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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0138.PDF
FLIGHT JANUARY I8TH, 1043 The Use of Airborne Troops Sir B. Montgomery's Reflections By MAJOR F. A. de V. ROBERTSON, V.D. IT is very interesting to see how both sides—the Ger-mans and the Allies—use their airborne troops inland battles, not having dropped them from the sky. They use them with great advantage. The danger with anairborne force is that it is kept out behind somewhere. All their thought and training and philosophy is built up inflying over to the battle and landing there. That is the approach to the battle. It is what happens .when theyget on the ground that is difficult." So said Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery in a Pressinterview the other day. As he spoke he was wearing the maroon beret of British airborne forces and the silver wings' of the Parachute Regiment, of which he haslately been appointed Colonel Commandant. The gifted Field Marshal evidently looks on airbornetroops as a sort of corps d'elite, and he made special men- tion of the fighting recently done by the British 6th Air-borne Division and the U.S. 101st and 82nd Airborne Divi- sions. The 6th landed in Normandy on the Allied left flankon D-Day, was later recalled to England to refit, and has recently been fighting south of Rochefort. Earlier in the war representatives of Flight had a chanceto visit the 1st Airborne Division during its training, and heard Gen. Browning explain that the men were essentiallysoldiers The aircraft were merely the means of getting them to the desired spot, and the '' difficult time'' cameafter they had landed. Recent experience has shown that the proper way to use airborne troops is for surprise, andas an " arm of opportunity "—to use a phrase once applied to horsed cavalry. Eindhoven, Nijmegen, and Arnhemshowed that the success of the surprise depended on whether the ordinary ground forces could reach and relievethe airborne inen before the enemy could take advantage of their unique position, almost cut off from a base. Themen carry supplies sufficient for so many days, and these supplies can in favourable circumstances be augmented byfurther canisters dropped from the air. They are also men chosen for their toughness, and trained to endure hardshipssuch as hunger and thirst for a period longer than ordinary troops would be expected to put up with them. Their skillat arms has also been highly developed, and even the glider pilots are experts with many varieties of weapons.Naturally, when employed among ordinary ground troops, ^they have outstanding merits, as the Field Marshal pointedout. Employment in Line The report of Si_- Bernard's address appears to representhim as thinking that it is a waste to hold such tough fighters in the rear, waiting for another chance to fly behindthe enemy's lines and come down there. He probably did not mean that, even though he expatiated on the "greatadvantage" both the enemy and the Allies have derived by using airborne men in land battles without having pre-viously dropped them from the air. It would only be human nature for a General to want to have the best troopshe could get hold of; and in an emergency, such as that of the defence of Bastogne by the U.S. 101st Airborne Divi-sion, it is obviously only ordinary prudence to employ the very best for a critical job. Less good troops might havelost that position, and in losing it have lost far more than the position itself. On the other hand, it would be wasteful always to useone's corps d'&ite in every fight. In Tunisia the regiments of the Brigade of Guards earned the nickname of "ThePlumbers" because it was repeatedly their duty to plug .holes in the Allied line. Men who do that sort of job needto be kept for that sort of job, while more straightforward fighting is left to ordinary line regiments. We are not attempting to depreciate the ordinary line regiments of the British Army. We know that they are very good indeed. What we are suggesting is that it is usually a mistake to use specialists for non-special jobs. If they are mauled, they may not be in a fit condition to do their own special work when there is urgent need for it. One may mention some instances in the past where that happened. Kitchener was criticised for having launched the 2ist'Laneers in a charge at the battle of Omdurman, as a consequence of which, it was said, there were no cavalry available to pursue the Dervishes when they broke and fled. 'Again, in 1914, at the battle of Neuve Chapelle, the Indian Sappers and Miners were thrown in to fight as infantry. It may have been necessary and unavoidable in the emergency ; but their losses may well have hampered the whole division when engineering work was needed on subsequent days, Missing' Opportunities In the same way, an airborne division which has los^ heavily while fighting on the ground is not likely to be in good trim if soon afterwards an opportunity occurs for a surprise landing behind the enemy's lines. It is obvious that they must fight hard when they are on the ground; but it would seem to us desirable that they should be extri- cated so soon as the immediate object has been attained and the normal ground forces have linked up with the air- borne men. The latter should then be refitted and held in readiness for the next chance of using them in their own special way. This was done in the case of the BritisB 6th Airborne Division after it had made its landing in Nor- mandy on D-Day. It should always be done, whenever practicable. At the same time it should be realised that when a divi- sion comes dowa from the air most of its gliders have to be left on the spot where they land. Refitting the division therefore includes the provision of new gliders. Unless there are sufficient gliders ready in the stores depots the division will have to wait until the factories have turned out a sufficient number before they can operate again from the air. This consideration detracts somewhat from the urgency of withdrawing the men from the fighting line. The most important consideration of all, however, is that ? such highly trained men should not be decimated in doing " ' work which ordinary infantry are quite competent to undertake. In this connection it should be noted that Field Marshal Montgomery told in his interview how he had consulted with General Hodges, of the U.S. 1st Army, and persuaded him to withdraw the two U.S. airborne divisions, saying: " They will be swamped. They will disappear. They have done their stuff. They are great fighting men." Any divi- sion needs to be relieved after a certain amount of fighting; airborne divisions may be able to stand the strain longer than others, but it is even more necessary not to work them to death—for they are specialists. SEABEES' THIRD BIRTHDAY THE U.S. Navy's Seabees—the men who have gone in withall the major invasions in Europe and the Pacific to unload supplies and build and defend all sorts of facilities, includingairfields—recently celebrated their third birthday. Their total strength is now more than 70 times their original number ofsome 3,300 men. The U.S. Navy Secretary, Mr. James Forrestal, in a messageto them, said: " On this third birthday of the Seabees I extend my congratulations to an organisation which chose for its mottothe words 'Can Do,' and then proceeded, by courage, skill and hard work, to live up to it."
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