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Show U. S. First to Experiment " C: With Use of Air Troops - t-'-'-i 9 I - Demonstration Arranged by General 'Billy' q hL Mitchell at Kelly Field in 1923; J . ; Officers 'Mot Impressed L. " - By BAUKHAGE Vmcj Analyst and Commentator. WNU Service, Union Trust Building must capture or prepare air strips Washington, D. C. for this purpose. When the story of the present war Allied airborne troops were used is written, tNe outstanding logistical effectively at the landing in Sicily, novelty the feature which diners where General Montgomery said most from the methods employed in they shortened the campaign by at the movement of fighting units in least a week. They also proved of previous wars-will be the use of great value in New Guinea, airborne troops. The full extent of, their per- Already the ahtoorne units have formance ir. the invasion of Europe been revealed as vital factors in has yet to be revealed but we have the invasion landings, where they General Eisenhower's own word as have been used on a scale which to their value and his praise has dwarfs anything heretofore from the been unstinted. first widely publicized Russian ex- The chief function of the soldier periments in 1930 to the German air 0f the air until recently has been Invasion of Crete or the remarkable the destruction of enemy communi-achievements communi-achievements of smaller units in cations and installations such as Burma. ammunition and supply dumps, Since it Is taken for granted that dynamiting bridges and wrecking the United States is going to carry railway junctions behind the lines, the major burden in the later phases Now they are prepared to engage of the invasion, it is a matter of the enemy in large-scale operations satisfaction to know that the idea of which reached major proportions transporting troops by plane was for the first time in France. Pre-flrst Pre-flrst developed by the United States ceding the Normandy landings, one army. of their jobs was to prevent de-No de-No one will be surprised that it struction of certain points like was that stormy petrel of aviation, bridges and other installations Gen. "Billy" Mitchell, whose wings which the troops advancing from the beat so futilely pgainst the hide- beachhead wanted to make use of bound brasshats of his day, who is later. In this case, they had to take credited with arranging the first the bridges from the enemy defend-demonstration defend-demonstration of troop transporta- ers and then hold them against lion by air. counter attacks of the local re-The re-The report of his first fruitless serves, armed with tanks and field demonstration is buried so deep in artillery, until their own advancing the war department Idles that I can ground troops or air reinforcements only quote from lay sources con- arrived. cerning it. But it seems that in 1928 Such action lg possible because ten soldiers parachuted from a Mar- eepSi one.ton trai,ers howitzers, tin bomber onto Kelly field in Texas. heavy and UgM calibre machine With them went machine gun equip- guDB mortarSi mineS and other ment. All landed safely and In three equipment iciuding oodf medical minutes after they hit the ground supplieSi Water, and of course' am- the machine gun was assembled. munition, can be transported by the Officers who observed the "stunt" tr00p carrier command. The troops (which is what it was then con- have food and ammunition sum. s.dered) were not impressed. That cient for about thrge days suste. is, the American officers. Some Rus- nance without replenishment, sians were present. They made , ., . . . notes, and some two years later The. Pdot? f tr00P c"ieT their paratroopers were descending are . ramed "nder( most d'mcfult to earth to the "ohs" and "ahs" of cnd""ns and must have an extra a ; j share of courage and intelligence. American movie audiences. m, , ... , ,, . , They fly slowly and about their only Germany observed but went to escape rom the speedy fighters is work in silence, with the results with t0 skim the hmtops, dodge the hay. which we were made painfully stackSi keep as ,ow as possible , familiar from the days of the in- valleys or between obstacles like vasion of Poland on. But "Billy" trees and buildings which serve as Mitchell's idea slumbered in the protection files and he did not live to see its i.j D, j renascence here four years ago. liliaer rilot s Job f7,: EC Although the glider pilot has no Nazi Refinements engine