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July 1943. The allies are advancing through the territory of Sicily, pushing the enemy to the north. British generals begin the implementation of a plan to encircle the Italian-German troops so that they cannot redeploy to mainland Italy. On the night of July 13-14, units of the 1st parachute brigade disembark south of the port of Catania in order to capture the strategically important Primosole bridge on the Simeto River, cut off the enemy's path to retreat and facilitate the advance of the 50th Infantry Division. To counteract the landing, the German command throws units of the 1st parachute division to the bridge. So the battle of British and German paratroopers began ...

Target - Sicily

After the surrender of the Italian-German troops in North Africa, held on May 13, 1943, the Allies decided to continue active operations in the Mediterranean region: to land troops in Italy and withdraw it from the game. The first target for the attack was the island of Sicily, on which it was planned to land units of the US 7th Army, Lieutenant General George Patton and the British 8th Army, General Bernard Montgomery. "The first step is to capture a bridgehead in a convenient area and then conduct combat operations from it," - so Montgomery outlined the goals of the future operation. The new operation was codenamed "Husky". The Americans were to create a bridgehead in the southwestern part of the island (on the shores of Gela Bay), the British in its southeastern part.

The allies had a numerical advantage over the enemy - 470,000 people, over 600 tanks and self-propelled guns, 1,800 guns and mortars, 1,700 aircraft. At the same time, the Italian-German troops under the command of General Alfredo Guzzoni and Field Marshal Albert Kesselring were able to deploy over 320,000 soldiers and officers, less than 200 tanks and assault guns, 300-350 guns and mortars, more than 600 aircraft. Do not forget that the Allies had an overwhelming advantage at sea: 2,590 ships took part in the landing operation.

On the night of July 9-10, the Allies carried out an airborne assault on the island, and on July 10, an amphibious assault followed - Operation Husky began. The Germans were unable to throw the enemy into the sea and retreated to the north of Sicily with battles. If in the early days the advance of the units of the 7th and 8th armies proceeded rapidly, in the future the enemy began to offer fierce resistance, especially in the British sector of the offensive. Unlike the coast, the mountainous terrain of Central and Northern Sicily, as well as the underdeveloped road network, favored the actions of the defenders - the Italian-German troops turned villages into strong points, and artillery batteries were located on the hills. On July 10, the 5th British Infantry Division from the 13th Corps (corps commander - Major General Horatio Barney-Ficklin) reached the village of Kassabila (south of Syracuse). Parts of the 13th corps were heading towards Augusta, but not far from Priola they were stopped by the powerful resistance of the units by the battle group "Schmalz" under the command of Colonel Wilhelm Schmalz (units of the Luftwaffe tank division "Hermann Goering" and the 15th Panzergrenadier division, including several "Tigers") ...

Strategic bridge

Montgomery intended to prevent the evacuation of Italian-German troops from Sicily through the Strait of Messina, relying solely on the forces of the 8th Army. First of all, the British had to capture the reinforced concrete Primosole bridge, over 120 m long, connecting the banks of the Simeto River and located seven miles south of the port of Catania. The capture of the bridge was necessary for the successful advance of parts of the 13th corps to the north and the capture of Catania.

Primosole bridge

It was originally planned that the strategic object would be captured by the soldiers of the 50th Infantry Division (commander - Major General Sydney Kirkman) with the support of the tanks of the 4th armored brigade (commander - Brigadier John Cecil Carrie). But later the plan changed, and units of the 1st Airborne Division of Major General George Hopkinson, namely the 1st Parachute Brigade (commanded by Brigadier Gerald William Lutbury), were instructed to seize the bridge. The soldiers of the division were not newcomers - they managed to take part in the Brunewald raid of 1942, the battles for the Norwegian hydroelectric power station Vemork, the Tunisian campaign, as well as the landing at Syracuse on the night of July 9-10, 1943. The Primosole Bridge was to be occupied by the 1st parachute battalion of Lieutenant Colonel Alastair Pearson, and the 3rd (commander - Lt. Col. Eric Yeldman) and 2nd (commander - Lt. Col. John Frost) battalions were ordered to cover the bridge from the north and south, respectively.

Lieutenant Colonel Alastair Pearson
Source - pegasusarchive.org

The parachute battalion commanders were experienced officers and had high awards - Lt. Col. Frost received the Military Cross for the Brunewald raid, and Lt. Col. Pearson received the Military Cross and two Distinguished Service Orders for the Tunisian campaign.

Lieutenant Colonel John Frost
Source - paradata.org.uk

To aid the paratroopers, the 3rd Commando Squad, Lt. Col. John Darnford-Slater, was to take over the Malati Bridge on the Lintini River ten miles south of Primosole Bridge. The British were opposed by units of the Hermann Goering division (commanded by Major General Paul Konrath) and the 15th Panzergrenadier Division (commanded by Major General Eberhard Rodt). In addition, Field Marshal Kesselring decided to transfer parts of the 1st Parachute Division (commanded by Major General Richard Heidrich) to Catania.

German parachutists. Sicily, July 1943
Source - pegasusarchive.org

Due to a lack of vehicles, Heidrich could not send the entire division at once and first transferred the 3rd Parachute Regiment (commanded by Colonel Ludwig Heilman), the 1st Machine Gun Battalion (commanded by Major Werner Schmidt), signalmen and three anti-tank platoons. On July 12, at about 18:15, German paratroopers from the 3rd regiment (1400 people) landed in the fields near Catania.

Colonel Ludwig Heilmann
Source - specialcamp11.co.uk

The American fighters were unable to intercept the He.111 transports carrying the assault force, as they ran out of fuel (according to American pilots). One of the German battalions was deployed west of the city of Catania, two others were located on the approaches to the Malati bridge. The next morning, units of the 1st machine-gun battalion arrived in Catania, the allied air force attacked the Catania airfield, as a result of which two Me.321 gliders were destroyed, which contained the lion's share of the equipment and ammunition of anti-tank platoons. Thus, the German paratroopers were left with a very meager arsenal of anti-tank weapons. Colonel Heilman understood that if the Allies successfully landed on the Simeto River, the German units located south of it would be surrounded. Therefore, he ordered the commander of the 1st battalion, Hauptmann Otto Laun, to go with his soldiers to the Primosole bridge. He did so, placing his paratroopers two kilometers south of the bridge in an orange grove that provided a good disguise.

Unsuccessful landing

The operation to capture the bridge, codenamed "Fastian", started on July 13, 1943, when at about 20:00 105 C-47 Dakota transport aircraft and 11 Albemarleys AW41 took off from the airfields in North Africa. there were over 1,856 paratroopers of the 1st parachute brigade. Nineteen gliders transported military equipment and ammunition (including ten six-pound guns and 18 jeeps), as well as 77 gunners. From the very beginning of the operation, the British had problems - the allied air defense units mistook the aircraft for German and opened fire on it, and when they reached Sicily, the planes came under fire from Italian anti-aircraft guns. As a result, some of the gliders were damaged and were forced to return, several more cars were killed. Many transport aircraft were also damaged and returned to airfields with 30% of the paratroopers.

At about 22:00, the British began the landing, and then the soldiers of the 1st machine-gun battalion organized a "warm welcome" to them. At first, the Germans mistook gliders for reinforcements, but when signal flares were fired, Heilman's fighters made sure that the enemy was landing, and opened a hurricane of fire from machine guns and several anti-aircraft guns. Several British aircraft were hit and crashed into the field. Later this battle was described by German Lieutenant Martin Pöppel:

“Burning planes fell on fields full of straw and lit up the entire battlefield. Our machine guns did not stop. "

Many British paratroopers had to jump out of burning cars under fire, more than 70 paratroopers were captured immediately after landing. The British had two huge problems - first, almost all radios were lost, and, as Lutbury wrote, "There was no connection with any of the battalions, and no one knew what happened."... Secondly, the planes lost their course, most of them dropped troops at a distance of 20–32 km from the object (some groups ended up at Mount Etna), and only 30 aircraft landed about 300 soldiers in the right place. The situation with the landing of artillery, which was made on July 14, was not in the best way - only four guns reached the designated point. The only success at the initial stage of Operation Fastian was that the Italian units at the bridge fled or surrendered without resistance.

