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Subject: Alaska Goes Airborne
SYSOP    5/17/2022 5:27:59 AM
 
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Clydwich       5/17/2022 6:06:11 AM
"This was the experience in every major airborne operation and was demonstrated as early as 1941". Nope. Was already demonstrated in 1940, during the jump into The Netherlands. One of the airfields that the Fallschirmjäger took, was retaken by the Dutch, with troops that were a combination of new conscripts had all of three weeks of training, rear area support troops, and a class of officer cadets. Almost all of the mission goals of the German airborne troops were busts. Unfortunately, the few that were a success were the ones that had the most operational impact on the whole situation, as they facilitated the advance of the one Panzer division that the Germans used.
 
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Pogmusic       5/17/2022 9:54:36 AM
In the interest of honesty, I am a former American Paratrooper. Interesting....ah...conclusions. The 82d Airborne is the only US Army Division sized unit that can be anywhere in the world in 24 hours with its ready force. If used correctly, Airborne units seize airfields and other ports of entry during the initial operation. Your comment about the airborne units in Normandy is a gross oversight of history. The British, Canadian, and US airborne units seized key points inland of the shore landings. While scattered during the drop, they linked up with other airborne personnel and seized their objective nearest their location. Allied airborne units held their positions long after the ground forces were supposed to arrive from their beach landings. During Market Garden, the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, along with the British and Polish airborne units, seized all of their objectives and held, all but one, until the ground forces (Again) arrived later than they were scheduled to. Without the German Parachute units in the early stages of the war in the west, Eban Emael would not have been neutralized. Again, key locations such as bridges in the Netherlands would not have been open to the ground forces due to the Dutch having blown them. It's funny how you use Crete as an example. The simple fact was, they were supposed to seize the airfield to ALLOW air-landing Mountain troops to land. Try landing on an alert airfield that has NOT been taken... Read the plan it's easily available. Imagine what would have happened in the war if Hitler had not forbid further airborne operations? Malta was next. It was lightly defended and short on all sorts of supplies. During the recent Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the 173rd Airborne Brigade, jumped in and seized an airfield in Northern Iraq thus allowing access for CONVENTIONAL forces entry into a previously denied region of Iraq. Remember, Turkey forbid the use of their airfield to invade Iraq. Elements of the 82nd and 75th Rangers made various combat jumps in Afghanistan for many different reasons. As to the Russian Airborne operations... It helps if you drop your paratroopers onto the ground instead of the Black Sea. They also failed to provide counter-air and Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD) in their planning. The level of training in Western Airborne units far exceeds that of the Soviet or Russian units, are trained to think for themselves, and have an outstanding corps of non-commissioned officers. The West also understands logistics. Supplies are pushed to the frontlines so one doesn't run out of fuel, ammo, and food. There are numerous examples of Brit, French, Israeli, and other countries that have used paratroopers to great success.
 
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grumblesa10       5/19/2022 12:57:14 PM
Fixing a problem by making a new (well old) patch. Great. Actually it would make more sense to rename it 25th ID (Arctic) if that's where its AO is going to be. Though with the current threat axes in the PACOM AO, (Taiwan, Spratleys, Skippy) it's probably going to NEVER be employed there.
 
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