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Italy drops?

Discussion in 'Italy, Sicily & Greece' started by Onthefield, May 3, 2004.

  1. Onthefield

    Onthefield Member

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    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? :confused:
     
  2. Friedrich

    Friedrich Expert

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    There war an air-drop at Sicily and the fourth one should be the Rhine drop.
     
  3. Ali Morshead

    Ali Morshead Member

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    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.
     
  4. Stevin

    Stevin Ace

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    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.
     
  5. Onthefield

    Onthefield Member

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    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? :confused:
     
  6. TheRedBaron

    TheRedBaron Ace

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    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
     
  7. TheRedBaron

    TheRedBaron Ace

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    OOPS!!! forgot the drop by FJR 3(?) onto sicily in 1943 after the Allies dropped... Sorry!!!
     
  8. Onthefield

    Onthefield Member

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    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 :rolleyes: )Much obliged, OTF
     
  9. Ali Morshead

    Ali Morshead Member

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    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??).
     
  10. TheRedBaron

    TheRedBaron Ace

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    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...
     
  11. airborne medic

    airborne medic Member

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    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?
     
  12. TheRedBaron

    TheRedBaron Ace

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    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 ]
     
  13. Mahross

    Mahross Ace

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  14. TheRedBaron

    TheRedBaron Ace

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    Yer I forgot to turn over the page I was copying the list off...

    Anymore?
     
  15. Mahross

    Mahross Ace

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