Air Force the Official Service Journal - Air Force Historical Studies ...

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Backbone of airborne assault in past operations and for the new First Allied Airborne Ariuv is the c.-t 7 shown here in invasion formatiou.
AIRBORNE ARMY
'THE history of warfare is the chronicle of armies' efforts
to turn the enemy's flanks and to protect their 011"11.
Defenders trv to anchor their lines at both ends. Attackers
keep mancuvcr ing until they somehow envelop the
enemy, getting to his side or rear.
In this war, air bombardment has been the great new
means of getting behind the enemy. Industries, transport
svstcms, and supplv depots have been bombed to rubble.
Communications lines have been slashed. Land forces have
been harried and thrown disastrously off their stride.
Now comes a still newer development. a method bv which
the enemy's ground troops may be enveloped from a \\"110111'
unpredictable quarter-s-vertical envelopment from the air.
It is the First Allied Airborne An11\".
This tough, spectacular force, organized and commanded
bv Lt. Gen. Lewis I I. Brereton, is not to be thought of
in terms of past paratroop or airborne operations. It is more
than a spearhead. It is an army in el'ery sellSe-a strategic
striking unit of enormous pOlver, able to supplv and maintain
itself and to function independently against major
objectives. Nothing like this army has ever been seen.
Allied airborne operations have previously been tactical in
nature. Paratroopers and in fan trv, trained by the ground
torccs, have been flown in troop carrier planes and gliders to
the scene of the battle for quick, specific jobs. To take
airfields, perhaps, or knock out artillery positions. Their
work. though critic.illv important, has been incidental to
larger operations. Once landed, they have fought under
command of ground officers and, except for supply or cvacuation,
have had no further connection with the air forces.
This was Germany's technique, also. The Ccrrnans never
organized air troops bevond divisional status and always relied
upon the Luftwaffe for transport and supplv. It is realized
now that 'Ccnu.mvs carlv airborne successes were
Iargelv due to a luck o{ prcparcducxs on the part of her
12 victims.
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This has not been the case in Allied airborne assaults.
\Iost of these have taken place against stubbornly defended
enemy territory. Normandy provided perhaps the most brillian
t success of such operations. On D-day th ree fully
equipped divisions were landed behind German lines with
the set task of seizing and holding the flanks of the Chcrbourg
Peninsula while behind them seaborne troops slogged
up the beaches to overcome enem~' resistance. General
Eisenhower has said that without achievement of this mission
the entire assault might have been impossible. Later,
in the south of France, paratroops and airborne infantry
were used to OCcUPY the high ground overlooking the rocky
coves and inlets toward which hundreds of Allied landing
craft were steering.
These exploits, along with others in Sicily, Italy, ~Iarkham
Valley of New Guinea, and elsewhere. surpassed in
real effect anv of the vaunted German assaults from the skv
and demonst'rated the value and unexplored possibilities of
the airborne attack.
The First Allied Airborne Army is a logical outgrowth of
all this experience. Conceived and planned by Ccncr.il
Marshall and General Arnold. this army is a weapon of
untold military and psychological power. The projected
scope of its activities is enough to make every German start
looking under his cot at night.
Composition of this army cannot be set forth exactly. but
it contains clements of paratroops, airborne infantry. engineers,
signals and communications men, and artillery. Supporting
the combat forec arc streamlined supply, ordnance
and medical units.
The air teams consist of troop carrier crews, radio operators,
weather experts, maintenance crews, cte. :\ lost of their
planes, gliders. and equipment arc prccisclv the same as han:
been used heretofore, with C--t7s doing the bulk of the
hC;1\'\' dutv.
h:om a' personnel standpoint, thi-, nnuv IS the interna-
Supplies and paratroop, arc hcing dropped in the photos below during intensive training maneuvers whicl: preceded the hig '\orm;lIlch. drive.
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