POLITICAL PARATROOPS
SOVIET AIR-BORNE DIVISIONS London, Sept. 30. Huge Russian air-borne armies, part of which is already reported in action, may be a decisive factor, enabling the Russians to force the Germans out of Dnieper strongpoints. The armies include a substantial proportion of the Soviet’s great parachutist force. Although the Russians were first to develop a parachute arm, they were ironically deprived of the first opportunity to demonstrate its value, as the Soviet General Staff apparently decided not to waste this force during the period of retreats, but to conserve it until it could be of decisive importance. Soviet parachutists are an elite corps, a highly trained nucleus of the Russian politico-military force that will pave the way for the advance into enemy country. They are agitators and organisers, highly informed about the political and economic set-ups of the places on which they will be dropped, and fully competent to rouse local resistance movements, with which they would be directed to lihk up. The parachutists have already gained considerable experience in this form of warfare in linking with guerrillas.
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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 78, 16 October 1943, Page 5
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179POLITICAL PARATROOPS Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 78, 16 October 1943, Page 5
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