Page 113 - JSOM Fall 2019

introduced by trench and machine gun warfare. Mitchell pro- the development of an “air infantry.” In April 1940, a plan
posed to drop parachutist behind German lines near Metz in proposed by the Infantry Board was approved by the War De-
Northeast France. Heavy aircraft would be used that could partment. An Airborne Test Platoon was formed with 48 men
each carry a squad of troops. The troops would be armed with in June 1940 and they were trained at Fort Benning, Georgia.
machine guns, supplied with airdrops, and supported with The first mass tactical jumps were conducted in August 1940
attack aircraft. World War I ended the next month and the from C-47 Skytrain aircraft at Lawson Field on Fort Benning.
operation was never realized. 1–4 The 501st Parachute Battalion was activated in September
1940 and training facilities rapidly improved. The US entered
In April 1928, the US Army’s first experimental jump was World War II in December 1941 with the attack on Pearl Har-
conducted at Brooks Field near San Antonio, TX. It involved bor and the subsequent declaration of war by Germany. In Jan-
six soldiers jumping from a number of aircraft. The first per- uary 1942, the War Department directed that four parachute
son out of the aircraft was Master Sergeant Edwin Nichols regiments be formed. Airborne divisions were later formed but
who worked on Colonel Mitchell’s staff in France and was consisted of only 8,400 men, as opposed to a normal infantry
instrumental in the development of early airborne technol- division that had 15,000. The 509th Parachute Infantry Bat-
ogy. A larger operation was conducted at Kelly Field near San talion made the first US Army combat jumps into North Africa
Antonio in September 1929. It involved 18 jumpers from 12 in November 1942 as part of the largely successful Operation
aircraft (9 Dehavillands and 3 Douglas biplanes) jumping at Torch, an Anglo American Operation in Morocco and Alge-
2,000 feet above ground level using manually activated para- ria. Airborne combat operations continued throughout World
chutes. In 3 to 4 minutes after landing, the soldiers had assem- War II in the European and Pacific theaters. 1,2,6,9
bled three Browning water-cooled machine guns for firing. 1,4–6
US Military Parachuting Injuries
Representatives from the Soviet Union observed the demon-
stration at Kelly Field and this may have served as a stimulus Table 1 shows studies that have examined the overall injury
for the development of Soviet airborne operations, although incidence in (1) US military basic airborne training, (2) oper-
these developments may have already been underway. In Au- ational unit training, (3) single jump operations, and (4) com-
gust 1930, the Soviet Army made an inaugural drop of 12 bat operations. Studies were selected for this table only if they
troops and in 1933 dropped a light company of 62 troops. provided the number of injured Servicemembers and the num-
The Soviet Army began dropping brigade sized units by 1935 ber of jumps associated with these injuries. Injury incidence
and in 1936 it was reported that over 5,000 Soviet soldiers was calculated as followed:
jumped from aircraft in a training operation near Kiev. By
1936, there were 559 jump towers and 115 airborne training (Number of injured Servicemembers/number of jumps) × 1000
sites in the Soviet Union. The first Soviet combat jump was in
the Russo-Finnish War in 1939. By 1941, the Soviet Army had This provided injuries/1000 jumps. Many of these injury in-
15 parachute brigades. 5,6 cidences are not directly comparable because of differences in
injury definitions, how the data were collected, and the known
Kurt Student, who later became the commander of the Ger- risk factors involved. Some studies only look at time-loss inju-
man Airborne Forces in World War II, observed a Soviet air- ries (≥1 day of limited duty), others only injuries reporting to
borne jump of 1,500 troops in 1935 and was impressed with emergency rooms, others collected injuries on the drop zone
the operation. In January 1936, Hermann Goring, then Chief which would include more minor injuries, and one involved
of the Air Force and Air Transport Minister, issued orders to self-reported injuries. Further, jump conditions can differ con-
initiate a parachute regiment called the Fallschirmjager-Regi- siderably and well established factors that increase injury risk
ment 1 in Stendal, Northwest Germany. In the same year and include high wind speeds, night jumps, jumps with combat
at the same location, the Wehrmacht (German Army) formed loads, higher temperatures, and type of aircraft (rotary vs
10
a parachute company called the Fallschirm-Infanterie-Batail- fixed wing). Nonetheless, comparisons are possible where
lon, which was rapidly increased in size to a full battalion. injury definitions and jump conditions are similar.
The first German combat jumps were scheduled for October
1938 as part of the invasion of Czechoslovakia, but the Czechs Airborne School
conceded without a fight and the operation was cancelled. Tobin et al. reported parachute-related injuries during the
11
Near the end of 1938, Chancellor Adolf Hitler ordered that first year of instruction at the US Army Airborne School (Au-
all airborne forces be transferred to the Luftwaffe (German gust 1940–August 1941). Note that injury incidence in this
Air Force), which assumed all airborne operations under Gen- period (27 injuries/1000 jumps) was substantially higher than
eral Student. Small airborne units were committed to action that of later studies at the Airborne School. Later studies 12–15
in the successful German invasions of Denmark and Norway involved similar types of jumps. Five jumps were required for
in April 1940, but the first major German airborne assaults airborne qualification. Although there was some variations
of company and battalion strength spearheaded the successful due to weather and other condition, three jumps were con-
German invasion into the Netherlands in May 1940. Airborne ducted during daylight with only uniforms, helmets, and para-
troops captured key bridges, airfields, and fortifications that chute systems (called administrative/nontactical); one jump
were critical for the advance of German ground troops. 7,8 was conducted at night (administrative/nontactical); and one
jump was conducted during the day with a combat load. Two
There were no further developments in the US after the jumps studies 12,14 collected data in a similar manner and suggest that
at Kelly Field in 1929 because shortly after, a directive was injuries were lower in the 2005–2006 period compared to
14
issued by the War Department to cease airborne experimen- 1993. The study that obtained self-reported injuries on a
13
12
tation. Nonetheless, in May 1939, spurred by the develop- questionnaire found that incidence was higher than those re-
ments in Germany, the US Army chief of infantry proposed ported to medical personnel suggesting some injuries were not
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