, but the establishment of the German paratroopers force was delayed until the German military buildup began in 1935.

In the meantime Student became an expert with gliders, the other element of his future airborne force (after World War 2 the helicopter replaced the glider as