On July 14, at 2:15 am, fifty soldiers of the 1st battalion, led by Captain Ran, captured the Primosole bridge and four pillboxes (two at the northern end of the bridge, and two at the southern end). In the pillboxes, the British found Italian Breda light machine guns and many cartridges for them. Two pillboxes at the northern end of the bridge were not defended by anyone, the capture of the "southern" pillboxes was described by Lieutenant Richard Bingley:

“At the southern end of the bridge, we met an enemy patrol of four Italians. Paratrooper Adams killed two of them at once. Our soldier threw Gamon's hand grenade at one of the pillboxes. Soon, 18 Italians surrendered. The fight was fleeting. I was wounded in the right shoulder. "

At 3:45 am, the paratroopers noticed a light tank, an armored car and three trucks on the road leading to the bridge. The gunners fired a shell at the tank, and the parachutists threw grenades at the cars. Lieutenant Bingley said two trucks were carrying gasoline. The first car was destroyed by Gamon's grenade, thrown by Corporal Curtiss - 22 Italian soldiers died in a terrible death due to fuel ignition. At about 5:00, the British stopped a German truck towing the cannon - the soldiers riding on it threw two grenades in the direction of the parachutists and fled, leaving the cannon behind. Shortly thereafter, British sappers managed to clear the bridge.

Operation Fastian scheme
Source - Simmons M. Battles for the Bridges // WWII Quarterly 2013-Spring (Vol.4 No.3)

Without communication and ammunition

The parachutists found two radios in the pillboxes, managed to inform the headquarters of the 4th armored brigade that the bridge had been taken under control, but after an hour the connection was lost. The bridge was guarded by about 120 fighters from the 1st battalion, armed with three mortars, a Vickers machine gun, three PIAT anti-tank grenade launchers, not counting small arms and grenades. In addition, the paratroopers had at their disposal a working six-pound cannon (two more guns needed repair), as well as two 50-mm Italian guns and a 75-mm German cannon. Not far from the bridge there were two platoons of the 3rd battalion, and the soldiers of the 2nd battalion were able to take control of the hills southwest of the bridge in time, capturing more than a hundred Italian soldiers. In total, 283 soldiers and 12 officers from the 1st brigade gathered in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Primosole bridge.

At dawn on July 14, the Germans learned that the bridge had been captured by the enemy. To clarify the situation, a reconnaissance group of Hauptmann Franz Shtangenberg (20 people in two trucks) was sent there. Approaching the bridge at a distance of just over 2 km, the group was fired upon by the British from cannons, after which the Hauptmann returned to Catania and began to gather forces for a counterattack. He managed to collect over 350 people, including cooks, mechanics and 150 soldiers from the communications company under the command of Hauptmann Erich Fassl. As for artillery, the Germans could use a 50 mm Italian cannon and three 88 mm anti-aircraft guns.

Counterattacks by German paratroopers

In the afternoon, the Germans began shelling the British with anti-aircraft guns, as a result of which several paratroopers were injured. According to the testimony of the British, at about 13:00 they were attacked by several Me.110 fighters. At 13:10 the Germans launched the first attack - Shtangenberg's group struck the northern end of the bridge from the right flank, the signalmen from the left. Unable to fight for a long time due to a meager supply of ammunition, the British retreated to the southern end of the bridge.

While the battle for the bridge was underway, German paratroopers from the 1st Machine Gun Battalion attacked the British from the 2nd Battalion stationed in the hills. Corporal Neville Ashley used the Bren light machine gun to hold back the enemy's advance, while a group of soldiers led by Lieutenant Peter Barry suppressed the German machine gun point. The Germans opened fire from heavy machine guns and mortars, and the British retreated, unable to adequately "answer" them.

German parachutists are firing from a machine gun. Sicily, July 1943
Source - barriebarnes.com

At a critical moment, Lieutenant Colonel Frost was able to locate an intact radio and call in artillery fire from the light cruisers Newfoundland and Mavritius. Heavy shelling from naval guns forced the Germans to retreat (according to British data, they lost more than twenty people killed and wounded). The British took up positions in the hills again. In battle, Captain Stanley Panther distinguished himself - together with three soldiers, he suppressed an enemy machine gun, then captured a light howitzer and fired several shells from it at the enemy. For his courage, the Panthers were awarded the Military Cross.

If Frost's group was able to hold their ground, then for Lieutenant Colonel Pearson's people, the situation became more complicated. After 15:00, the Germans, under cover of artillery and machine guns, hiding behind bushes and trees, again attacked the bridge from the north side, and Pearson ordered his fighters to retreat to the southern bank of the river. It is known that on the afternoon of July 14, the British expected their tanks to appear, but this did not happen. The crew of the six-pound gun managed to smash the pillbox, which the Germans occupied on the northern bank, having used up almost all the ammunition. According to the British, the Germans attacked with the support of a self-propelled gun, but did not dare to break through the bridge, fearing to fall under its fire. Shtangenberg acted wisely - instead of attacking the bridge head-on, he ordered his soldiers to swim in another place, bypass the enemy and strike him from the rear.

Germans recapture the bridge

Lieutenant Colonel Pearson ordered his soldiers to retreat to the hills to the south and join up with Frost's group. The retreat was covered by several groups - Lance Corporal Alfred Osborne, a participant in the battles for Primosole, claimed that the remaining soldiers had only a few cartridges for the Anfield rifles. In the battle at the bridge, 27 British paratroopers were killed and over 70 were injured. Medical corporal Stanley Tynan provided tremendous assistance in the evacuation of the wounded - he evacuated the wounded under shelling, for which he was awarded the Military Medal.

Destroyed pillbox near the Primosole bridge
Source - pegasusarchive.org

Lance Corporal Osborne covered the retreat, sitting in a bunker and firing from a light machine gun. Soon after he left his position, several shells fired by a German assault gun (according to another version, an 88-mm anti-aircraft gun) hit the pillbox.

After 18:00, a group of Hauptmann Laun approached the bridge from the south, in addition, the Germans managed to ford the river east of the bridge. The British withdrew, and the strategic facility was again in the hands of their opponents. Around the same time, units of two Italian battalions from the 213rd Coast Guard Division arrived here.

British 50th Division makes its way to the bridge.

On the night of 13-14 July, the soldiers of the 3rd commando unit captured the Malati Bridge over the Lentini River. The special forces quickly occupied the pillboxes, putting the Italian soldiers guarding the facility to flight. On the morning of July 14, the bridge was attacked by several German battalions, supported by mortars and tanks. According to the British commandos, a "Tiger" (according to another version - Pz.IV) fired at them, which destroyed the bunkers. The commandos planned to hold out until the units of the 50th division arrived, but they got bogged down in battles with the units of Colonel Schmalts near the village of Carlentini. The 3rd unit was forced to retreat south in order to connect with the 50th division (in the battles for the bridge, it lost 30 people killed and 60 prisoners).

On July 14, with the support of artillery and tanks, infantry of the 69th Brigade (commander - Brigadier Edward Cook-Collins) captured the town of Lentini. While the 69th Brigade was fighting, units of the 151st Infantry Brigade (commander - Brigadier Ronald Senior), as well as the Shermans from the 44th Armored Regiment (Squadron "C") made their way to the Malati River and re-captured the bridge (Germans could not destroy it). In the late evening of July 14, the aforementioned units approached the Primosole Bridge - by this time it was already in the hands of the Germans.

Tankmen of the 44th Armored Regiment
Source - desertrats.org.uk

British tankers refused to attack the bridge without artillery support, and even at night. Meanwhile, reinforcements arrived at the Germans - several companies of the 1st Sapper Battalion, the 1st Battalion of the 4th Parachute Regiment and parts of the 1st Artillery Regiment. In addition, Catania had units of the Schmalz group, which had retreated from the south, as well as several Italian battalions and units of the 4th parachute regiment. First of all, the Germans began to equip positions on the northern bank of the Simeto River. On the night of July 14-15, a battle between British gunners and seven Italian armored vehicles broke out near the bridge - the crew of a six-pound cannon under the command of Corporal Stanley Rose burned two of them.

On the morning of July 15, the infantry of the 9th battalion of the Durham regiment tried to attack the north bank on both sides of the bridge (the bridge itself was well-shot, besides, the British thought that it was mined). The Germans repulsed this assault. At a meeting of officers of the 151st brigade, it was decided that the assault should be carried out at night to the left of the bridge upstream of the river, where the depth did not exceed 1.2 m (the ford was indicated by Lieutenant Colonel Pearson). The night assault was preceded by an hour-long artillery preparation.

