July-August - Air Defense Artillery

Figure 3.
ventional type operations in which an
infantry division normally participates.
These are the penetration, single or double
envelopment, defense, retrograde
movement, and the pursuit. In addition
to the above, the airborne division may
be employed in a vertical envelopment.
The airborne division, when so employed,
utilizes to the maximum extent
its specialized capabilities. The five specific
types of operations which the airborne
division may undertake are discussed
in the following paragraphs.
The first type of operation to be discussed
is the one with which \Vorld vVar
II veterans are most familiar. It is the
close-in vertical envelopment of enemy
forces in which an early link-up with
other friendly ground forces is planned
(see Fig. 5). An example of this type of
operation was the employment of the
82d and 100st Airborne Divisions in the
Normandy invasion of Europe in the
Summer of 1944. This type of operation
is accomplished by seizing, by means of
airborne assault, important tacticallocalitics,
and holding these until the arrival
overland of other major ground combat
forces. Normally, the immediate battle
area is isolated by capturing and holding
critical terrain features and thus blocking
the movement of enemy reserves.
The airborne division is also capable
of making a deep vertical envelopment
into enemy-held territory (see Fig. 6).
The purpose of this type of operation is
to seize an airhead deep in the enemy
Figure 4.
:/0 a I 44-211
country from which major ground or air
operations may be conducted. This type
of operation requires the use of extensive
ground and air forces, and is supplied
completely by air. After the airhead is
seized and secured bv airborne forces.
other ground forces ar~ air landed in the
airhead and subsequently are employed
in their normal role. An example of this
type of operation was Operation Swarmer
conducted by the V Corps in the Camp
1\ IcCall-Fort Bragg area in 1950.
Other types of operations in which
airborne forces may be employed are:
Figure 5.
NO\\' let us look at the AA1\ battalion.
The mission of the battalion is to
provide local antiaircraft defense of assigned
objectives against low-Hying aircraft
and to fire on mechanized or other
terrestrial targets. The capabilities of the
battalion include the air dropping by
parachute of personnel and equipment,
including 40mm guns, quadruple caliber
.50 mounts, and jeeps.
Organization of the battalion is shown
in Fig. 4. Points to be noted are that the
battalion is considerably smaller than the
normal towed or self-propelled version,
and has only three firing batteries. All
personnel except those with strictly administrative
duties must be qualified
parachutists.
\Vith regard to major items of equipment,
the battalion has a total of 24
40mm AAA Guns, 24 rvl55 trailer
mounted quad 50's, and the necessary
minimum amount of transportation to
move the battalion in one echelon. All
of the above equipment can be dropped
by parachute as was proven in tests by
~ AIRHEAD
@ DEP:.RTURE AIRfiELDS
INDEPE NDENT TY~E AIRtJORI/E OPERATIC"
Figure 6.
the seizure, by airborne assault, of an
air base from which further air or airborne
operations may be conducted; the
capturing, by airborne assault, of a vital
area in order to deny its use to the
enemy; the reinforcement, by airborne
movement, of surrounded friendly forces;
and the destruction of enemy installations
by airborne assault, followed by a
prompt withdrawal.
Airborne Antiaircraft Battalion
AFF Board No. 1 a~d on Operation
Swanner. The present equipment is
therefore excellent from the point of
view of getting the equipment into the
airhead. However, once on the ground
towed weapons have serious limitations
with regard to mobil!ty. This is especially
true when the battalion is operating in a
close support role with the Infantry.
Recommended developments that will
overcome these limitations will be discussed
later.
The employment of the Airborne
AAA Battalion is essentially the same as
for the organic AAA battalion of the
infantry division except for the airborne
assault phase of an operation. In such an
operation the battalion is normally
broken down into a parachute echelon
and an air-landed echelon. The parachute
echelon will usually consist of the
major weapons, personnel to man the
weapons, minimum transportation, and
the necessary command, communications,
and staff personnel and equipment.
The air-landed echelon will con-
58 ANTIAIRCRAFT JOURNAL
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