Osprey's British Paratrooper vs Fallschirmjaeger

This is the first book of a new series from Osprey called Combat. It is very much like its successful Duel series except it compares types of soldiers in various combat events when they faced each other. In this first issue, it puts British and German paratroopers together. There were several instances in the North Africa and Sicily campaigns of 1942 and 1943 when these two groups met each other and those are covered later in the book.

First off, there is an introduction to the subject. The paratroopers have always been considered an elite force. They accept only volunteers and go through much more rigorous training than the usual infantry soldier. Not in the least is the jumping out of the airplane part. They are generally lightly armed and have to learn to survive without external support for a period of time from hours to days. The washout rate is relatively high, but the end result are some supremely trained men.

The Germans had paratroopers since before WWII and they certainly showed their worth in the first year of the war. It was in 1941 and the near debacle of Crete where so many men and transports were lost that the German army stopped using them as airborne troops and put them into place as small, highly mobile (as in air transportable) ground troops. Despite not jumping from planes anymore, the training was still difficult and being a fallschirmjaeger still meant you were an elite soldier.

The British never really caught on to the airborne thing, with most of the upper brass thinking it was a waste of time. Yet the British airborne did finally get underway and while there were major issues (like the RAF and not the unit commander picking the drop zones), the British were able to put forward a credible airborne force. Still, it was not well understood and there were many setbacks and debacles (such as in Operation Market Garden). Like their German counterparts, the training was difficult, they only accepted volunteers and they were an elite force.

Once we look at how the forces were formed, how they were trained and their tactical doctrine, we get into the heart of the book. This is three different occasions where the two units met each other in combat. The first was in late 1942 in Tunisia at Point DuFahs, Depienne, and Oudna where British paratroopers were dropped to take over three airfields and destroy planes on the ground. It was here they first ran into Fallschirmjaeger and came to realize they were insufficiently armed as they had no machine guns other than Bren guns. The Germans routinely jumped with MG 34s and were able to control the battlefield with these weapons. Mark one for the Germans.

The second is in January 1943 at Green Hill. This time the British had numeric superiority, but they did not have the high ground nor did they have good communications, which resulted in poor tactics and once again the Germans prevailed. The third time was in Sicily at Primosole Bridge. Here the British were air dropped again and with gliders, only to have a goodly number of planes turn back due to being shot at by friendly fire, and a number crash. This resulted in fewer men and even less in terms of heavy arms, of which most was lost in glider crashes. Despite this, they were able to reach and clear their objective. However, they could not hold it and were eventually swept off by the Germans.

So here you have three instances and the Germans came out ahead in all three. However, not every German soldier was a Fallschirmjaeger and these men were generally considered to be much better trained, including the ability of NCOs to carry on to the objective when their officers were lost. This lack of strict 'need to know' that was the way the British operated, said much about the success of the Germans.

The book ends in a look at all the differences in each situation and comes to some very interesting conclusions. It is a good start to this new series and I book I am sure you will enjoy reading.

October 2013