On July 16 at 2:00 am, two companies of the 8th Battalion ("A" and "D") crossed the ford and announced the occupation of the bridgehead by firing a signal flare. After that, companies "B" and "C" of the same battalion, with the support of tanks from the 44th regiment, moved across the bridge and made their way to the northern bank of Simeto. The Germans opened a hurricane of fire from two 88-mm guns, knocked out four Shermans (the total number of British tanks in the area of \u200b\u200bthe bridge did not exceed twenty units). The British created a bridgehead about 300 m deep, but could not advance further north, since the enemy was entrenched in vineyards and an olive grove.

The bridge is in British hands again

On July 16, the fighting continued with varying success. Private Reginald Goodwin (machine gunner from the 8th battalion of the 151st brigade) participated in repelling one of the German attacks: “With my Bren I managed to destroy two snipers and several enemy soldiers. The secret of success is a comfortable position, as well as the fact that my comrades were covering me from the flanks "... On the same day, units of the 1st parachute brigade were withdrawn to the rear - during the landing and in the battles for the bridge, they lost over 370 people.

An anti-tank gun crew of the 1st Parachute Division is fighting at the Primosole Bridge. July 1943
Source - barriebarnes.com

On July 17, at 1:00, units of the 6th and 9th battalions crossed Simeto ford (the bridge was shot through by the Germans) and replenished the forces of the defenders of the bridgehead, taking up positions in the vineyards. At 5:00, the British began to expand the bridgehead. The tanks of Squadrons A and C of the 44th Regiment crossed the bridge and took up positions to the left and right of its northern end. The crews of the Shermans of the 3rd Yeomen Regiment proved to be excellent. At 9:00, the tanks, moving north along the road, destroyed the crew of the 88-mm gun, the truck and suppressed several machine-gun points. At 9:30 am, the regiment's tankmen, supported by infantry from the 151st Brigade, continued their offensive and destroyed two 105-mm guns. According to the reports of the 3rd regiment, on July 17, its soldiers killed 70 German soldiers and officers, and captured four. On that day, the commander of the 44th regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Willis, was killed - a sniper bullet hit him in the head. Major Grant assumed command of the regiment.

In the first half of the day, the Germans actively counterattacked, suffering considerable losses. Hauptmann Heinz-Paul Adolf from the engineer battalion tried to blow up the bridge with a truck loaded with explosives. Adolf died, and his plan did not work - the cars were destroyed before the approach to the bridge. The Hauptmann was posthumously awarded the Knight's Cross. The situation changed after 11:15 am, when the tanks of the 44th regiment took advantageous positions for shelling and opened hurricane fire on German positions. Under the cover of this fire, the British infantry approached the enemy's trenches and began to throw grenades at them. Some of the Germans surrendered, many died, and the rest retreated to the north and took up defenses along with the paratroopers of the 4th regiment. Now the British completely controlled the bridge and its surroundings and began to push the enemy towards Catania.

The scheme of battles for the Primosole Bridge on July 13-17, 1943. Blue arrows indicate the advancement of British units, red - German ones. Yellow circles with numbers indicate the chronology of the battles: 1st and 3rd battalions of the British take control of the bridge; 2nd - 2nd Battalion captures the southern sector near the bridge; 3 - the Germans conduct reconnaissance in force; 4 - the first massive attack of the Shtangenberg and Fassl groups; 5 - repeated attack of the Germans, the British retreat to the southern end of the bridge; 6 - the Germans are crossing the river east of the bridge, the 1st and 3rd battalions are retreating to the positions of the 2nd battalion; 7 - the arrival of units of the 50th division and the 4th armored brigade; 8 - counterattack by the 9th battalion of the Durham regiment and the 44th armored regiment; 9 - the British ford the river and capture the bridge
Source - Greentree D. British Paratrooper vs Fallschirmjäger: Mediterranean 1942-1943. - London: Osprey, 2013

Outcome

In the battles for the Primosole bridge, the 151st brigade lost about 500 people in killed and wounded. In addition, the German paratroopers claimed that they were able to disable 5-7 enemy tanks. The losses of the German side were estimated by the British at 300 people killed and more than 150 prisoners (the Germans recognized the loss of 240 people killed and wounded). It is surprising that during the fighting, the field hospital of British paratroopers did not stop working, which performed several hundred operations. Even when the hospital was captured by the Italians, it did not stop working - the medical staff operated on both the wounded British paratroopers and their enemies.

The fight for the Primosole bridge did not have a serious impact on the course of the battles for Sicily - the allies were never able to encircle the enemy group, which managed to cross the Strait of Messina to the continent. In the battles for the bridge, both sides made serious mistakes. The British made an unsuccessful landing, as a result of which the paratroopers of the 1st brigade lost their ammunition and communications. The Germans did not manage to blow up the bridge.

Sources and Literature:

1. Hastings M. The Second World War: Hell on Earth. - Moscow: Alpina non-fiction, 2015
2. Blackwell I. Battle for Sicily: Stepping Stone to Victory. - Barnsley: Pen and Sword, 2008
3. Delaforce P. Monty's Marauders: The 4th and 8th Armored Brigades in the Second World War. - Barnsley: Pen and Sword, 2008
4. D'Este C. Bitter Victory: The Battle for Sicily, 1943. - New York: Harper Perennial, 2008
5. Greentree D. British Paratrooper vs Fallschirmjäger: Mediterranean 1942-1943. - London: Osprey, 2013
6. Mrazek J. Airborne Combat: Axis and Allied Glider Operations in World War II. - Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 2011
7. Sicily: report on the Primosole Bridge operation 1943 July 14–21, by Major F. Jones. - Kew, Richmond: The National Archives, 1943
8. Simmons M. Battles for the Bridges // WWII Quarterly 2013-Spring (Vol.4 No.3)
9. War Diaries For 3rd County of London Yeomanry (3rd Sharpshooters) 1943
10. https://paradata.org.uk

By the early 1930s, the British armed forces, after the First World War, had died on their laurels, had turned into a real reserve of outdated forms of warfare and any innovations in this area were treated condescendingly, if not even hostile. The articles and speeches of the American General Mitchell, who back in 1918 advocated the early creation of large airborne forces, found even fewer fans in England than in the United States. According to British military theorists, there was no longer a worthy enemy in Europe, the "war to end all wars" ended in complete victory for the Entente, and any desire to increase the military power of Germany or the USSR was supposed to be stifled in the bud by increased economic pressure. In these conditions, there was no need to change the time-honored structure of the armed forces, and even more so to introduce such extravagant ideas as the landing of soldiers from the air.

The British felt the need for the use of landing troops only during the conflict in Iraq. After World War I, the British Empire was given a mandate to govern this territory, which was formerly part of Turkey. Iraq has actually become an English semi-colony. Since 1920, lively hostilities began in the country between the troops of the "mistress of the seas" and the local national liberation movement. To compensate for the lack of mobility of their ground forces in the fight against mounted rebel troops, the British transferred a significant number of combat aircraft to Iraq from Egypt, including two military transport squadrons equipped with Vickers "Victoria" vehicles. Under the leadership of Air Vice Marshal John Salmond, a special tactic was developed for the Air Force's actions with their participation in actions to "pacify" the rebel territories. Since October 1922, Air Force units took an active part in suppressing the uprising.

In addition to bombing populated areas and attacking detected partisan detachments, the most important function of aviation was the landing of tactical airborne assault forces in the areas where rebel formations were located with the aim of their swift destruction or capture. The first such action was successfully carried out in February 1923, when 480 soldiers of the 14th Sikh regiment were landed in the vicinity of the city of Kirkuk. The new tactics turned out to be very effective - if earlier the mobile detachments of the rebels, who enjoyed the full support of the population, quickly left the threatened areas, then from that time they were increasingly effectively blocked.

The British significantly developed their tactics: the commander of the 45th military transport squadron Arthur Harris (who later became the head of the Royal Air Force Bomber Command) and his deputy Robert Saundby proposed to create dual-purpose aircraft: transport bombers: In other words, large multi-engine the planes were supposed to both carry out the transportation of troops and land landing forces, and, if necessary, carry out air raids on enemy settlements. From the point of view of colonial conflicts and the lack of air defense among the rebels, the expediency of such a doctrine was obvious, therefore, in the 20s and early 30s, the British built quite a lot of such universal machines (followed by the French and Italians, preoccupied with similar problems - keeping their colonial empires in North Africa). Subsequently, the aircraft Handley Page "Hinaidi" and Vickers "Virginia" in the role of "steel birds of the white man" took part in operations to "pacify" the population of Iraq, British Somalia, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Protectorate of Aden, Yemen and in the battles in the northeastern border of India against Afghans. Thus, the British can be considered the de facto founders of air-ground operations. But the British reacted with a noticeable coolness to the appearance in the early 30s of a new type of troops - airborne troops. So, during the well-known Kiev exercises of the Red Army in 1935, a spectacular massive drop of parachute troops made an impression on anyone, but not on the British delegation. Its head, the old colonial campaigner Major General Archibald Wavell, who later became Field Marshal and brutally beaten by Rommelem in North Africa, sent a critical report on the use of the Airborne Forces to the War Department, pointing out the large dispersal of parachutists after the drop and allegedly associated with this makes it impossible to control the landed parts. Wavell's message, superimposed on the traditional "ossification" of the royal army, permanently delayed the creation of the national airborne forces.

