Historical Antecedents of the Employment of Airborne Units in the Fight against Terrorism and Organised Crime

Abstract

The study examines what tasks connected with law enforcement and the fight against terrorism were carried out by airborne units during the Second World War, and whether the overlap between counter-terrorism and the airborne capability is a recent phenomenon or one already demonstrable in 1939–1945. The authors survey the organisational development up to 1945 of the Soviet, German, British and American parachute troops and of the special operations forces deployed by airborne insertion (Spetsnaz, the Brandenburg Division, the Friedenthal Special Unit and the SAS), then analyse ten concrete operations: the occupation of towns for policing purposes, the capture and release of protected persons, the elimination of irregular forces, the liberation of prisoner-of-war camps and the disarmament of Japanese forces. The conclusion holds that two factors account for the employment of airborne forces — the need for rapid intervention and the need for surprise — and that close cooperation with the intelligence services played a key role in the majority of successful operations. In the authors' view, the Second World War experience confirms that special operations forces operating by airborne insertion continue to hold a decisive role in law-enforcement and counter-terrorist tasks today.

Footnote markers [n] follow the numbering of the Hungarian original (1–17).

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Key concepts (Kulcsfogalmak)

Military organisations and formations

Hungarian term	English equivalent	Explanation
légideszant csapatok	airborne troops	Collective term for formations inserted into the enemy's rear area by air — by parachute, glider or aircraft.
ejtőernyős csapatok	paratroopers, parachute troops	Light-infantry formations inserted by parachute drop.
légideszant hadosztály	airborne division	A higher airborne formation capable of independent operational employment.
ejtőernyős zászlóalj	parachute battalion	The basic organisational unit of airborne forces.
deszant-vitorlázógépes rohamegység	glider-borne assault unit	An assault formation delivered precisely onto the objective by glider.
légi szállítású hadosztály	air-landed division	A division carried by aircraft but landed, rather than dropped by parachute.
könnyű lövész jellegű ejtőernyős csapatok	light-infantry-type paratroops	Paratroops employed without heavy weapons; suitable for policing-type tasks.
hegyivadász hadosztály	mountain division	A higher infantry formation specialised for mountain terrain.
SS Fallschirmjäger	SS Paratroopers	The parachute formations of the Waffen-SS; the 500th SS Parachute Battalion was raised in late 1943.
OKW (Oberkommando Wehrmacht)	Armed Forces High Command	The high command of the German armed forces, under which the Abwehr operated.

Special operations and intelligence bodies

Hungarian term	English equivalent	Explanation
Szpecnaz (szpecialnovo naznasenyija)	Spetsnaz	Soviet "special purpose" units organised for diversion, sabotage and deep reconnaissance.
különleges hadviselés	special warfare	A form of operations distinct from conventional combined-arms warfare, conducted by small, intelligence-supported groups.
különleges műveleti erők	special operations forces	Selected and specially trained formations applying the methods of special warfare.
Brandenburgi hadosztály	Brandenburg Division	A German special-warfare force created in 1939 as part of the Abwehr.
Friedenthal Különleges Alakulat	Friedenthal Special Unit	An SS special-warfare force organised in 1943 as part of the RSHA.
Abwehr	Abwehr	The German armed forces' military intelligence and counter-intelligence service.
RSHA (Birodalmi Biztonsági Főhivatal)	Reich Security Main Office	The German military intelligence service subordinated to the SS; the controlling body of the SS special operations forces.
SAS (Special Air Service)	Special Air Service	A British special-warfare force created in 1941; the model case of airborne insertion combined with intelligence cooperation.
Polizeiabteilung Wecke	Wecke Police Battalion	A police-type unit raised in February 1933 against illegal armed groups in the Berlin area.
titkosszolgálat	intelligence / secret service	An intelligence and counter-intelligence body; in the study's argument, a key actor in the fight against terrorism.

