French Paras in 1940?

[Lt. Ketch]

Originally Posted by chuckfourth

They may not have been dropped as planned because they hadnt completed enough jumping training prior to the German invasion to "Qualify"
It might be a compromise approach to give them the normal infantry drop injury rate.
Best Regards Chuck.

Very true. However, it's possible that if someone was really determined, they probably would have been dropped. Whether they "qualify" or not is generally up to the person throwing them out, not the guy falling through the air. I'm getting this funny image of a bunch of paratroopers cursing a blue streak in French all the way to the ground because they were "qualified" to pull the rip cord. To a ground pounder, what more training does a paratrooper need?

[iCaMpWiThAWP]

Originally Posted by Lt. Ketch

Very true. However, it's possible that if someone was really determined, they probably would have been dropped. Whether they "qualify" or not is generally up to the person throwing them out, not the guy falling through the air. I'm getting this funny image of a bunch of paratroopers cursing a blue streak in French all the way to the ground because they were "qualified" to pull the rip cord. To a ground pounder, what more training does a paratrooper need?

A lot more, first, paratroopers were trained to act independently, so, if you and 5 men miss the drop zone a mile, your task will still be the same, you need to know what to do if you are alone in the dark, go ask the men that jumped in normandy in june '44 if they all were in the LZ at the scheduled time, you also have to know, what if you start spinning?would you know how to stop?i wouldn't, military parachuting is harder than normal as you ar full of combat gear do i need more reasons for training paras?

[Lt. Ketch]

Originally Posted by iCaMpWiThAWP

A lot more, first, paratroopers were trained to act independently, so, if you and 5 men miss the drop zone a mile, your task will still be the same, you need to know what to do if you are alone in the dark, go ask the men that jumped in normandy in june '44 if they all were in the LZ at the scheduled time, you also have to know, what if you start spinning?would you know how to stop?i wouldn't, military parachuting is harder than normal as you ar full of combat gear do i need more reasons for training paras?

Oh, I know about the paras in Normandy. A great read is Ambrose's "D-Day" where he interviewed many of them. I was just going off of the fact that France had mainly a "ground pounder" army and so may not think of those kinds of things. Really, I was just hung up on the image of the cusing frenchman falling through the air.