Soviet WWII Parachute Operations

[mlipo]

This is from Catherine Merridale's book IVAN'S WAR:

"...it has been estimated that the Soviet population included more than a million trained parachutists at the end of 1940. It was ironic, one of many ironies, that parachute troops would prove marginal to the war effort when the crisis came."

I didn't feel like typing the entire paragraph, but she had described how the USSR was in a parachute craze in the late 30s.

Anyway, after reading this passage, I wondered why they were marginal. Were there any notable large scale Soviet airborne operations?

[Veldmaarschalk]

Originally Posted by mlipo

This is from Catherine Merridale's book IVAN'S WAR:

"...it has been estimated that the Soviet population included more than a million trained parachutists at the end of 1940. It was ironic, one of many ironies, that parachute troops would prove marginal to the war effort when the crisis came."

I didn't feel like typing the entire paragraph, but she had described how the USSR was in a parachute craze in the late 30s.

Anyway, after reading this passage, I wondered why they were marginal. Were there any notable large scale Soviet airborne operations?

Yes, but they all ended in failure

In the winter of 1942 a corps sized landing took place behind army group Centre and in 1943, another airborn drop took place during the crossing of the Dnjepr-river

http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour...SO.asp#dnieper

[mlipo]

Originally Posted by Veldmaarschalk

Yes, but they all ended in failure

In the winter of 1942 a corps sized landing took place behind army group Centre and in 1943, another airborn drop took place during the crossing of the Dnjepr-river

http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour...SO.asp#dnieper

Thanks!

[Commander-DK]

The idea of developing the Fallschirmjäger actually came from German observers participating in major Italian and Soviet paratrooper experimental drills in 1933-1935, prompting Hermann Göring to establish the first Fallschirmjäger company from some of his "own" regiments in 1936. By 1939 they had evolved into the first couple of regiments and in 1940 to Kurt Student's 7. Flieger-Division - AFAIK the world's first division-sized paratrooper formation.

Just a bit of trivia for all you para-fans out there

Dunno why the Soviets never got any further with their experimental units than they did.

:-) Jesper

[Emperor of Europe]

Originally Posted by Commander-DK

The idea of developing the Fallschirmjäger actually came from German observers participating in major Italian and Soviet paratrooper experimental drills in 1933-1935, prompting Hermann Göring to establish the first Fallschirmjäger company from some of his "own" regiments in 1936. By 1939 they had evolved into the first couple of regiments and in 1940 to Kurt Student's 7. Flieger-Division - AFAIK the world's first division-sized paratrooper formation.

Just a bit of trivia for all you para-fans out there

Dunno why the Soviets never got any further with their experimental units than they did.

:-) Jesper

Huh? As already stated in this thread: They had the largest airborne forces of the world. The Germans were relative newcomers. And the US and UK were very late.

rgds/EoE

[gagenater]

Originally Posted by Commander-DK

The idea of developing the Fallschirmjäger actually came from German observers participating in major Italian and Soviet paratrooper experimental drills in 1933-1935, prompting Hermann Göring to establish the first Fallschirmjäger company from some of his "own" regiments in 1936. By 1939 they had evolved into the first couple of regiments and in 1940 to Kurt Student's 7. Flieger-Division - AFAIK the world's first division-sized paratrooper formation.

Just a bit of trivia for all you para-fans out there

Dunno why the Soviets never got any further with their experimental units than they did.

:-) Jesper

Soviet Paratroop units performed poorly - IMHO because the times they were used they were used in ways that didn't exploit their good points well enough, and were to poorly co-ordinated with other operations. Once Hitler declared war on the Soviet Union the opportunity for the USSR to mount a usefully effective parachute attack (one where the USSR would gain more than it lost) was no longer present. I think the Russians made the right decision to stop pouring resources into transports and paratroop training and send those resources into tanks infantry and fighters.

[cdat]

No large-scale use of paratroopers, other than as elite infantry shock units in standard ground missions, was made by the Red Army with the exception of the drop of two brigades in 1943. Both brigades were almost entirely wiped out in this mission. Failure in this case was ascribed to the fact that the troopers were inadequately armed, and to insufficient training of the pilots making the lift. The troopers were dropped from too great an altitude, and were widely scattered. The equipment drops also failed.

Seems to be a reason why you'd not want to keep wasting men..........