Germany's successful use of its parachute units during fleeting campaigns in Norway and the West in 1940 did not convince the orthodox British military of the need to create similar units of their own. It took almost daily personal involvement of Prime Minister Churchill, who had an obvious weakness for various special units, to get things off the ground. On June 22, 1940, the prime minister issued an order on the beginning of the formation of various special forces, including the Parachute Corps. Unlike the Germans, the priority here belonged to the ground forces, not the air force. Even before the order was issued, in May, at Churchill's personal instructions, the preparation of a separate parachute battalion began. Like the Germans, the British immediately faced serious difficulties related to the novelty of the problem. But if in Germany the development of parachuting was carried out with the full support of the Luftwaffe command and personally Reichsmarshal Goering, then in England the constant sabotage by the Royal Air Force made it extremely difficult to conduct training. There were not enough parachutes and experienced instructors, the material part of the training center (the school was located in the town of Ringway - a southern suburb of Greater Manchester in northwestern England, outside the range of the Luftwaffe) consisted of only 6 old twin-engine Whitley I bombers hastily adapted to jumping (the latter accounted for through the boarding hatch on board, which was extremely difficult for an inexperienced parachutist and threatened with serious injury or death when hitting the aircraft fuselage). Any necessary equipment had to be obtained literally in battle.

It was difficult to find instructors-parachutists - they were led by the famous pilot and athlete-paratrooper, squadron leader Lewis (Lou) Strange (Louis Strange). His closest assistant was another pilot, John Rocc. The tasks of the permanent staff of the school, among other things, included the development of landing techniques for heavily loaded paratroopers, as well as the tactics of group landing - there was no experience in this area in good old England yet.

The first training drop of parachutists was carried out on July 13, 1940; from the volunteers recruited by that time, they quickly formed separate divisions, which gained fame under the general name of the Parachute Regiment ("regiment" in this case is a collective name denoting the type of troops). Paratrooper training took place at both Ringway and the Army Training Center in Aldershot. Despite serious preliminary tests and all kinds of medical commissions, the dropout rate of cadets-paratroopers for various reasons (“refuseniks”, injured and killed) was 15-20 percent, mainly due to the extreme difficulty of jumping from Wheatley aircraft. The very same parachute training of the first British paratroopers was very intensive and good-quality - the first, November 1940, graduation from the school in Ringway (290 people who were entirely enrolled in the 1st parachute battalion and the 11th battalion of the Special Aviation Service) in ten weeks of training completed more than 30 jumps for each student. As mentioned above, many senior officers of the army and especially the air force were categorically against the organization of the airborne troops, so the work to create them fell on a group of young and unorthodox-minded military men, free from the ossified dogmas of British military thought. The deaf wall of rejection from the "military aristocracy", looking at the development of military thought through the monocles of Victorian times, was overcome only in 1941, when he personally visited the Ringway parachute school, watched the jumps and in every possible way kissed the paratroopers, promising them all possible support. This significant event took place in April, and a month later the Cretan operation of German paratroopers broke out, wiping the island's strong British garrison to dust and finally convincing the British of the advisability of creating their own airborne forces.

Military aviation, represented by the General Staff and the Ministry of Aviation, has finally begun to regularly supply the paratroopers with the necessary amount of equipment. At the headquarters of the Air Force, the post of an officer in charge of the affairs of the Airborne Forces, who was responsible for the preparation and coordination of their actions, was introduced; this organizational structure was preserved until the end of the war. In April, a special meeting was held at which for the first time (!) Samples of captured weapons and equipment of German paratroopers were demonstrated to the officers of the airborne forces, and all available intelligence data on the tactics of enemy actions based on the Norwegian and Dutch-Belgian campaigns were transferred. From that time on, the old quarrels between the "traditional" and "innovative" parts of the army were gradually forgotten. Fulfilling Churchill's directive (announced immediately after the Cretan operation), the headquarters of the Royal Air Force began feverish activities to form by May 1942 a five-thousandth parachute brigade, which received serial number 1 - it was based on the already existing 11th battalion of the Special Aviation Service. The same number of paratroopers should have been at the final stage of training (to staff another, 6th brigade). In the future, both brigades were transformed into airborne divisions. The parachutists were commanded by one of Churchill's nominees, Major General Frederick Browning, a former Grenadier Guardsman belonging to high British society. Soon the 2nd and 3rd battalions joined the existing Parachute Regiment - 1st Battalion. Thus, in November 1941, the backbone of the 1st Brigade was formed, which was located in Wiltshire and began active combat training. At this time, the most famous British paratrooper - Major John Frost, who then distinguished himself especially at Bruneville, in Tunisia and Arnhem, got into the ranks of the Airborne Forces. Bombers "Whitley" have finally been removed from service with training units of the Airborne Forces; now training jumps were carried out from tethered balloons. The result was not long in coming: while training more than 1700 people for the 2nd and 3rd battalions in November 1941, there were only two "refuseniks", and a dozen more cadets were injured (for comparison, when jumping from the cramped Whitley landing hatch a year ago, out of 340 people, two died, 20 were injured, and 30 refused to perform the jump).

The paratroopers soon became the pride of the armed forces (even on the famous English poster of the Second World War, "The attack begins from the factory", calling for shock labor in the rear in the name of victory, paratroopers are shown jumping out of a glider). In everyday life they were called "paras" (from the abbreviated word Paratroopers - paratroopers) or, in opposition to the Germans, "Red Devils" - "red devils" (for chestnut berets).

The core of the British Airborne Forces was the 1st and 6th Airborne Divisions (Airborne Division; Airborne Division), the formation of which was completed by 1943. At the end of the war, the 5th Airborne Division joined them, but it did not have time to take a significant part in the hostilities. The 6th division, which became a standard one, numbered about 12 thousand people. It consisted of two parachute brigades (Parachute Brigade) - 3rd and 5th, as well as one landing (Air-landing Brigade) - 6th. Each brigade consisted of three battalions. Reconnaissance regiment (6th Airborne Reconnaissance Regiment) of the division received light tanks "Tetrarch".

In 1944, the airborne division was armed with 16 light tanks, 24 75-mm, 68 6- (57-mm) and 17-pounder (77-mm) anti-tank guns, 23 20-mm anti-aircraft guns, 535 light infantry guns , 392 PIAT anti-tank hand grenade launchers, 46 easel (Vickers Mk I) and 966 light (BREN Mk I) machine guns, 6504 STEN submachine gun and 10113 rifles and pistols. The relative mobility of the division's units was provided by 1,692 units of vehicles (including 904 3/4 ton jeeps, as well as 567 trucks and tractors) and 4502 motorcycles, mopeds and bicycles.

In addition to the actual British units, the Airborne Forces replenished the 1st Canadian Parachute Battaillon. The battalion was formed on July 1, 1942, and in August 85 officers, sergeants and soldiers from its composition arrived in Ringway for special training. The remaining part of the personnel at the end of the year was transferred to Fort Benning, where for four months she studied parachuting together with the Americans. Soon a Canadian parachute training center was established in Shiloh. In the meantime, the battalion, which had completed its training, became part of the 3rd Parachute Brigade of the 6th Airborne Division and took part in Operation Overlord and subsequent battles in Europe (including in the Ardennes on Christmas Day 1944). In March 1945, the Canadians participated in Operation Varsity (landing across the Rhine), and then the battalion was withdrawn to its homeland and disbanded in September.

Following the first battalion, the Canadians manned three more. To this was later added one Australian and one South African battalion, which allowed the British, together with the staff of the 44th Indian Airborne Division (see below), to bring the total number of the Airborne Forces to 80,000 people.

