Correct me if I'm wrong, and this seems like a dumb question that I should know but weren't there drops in Italy and if so where? I know there were four for the Americans (Normandy and Market-Garden) but where were the other two?
In Sicily, the American 82nd dropped behind the beachead at Gela, The British 1st had 2 drops, one of the 1 Airlanding Bde and another of 1 Para Bde. These should be seen as 3 seperate Drops. 82 Airborne dropped within the Salerno beachead but also dropped troops in the Avellino in the rear of the German forces. 1st Alied Airborne Task Force , 4 US Para Bns plus 2 British Para Bde dropped in the Le Muy area behing the DRAGOON landing in Southern France.
Not American, but 300+ French and Allied troops were dropped in Holland in the night of 2-3 April, 1945 to support the Canadian push North towards Groningen. This was Operation Amhurst was quite a failure.
So if we were to break it down to all drops in WW2 what would it be? German, American, French, Candian, British, etc.? In other words what was the maximum amount of jumps someone from any of the countries listed could have done in the war?
At last a question on my specialist subject... Starting at the beginning... 1939 - company sized drop by the Germans in Poland. 1940 - Norway, Belgium and Holland by the Germans. 1941 - Crete by the Germans, Tragino by the Brits 1942 - Bruneval raid by the Brits 1943 - Leros by the Germans, Italy for Allies and a drop in N. Africa by the Brits.And Gran Sasso... 1944 - Allies; D-Day, Dragoon, MArket-Garden, plus many minor drops mainly SAS. Germans - Drvar, Bordueax, Operation Strosser. 1945 - Varsity Rhine crossing by Allies and Breslau by Germans There are far more drops than you would believe though most are small in size the above are the major ones in the European theatre, more in the far east!!! For a complete overview of British drops see Airborne Forces by Terence Otway available from the Imperial War Museum London. If ya want any more info let us know as I am in the process of writing my book on comparative airborne effectiveness during the war. RED
Hey Red, thank you!! I definetly want a copy of your book when it comes out because I know air drops are something that aren't looked at enough but certainly facinate me. What were the divisions that jumped in each of the opps listed (if it's not too much to ask )Much obliged, OTF
MvR Add the drops by the US at the beginning of Torch, plus 2 British Para Bn in Tunis soon after. For smaller ops, the early SAS landings in the Desert. You also seem to have left out the Russians, they had some large drops, I believe the largest near Kanev in 1943(About 4 Brigades??).
My study is on the British and German airborne forces and I tend to stick to operations that were into enemy territory, those in north africa were into British territory. The Russian drops in the war occured only once, at the Dneiper river I think and was isolated and destroyed by German ground forces. I do have info on US drops but I have concentrated on the Germans and Brits as they are the most active in promoting airborne doctrine and development. If you are interested I can give you a web address that has the US army appraisal of German airborne drops and some stuff on the Russian airborne operations. The Russians tend to stick to partisan support for airborne activity. It is worth noting that the operations I have been studying tend to fall into a strategic category rather than the smaller tactical operations. However the smaller operations tend to offer more in the way of development than the larger drops, such as SAS ops and Jedburgh teams plus German missions like Gran Sasso (the first hostage rescue???) and the ops into Bordeaux... But there is far more airborne troops activity than most people realise, plus all the ops in the Far EAst...
Can I add that I think everyone so far has overlooked the drop by the (British) 2nd Parachute Brigade at Megara in Greece and also shouldn't the Poles in Op M-G be treated as a seperate drop?
Right... Lets try a list of all British/Dominion airborne drops. These do not include SAS or Jedburgh drops... Europe / North Africa Italy 1941 - Colossus France 1942 - Bruneval Raid Norway 1942 - Freshman North Africa 1942 - Depienne and move to Oudna Italy 1943 - Sicily France 1944 - Normandy Italy 1944 - Hasty France 1944 - Southern France Greece 1944 - Megara airfield Holland 1944 - Arnhem Rhine 1945 - Varsity Far East North-West India 1942 - Sind Desert operation against the Hurs tribe. Burma 1942 - Myitkyina area Burma 1942 - Fort Hertz New Guinea 1943 - Markham Valley Rangoon 1945 - Dracula Let me know what I missed! I will try and do the same for Germans and USA. The Russians will be fairly easy with only the one reported drop on the Dneiper in 1943, a complete disaster by all accounts. [ 25. January 2005, 10:21 AM: Message edited by: TheRedBaron ]
Red, You forget about 50th Indian Parachute Brigades operations in support of the recapture of Rangoon, Operation Dracula. http://www.burmastar.org.uk/50airborne.htm