AIR TROOPS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 85, Issue 205, 1 September 1941, Page 3

AIR TROOPS

• WAR UNIT VALUE GREAT NAZI SECRET. “You hear a plane and look up to see a tri-motor Junkers 52 brushing along under a low ceiling. Neither an unusual sound nor sight in Germany these days. But just before you look away in boredom, novelty explodes into a misty twilight. . . . Seven boys come tumbling out of the plane's door, each with a travelling kit of some description . . . They steer, manipulate and time their ’chutes so deftly that when they reach the ground together it’s like the collapse of a huge seven-petalled flower.” In these words W. B. Courtney, writing in Collier’s, describes the return to barracks of some of Germany's new elite force after a spelt on leave. They were taken home by plane and parachuted down to tneir homes; and to return, made their way to the nearest airfield and flew back to quarters—so combining a quick and easy leave trio with a spot of practice. "Aside from her general strategical plans, the preparation and strength—not the existence, which couldn’t be hidden —of Germany's paratroops has been one of her two greatest war secrets. The other is the size of het reserves. Even the number of her planes and her capacity for producing them can be guessed with greater accuracy. "Perhaps the greatest mystery is how Germany concealed from the ; foreign attaches in Berlin—whose job it is to gather tell-tale statistics of this sort —her importation of enough silk for enormous numbers of parachutes, for pilots and air crews as well as for paratroops. Yet no one seemed to tumble to the fact that silk for any civil or household purpose was always a rare luxury in Germany, and that silk shirts were always the scarcest item of male attire there—what the well-dressed man culdn’t afford to wear." Prestige and Personnel. The chief organiser of the German paratroops is General Ernest Udet, a Great War ace who became known,) and popular, as a stunt flyer in America and elsewhere. He organise:. . first a school at Stendal, near Berlin, and, according to Mr. Courtney, th school has trained "scores of thousands” of men without a single fatality. There are a dozen schools altogether, chiefly in the eastern country “All paratroops are strictly volunteers," the writer says. "It is ob\ ous that for psychological and mwa: reasons they must be. In no other way could be obtained the audacity, freshness, mental and physical inni: > five required for the split-second time-tabling of ’chute offensives. The . safety of every man, the success ol | every battle, requires the lack of hesi- | tation which can only be expected from very carefully hand-picked volunteers, whether in the German army or any other army. So great has become the prestige of the corps that it has a waiting list wholly in excess of its apparent requirements. "Propaganda effort to attract volunteers was concentrated upon making it the more elite and cocky branch of the service. Distinction was granted in special privileges, in diet, in extra pay, in all the lutle ways of army pampering .... It was found that men who excel in active sports were most suitable. The paratroops include virtually the whole of Germany's 1932 and 1936 Olympic Games teams. All prize-fighters who can qualify mentally are in the paratroops, likewise bright, middle, and dim lights of basketball, fencing, hockey, swimming, diving and track. Practically without exception professional and amateur jockeys are paratroops. The boys who mount the ponies at Ruhleben, Berlin’s famous race track, each Sunday morning are nearly all week-end leave from a paraschool. Horsemanship seems to give special aptitude. Famous gentlemen jockeys and steeplechase winners and international poloists are among the officers.” Ten Divisions of 12,000 Men. "General Udet has laid down as fundamentally important 100 per cent, performance of these two principles! “1. The entire squad of 12 must be out of the plane within eight seconds after the buzzer horn sounds. Work that out with a pencil if you want to appreciate how really fast it is, or get twelve of your friends or relatives to pass through any door in eight seconds—two-thirds of a second each. It means the man furthest from the plane door must exit at high running speedl "Lading must be made, the men disengaged from their chutes (which are abandoned for later salvage, if possible), and the entire squad must be gathered into battle formation and be ready to fight within two minutes after the buzzer went off. The position each squad assumes is called the "porcupine formation,” because it forms back to back, facing outward in a small circle, like 12 quills. “There are approximately 12,009 men to each air-infantry division, including supply, medical, and other service units. This requires for each division a basic plane force of 1000 trimotor Junkers 52 transports, from which all seats and other normal flt- ! tings have been cleared and one bench installed, parallel to each cabin wall. “Germany has at least 10 divisions of paratroops with full replacement depot facilities. It is significant that the JU 2, slow and old-fashioned byAmerican commercial airline standards, is one of three plane types in mass production in Germany to-ddy, the others being a Stuka and a fighter. "Paratroops get double the regular army pay, and in combat service double again. They also get extra cigarettes and cigars, which to an Germany army, navy, and air personnel are a free daily ration. The paratroops’ non-coms and officers are proportionately higher paid than other branches. "Each parsoldier is equipped with a gas mask, automatic pistol, a supply of hand grenades in a rubber sack, emergency rations, which include unspoilable bread and vitamin-energy pills called ‘Jervitin,’ which keep him wakeful by increasing blood pressure. "Each air-infantry division has a complete sanitary or medical unit similar to that standard for grouna divisions. This includes a full complement of doctors, Red Cross men, and stretcher bearers —who jump along with the rest of the division.