Airborne Landing to Air Assault

A History of Military Parachuting

Nikolaos Theotokis

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9781526797612
• eBook ISBN:
  9781526747006
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 20th Century History
• Index: History

A complete history of paratroopers and their role in modern war, including a glossary and photos.
Many books have been written about military parachuting, particularly about famous operations like Crete and Arnhem in the Second World War and notable units like the British Parachute Regiment and the US 101st Airborne Division, but no previous book has covered the entire history of the use of the parachute in warfare.
In this valuable study, Nikolaos Theotokis traces in vivid detail the development of parachuting over the last hundred years and describes how it became a standard tactic in twentieth-century conflicts. As well as depicting a series of historic parachute operations all over the world, he recognizes the role of airmen in the story, for they were the first to use the parachute in warfare when they jumped from crippled planes in combat conditions.
Adapting the parachute for military purposes occurred with extraordinary speed during the First World War and, by the time of the Second World War, it had become an established technique for special operations and offensive actions on a large scale. The range of parachute drops and parachute-led attacks was remarkable, and all the most dramatic examples from the world wars and lesser conflicts are recounted in this graphic and detailed study. The role played by parachute troops as elite infantry is also a vital part of the narrative, as is the way in which techniques of air assault have evolved since the 1970s.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Plates
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Glossary and Abbreviations
• Chapter 1: The Origins of Military Parachuting
• Chapter 2: The Four Pioneer Nations
• Chapter 3: The German Paratroopers
• Chapter 4: The British Paratroopers
• Chapter 5: Other Allied Paratroopers
• Chapter 6: Allied Airborne Operations in Europe (I)
• Chapter 7: Allied Airborne Operations in Europe (II)
• Chapter 8: Japanese, Indian, Gurkha and Chinese Paratroopers
• Chapter 9: Allied Airborne Operations in the Pacific
• Chapter 10: Second World War Special Operations Units
• Chapter 11: Parachutes and Pilots in the Second World War
• Chapter 12: Other Paratroopers
• Chapter 13: Post-1945 Operations (I)
• Chapter 14: The Arab-Israeli and Indo-Pakistan Wars
• Chapter 15: Post-1945 Airborne Operations (II)
• Chapter 16: Airborne Forces and the Vietnam War
• Chapter 17: Airborne Operations and Air Assaults, 1972–2018
• Notes
• Sources
• Plate section