AIRBORNE TROOPS PLAY MAJOR PART

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 163, 12 July 1943, Page 3

AIRBORNE TROOPS PLAY MAJOR PART

EMMY SURPRISED Commando Units Dropped Behind Axis Lines N.Z.P.A. and British Wireless Rec. 11.30 p.m. LONDON, July 11. The part played by the airborne troops who actually made the first attacks on Sicily on Friday night is described by a correspondent, who says that General Eisenhower watched the departure of the armada of transport planes and gliders carrying Allied airborne troops from African shores. "The gliders looked like huge bats as they passed overhead, while j around them circled an umbrella of j fighters," the correspondent states. ! "Inside the gliders were men of : British airborne units, who had spent more than two years training for their first effort, while in the transport planes were British and American parachutists who won laurels for their work in Tunisia. A tribute to their training is the fact that, though the wind was very high, it is reported that almost all the gliders landed within a mile of their target." Five Hours Before Invasion The glider troops were landed first, then the parachutists were dropped an hour later at prearranged points. The first men on the ground went to work immediately, attacking keypoints and communications and carefully selected ground targets. The correspondent of the Daily Telegraph tells how British and American paratroops and airborne Commando units, dropped behind the enemy lines, paved the way for the invasion. Troop-filled gliders descended on the Sicilian mainland.five hours before the assault forces disembarked on the beaches. Seventy minutes after the gliders reached their objectives paratroops dropped under cover of darkness. Both forces seem to have surprised the enemy. The airborne troops were over the target before they encountered "flak." Allied plane losses in this manoeuvre are officially described as negligible. No enemy fighters attempted to interfere, and anti-air-craft batteries were not very active. Searchlights picked up the huge transport machines,' but the pilots, flying very low, manoeuvred sufficiently to put the enemy batteries off their aim. Dropped Out of Heavy Mist Planes bearing paratroops loomed suddenly over their targets, and out of the heavy mist they dropped their heavily-armed cargo from low altitude, despite anti-aircraft fire and barrages from pillboxes concealed near the shore. The men, as they went into action, saw large fires burning north-west of their objective—evidence of the United States' Air Force's heavy bombing during the week.

British airborne troops were assigned to the eastern half, and Americans «to the western half of the main objective. Lieutenant-Colonel John Cerny, who rose from the ranks to command the most experienced troop-carrying unit in North Africa, said later: "The combat teams displayed air discipline beyond my expectations. The transports kept tight formation all the way. The fact that the airships went directly ahead in face of fire and searchlights demonstrates the skill of the pilots. They kept on the target and dropped the entire battalion in one area." Fleets of big American air transports appeared over Sicily between 10 and 11 o'clock on Friday night, towing gliders filled with British and American troops. The gliders cut loose from the towing planes and floated on to Sicilian soil exactly at scheduled time. Bombers' Knockout Blows Paratroops dropped further west, and 70 minutes later moved swiftly to consolidate their positions behind the enemy's beach defences. Reuters correspondent in Algiers says big formations of all types of aircraft from the North-west African Air Force roared over south-east Sicily all day yesterday, delivered knockout blows against Axis airfields, and bombed and strafed railways, roads and troop transports. The newest deadly A 36 fighterbombers carried out over 100 sorties, bombed, machine-gunned and cannoned targets behind the enemy lines, and also operated directly in front of the' Allied front lines. Antiaircraft fire for the most part was negligible, but during the afternoon became more intense and more accurate. Bombers, without opposition, ranged over central and south Sicily every hour from 5 a.m. Lightning planes, sweeping over Sicily, caught a column of on a road. A number of the trucks were destroyed and the crews shot as they leaped .from the trucks.