Editing Paratrooper (section)

===Germany===
{{Main|Fallschirmjäger}}

The first known airborne commando operation in military history was conducted by Maximilian Hermann Richard Paschen von Cossel, then Leutnant of the Royal Prussian Army and his new pilot, then Royal Saxon Vice Sergeant Rudolf Windisch. Windisch flew the Roland Walfisch used for this purpose and set Cossel down in a wooded area behind the Russian front. During the night of October 2/3, 1916, Cossel blew up the Rowno–Brody railway line, 85 kilometers behind the eastern front, in several places. This was acknowledged in the army report of October 4, 1916: Eastern theater of war: ... Oberleutnant v. Cossel, who was set down from the plane southwest of Rowno by Vice Sergeant Windisch and picked up again after 24 hours, interrupted the Rowno-Brody railway line at several points by means of explosives. ... The First Quartermaster General. Ludendorff. According to Russian reports, however, the tracks were only slightly damaged in one place, so that a train just passing them could continue its journey unhindered.

[[Nazi Germany]]'s ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' {{Lang|de|[[Fallschirmjäger (World War II)|Fallschirmjäger]]}} units made the first [[airborne forces|airborne invasion]] when invading [[Denmark]] on April 9, 1940, as part of [[Operation Weserübung]]. In the early morning hours they attacked and took control of the [[Masnedø]] fort and [[Aalborg Air Base|Aalborg Airport]]. The Masnedø fort was positioned such as it guarded the [[Storstrøm Bridge]] between the islands of [[Falster]] and Masnedø – on the main road from the south to [[Copenhagen]]. Aalborg Airport played a key role acting as a refueling station for the [[Luftwaffe]] in the further invasion into [[Norway]]. In the same assault the bridges around [[Aalborg]] were taken. {{Lang|de|Fallschirmjäger|italic=no}} were also used in the Low Countries against the [[Battle of the Netherlands|Netherlands]], although their use against [[Battle for The Hague|The Hague]] was unsuccessful. Their most famous drop was the 1941 [[Battle of Crete]], though they suffered large casualties.
[[File:Wiesel 1 MK20 (1991) Bundeswehr Military History Museum, Dresden.jpg|thumb|left|Wiesel 1 MK20 (1991) of the ''Bundeswehr'' '' Fallschirmjägertruppe'' in the Military History Museum, Dresden]]
Hence later in the war, the [[1st Parachute Division (Germany)|7th Air Division's]] ''Fallschirmjäger'' assets were re-organised and used as the core of a new series of elite Luftwaffe Infantry divisions, numbered in a series beginning with the [[German 1st Fallschirmjäger Division|1st ''Fallschirmjäger'' Division]]. These formations were organised and equipped as [[motorized infantry|motorised infantry]] divisions, and often played a "fire brigade" role on the western front. Their constituents were often encountered on the battlefield as ad hoc [[Battlegroup (army)|battle groups]] (''[[Kampfgruppe]]n'') detached from a division or organised from miscellaneous available assets. In accord with standard German practice, these were called by their commander's name, such as ''Group Erdmann'' in France and the [[Ramcke Parachute Brigade|''Ramcke'' Parachute Brigade]] in [[Deutsches Afrikakorps|North Africa]].
[[File:2684754 A German Bundeswehr soldier of 4th Paratrooper Company, 31st Paratrooper Regiment 2016.jpg|thumb|A German ''Bundeswehr'' soldier of 4th Paratrooper Company, 31st Paratrooper Regiment in 2016]]

After mid-1944, ''Fallschirmjäger'' were no longer trained as paratroops owing to the realities of the strategic situation, but retained the ''Fallschirmjäger'' honorific. Near the end of the war, the series of new ''Fallschirmjäger'' divisions extended to over a dozen, with a concomitant reduction in quality in the higher-numbered units of the series. Among these divisions was the 9th ''Fallschirmjäger'' Division, which was the final parachute division to be raised by Germany during [[World War II]]. The Russian army destroyed the division during the [[Battle of Berlin]] in April 1945. The ''Fallschirmjäger'' were issued specialist weapons such as the [[FG 42]] and specially designed helmets.

In the modern [[Germany|German]] ''[[Bundeswehr]]'', the ''Fallschirmjägertruppe'' continue to form the core of special operations units. The division has two brigade equivalents and several independent companies and battalions. All told, about 10,000 troops served in that division in 2010, most of them support or logistics personnel. The Fallschirmjägertruppe currently uses the Wiesel Armoured Weapons Carrier (AWC), a light air-transportable [[armoured fighting vehicle]], more specifically a lightly armoured weapons carrier. It is quite similar to historical scouting [[tankette]]s in size, form and function, and is the only true modern tankette in use in Western Europe.<ref name=Tank>{{cite web |url=http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/coldwar/West_Germany/Wiesel_AWC.php |title=Wiesel AWC |publisher=Tanks Encyclopedia |access-date=7 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150608001141/http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/coldwar/West_Germany/Wiesel_AWC.php |archive-date=8 June 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>