OM AIR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 July 1940, Page 9

OM AIR

.HUTE LANDINGS *3 BRITAIN PREPARED. SPIES AND “SUICIDE SQUADS.” One of the most pertinent questions; raised by the German invasion of Luxemburg and the Low Countries is whether Hitler will try to land parachute troops in England. If he does Britain is prepared. It is stated that the British Government is expecting attempts to land German parachutists, and that they may not be soldiers at first. There is reason to believe that Nazi spies in civilian clothes, speaking English fluently and with English money in their wallets, may attempt landings on moors and in hilly districts at dusk or just before dawn. These people may try to prepare the way for Nazi parachute troops landing a few hours before a mass air attack on airfields, aeroplane and air-engine factories and supply stores. The enemy plain-clothes parachute men might even try to secure' lodging at hotels, and then guide uniformed parachute, troops to the places where most damage could be done. The Nazi uniformed parachute soldiers, who are volunteer “suicide squads” would cut telephone wires and throw hand grenades into telephone exchanges near airfields, as they did in Norway. The aim would be to sabotage Britain’s air defence mechanism in advance of the arrival of the bombs. It is estimated that parachute spies —supposing their aeroplanes were not shot down before they could jump have only one chance in 1000 of remaining undiscovered. Mr W. Necker, writing in the “Sunday Express,” states that Germany has been training her parachute troops for over four years. "At the beginning of 1935,” he says, “the Nazis incorporated a parachute battalion in the formation, which was by now a regiment of the army, later called the General Goering Regiment. . “Their fittest troops were trained as parachute jumpers,” he adds. "In addition to the actual infantrymen there are also signallers, whose task, immediately on landing, is to establish radio communication with the main body of the army and the individual formations landed from the air. There aie also parachute sappers, machine-gun sections and artillerymen.” The parachutists are trained in the language and use of the special arms of the country in which they are to land.