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The first successful military operation of the British paratroopers, however, took place on the coast of the English Channel and was more of a sabotage than a classic combat character. The company of the 2nd Parachute Battalion under the command of Major John Frost on the last night of the winter of 1942 landed from high-speed landing barges on the French coast, attacked a German radar post in the town of Bruneville, eliminated the guards in a short fight and stole secret radar equipment (everything that the paratroopers did not were able to take it with them, was photographed, and then rendered unusable). Having completed the task, Frost's group went ashore without a fight and crossed to the waiting ships, losing only two people prisoners - the latter (radio operators) were unable to find the way to the gathering place in the dark.

The English "couple" received their real baptism of fire during the landing in North Africa - Operation Torch (Torch). Strictly speaking, this action was the first large-scale Allied amphibious operation in World War II, a kind of rehearsal for a future invasion of Europe.

British paratroopers totaling about 1,200 were tasked with capturing a number of important airfields, headquarters and communications centers. In addition, parachute troops landed far on the left flank of the invasion forces were to capture several key points on the road to Tunisia, where the battered German-Italian troops were grouping. The British Airborne Forces in the operation were represented by the 1st, 2nd and 3rd parachute battalions of the 6th brigade, which on the whole successfully coped with their tasks.

The first large-scale action of the newly minted 1st British Airborne Division took place during the invasion of Sicily. To carry it out, the Allies had more than 1,000 transport aircraft and cargo gliders, mainly for the transfer of airborne units (8,830 people) that took part in the landing. During the invasion of southern Italy, in order to secure the deployment of allied forces on the Messinian bridgehead from the side of the "heel" of the Apennine Peninsula, the 1st Airborne Division was landed from a specially assigned detachment of ships and vessels. This was done by special agreement with the command of the Italian Navy, which recognized the terms of the armistice and allowed the paratroopers to land. The convoy left Bizerte (Tunisia) and reached Taranto on 9 September; Only small reconnaissance units were thrown out with parachutes, the bulk of the division's forces, without encountering resistance, entered the Italian coast as an amphibious assault.

The British Airborne Forces in Greece ended their careers in the Mediterranean, when their individual units (including the SAS units) supported the capture of many small islands in the Aegean Sea. On October 2, 1944, following the example of the Germans, the landing on Crete was carried out. Soon, parachute troops landed in mainland Greece. This was due to the powerful pro-communist partisan movement ELAS that developed in the country and Churchill's desire to keep the Balkans in line with traditional British politics. Therefore, the liberation (or occupation) of Greece was planned and carried out as soon as possible in order to prevent the Soviet or Yugoslav troops there. On November 1, an airborne assault force occupied Thessaloniki, and 12 days later the British entered Athens.

In preparation for the landing in Normandy, the 1st and 6th divisions were reduced to the 1st British Airborne Corps (VDK), which, together with the 18th Airborne Corps of the US Army, formed the First Allied Airborne Army (First Allied Airborne Army; VDA) under the command of the American Lieutenant General Lewis G. Brirton. Special transport airborne units were also created: the 2nd Tactical Air Force, allocated by the Royal Air Force for warfare in Europe, included two special-purpose air groups - the 38th Airborne (in Operationally, it was subordinate to the command of the 1st Airborne Army) and 46th Military Transport. They were mainly armed with Dakota vehicles, and there were glider units with towing aircraft.

Shortly before midnight on June 6, 1944, 8,000 people from the 6th Division were dropped on the French coast, northeast of the ancient Norman city of Caen, in order to capture and protect the bridges over the Canal Canal and the Orne River near the town of Ranville from an explosion. The actions of the paratroopers, according to the plan of the developers of the invasion, were supposed to significantly disorganize the German antiamphibious defense and facilitate the landing of the 3rd British Infantry Division of the 1st Corps of the 2nd Army, allocated to capture the "Sword" bridgehead - the left-flank landing area.

The 6th Airborne Division was concentrated in the Brighton area, where the other assault troops directed to the Sword were stationed. The landing of units of the division was carried out by 733 planes and 335 gliders on the eastern flank of the English bridgehead "Sword" (in the defense zone of the 716th German infantry division) in the area between the Orne and Diva rivers, east of the city of Caen.

On August 15, 1944, the British took part in Operation Dragoon, a landing on the southern coast of France in Provence. The 10th separate parachute regiment was included in the airborne assault force (the Anglo-American brigade battle group "Rugby") with a total strength of 9,732 people. The group landed on 535 transport aircraft and 465 gliders.

Upon completion of the immediate operational tasks of opening the "second front", all airborne formations of the allied states were withdrawn to England to prepare for the planned large-scale offensive operations, which were to begin after the expulsion of the Germans from France.

In September 1944, the 1st Airborne Division, commanded by Major General Richard C. Erquhart, participated in one of the largest and most unsuccessful airborne operations of the Second World War, called the Arnhem (codenamed "Market Garden" - "Garden"). On the first day of the operation, 5,700 British paratroopers (50% of the personnel of the 1st division together with its headquarters) were to land from the airfields of southern England. The next day, this value was supposed to be 100%. You can read more about the tragic ending of this action in my book "Airborne Forces in the Second World War." Here I will only say that the Arnhem and the Rhine airborne operation that followed it dealt a fatal blow to the landing-landing glider units of the British Airborne Forces: most of the glider pilots landing near Arnhem were captured or killed. The battles on the Rhine finally finished off this branch: the losses among the hastily recruited after Arnhem and hastily trained pilots were so great that, until the end of the war, the glider units no longer took part in hostilities. They were disbanded in 1946.

Equipment and weapons

The British paratroopers had at their disposal fairly successful and sophisticated X-type parachutes of various modifications, the most common of which was the Hotspur Mk II.

The parachutes were of domestic design, but they were based on the design of the American company "Irvin" generally accepted in those years. The opening method was very different from any analogues and was rather intricate. When packing, the canopy of the parachute (made of white silk or camouflaged) was folded up and placed in a cylindrical bag. Groups of lines were folded separately and placed in a zigzag manner in a special back pack, regardless of the dome (each bundle of lines was fixed with elastic bands). The entire "package" was partially covered by a common satchel cover. When the parachute was opened, the sausage-shaped bag with the dome jumped out of the cover, and the slings were gradually pulled out of the strings that held them and unwound in the right order, etched out to the full length even before the dome came out of its bag. Having finally turned around, the lines also transferred the weight of the paratrooper to the canopy cover latches and thus gave the parachute an additional impulse for deployment.

All this significantly slowed down the process of full deployment of the parachute and gave the paratrooper more time to stabilize in the air after taking off from the aircraft, and also significantly reduced the force of the dynamic jerk when filling the canopy (in contrast, for example, from the German model, where the paratrooper was shaken so sharply that a serious injury could have been received while in the air). However, the use of such a complex system required a certain increase in the height of the drop of the landing, and this, in turn, significantly increased the time of the impact of enemy fire on soldiers descending from the sky. Otherwise, the British parachutes were significantly superior to their German counterparts, in no way inferior to the American models. Parachute equipment equipped with a quick-release system could be dropped almost instantly after landing: four straps converging on the chest were united by a specially designed lock. By turning the massive disc clockwise, all four locks were released and unfastened automatically. The standard "Irvine" harness made it possible to efficiently maneuver in the air, turning in the wind and choosing a landing site. It remains to add that in the British Airborne Forces, paratroopers were supplied with only one parachute: the British believed that the introduction of a spare was an unnecessary and too expensive step, moreover, developing a soldier's distrust of the main parachute.

The parachutist's equipment included a push-button knife-sling cutter, very similar to the American "presto". The blade, sharpened on one side, was thrown back after pressing the lock button on the side of the handle. The handle itself was made of black corrugated plastic; in the end part, it was equipped with a can opener (used as a cutter to remove insulation from wires and pierce car tires), as well as a stirrup for attaching a safety cord. Metal parts - stainless steel or nickel plated.

Early in its history, the British Airborne Forces used conventional Mk II infantry steel helmets with wide brims ("shaving basins"). However, already in October 1941, the paratroopers received a rubber jump helmet with a shock-absorbing lining. The helmet had the shape of a flattened cylinder and was somewhat reminiscent of a Russian Kubanka. The brown rubber base was wrapped in a khaki cloth cover.

In combat conditions, the British "pair" wore an almost identical to the German M38 lightweight steel helmet without brims and with three nuts of the frame of the comforter, which simultaneously served as ventilation holes. The helmet became one of the variants of the AT helmet family. Mk II, designed for paratroopers, crew members of armored vehicles and motorcyclists - anyone who gets in the way of the wide brim of an infantry helmet.