Concepts and methods of operation

Hungarian term	English equivalent	Explanation
légideszant eljárás / harceljárás	airborne method, airborne operation	The totality of delivering and employing troops to their objective by air.
légimozgékonyság	air mobility	The capacity for rapid movement achieved by helicopter or parachute.
terrorelhárítás	counter-terrorism	Law-enforcement activity directed at the prevention and defeat of terrorist acts.
rendészeti célú megszállás	occupation for policing purposes	The armed seizure of a town or area in order to maintain public order and security.
irreguláris erők	irregular forces	Armed groups not belonging to a regular army (partisans, resistance fighters).
diverzió	diversion, sabotage	Destructive and disruptive activity carried out in the enemy's rear area.
mélységi felderítés	deep reconnaissance	Reconnaissance conducted at great depth in the enemy's hinterland.
mélységi felderítő járőrözés	deep reconnaissance patrolling	Reconnaissance by small patrols operating at great depth.
portyázó harceljárás	raiding tactics	A series of rapid raids carried out with highly mobile light vehicles.
rohamdeszant	assault landing	Landing by glider directly onto the target objective.
szervezett bűnözés	organised crime	Enduringly organised criminal activity pursued for gain.
lefegyverzés	disarmament	The removal of weapons from surrendering enemy forces and the conduct of their surrender.
fogolycsere	prisoner exchange	The reciprocal handover of prisoners; the means by which the German paratroops were withdrawn after the Monte Rotondo operation.

Theatres, locations and operations

Hungarian term	English equivalent	Explanation
Besszarábia	Bessarabia	Territory occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940; site of an airborne operation with a policing character.
Kréta	Crete	Site of the German airborne operation of May 1941; after its heavy losses German airborne employment came to a halt.
Monte Rotondo	Monte Rotondo	The fortified mountain strongpoint of the Italian high command; seized by paratroops on 8 September 1943.
Gran Sasso	Gran Sasso	A 2,900-metre mountain where MUSSOLINI was held; he was freed on 12 September 1943 by a glider-borne assault landing.
Drvar	Drvar	Location of TITO's partisan headquarters and the objective of the German airborne operation of 25 May 1944.
Los Baños	Los Baños	A settlement south-east of Manila with a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp; site of the American rescue operation of 22–23 February 1945.
Mandzsúria	Manchuria	Theatre of the Soviet operation of August 1945; site of airborne tasks in a peacekeeping role.
Normandia	Normandy	Theatre of the 1944 Allied landings and of the SAS operations that followed.

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Introduction

A trend in organisational development can be observed today whereby counter-terrorist units are created within the structure of the armed forces of the employing state, on the basis of deep reconnaissance formations. This is connected with the airborne capability — helicopter-borne air mobility or parachute insertion — which increasingly appears as a requirement in counter-terrorist activity demanding a high degree of mobility on the part of small, professional groups. Roughly 80 per cent of counter-terrorist units possess airborne capabilities and close to 70 per cent are operated within a military organisation.¹ The question may arise whether the overlap between counter-terrorism as a law-enforcement activity and the activity of airborne forces is a new phenomenon that has appeared in the last two or three decades, or whether overlaps between the two activities can be identified earlier as well. Let us therefore examine what tasks connected with law enforcement and the fight against terrorism, or related to them, were carried out during the Second World War employment of airborne units. Such tasks include the release or capture of a protected person or persons, the blocking and elimination of irregular forces, and the occupation of towns and areas for policing purposes. The survey covers the Soviet, German, British and American airborne forces and their activity. Typically it was diversionary and occasionally tactical operations carried out by parachute troops, and operations by groups of special-warfare forces executed by airborne insertion, in which application for counter-terrorist or policing purposes occurred.

Principal features of the organisational development of parachute airborne forces and special operations forces up to 1945

From the point of view of the fight against terrorism and organised crime — alongside the involvement of parachute airborne forces to a certain degree — the role of the special operations forces operating by the airborne method is decisive, and these are therefore discussed in detail. Only a few characteristic moments from the development of the parachute airborne forces are presented.

The organisational development of the Soviet airborne forces began in 1930, ahead of other countries, when parachute and air-landed assault battalions were created. By 1938 the airborne forces were already organised into brigades.² The employment of airborne forces in the Soviet armed forces became an organic part of combat procedure at the level of operational principles and field regulations alike. From 1941 the airborne forces were organised at corps level. The Soviet airborne corps of the 1941 establishment consisted of three brigades. The corps was supported in action by an independent light-tank battalion. In the same year the directorate of the airborne forces was established, which secured the branch's autonomy. By 1943 glider regiments were also being raised. The number of transport aircraft made it possible to raise air-transport divisions as well. In August 1944 the idea of raising an airborne army consisting of three guards airborne corps arose, but this was not eventually realised. During the war the Soviet airborne forces were employed in operational, tactical and diversionary operations alike.

