STRIKING FORCE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 231, 29 September 1943, Page 3

STRIKING FORCE

PARATROOP SUCCESS

Allied Preparedness In Middle East

CAIRO, Sept. 27. British parachutists, dropped in full moonlight on Cos Island (Dodecanese) have demonstrated again that the airborne arm is being kept as a striking force in Mediterranean strategy. This use of presumably a substantial force of men, dropped from the air, following the employment for the first time of glider troops and then paratroops in Sicily, underlines Allied preparations for a shock attack. Months ago I saw the men who are believed to have been engaged in the Cos operation in training, writes Roderick Macdonald, war correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald. Constant development in jumping tactics as well as excellent parachute release equipment have resulted in ."sticks" of men being able to land very close to each other. So rapidly do the men leave the aircraft that it seems unbelievable that they do not jump on each others' heads, but the effect obtained after constant practice is that each "stick" comes down in a bunch, despite the travelling speed of the plane. Many months of training in Africa have now been undergone by the airborne forces, and most of them have been in actual combat. With paratroops demonstrably able to land in close concentrations on islands such as the Dodecanese, and to have their attacks followed up by the Air Force, it seems that highly technical infiltration tactics have now been perfected. One considerable advantage also, as indicated in the official announcement yesterday, is that the islanders on Cos received and assisted our paratroops. Italian soliders even helped them to repack their parachutes, while villagers guided them and acted as porters. It is well known that "the most vulnerable moments for airborne soldiers are when descending to earth and the brief period before they are able to go into action on the ground. A largely amicable population in the areas in which the only active opposition comes from German garrison forceSj obviously means that this vulnerability is greatly reduced.