The version for the Airborne Forces was supplied with a V-shaped leather strap, the chin part of which was widened, covering the soldier's jaw. The strap was painted in khaki color. The joints of the occipital and chin straps were riveted or stitched. The helmets were covered with a densely woven mesh cover; to enhance the deforming effect, shaggy khaki-colored cloth rags could be sewn to it. Allied-supplied goggles from the American company "Polaroid" were worn with the helmet.

The British paratroopers practically had no special small arms. The only exception was the Vesely Machine Carbine submachine gun (Vesely automatic carbine), developed in the 40s. The weapon had two main options: the V-42 (with a wooden stock and bayonet) for the infantry and the V-43 (with a folding shoulder rest) for the Airborne Forces. Like all domestic submachine guns, it was created for the 9mm Parabellum cartridge. The weapon operated on the principle of free-action recoil, its rate of fire was 900 - 1000 rounds per minute. There was a fire translator. A distinctive feature of the system was the box magazine, divided by a vertical partition and in fact represented two receptacles for cartridges located in one body. When firing, having shot ammunition in one store, the shooter, using a special device, moved it along the axis of the weapon so that the neck of the rear compartment moved under the receiver window. Having sent a new cartridge into the barrel, you could continue to fire. The total amount of ammunition in this "paired" store was 60 (two 30). The weapon turned out to be complicated and unreliable. In addition, the “walls” of various modifications that entered the army in large quantities in terms of weight and overall characteristics were quite suitable for use in the airborne troops and, moreover, were very easy to manufacture. All these factors made it unnecessary to adopt a new model of a submachine gun, although in limited quantities it still ended up in the army.

Rifles, submachine guns and machine guns were packed in individual cases made of light brown leather (shaped like cavalry saddle cases-olstras), fastened to a parachute pack with two straps on pegs. The weapon was placed in a hole on the upper end of the cover, which was overlapped with a durable light beige fabric flap with tight lacing. To prevent its loss during the jump, there was a safety cord with a carbine, in the stowed position located on the side, in a special pocket. A leather handle was provided on the side to carry the cover. The British often packed the ammunition in bandolier sling: cartridges and grenades were tightly wrapped in a long piece of harsh fabric of light gray or khaki color, wrapped over the entire length with a parachute sling and the ends of the roll were connected. The resulting "roll-up" paratroopers put on over their shoulders, under the straps of the harness.

Even radio stations were dropped in long rectangular cargo containers, equipped at one end with a shock absorber with a light metal frame and a parachute on the other (attached with carbines to two earrings on the sides of the container body). The contents of the container were tightly packed into its bowels through a long rectangular hatch closed with a lid on one of the side faces. Additional shock absorbers were placed inside the body. All this gave some hopes for a safe landing of unpretentious army communications.

Heavy weapons and military equipment

The delivery of the paratroopers to the landing site was carried out using several types of gliders. The main model was "Horsa" I, which took on board 25 - 29 soldiers with equipment, a 3/4 ton vehicle with a 1/4 ton trailer or 3.1 tons of cargo (according to some sources, up to 3.4 tons). The glider was a strut-braced high-wing aircraft, traditional for this kind of vehicles, operated by a crew of two. The long cylindrical fuselage rested on a three-wheeled landing gear with a nose wheel (to prevent bonnet). The main cargo hatch was located immediately behind the pilot's cabin, the vehicle was loaded along an attached inclined track - a ramp. Heavy equipment was airlifted by General Aircraft's 16-ton Namilcar glider capable of lifting 7.8 tons of various cargoes (light tank, Universal carrier armored personnel carrier, 40 soldiers or a field gun with a tractor). Loading and unloading was carried out along the ramp through the bow part reclining to the right. The towing vehicles were mostly outdated four-engined Stirling and Halifax bombers. During the course of the war, especially in the Pacific theater of operations, American-made aircraft, including various models of the Waco family of landing gliders, received a much greater share.

In the course of hostilities in Europe, it became clear that gliders cannot be recognized as a satisfactory landing vehicle, since when they land on any rugged terrain, the danger of an accident is too great. The British suffered especially from this: the unsuccessful landing of the landing force of the British 1st Airborne Division south of Syracuse in Sicily can be cited as an example. Due to a navigational error (a strong gusty wind added to the poor visibility), the aircraft towing 133 gliders unhooked the gliders prematurely and 47 aircraft were forced to land on the water. In this case, more than 250 paratroopers were killed, loaded with heavy assault equipment. Those cars that managed to reach the island could not land normally - the sharp rocks covering the surface of Sicily caused only 12 gliders to safely land. The landing force, numbering 1600 people, lost almost a third of its strength - and this without serious opposition from the enemy! 101 glider pilots (each Khoreya had two pilots) drowned, crashed or was seriously injured. The remaining gliders landed at various distances from their assigned object (an Italian airfield in the vicinity of Avola).

In 1944, the situation repeated itself: during the landing in Normandy, the gliders again suffered heavy losses - out of 196 aircraft that landed in the English sector, 71 were damaged, mostly non-combat ones, associated with the difficulties of landing in the dark (the operation was carried out at about midnight) on the crossed terrain, in many places covered with a dense network of anti-parachute and anti-gliding obstacles (“Rommel's asparagus” or “booby traps” - “fool traps” - combinations of subtle obstacles and minefields). At the same time, out of the total number of allied military transport aircraft that carried out that night landing of two American and one British divisions (2,359 units), only 20 were shot down by German anti-aircraft artillery. Paratroopers had at their disposal Lend-Lease transport aircraft of American production " Dakota "C Mk III (Douglas C 47" Skytrain "), as well as its version, created specifically for the Airborne Forces, C 53" Skytrooper "(in the British airborne troops, these machines were often called" Paradac "(from the words" para "- In particular, for the landing of units of the 1st Airborne Division in the Arnhem area in September 1944, 145 aircraft, 341 Horsa gliders, 13 Hamilcar and 4 American Waco gliders were required ...

Before the massive appearance of Dakota aircraft in British military transport aviation, outdated Bristol Bombay transports were often used to transport and drop paratroopers, as well as Handley Page Halifax A Mk IX four-engine aircraft converted from heavy bombers. Halifax could take on board 24 paratroopers with full equipment. The aircraft was equipped with defensive armament consisting of two 12.7-mm and one 7.71-mm machine guns. Other types of British bombers underwent similar re-equipment. All the same, the requirements for unification and the obvious expediency of using reliable American aircraft prevailed, and later domestic machines were used only for towing gliders. The practice jumps were initially carried out from the outdated Armstrong Whitworth "Whitley" bombers, which were completely unsuitable for such use. Subsequently, they were replaced by tethered balloons, and then by the same "Dakotas".

It was the British who became the pioneers in parachuting various types of heavy weapons and vehicles. For this, special platforms with shock absorbers were used. So, to ensure the normal landing of a standard SUV (Willys MB and Ford GPW) with a mass of 1020 kg, four cargo parachutes were required. The latter were put into the trunk of the car and were attached with a steel cable to a special bar that was on the platform in the center of gravity of the system. The platform itself was equipped with powerful shock absorbers under each axle of the machine, which was fixed to them with two screw clamps. The structure was protected from overturning during landing by two inclined supports extending from it to the sides. The unpretentious all-terrain vehicles tolerated the landing without any problems, but still the British preferred to transport the equipment on gliders. The saturation of the landing units with jeeps was very high, as German soldiers near Arnhem recalled, reconnaissance patrols of the British and Americans scurried around the bridgeheads they occupied, "like ants."

The landing of light motorcycles (American James ML and domestic Royal Enfield with an engine displacement of only 125 cc) was carried out by attaching them to a special tubular frame with shock absorbers, which prevented the wheels from hitting the ground when landing. This structure required the use of only one cargo parachute, stowed in the trunk and attached with a strong cable in the center of gravity of the structure to the frame brackets. To mount the motorcycle inside the frame, the handlebars had to be rotated 90 degrees (parallel to the axis of the system). Among the small-sized means of transport, one can also note miniature mopeds with a Villiers Junior engine, transported partially disassembled. During transportation, the steering wheel and seat were removed, similar in design to the bicycle, and the remaining part was not much larger in size than the current skateboard. Used parachutists and folding bicycles. However, all these exotic means of transport were significantly inferior in quantity to motorcycles and light all-terrain vehicles.