The organisational element of the Soviet armed forces conducting special warfare was the Spetsnaz (szpecialnovo naznasenyija — "special purpose"), individual groups of which were typically inserted into the rear area by parachute, and which realised closer cooperation with military intelligence and with the state security services. Spetsnaz was a formation created above all for diversionary and sabotage actions and partly for the realisation of agent cooperation, as well as for deep reconnaissance patrolling and broad information gathering. The first Spetsnaz employment took place in 1930, when a small group was dropped by parachute during a military exercise with the aim of carrying out actions in the enemy's rear. Soviet parachute forces and Spetsnaz thereafter developed in parallel. The principal means of delivery into the enemy's rear was the parachute drop, while on the return journey they infiltrated back through the enemy front line. During the Second World War, from 1942, every front and military headquarters was reinforced with a Spetsnaz battalion of "demolition experts".³ These formations were termed "engineer battalion" and "engineer brigade". The soldiers serving in them were trained in deep reconnaissance patrolling, in carrying out demolitions and sabotage, in day and night navigation across country, in escape and evasion, and in survival in forests, marshes and tundra. They reconnoitred and attacked the enemy's command posts and supply columns. They protected bridges and railway junctions from demolition by the withdrawing enemy, or, where necessary, demolished them themselves. Their radio operators fixed the exact locations of enemy headquarters and signal centres and disrupted the enemy's radio communications. In the course of their activity they relied extensively on the local population and on partisan groups. They were also capable of supporting resistance activity (partisan warfare) in the enemy's rear area. For such tasks some 37,000⁴ specialists were dropped by parachute during the war, which represented a very substantial force.

The development of the German airborne forces began — somewhat belatedly — in the second half of the 1930s, following chiefly Soviet and Italian examples. The employment of the early organisational forms of the airborne forces against organised criminal and terrorist-type illegal armed groups occurred already in the 1930s, in the period of the branch's birth. Hermann GÖRING, the provincial minister of the interior of Prussia, created in February 1933, against communist groups in the Berlin area, a police-type unit composed chiefly of parachute hunters, named Polizeiabteilung Wecke (Wecke Police Battalion), which operated under the Berlin police.⁵ The formation passed to the armed forces in April 1935, where it continued its activity as a parachute airborne unit. In 1936 engineer sub-units skilled in demolition tasks were attached to the parachute regiment. By 1938 the first glider-borne assault units were created within the organisation of the parachute formations, as a supplement to them. In 1939 the parachute forces were combined in one division and an artillery detachment was assigned to it. On the basis of the employment experience of the 1940 operations, the parachute division and an air-landed division were merged into a single airborne corps. In the spring of 1941 — following the costly Cretan airborne operation — a sharp turning point occurred in the employment of the airborne forces, since they were thereafter used exclusively for conventional infantry tasks and their organisational development came to a halt. In 1943 development resumed, and the general staff ordered the raising of four parachute divisions and one motorised air-landed division. Up to and including the spring of 1945 a further six parachute divisions were raised. Finally the German airborne forces were organised into a parachute army of two corps.

The development of the German special operations forces began in 1939. By then the development of the organisation, combat procedure and technical equipment of the airborne forces had made it possible for the delivery of groups by air into the depth of the enemy to take its place among the procedures of the special-warfare forces created in that year. During the Second World War, the special formations of two military intelligence services created in parallel with identical tasks — the Brandenburg Division and the Friedenthal Special Unit — carried out operations executed by the methods of special warfare. Both formations wore enemy uniform during actions in the rear area, and their personnel possessed outstanding linguistic abilities, local knowledge and knowledge of foreign armies. Both special-warfare organisations were bound to the airborne method and to the airborne forces, and each cooperated closely with a military intelligence service. The special operations forces employed glider aircraft or parachute drops on occasion in order to penetrate into the depth of the enemy. In 1939 the first special-warfare force created in the German armed forces was the Brandenburg Division, forming part of the Abwehr, the military intelligence service subordinated to the German general staff, the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW). The division continued its special operations activity until 1943, until the exhaustion of the German armed forces' offensive operations; from then on its forces were employed chiefly in conventional combined-arms combat. By 1944 the Brandenburg Division had entirely lost its special-warfare character, and it was therefore reorganised as an armoured grenadier division, while its personnel skilled in diversionary activity were transferred to the SS special operations forces.⁶ In 1943 the second special-warfare force to be organised was created under the name Friedenthal Special Unit, as part of the military intelligence service subordinated to the SS, the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA). In 1944 — thanks to personnel transferred in from the Wehrmacht — its forces were already developed to the size of six battalions. As the last stage in the organisational development of the Friedenthal Special Unit, the special operations brigade created in 1944 possessed two parachute battalions as well.

