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Aviation History
1944
1944 - 2266.PDF
A8o FLIGHT NOVEMBER 2ND, 1944 Airborne Forces Principles of Their Use Explained IIEUT.- GEN. F. A. M. BROWNING, C.B., D.S.O., read a most interesting paper on airborne forces at -^ the Royal United Service Institution on Wednesday, October 25th. He started by enumerating the objects for which air borne forces ought to be used. In modern war, he said, a difficulty which confronted every General was to find a flank on the enemy's position which could be turned. Air craft could always find a flank by flying over the top. Another object was to effect surprise, and a third was to surmount water obstacles. Airborne troops could also be used for sabotage, and both agents and arms could be dropped from the air. Major operations had, however, only recently become possible with the development of the four-engined aircraft. Men had had the idea in their minds for thousands of years; but in recent times developments started in the Russian Army, which introduced parachute troops. The Russians, however, had not exploited the idea to any great extent in the present war. General Browning thought that this may have been due to the Russians' limited powers of constructing aircraft for the purpose ; and perhaps, too, on such a long front airborne troops might have been swal lowed up in the general armies. The Germans were the second nation to take up the idea, and they added gliders to the parachute troops. They had always envisaged the possibility of transporting heavy guns by air. But the episode of Crete put an end to German developments. They succeeded there because they were willing to sacrifice men in numbers in order to succeed; and also on account of the inadequacy of the defences and the absence of air opposition. But they got a shock at Crete, and it stopped their development of air borne forces. Since then the Allies had mainly met German parachutists fighting on the ground as infantry, and as such they were always of the very highest class. The British began to develop airborne troops in 1940, and the Americans made a start soon after. The two have worked closely together. Our first experiments were on a small scale at a station in the North. Early in 1941 we had got an airborne commando ; by September of that year we had a brigade ; and presently we arrived at a division. General Browning said that it was a basic principle that aircraft should only be asked to carry the very best; in the , first place the very best men, and, secondly, the very- best equipment. They must have a balanced force. Naval Shooting The organisation between the Army and the Air Force works well, and Gen. Browning said that no change was contemplated. It was also necessary to have a good under standing with the Navy. The first thing required of H.M. ships was that they should not shoot the aircraft down! The lecturer considered the situation of the warships, explaining that when they were bombed they could not scatter rapidly like infantrymen or dive into slit trenches; and so it was natural that they should be inclined to shoot first and enquire afterwards. They had shot first at Sicily, with dire results to our aircraft. So now the airborne forces asked the Navy to give them a route which would keep them out of that sort of trouble, and that plan had worked well in the case of the landings in Normandy. Gen. Brownmg foresaw further work with the Navy in the Pacific campaign. The airborne forces might require an escort of fighters from the carriers. The lecturer turned to the training of his troops. The parachutists were all volunteers and they had to be very- good and very tough men. Naturally commanding officers did not like giving up many of their best men. The initial training of the men was hard. It was deliberately made so, as, if a man had to be rejected, they wanted to find that out before much time and trouble had been spent on training him. Eight jumps qualified a man for his "wings," and they found that most men became so parachute minded that they were apt to forget that their real work began after they had reached the earth. It took some time to instil that into the men. Parachutists, said Gen. Browning, have a curious make-up, and they develop a feeling of moral superiority over other men. Airmen Soldiers The glider pilot must be both an airman and a soldier. Training in both roles is quite necessary, and Gen. Browning said he was indifferent as to whether a man was a soldier trained to fly or an airman trained to fight on the ground, so long as he did get both trainings. The air-landing troops (i.e., those who travel by glider^ are not volunteers; but in a sense they are picked men. That is to say, any man who proves unsuitable is rejected. Airborne troops have a high percentage of officers and N.C.O.s. All are encouraged to think for themselves. For instance, the decision to cut down the number of parachute containers and to make each parachutist jump with a kitbag was made as a result of a corporal's suggestion. Gen. Browning said that already they had dropped a jeep and a six-pounder gun from a Halifax. Getting the troops to exactly the right spot at exactly the right time was, he said, much the most difficult opera tion the R.A.F. has to do. In Sicily they were dropped over a front of some 90 miles. The dropping in Holland was much more accurate. Arnhem, he said, was nearly a success. Tactically it was necessary for the main ground Army to link up with the airborne troops in not over 48 hours, at least with its artillery fire. Either the airborne troops must link up with some success by the ground Army, or vice versa. Emphasising again the necessity of large-scale operations from the air, Gen. Browning ended his lecture with the words, " You can't do these things big enough." LUFTWAFFE SENDS UP ITS BEST PILOTS NOW ALLIED pilots operating over Germany are now meeting the cream of the Luftwaffe, up in force every flying day to defend the Reich itself, according to Reuter's Special Corre spondent. '' German pilots are no longer the green boys they sent out to defend the far outposts of their country," said a Thunder bolt pilot, Major Harold Sparks, of Frankfort, Kentucky, who has flown over the Ruhr in recent days. "Now that the Fatherland itself is under attack they have sent in the real thing. "They are good front-line fliers, and as the Luftwaffe has nothing to replace them they are under orders to bale out whenever they are caught at a disadvantage and so save their lives to fight again." '' Attacks on railways have become increasingly hazardous as the Germans, striving to preserve them, throw in more fighters and tricks. Railbusting is no longer the picnic it was in the Normandy days," said Major Sparks. " With the battle almost within sight of their chimney tops, the little factories of the Ruhr are still working at top speed for Hitler's failing war effort. "It is just like a peacetime boom with soot and sparks streaming from every little building," said the Major. '' Pilots are constantly remarking on it as they sweep over the little factory land between the big towns and the front. They are certainly turning out the stuff in a hurry." Although railway lines have so far been the principal targets in the Ruhr for American fighter-bombers, they are now going to hit factories and everything on either side of the Rhine.
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