tQ worry abou he must These facts have been forgotten meteorology, navigation, by most people who probably think aerial reconnaissance, photography, that the Rusian experiments were maintenance and radio communica- the first. The Germans picked up tion He must learn t0 ,and quicldy and improved the Russians' tech- and near trees or other obstacles nique. working out their paratroop where the troops can take cover; plans as a part of the developments one means of making a quick land- of their then peerless Luftwaffe, tog is pUrposely to snag a wing on whose threatening shadow moulded a tree trunk or the bottom of the European diplomacy before the out- plane on rocks xhe men inside are k ' 1116 War- protected by a steel framework. The German paratroopers demon- . , ,, , strated their real value in the blitz . d 'hen when the pilot lands a l against the low countries. e ,haS to do 15 fl?'?t 1S wa back It was not until AprU of 1940 that t0 hS owtl lines wlth 'hf res' ' huls the United States troop carrier com- ne"tlme Passengers Like them, he .,j .u-,i, i . has to know all the commando mand, which carries troops in trans- , . , , i , knows, ports and gliders, was organized. 0 . , , , . , , i,, , , A. . , , Some of the tales which have al- Now it is larger than the whole of . . , ready gone into the growing saga of our air force of three years ago. . . , B 5 tv,. , , , t the airborne forces are marve ous. The airborne force, created a few . , , . , . ... v. j ne ls t'd an adventure which weeks earlier, is now numbered in , , , , ,, ,. . . , . took place early .n the invasion of entire divisions, as we know from r . , - , , France. German reports, and includes tens . ,., ., . ,. of thousands of fighting men and A, gh,d"'. "S( .tow.lln c"'' ,was sud" technical personnel denly e"ln the dark oIfthe moon' Th ntioi, Some light is necessary for a land-Ine land-Ine British paratroopers were . T . , co it.', i i u i ln8' ' course. In the period when used effectively as far back as 1942 , , , and they made the first contact with thm0 was clud. there was German troops in North Africa in "thmg fr the ?llot l d ut ' m,,v, , keep on descending. He did and November of the same year. , j , . ,, . tv, tt c ;,, .. t landed unexpectedly but on very The U. S. airborne forces are . , . . , ,j , , u ,u . . smooth terrain. The troopers quick-made quick-made up of both paratroop and , . UJ j ... ,,j , T, . ly debouched and sought cover as glider forces. They are separate .L , , , . . from the troop carrier command are tra'"ed l d f there which transports them, just as the WaS,hn coyer flThey found they were foot soldier is distinct from the sea- " the w.de flat roof of a building . . , , They found an entrance through man who carries him from shore ,u j , to shore r a cautiousIy crept down The paratroopers (a part of the 'he StairSH 1 their surPris airborne forces) alone serve fre- dlf,COV,e"d they We m a bulldlng quently as aerial commandos, seiz- G,f man Soldlerus and whlch ing enemy airports of suitable ter- housed the German heauquarters rain where the troop transports or f" P !! LT' n Amf lcans glider planes cannot yet land. were armed, and needless to say the Germans were somewhat sur- The Paratroopers prised. They surrendered without When operations require large much trouble. numbers of men and more compli- However, it is not always as easy catod equipment, such as those per- as that and since it is an axiom of formed back of the shore defenses military history that for every new and even much farther nland in arm of offense, an arm of defense France, paratroopers are supple- is developed, we may expect fresh mented by the troops landed from obstacles to be created which these transports and gliders. This fre- youngest sons of Mars will have to quently means that the paratrooper meet as they grow older. B R I E F S . . . by Daukhnge More than 2,000,000 dozen essential essen-tial items of infants' and children's wearing apparel will be produced during June, July and August, according ac-cording to the WPB. Release of an additional 12.000.000 pounds uf dried prunes from the 1943 production to civilians has been authorized by WFA. Rumanian authorities are having so much difficulty equipping their I army that all men called into service are instructed to bring along two changes of underwear. The number of persons working : on farms in the United States on 1 April 1 was about 3 per cent lower than in the same period last year. |