The development of the British airborne forces took place only after the outbreak of war, in 1940, on the basis of German examples.⁷ The aim was the raising of one parachute battalion. In the same year the raising and training of glider formations also began. In 1941 the first parachute infantry battalion was created. Thereafter the military leadership decided to create two airborne brigades. One brigade was formed of parachute battalions, while the other was raised as a glider formation during the year. In 1942 the raising of the first airborne division began. The division consisted of three parachute brigades, one glider-borne brigade, one glider-borne armoured reconnaissance regiment, one glider-borne field artillery regiment, one air-landed anti-tank artillery detachment and further supporting organisational elements. In 1944 the Allies created an airborne army as the highest level of organisation of airborne forces.

The raising of the British special-warfare force operating by the airborne method began in 1941, when the first SAS (Special Air Service) squadron was created. The first parachute operation was carried out in that year, against the field airfields of the Axis powers. Since this operation was unsuccessful, the concept of inserting commandos by parachute was abandoned for a time, and experiments were made with the use of light cross-country vehicles. In 1942 the unit was developed into a regiment and — turning somewhat away from the original parachute concept — was equipped with Willys Jeep cross-country vehicles, employing the groups in land operations. Exploiting the mobility of the specially prepared cross-country vehicles armed with light and heavy machine guns, they developed a highly effective raiding tactic with which they inflicted substantial losses in equipment on the enemy's airfields. In 1943 a second SAS regiment also began operating. The principal employment profile of the two SAS regiments was again parachute operations. When they returned to parachute insertion procedures they took their light cross-country vehicles with them. In January 1944 two further SAS regiments were raised, which, together with the regiments created earlier and a special signals squadron, were combined in a special operations brigade. By then a characteristic SAS type of special warfare had emerged, marked by parachute commandos of 10–50 men employed at great depth, cooperating closely with the intelligence service operating in enemy territory and with resistance groups. In 1945 no further organisational development took place in the British special operations forces.

The organisational development of the American airborne forces proceeded with a considerable delay compared with other countries. In 1940 the first parachute infantry battalion was raised. In 1941 the first experiments with assault gliders also began. In 1942 the first parachute engineer battalion was raised.⁸ According to the intention of the military leadership, the task of the parachute engineers was the creation of field airfields onto which the air-landed infantry formations could arrive. A few parachute regiments were raised; these operated in the Pacific theatre, reinforced with engineer battalions. In 1943 the first American airborne division was raised; in its principal elements it consisted of three parachute infantry regiments, one glider-borne infantry regiment, one parachute field artillery regiment, one glider-borne field artillery regiment, one glider-borne anti-tank artillery detachment and one glider-borne engineer battalion. In 1944 further airborne divisions were raised. In August of that year three airborne divisions operating in the European theatre were organised into a corps. In the same year an Allied airborne army was created from two American and one British airborne division and one Polish airborne brigade.

On the Allied side, special-warfare forces operating by the airborne method were organised during the Second World War only within the British armed forces. Although in the American armed forces the airborne divisions were raised precisely on the advice of officers accredited to the British general staff, and "Ranger" formations copying the British commandos were also created, they showed no interest in special-warfare forces operating by the airborne method.

Airborne operations connected with law enforcement and the fight against terrorism

In the attack on the Netherlands, on 10 May 1940, several groups of the German Brandenburg Division were passed across the Dutch and Luxembourg borders in order to capture leading personalities.⁹ One part of the groups reached its destination by parachute drop, while another part was carried to the target area in Storch liaison aircraft, capable of landing almost anywhere. The group did not achieve its original objective.

