bxr307@csc.anu.oz (07/18/90)
From: bxr307@csc.anu.oz Australian Airborne Operations The first use of airborne troops by the Australian Army occurred 29 January 1943 when Wau in New Guinea, under heavy pressure from the Japanese force advancing on Port Moresby, was reinforced by two Battalions of Australian infantry landed by C47 Dakotas. 57 sorties scraped in under the heavy cloud cover and landed on the small strip. The airstrip itself was under continual small arms fire, and the first sortie found it easier to keep rolling along as the troops jumped out as this made it harder for the Japanese mortars to score a hit. The infantry went straight into action as they landed, many firing from the moment they left the aircraft doors. The tiny strip was 1,000 yards long and had one end 300 feet higher than the other, so all aircraft landed uphill, turned around at the top and immediately took off again downhill. There were no crashes, which speaks volumes for the skill and coolness of the young American pilots who were flying the Dakotas in the difficult weather conditions experienced in the mountainous Owen Stanley ranges. This small operation was followed on 5 September 1943 in the Markham Valley, near the village of Nadzab, which was near the town of Lae (which was the objective of a consecutive sea landing) on the north coast of New Guinea. When a mixed force of American and Australian troops made the first large allied parachute assault in the Pacific. Taking part were a troop of 2/4 Australian Field Regiment, equipped with 25lb Field Guns. They jumped in support of the US 503 Parachute Infantry Regiment. The 503 had first seen action 18 months previously in North Africa. Shortly before the drop they were joined by the troop of Australian artillery. These men had practically no rehearsal at all and no training in parachuting. They were rushed through a quick one-jump qualifying course before being sent off on their first operational jump! Their 25lb field guns were equally rapidly converted to bundles carried under the Dakotas. The gunners were made parachutable within two days, an extraordinary performance, the more so when one remembers that the 25lb Field Gun had never before been dropped by parachute. The actual method for the drop was worked out by the ground crews, just before the guns were loaded onto the aircraft. The Markham Valley was important as it was the only area in which airfields could be easily constructed, which were to be needed in later operations along the north coast of Dutch West Irian, and Northern New Guinea. These were the only airborne operations in which large numbers of Australian troops directly participated in during WWII. However the seeds were laid. After WWII, due both to economic stringencies and no operational need, there was no actual unit trained in the role of parachuting, apart from the two Commando Companies which were raised after the end of the War. However as their role was dedicated to raiding, rather than acting as true airborne or parachute infantry, they do not really count. The Army however, was very much aware of the potential of airborne units and established a parachute training school at Williamtown airbase, near Newcastle on the east coast of Australia. Instructors from the parachute school went on exchange visits to the airborne units of various countries, primarily the UK, the US and Canada. Individuals and the two Commando Companies were trained in various aspects of parachuting in the first 15 years after the end of the war. Once the SAS company (later to be increased to its present strength of a Regiment) was raised in 1961, it also took part in parachute training at Williamtown. Slowly a cadre of dedicated parachute trained individuals was built up within the Army. There was only one attempt at using a unit with Parachute training by the Australian Army in Vietnam. 1 Squadron SASR made a small jump with a five man patrol into Phuoc Tuy Provice in 1967. However it was intended not as an operational jump, but rather as a test to prove that the concept of parachute insertion was possible. The patrol jumped into an already secured drop zone and was quickly withdrawn via APC's back to the Australian Task Force Base at Nui Dat. When the Australian Military Forces were finally withdrawn from South Vietnam in 1972, the Australian forces became dedicated no longer to the concept of "Forward Defence", but rather to "Fortress Australia." It was quickly realised that airborne insertion was an ideal method of quickly moving reasonably large sized infantry units around the vast Australian continent to defeat any likely small scale incursion, which was thought to be the most likely threat that Australia was to face. The Army decided to dedicate one of its infantry Battalions to the task. In 1982 they introduced the first Airborne Infantry Battalion (which was basically the same establishment as the normal infantry Battalion, sans vehicles). The role of the Airborne Infantry Battalion has since then been allocated on a rotating basis amongst the six Regular Army infantry Battalions. This has the advantage of ensuring that the airborne expertise is spread as widely as possible amongst all members of the infantry Battalions. Which helps retention (always a problem in a peacetime professional army facing a period of near full civil employment) and allows the battalions to be redeployed to the role as quickly as possible, with a minimum of training. It does have the disadvantage of diluting the base of expertise which is created within a more specialised unit and also prevents any one unit being truly proficient in the role (large amounts of time being required to learn the new role). In addition to the Airborne Infantry Battalion, the other units within the Australian Army to make use of parachuting as means of insertion are the already mentioned SAS Regiment and the two Commando Companies. The SAS make use of various different techniques which befit their primary role of deep-penetration reconnaissance and unconventional warfare, such as HILO and normal Parachuting, small boats, swimming and vehicles. The two Commando Companies (plus a Signals Squadron which go together to make up the Commando Regiment), which are Army Reserve, rather than Regular Army, use parachuting as only one of their raiding insertion techniques along with canoes, swimming, small boats and vehicles. Brian Ross