Paratroops

Observation Post, Volume 1, Issue 3, 5 June 1942, Page 1

Paratroops

It was impossible to get any real cover where we were, so out we dived and ran till our eye balls nearly burst. The row overhead was becoming- louder and louder as we literally fell into our two-man camouflaged hut of bamboo, panting and sweating, flat out on the ground. We were used to bombers ' amt didn’t much worry, but.when we saw waves and' waves of gigantic 'Strang? looking planes, painted dark 'green, wing tip to wing tip and nose to tail, we were non-plussed. Over they went at about 500 feet, very slowly and neither bombing nor machine gunning. Wave after wave roared out of sight behind the olive trees. They banked. to the left, then descended to 200 'feet above us. When they were directly overhead" again our suspicions were realised. The bottoms of the first 50 opened just like that, and spewed out a shower of parachutists. Not one by one did they drop but in hundreds. As 1 watched the coloured ‘‘mushrooms” floating down v (with black shapes bob bing and ‘ swaying' beneath, I felt my

knees-quake and my throat 'go dry. All 1 could croak to the man next to me was Hell,’ look at ’em.” They floated down .'in front, behind, and on both sides, of us. ‘Then the fun started. The roar, of planes, no higher than the trees now, quaked- the ' ground, .the rattle of . the machine guns was deafen) ing and the noise of my heart thump) thump;thumping was painful. Details of that are unnecessary, but suffice it to say it was like shooting pigeons.-