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To reinforce the units after the landing, light airborne tanks were created. The A. 17 Mk VII became the first of them, created back in 1937 on an initiative basis by the Vickers company (then still as an ordinary light cruiser under the code P.R.). Subsequently, the vehicle was named "Tetrarch" Mk I. Dimensions of the tank: length 4.62 meters, width 2.39, height 2.1, ground clearance 0.35 meters. Combat weight 7.64 tons, crew of three. The rectangular hull of the tank was assembled from riveted armor plates installed vertically. The frontal plate is installed at an angle, in its center there is an armored control post: when the front part of the protrusion was folded to the right, the head and shoulders of the driver were opened, which provided the latter with an excellent view. With the hatch closed, observation was carried out through a small viewing slot in its central part. The Tetrarch's armor was very weak: the front of the hull and turret was 16 mm, the side was 14, and the rear was 10 mm. To some extent, this disadvantage was compensated for by the presence of a large number of internal armored partitions (10 - 14 mm), which strengthened the protection of the crew. The same partition separated the fuel tanks from the rest of the internal volume (they contained 124 liters of fuel), in addition, drainage holes were made in the bottom under them to drain fuel in case of damage. An additional fuel tank was installed at the stern in a horizontal position.

The crew is three people. The riveted two-seater tower had a cylindrical shape, on each side it was equipped with two 4-inch (101.6 mm) smoke grenade launchers with 8 grenade ammunition. Observation devices are equipped with removable triplexes, all vehicles are radio-equipped (standard radio station No. 19 is installed). A cannon and a machine gun were installed in a developed mask. The turret was spacious enough, but the observation devices did not provide the tank commander, who also performed the functions of the loader, a sufficient view. Its armament consisted of a 2-pounder (40-mm) Vickers OQF Mk IX cannon with a 52 caliber barrel and a licensed Czech 7.92-mm BESA machine gun paired with it. The cannon's armor-piercing projectile penetrated 57-mm armor at a range of up to 450 meters at a meeting angle of 30 degrees. The lifting and turning of the gun was carried out using a manual drive. Ammunition 50 artillery rounds, 2025 rounds.

Engine - 12-cylinder horizontally-op-posite Meadows MAT liquid-cooled 165 hp. from. at 2700 rpm. The "Tetrarch" is equipped with a five-speed Meadows gearbox, control could be duplicated using brakes and a simple differential via final drives. The tank is equipped with a completely unusual steering device - from the usual car steering wheel to all four rollers on each side there were steering rods. When turning, large-diameter rollers simply turned at the appropriate angle (like a car) and the tank changed direction. At the same time, the track with hinges in the tracks was bent by a special device. The wheel skew system, devoid of hydraulic boosters, required very great efforts from the driver. The second and third rollers could move inward or outward, thereby providing track tension when cornering (this chassis device was originally used on the BREN carrier armored personnel carrier, but, unlike the latter, the improved Tetrarch suspension system worked smoothly). The tension of the caterpillar was regulated by the flywheel; during tight turns, the driver used the control levers and slowed down the shafts of the final drives.

There was no steering wheel, three road wheels on each side were rubberized, the rear one served as a drive wheel and did not have a rubber band. Individual hydropneumatic suspension, due to which a significant smoothness was achieved. The maximum speed on the highway reached 64 km / h, the cruising range was 224 kilometers. The "Tetrarch" overcame the following obstacles: an ascent of up to 35 degrees, a vertical wall up to 0.5 meters high, a ditch up to 2.2 meters wide and a ford up to 0.9 meters deep.

Serial production began in 1941 at the Metropolitan Cummell company, 35 units were produced during the year, including the Tetrarch Mk I CS fire support tanks armed with the 76.2-mm OQF Mk I short-barreled howitzer. In the Tetrarchs ground forces used little (in Madagascar in 1942, in southern Italy in 1943, etc.). At the beginning of the war, a significant number of vehicles immediately after release were transferred to the reserve for the formed airborne divisions, where they began to arrive at the beginning of 1943. The tank was transported by the already mentioned heavy amphibious glider "Hamilcar", and in flight the crew had to be inside. It was assumed that after landing, the machines will immediately leave the glider and go into battle on the move.

For the first time in the history of action, airborne armored vehicles were used by the British during the invasion of Northern France. Eight light Tetrarch tanks of the 6th Airborne Reconnaissance Regiment were landed from Hamilcar gliders. One of the vehicles was lost over the English Channel: the glider got into the wake of the towing propellers, went into a tailspin and fell into the sea, and the tank fell out through the opened nose of the glider along with the crew, the rest were safely landed as part of the second wave of assault forces with the task of attacking the bridge across the Orne river. Almost all the cars, leaving the gliders, got entangled by the caterpillars in the parachutes, as if covering the ground in the landing area with a carpet, and did not take part in further battles. Eight more tanks were landed from the sea.

Weak armament and armor of the Tetrarch, the difficulty of managing it, forced the military department and the Vickers company to consider the possibility of replacing it. A new improved sample of this type, created in 1943, received the index А.25 Mk VI1I, and then in honor of the US Secretary of State it was unofficially named "Harry Hopkins". Three prototypes of the new tank were built by Vickers, its serial production, as in the case of the Tetrarch, was taken over by Metropolitan Cummell. The machine was originally intended exclusively for use in the Airborne Forces.

While maintaining the design of the chassis, transmission and steering device, the latter uses a hydraulic system to facilitate the driver's work. The thickness of the frontal armor has been increased to 38 mm (side 14, tower 16, rear 10 mm), the hull and tower (lower than that of the "Tetrarch") received a new configuration with increased angles of inclination of armor plates. The heavily sloped frontal plate is one-piece, without a protruding driver's post.

The 40-mm cannon, the same as on the previous model, could be equipped with a special “Little John” barrel attachment, which increased the muzzle velocity of the AP shell from 680 to 1200 m / s. True, the installed nozzle did not allow the use of high-explosive ammunition. The ammunition capacity of the cannon and machine gun is similar to that of the Tetrarch. A two-inch (50.8 mm) smoke grenade launcher was mounted next to the cannon, which was charged from the breech from inside the vehicle. Combat weight increased to 8.63 tons, speed and power reserve dropped to 48 km / h and 190 kilometers, respectively. The length of the car was 4.3 meters, width 2.45, height 1.85 meters. Radio equipment is similar to that installed on the Mk VII. Until 1944, the Metropolitan firm produced 99 Harry Hopkins, which were sent in targeted order to the tank units of the airborne troops. They did not participate in the battles, being used as training and being in reserve storage. The light self-propelled artillery unit "Alecto" (Alekton is an ancient Greek mythological character), originally called "Harry Hopkins" Mk I CS and developed on the basis of the tank (it was planned to install four variants of weapons on it - from the 6-pounder M1 anti-tank gun to the 25-pounder gun -howitzers Mk 2), did not even lead to the construction of a prototype. The technical requirements for its creation were put forward back in April 1942, but the construction of the prototype was delayed until the end of the war.

The Harry Hopkins was the last British light tank developed before the end of the war. These clumsy vehicles did not fit into the concept of creating an airborne tank, since they could only perform reconnaissance functions. Shortly after the Normandy operation, the British replaced the Tetrarchs of the 6th division's reconnaissance regiment with 12 Cromwell medium tanks. In search of the best example of an airborne tank, the British Department of Defense stopped at the purchase of American M22 vehicles (English name “Locust” - “Locust”), armed with a 37-mm cannon. By the beginning of 1945, the number of these machines in the British Airborne Forces reached 260 units. Heavy gliders "Hamilcar" were also used for their landing. Unlike the allies, the British "Locasts" took part in the battles - while crossing the Rhine on March 25, 1945, six tanks from the 6th Airborne Division supported the actions of the paratroopers.

In addition to tanks, the paratroopers used in the Normandy operation light tracked armored personnel carriers "Universal carrier" (universal transporter), which were used as a machine gun or tractor. These small machines were armed with a Boise Mk I anti-tank rifle and one machine gun - a 12.7-mm American Browning M2, and more often a 7.62-mm hand-held BREN Mk I. The crew of 3-4 people.

The Canadians have developed for the needs of the Airborne Forces a sample of a special aerotransportable reconnaissance tracked vehicle, nicknamed "Jeep-tank". A crew of two was housed in a small welded hull; the engine was borrowed from a Wyllis passenger car. Built-in weapons were not installed, but the armored car had a 7.71-mm BREN light machine gun. The car was almost never mass-produced: only two small series were produced.

