Editing Paratrooper (section)

===United Kingdom===
The [[Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom)|Parachute Regiment]] has its origins in the elite force of [[British Commandos|Commandos]] set up by the [[British Army]] at the request of [[Winston Churchill]], the [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]], during the initial phase of the [[World War II|Second World War]]. Churchill had been an enthusiast of the concept of airborne warfare since the [[World War I|First World War]], when he had proposed the creation of a force that might assault the German flanks deep behind the trenches of the static [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]].<ref>Reproduced in Blunt, Victor, ''The User of Air Power''. Military Service Publishing Company; Harrisburg, 1943: ppv-ix.</ref> In 1940 and in the aftermath of the [[Dunkirk evacuation]] and the [[Battle of France|Fall of France]], Churchill's interest was caught again by the idea of taking the fight back to Europe – the airborne was now a means "to be able to storm a series of water obstacles... everywhere from the Channel to the Mediterranean and in the East''".''<ref>Browning, F. "Airborne Forces", RUSI Journal 89, no. 556 (1944): pp350-361.</ref>
[[File:British Paratroops inside one of the C-47 transport aircraft.jpg|thumb|British paratroopers inside one of the C-47 transport aircraft, September 1944]]
Enthusiasts within the British armed forces were inspired in the creation of airborne forces (including the Parachute Regiment, [[Air Landing Regiment]], and the [[Glider Pilot Regiment]]) by the example of the German Luftwaffe's Fallschirmjäger, which had a major role in the invasions of Norway, and the Low Countries, particularly the attack on [[Fort Eben-Emael]] in Belgium, and a pivotal, but costly role in the [[Battle of Crete|invasion of Crete]]. From the perspective of others, however, the proposed airborne units had a key weakness: they required exactly the same resources as the new [[strategic bomber]] capability, another high priority, and would also compete with the badly stretched strategic air lift capability, essential to Churchill's strategy in the Far East.<ref>Slessor, John "Some Reflections on Airborne Forces" ''Army Quarterly'', 1948, p161.</ref> It took the continued reintervention of Churchill to ensure that sufficient aircraft were devoted to the airborne project to make it viable.

Britain's first airborne assault took place on February 10, 1941, when, what was then known as II [[Special Air Service]] (some 37 men of 500 trained in [[No. 2 Commando]] plus three Italian interpreters), parachuted into Italy to blow up an aqueduct in a daring raid named [[Operation Colossus]]. After the Battle of Crete, it was agreed that Britain would need many more paratroopers for similar operations. No 2 Commando were tasked with specialising in airborne assault and became the nucleus of the Parachute Regiment, becoming the [[1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment|1st Battalion]]. The larger scale drops in [[Allied invasion of Sicily|Sicily]] by the [[1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom)|1st Airborne Division]] in 1943 met with mixed success, and some commanders concluded the airborne experiment was a failure.<ref>Hand, Roger "Overlord and Operational Art" ''Military Review'', 1995:87</ref> Once again, it took the reintervention of senior British political leaders, looking ahead to the potential needs of [[Normandy landings|the invasion of France]], to continue the growth in British airborne resources.

Extensive successful drops were made during the [[Normandy landings]] by the [[6th Airborne Division (United Kingdom)|6th Airborne Division]] (see [[Operation Tonga]]), under the command of [[Major-general (United Kingdom)|Major-General]] [[Richard Gale (British Army officer)|Richard Nelson Gale]], but [[Operation Market Garden]] to seize a corridor across the Netherlands as far as [[Battle of Arnhem|Arnhem]] with the 1st Airborne Division under [[Roy Urquhart]] were less successful, and proved, in the famous phrase, to be ''[[A Bridge Too Far (film)|A Bridge too far]]'' and the 1st Airborne was virtually destroyed. Later large scale drops, such as those on the Rhine under [[Operation Varsity]] and involving the British 6th and the [[17th Airborne Division (United States)|US 17th]], were successful, but less ambitious in their intent to seize ground. After the war, there was fierce debate within the cash-strapped British armed forces as to the value of airborne forces. Many noted the unique contribution they had made within the campaign.<ref>See for example, Gale, Richard, ''With the 6th Airborne Division in Normandy'', Sampson Low: London, 1948.</ref> Others pointed to the extreme costs involved and the need for strict prioritisation.<ref>Slessor, John "Some Reflections on Airborne Forces" ''Army Quarterly'', 1948, p164.</ref> During the debate, the contribution of British airborne forces in the [[South-East Asian theatre of World War II|Far Eastern theatres]] was perhaps underplayed,<ref>See for example their contribution to General Slim's [[William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim#Burma campaign|Burma campaign.]]</ref> to the long term detriment of the argument.

Several parachute squadrons of the [[Royal Air Force Regiment]] were formed in World War II in order to secure airfields for the [[RAF]] – this capability is currently operated by [[No. 2 Squadron RAF Regiment|II Squadron]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafregiment/roles/|title=RAF Regiment Roles|publisher=Raf.mod.uk|access-date=2014-02-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140309182202/https://www.raf.mod.uk/rafregiment/roles/|archive-date=2014-03-09|url-status=dead}}</ref>