The midland journal., 1944-06-30
WNU Service, Union Trust Building
Washington, ID. G.

Washington, d. G..
When the story of the present war
is written, the outstanding logistical
novelty-the feature which differs
most from the methods employed in
the movement of fighting units in
previous wars-will be the use OF
airborne troops.
Already the airborne units have
been revealed as vital factors in
the invasion landings, where they
have been used on a scale which
dwarfs anything heretofore from the
first widely publicized Russian ex-
periments in 1880 to the German air
invasion of Crete or the remarkable
achievements of smaller units in
Burma.
Since it is taken for granted that
the United States is going to carry
the major burden in the later phases
of the invasion, it is matter OF
satisfaction to know that the idea of
transporting troops by plane was
first developed by the United States
army.
No one will be surprised that it
was that stormy petrol of aviation,
Gen. "Billy" Mitchell, whose wings
beat so futilely against the hide
bound brasshats of his day, who is
credited with arranging the first
demonstration of troop transporta-
ton by air.
The report of his first fruitless
demonstration is buried so deep in
the war department files that can
only quote from lay sources con-
cerning it. But it seems that in 1928
ten soldiers parachuted from Mar
tin bomber onto Kelly field in Texas.
With them went machine gun equip
ment. All landed safely and in three
minutes after they hit the ground
the machine gun was assembled.
Officers who observed the "stunt"
(Which is what it was then con-
sidered) were not impressed. That
is, the American officers. Some Rus
slams were present. They made
notes, and some two years later
their paratroopers were descending
to earth to the ''ohs'' and "ahs" of
American movie audiences.
Germany observed but went to
work in silence, with the results with
which we were made painfully
familiar from the days of the in
vasion of Poland on. But "Billy"
Mitchell's idea slumbered in the
files and he did not live to see its
renascence here four years ago.
Nazi Refnen,ents
These facts have been forgotten
by most people who probably think
that the Russian experiments were
the first. The Germans picked up
and improved the Russians tech
nique, working out their paratroop
plans as a part of the developments
of their then peerless Luftwaffe,
whose threatening shadow moulded
European diplomacy before the out
break of the war.
The German paratroopers demon
strated their real value in the blitZ
against the low countries.
It was not until April Of 1910 that
the United States troop carrier COM
mand, which carries troops in trans
ports and gliders, was organized.
Now it is larger than the whole of
our air force of three years ago.
The airborne force, created few
weeks earlier, is now numbered in
entire divisions, as we know from
German reports, and includes tens
of thousands of fighting men and
technical personnel.
The British paratroopers were
used effectively as far back as 1912
and they made the first contact with
German troops in North Africa in
November of the same year.
The u. S. airborne forces are
made up of both paratroop and
glider forces. They are separate
from the troop carrier command
which transports them, just as the
foot soldier is distinct from the sea-
man who carries him from shore
to shore. '-
The paratroopers Ia part of the
airborne forces) alone serve fre-
quently as aerial commandos, seiz-
ing enemy airports of suitable ter
rain where the troop transports or
glider planes cannot yet land.
The Paratroopers
When operations require large
numbers of men and more compli-
Gated equipment, such as those per-
formed back of the shore defenses
and even much farther inland in
France, paratroopers are supple
mented by the troops landed from
transports and gliders. This fire.
quently means that the paratrooper