After the disbandment in 1949 - 1950 of the squadrons of heavy landing gliders, the same fate befell the tank units of the Airborne Forces. The "Harry Hopkins" and "Locast" vehicles in their arsenal were transferred to the reserve and then removed from service.

As for the means of dealing with enemy tanks, the British paratroopers received by 1944 a PIAT anti-tank gun of 50.8 mm caliber, created after the successful use of the American bazooka. The grenade launcher had a one-legged bipod with a wide support, and instead of the usual rear end nozzle, a powerful tubular shoulder rest with a thick shock absorber was installed on the weapon - a means of extinguishing a rather strong recoil when fired. The PIAT calculation, as a rule, consisted of two people - a shooter and a carrier of cumulative grenades, which were placed in special cappers, combined in three pieces and equipped with straps for easy portability. The weapon had weak armor penetration and was not effective enough against heavily armored German tanks, which were also equipped with additional anti-cumulative screens at that time.

A uniform

The British Airborne Forces, created under the impression of the brilliant successes of their German counterparts, borrowed from them many details of their equipment and uniforms. The beginning of the formation in 1940 of parachute units gave rise to many specific problems with their provision of items of equipment, which were partially resolved after familiarization with the samples of German uniforms captured in Holland and Crete. At the end of 1941, the British introduced training overalls for paratroopers to be worn over equipment, special cut trousers with an enlarged hip patch pocket, and lace-like boots with thick rubber soles that looked like army boots. All uniforms were based on the standard combined-arms "battledress" (model 1937) with some additions. So, the flap of the mentioned hip pocket, located on the left leg, in addition to the button-fastener, was supplied with two buttons that fixed its edges. This was done so that during a sharp shock that accompanied the opening of the parachute, objects lying in it would not fly out of the pocket. Field boots of black leather were also of a special troop pattern (the so-called type SV): with a powerful shock-absorbing vulcanized rubber sole. The sole was attached to the boot with brass screws. Standard field gaiters with buckle fasteners were worn over the shoes.

The most notable part of the special uniform was the Denison's smock, named after its manufacturer. However, it was often called the "Polish blouse". In appearance, the jumpsuit was very similar to its German ancestor - its early samples even had short trousers reaching mid-thigh. Later they were abandoned and the overalls took the form of a loose blouse with shoulder straps and four patch pockets with large metal buttons.

The zipper (its slider was supplied with a long cloth tongue) reached the middle of the chest, so it was necessary to take off and put on clothes over the head. In the groin area, six metal buttons were sewn onto the overhead flaps in two rows: with their help, the floors could be partially wrapped around the hips when jumping (again, according to the German model). In addition, the floors were fitted with straps on the sides to adjust the size of the jacket. There was a drawstring at the waist.

At first, the loose sleeves of the blouse were fastened with straps with plastic buttons, but by the summer of 1944 they were replaced by an improved model - with elastic cuffs so that the sleeves did not inflate with air during the jump. The jumpsuit was sewn of camouflage cotton material (spots and irregular strokes of dark brown and green colors on a basic light olive background). As a rule, machine-gun magazines and grenades were placed in his spacious pockets. Officers' insignia were worn on shoulder straps, sergeant chevrons on the right or both sleeves.

Under the steel helmet, they often wore a knitted "Lofoten" hat, which was also worn by the commandos. A multifunctional camouflage net-muffler was tied around the neck, which served mainly to cover the face (including from mosquitoes). At night, paratroopers from the Pathfinder groups or SAS saboteurs blackened their faces with burnt cork or homemade camouflage cream.

Under the overalls, the paratroopers wore the usual field uniforms with the improvements described above. At the shoulder seams of both arms, the "battledress" wore arched chestnut stripes, on which the white inscription "AIRBORNE" was embroidered or printed with paint. Just below the stripes, on both sleeves, there was the emblem of the Airborne Forces - a square chestnut patch with a silhouette of the ancient hero Bellerophon swinging a spear, riding a winged horse Pegasus, embroidered on it with white silk. The stripes on two sleeves had a mirror image: Pegasus's head always looked forward in the direction of travel. The emblem was designed by Edward Seago; subsequently, on the field uniform, the chestnut background was replaced by a khaki color, and the white silk - by a light gray thread.

On the right sleeve of a field jacket and Denison's overalls, all parachute-trained servicemen (with the exception of SAS fighters) wore a qualification badge - an image of a white open parachute and two blue wings slightly lowered down were embroidered on a khaki-colored figured flap. On camouflage overalls, this badge was worn just above the sergeant's chevrons, on the "battledress" jacket - between the chevrons and the emblem of the Airborne Forces with Pegasus. There was a variant of the sign embroidered on a chestnut background.

The main headdress in the British Airborne Forces, which later became a symbol of the airborne units of the whole world, was the maroon beret: its color gave British paratroopers the nickname "red devils". The beret was sewn from one piece of felt and had a leather trim on the bottom edge. The starboard side was longer than the left side, due to which the beret was broken to the right side. Inside the black leather belt was a braid that was tied at the back of the head with a bow (thanks to this, the headdress could be adjusted to the required size). On the sides there were twin ventilation holes. The berets of paratroopers and commandos were very different in cut from the Scottish "Tam'o'Shantters" and the combined arms, who changed their field caps in 1943. The latter were sewn from several fragments of khaki combed fabric, and along their lower edge there was a wide cloth rim. On the raised side of the beret, above the left eyebrow, the paratroopers wore the cockade of the Parachute Regiment made of silver metal. The emblem was an image of an open parachute between two wings spread out to the sides. Above, the entire composition is crowned with a royal crown, on which stands a lion (however, in combat conditions, the emblem was often removed). Like the beret itself, the cockade has survived to this day.

The officer's stars in the Airborne Forces were of a special style: not metal, but embroidered with black and white thread on chestnut cloth rhombuses.

In full dress uniforms, the British paratroopers wore a wide woven chestnut belt with a massive gold buckle. On the latter was a miniature image of the Airborne Forces cockade. The buckle was fastened with a hook and loop; the belt was regulated in length similar to the well-known ceremonial officer belt of the Soviet Army.

Airborne artillerymen wearing chestnut berets wore the emblems of a kind of troops: a silver image of an ancient cannon crowned with a crown with a bannik leaning against it and a ribbon with the Latin motto: "QUO FAS ET GLORIA DUCUNT". On the sleeves, the gunners wore stripes with the inscription "AIRBORNE", square emblems of the Airborne Forces and the sign of the parachutist (who was supposed to).

In conclusion, a few words should be said about the uniforms of the pilots of landing gliders. Since the latter were on the staff of the Airborne Forces, they received the usual parachute uniforms (including "Denison" overalls and chestnut beret) and insignia. The badges served as a difference from other personnel. Above the left pocket there was a stripe of a pilot of an amphibious glider, silver-white against a black background: the crown on which the British lion rests between two outstretched wings.

To compensate for the heavy losses suffered by the glider pilots in the landing near Arnhem (several hundred qualified pilots were killed or captured), the long course of their training had to be drastically reduced. The officers and sergeants who passed it were included in the crews only as co-pilots. To distinguish them from experienced pilots of the "old school", this category is assigned a badge with a golden letter "G" (Glider - glider) in a golden oval between two small wings. These emblems were sewn on service jackets, battledress jackets and camouflage overalls.

The daily uniform of the pilots is similar to the combined-arms uniform, with all the insignia of the Airborne Forces, supplemented by the aforementioned emblems. In flight, the glider pilots wore a standard Type C aviation leather helmet and various samples of oxygen masks (mostly Type F). However, a protective brown fiber frame was fixed over the helmet with headphones, which protected the pilot from head injuries in an accident - this often happened during landings on rough terrain, often equipped with Rommel's asparagus.

It should be noted that, in contrast to the American Airborne Forces, the British soldiers of the landing and glider units were outfitted in the same way as the paratroopers, with the exception of the qualification mark on the right forearm.

Canadian paratroopers were outfitted according to the British model, but the field "battledress" were supplied by domestic factories and were of significantly better quality than military clothing from the metropolis. Uniforms were made of softer and more durable fabric, which had a pronounced greenish khaki tint. At the shoulder seams of both sleeves, the Canadians wore their own distinctive sign - a rectangular cloth patch with a yellowish or white inscription "CANADA". Other insignia and emblems are identical to those in English.

Yuri Nenakhov

From the book "Special Forces in World War II"