The Soviet airborne forces carried out an operation of a policing character in the Bessarabian airborne operation. Two airborne brigades were employed on 29 June 1940, when the Soviet army occupied Bessarabia. The cavalry and tank formations of the ground forces carried out a rapid advance towards two key towns, Izmail and Bolgrad. The ground operations began on 28 June. The planned task of the airborne forces was, should they meet armed resistance, to occupy the towns, to prevent the demolition and destruction of the installations, bridges and railway lines there, as well as of the road network and industrial capacities, by the withdrawing Romanian forces, and to secure the area until the arrival of the mechanised and cavalry formations. Three airborne brigades were concentrated at airfields located 350 km from the target area. The transport tasks were performed by 170 TB-3 aircraft. In the end only two of the three brigades were employed; the third was left in reserve. On the day of the operation one airborne brigade was dropped 12 km from Bolgrad. The brigade attacked the town and occupied it by evening. On the following day one of the brigade's battalions also occupied the town of Kagul. The next airborne brigade intended for employment was originally to be landed by the landing method at the airfields around Izmail. Since, on the basis of air reconnaissance data, this was judged impossible, on the 30th the brigade was inserted by parachute drop — without heavy weapons — directly in the area of Izmail. The brigade occupied the town the same day and also secured the vital routes around it. In the course of the operation no armed clash occurred with the withdrawing Romanian forces.

The German airborne forces employed an airborne operation on 8 September 1943 in support of the activity of two ground divisions, for the purpose of occupying the Italian high command established at Monte Rotondo, capturing senior Italian officers, and paralysing the command system. As a consequence of the turn in the Italian domestic political situation and of MUSSOLINI's removal on 25 July, the Germans took steps to neutralise the Italian forces. Two ground divisions were dispatched to Italy to disarm the forces of the Italian armed forces. Simultaneously with the activity of the two divisions, the Germans also paralysed the Italian military leadership, which weakened organised resistance on the Italian side. General Kurt STUDENT was tasked with having the paratroops take captive the Italian general staff, which had become unreliable, and occupy the Italian high command established at Monte Rotondo. The seizure of this mountain strongpoint, reinforced with strong air defences and an engineer obstacle system, was virtually impossible for conventional ground forces. The Germans carried out thorough air and ground reconnaissance, and on 8 September began the airborne operation with 52 JU-52 transport aircraft and a parachute force of battalion strength. They attempted to drop the assault directly onto the high command. In the heavy anti-aircraft fire several transport aircraft were lost, so that part of the force could be dropped only 3 km from the high command. The forces that reached the ground attacked the high command, fought their way through several engineer obstacles and through the fire of machine guns and small arms, and in a short but fierce firefight seized the central building, where they took 200 men prisoner, among them 15 senior officers. The Italians moved larger forces into the area and surrounded the high command occupied by the German airborne force. The withdrawal of the paratroops from the battlefield eventually took place within the framework of a prisoner exchange.¹⁰

For the release of MUSSOLINI an airborne force assembled from the German Friedenthal Special Unit and from conventional parachute troops was employed on 10 September 1943. After prolonged investigative and intelligence work conducted by the RSHA and by Otto SKORZENY, MUSSOLINI's position was successfully localised: he was held in a hotel on the 2,900-metre-high mountain of Gran Sasso. The execution of the operation was entrusted to a parachute battalion, to which 40 commandos of the SS Friedenthal Special Unit were attached, under the command of Otto SKORZENY. In front of the hotel there was an open area where landing by glider was feasible. On 12 September the battalion, reinforced with the special forces, landed there in 12 Gotha DFS 230 gliders. One part of the force began the seizure of the building, while another part was detailed to secure the cableway leading to the hotel. The release was accomplished within a few minutes. MUSSOLINI was then placed aboard a special liaison aircraft, a Storch. Thanks to its low mass and its special wing design, this aircraft was able to land and take off at very low speed and in an extremely short distance.

In Europe the British employed parachute SAS commandos from October 1943. On 2 October a 61-man SAS commando was employed between Ancona and Pescara for the purpose of releasing Allied prisoners of war. The commando operated in the enemy's rear areas until 6 October, during which time it freed 50 Allied prisoners of war. In Normandy, in the course of July–August 1944, further SAS commandos were employed to support the advance of the Allied forces and to impede the movement of the withdrawing German forces. On 25 July, south-east of Paris, in the Rambouillet area, a 7-man parachute group was inserted behind the German lines in order to eliminate Field Marshal ROMMEL. The enterprise was unsuccessful. On 31 July a further 23-man SAS group was dropped by parachute in the Le Mans area. This group successfully disrupted the movement of the withdrawing enemy and, in addition, freed 150 prisoners of war.¹¹

