Post by 2nd Bat on Aug 28, 2018 23:46:19 GMT -5
This question is one I often pondered while considering various airsoft scenarios. I was quite shocked to learn that it happened once during WW2! Five days after the allies landed on Scicily the British sent a large airborne unit with a planned drop intended to serve as reinforcementz for allied troops advancing inland. They took off from Tunisia for a night drop. Incredibly at airields near Rome Fallsimjagers took off at around the same time with a plan to conduct harrass and supply interdiction behind the British advance. They selected the exact same drop zone and an almost identical schedule.
In a night drop your first order of business is to find your heavy weapons and rally into some form of unit cohesion. Both the British and Germans airborne units bundle their logistics and heavy weapons and drop them seperate from the paratroopers. As you can imagine airborne operations are chaotic and confusing. Night drops are especially so.
Both the British and fallsimjagers have similar shaped bucket helmets and jump spocks and initially neither were aware the the aircraft flying overhead and descending parachutes were enemy troops. On at least one occassion paratroopers walked together for several minutes and until the German spoke neither realized they were not on the same side. In that instance a quicker and more accurate reaction by the Brit sealed the outcome. Throughout the night individual and small unit encounters in many cases hand-to-hand were commonplace. By morning the British controlled the drop zone with many prisoners.
An amazing example of coinicidental happenstance and the quirks of warfare.
Both the English and Germans used signal flares and whistles to coordinate assemb!y and identify rally points or equipment cache locations. Their signal by some accounts were remarkably similar adding further to the confusion. Had it not been for decidedly different weapons reports (The German MP sounds very different than the Sten and the MG 34 sounds very different than the Bren) in many cases there would have been even more confusion differentiating friend from foe.
All in all a remarkable nights action. This failed operation on the heels of what Hitler considered a disasterous operation on Crete added to his reluctance to use airborne troops as designed for most of the war fallsimjagers fought as elite Infantry. Scicly was the last battle where transport aircraft and fuel gave the German Airdrop a chance at success. In the Ardennes another airborne operation was attempted but it had no reasonable chance of succeeding.
In a night drop your first order of business is to find your heavy weapons and rally into some form of unit cohesion. Both the British and Germans airborne units bundle their logistics and heavy weapons and drop them seperate from the paratroopers. As you can imagine airborne operations are chaotic and confusing. Night drops are especially so.
Both the British and fallsimjagers have similar shaped bucket helmets and jump spocks and initially neither were aware the the aircraft flying overhead and descending parachutes were enemy troops. On at least one occassion paratroopers walked together for several minutes and until the German spoke neither realized they were not on the same side. In that instance a quicker and more accurate reaction by the Brit sealed the outcome. Throughout the night individual and small unit encounters in many cases hand-to-hand were commonplace. By morning the British controlled the drop zone with many prisoners.
An amazing example of coinicidental happenstance and the quirks of warfare.
Both the English and Germans used signal flares and whistles to coordinate assemb!y and identify rally points or equipment cache locations. Their signal by some accounts were remarkably similar adding further to the confusion. Had it not been for decidedly different weapons reports (The German MP sounds very different than the Sten and the MG 34 sounds very different than the Bren) in many cases there would have been even more confusion differentiating friend from foe.
All in all a remarkable nights action. This failed operation on the heels of what Hitler considered a disasterous operation on Crete added to his reluctance to use airborne troops as designed for most of the war fallsimjagers fought as elite Infantry. Scicly was the last battle where transport aircraft and fuel gave the German Airdrop a chance at success. In the Ardennes another airborne operation was attempted but it had no reasonable chance of succeeding.