PARACHUTE TROOPS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 195, 5 August 1940, Page 7

PARACHUTE TROOPS

TACTICS DESCRIBED ' ELITE OF GERMAN YOUTH* The important part played by German parachute troops in the attack on Holland and Belgium is emphasised in a statement issued by tho German News Agency and ascribed to a German military spokesman. How was it that we achieved such quick results? (he writes). The British and French troops advancing from Northern Fiance could not in any way be regarded as weak or cowardly. Silently, but with all energy, Field-Marshal Goering had created a corps consisting of the elite of German youth and shaped them into fighters of a particular kind—the parachute rellcmen and air landing corps. Equipped with the most up-to-date weapons, these troops attack the heart of the enemy directly from the air. Points of first-class strategic importance arc their aims. Under the tactics of surprise, these, storm troops of the air opened the gates to the fortifications of Holland and Belgium for the German armies. Landing behind the enemy's back, they occupied the most important bridges across the Meuse, prevented their blowing up by the enemy, and secured the bridges until the advance units of the army arrived. With lightning.speed they occupied the roads in the and thus created the preliminary conditions for our smooth advance. In a surprise move they penetrated the forts of Eben-Emael, which, as the cornerstone of the Liege fortress, dominated all the crossings of the Meuse. In the same way they took possession of the most important Dutch aerodromes and thus made it possible for German "planes to land in Holland in the early hours of May 12. This war operation, unique in method and execution, will be written in the book of history of warfare in golden letters.