PARA ! - Fifty Years of the Parachute Regiment by Harclerode, Peter

London 1999, Brockhampton, reprint of original edition, hard bound in dust jacket, 6 1/2 x 9 1/2, FINE./FINE CONDITION, 415 pages, numerous illustrations, maps, appendices, index. Few elements of the British Army can boast development from conception to battle-hardened and widely admired elite force status in the space of four years, but The Parachute Regiment is indeed a unique force worthy of its historical tradition and the subject of this outstanding work.The catalyst for the formation of British airborne forces came with the spectacular display of the capabilities of airborne assault by the German forces in the blitzkrieg against the west in 1940. Impressed by the daring and courage of the fallschirmjäger, Churchill sought to create a similar arm for the British Army. Initially airborne operations were carried out by volunteers from all regiments and corps. While Britain was on the defensive, the newly formed parachute units took part in two airborne raids, carrying the war to the enemy in Italy and France. Of these, the most famous is the raid on Bruneval in 1942, during which German radar technology was captured.By the time the Allies were radar to invade `Fortress Europe' in 1944, The Parachute Regiment, which had been formed in 1942, comprised a large number of well equipped and highly trained battalions. Those of the 6th Airborne Division were given the task of holding the vital left flank of the Normandy invasion beaches to block German reinforcements and ensure swift Allied breakout over the strategically vital bridges.The Regiment's most famous hour was again an excellent example of the nature of the warfare it had been conceived to conduct: the ill-fated combined airborne/ground assault in Holland in September 1944 depended entirely on a surprise airborne assault to open a corridor into Germany along which the British Second Army was to pour into the heart of Hitler's Reich. Although the plan failed, it firmly established The Parachute Regiment as an elite force: tough, well trained and capable of undertaking hazardous operations deep in enemy territory.This tradition is no less true now, fifty years on, with the post-war period having seen many further stirring examples of the Regiment's skill and valour throughout the world: from Suez and the jungles of Malaya to the mountains of the Radfan, the Falkland Islands and duties in Northern Ireland.