PARACHUTISTS IN TRAINING

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23351, 10 June 1941, Page 5

PARACHUTISTS IN TRAINING

■ ♦ —— BRITAIN’S LARGE FORCE HIGH PHYSICAL STANDARD DEMANDED (F.0.0.C.) LONDON, May 14. Britain now has a large force of para,chute troops who are fully trained and ready for action. Their average age is about 25, and the men are volunteers If almost every regiment in the British Army. They include several men from the Dominions, including New Zealand, who were serving in the British units. They have a special badge, Air Force wings surmounted by a parachute. The parachutists train in close cooperation with the Army and the Royal Air. Force. They are given a course whicji includes intensified physical training, training in unarmed combat (such as jiu-jitsu), in static and parachute', jumping, in falling and rolling. They are taught map reading and elementary astronomy and how to find their'way in strange country, by day or night, by the use of eyes, ears and brains, and without the use of the tongue. They have usually already been trained in their regiments in the use of pistol, rifle, Bren and "Tommy” gun. Physical training is rigorously adapted to the requirements of the parachutist. He must, above all, know how to fall; rolling exercises figure prominently in the course. The volunteer spends many hours swinging in mid-air in an improvised parachute harness. He is taught to jump from progressively higher platforms and he may make his fiyst parachute drop from a cradle attached to a barrage l balloon. , Given the necessarily high physical ,qualities, there isNothing mysterious about the' jumping, which, is designed to get the men on to the ground in the shortest possible time. There, is nothing about the remarkable German descent at Corinth.... that ' cannot be achieved, even ‘surpassed in its low level, by British parachute troops. The average fall, Allowing for variations in wind and height,; is usually far less, than 500 ft and may . roughly be compared to an ordinary jump from a 12ft wall. ’ • > . Various types of. bombers, Such as Whitleys, Wellingtons and Ansons, are employed for this work. When the target area is in sight, the pilot flashes a. warning light in the fuselage, followed by the signal ,to drop. The men fall through a hatch in the floor pf the fuselage and .their silk parachutes are released semi-autoniatically by a static cord inside the aircraft as they jump. By this means the parachute is fully inflated within a second or so of the man jumping. The Real Task It is when the parachutists are on the ground that their real task begins. They are armed with Bren guns, “Tommy” guns and so on, which either they carry or which come down in a container distinguished by a coloured parachute, and in a very few minutes they have cast off their harness, rallied to the container, and are moving against their They operate in highly trained teams, whose essential qualities are speed and initiative, the use of country and maps arid a physical and mental toughness. The parachutist has a specially designed .uniform. A gabardine jacket is worn over the man’s webbing equipment so that nothirig can'catch up in the machine as he jumps out through the hole in the bottom. At the back of the-helmet is a rubber pad to save injury in case he falls backwards after landing. N Knee pads protect his knees if he falls forward, which is usual. The boots have a rubber heel and sole, and also a rubber pad inside the heel to protect the ankle from shock. The man also, wears -ordinary rubber ankle bands, similar to those used by many football players. Injury to ankles is the greatest -risk in jumping. That is why men . must be under 30. Many generals and other high officers have been refused permission to make" parachute jumps because their ankles were too “old.” An officer commanding a parachutists’ unit said that he asked a number of his volunteers why they had chosen this particular job. Nearly all said: "Well, we’ve been a bit fed up since Dunkirk. We want to get our own back.”