On 22 and 23 February 1944, south-east of Manila, an American special operation took place in the Laguna de Bay area, for the purpose of eliminating the prisoner-of-war camp situated at the settlement of Los Baños. One parachute company and one glider-borne company, together with a parachute deep reconnaissance platoon, took part in the operation. The American forces gathered information on the camp by intelligence methods, and on the 22nd a deep reconnaissance patrol was dropped by parachute in the vicinity of the camp. The patrol's personnel established contact with the resistance fighters operating in the area and gathered further information on the camp. After a day of information gathering, the deep reconnaissance patrol secured the drop zone of the main force beside the camp and prepared for the attack. Immediately before the landing of the parachute company designated to execute the prisoner-release operation, the deep reconnaissance platoon began intensive smoke screening in the camp with smoke grenades and, in cooperation with the resistance fighters, set about eliminating the guard force. The parachute company, once on the ground, stormed the camp, eliminated the 248-strong Japanese guard personnel and freed the prisoners. The release of the 2,147 prisoners took no more than twenty minutes. Neither the attackers nor the prisoners suffered any casualties. The evacuation of the prisoners and of the assault force from the target area was accomplished with amphibious vehicles. A glider-borne airborne company carried out a further, smaller airborne operation after the prisoner-release action, in order to tie down the Japanese reserves moving towards the camp. The successful prisoner-release action was carried out by sub-units detached from the airborne forces, applying the methods of special warfare.

Airborne forces were employed on 25 May 1944 at Drvar, in support of the encircling operation of two mountain divisions, for the purpose of eliminating Yugoslav partisan groups. The operation was carried out by the 500th SS Parachute Battalion.¹² TITO's partisans were waging their guerrilla war in the mountains. The German leadership resolved to destroy TITO's headquarters. The headquarters was on a plateau near Drvar, in a deep cave, and thus possessed both natural and artificial protection. Armed protection was provided by 12,000 partisans. Against them the 800 men of the parachute battalion were employed with the aim of tying down the partisans' forces while the main force — two mountain battalions — carried out the encirclement of the area and approached the partisans' headquarters. The personnel of the parachute battalion were dropped on the target area on 25 May 1944. Since a sufficient number of transport aircraft for the execution of the task was not provided, they were able to deliver the assault to the objective only in two waves, moreover five hours apart. The first, parachute airborne wave occupied the town of Drvar. With the second, glider-borne wave a further 300 men arrived. The ground forces carrying out the encirclement approached the battlefield of the paratroops, located directly beside TITO's headquarters, with a considerable delay compared with the planned time of arrival. The two mountain divisions arrived only on the following morning, and in the meantime the parachute battalion was ground down, 600 of its 800 men being lost. TITO did escape from the headquarters, but the parachute attack did in fact tie down the partisans' forces, and these suffered very substantial losses after the encirclement.

In the Athens area, on 12 October 1944, a British parachute battalion was employed in order to prevent clashes between the mutually hostile Greek irregular forces operating in the area. Because of the change of sides by the Romanian army, the German forces occupying Greece opted for a rapid withdrawal in order to avoid being cut off. The German armed forces had evacuated Athens by 4 October, and the whole country within a few days. Thereafter domestic political tensions developed in the country between the pro-British and the left-wing resistance forces. Since the left-wing irregular formations were in the majority, there was a danger of the occupation of Athens. The British higher military leadership dispatched a corps with the task of landing in Greece and stabilising the domestic political crisis. Because of the long sea voyage, the landing could take place only on the 13th and 14th, and the British military leaders therefore sought a faster solution to prevent the occupation of Athens and to stabilise its area. On the 12th a parachute battalion was dropped at the Megara airfield near the capital. The battalion's parachute drop took place in a strong wind, which increased both dispersal and the number of injuries. After landing, the battalion secured the airfield, onto which vehicles were landed by glider in order to increase the mobility of the parachute formation. The battalion entered Athens in its vehicles, where, as the advance guard of the landing forces, it intervened effectively in the disturbances and thereby contributed greatly to the creation of stability.

In August 1945, during the Manchurian operation, the Soviets employed airborne forces totalling three brigades, alongside the support of the attack of the ground forces, occasionally with an occupying and policing purpose, for the capture of leading personalities and the disarmament of Japanese formations.¹³ In the course of the attack on Manchuria, launched on 9 August, their forces advanced successfully towards the interior of the country after crossing the border. The Japanese military leadership set itself the aim of holding the country's more important towns and industrial districts, and therefore concentrated its main forces in the area of the more important towns there: Harbin, Kirin, Changchun, Pyongyang and Port Arthur. The attack towards the towns began on 12 August. The Japanese forces continued fighting at Harbin and Kirin, and so, in order to support the fighting of the forward mechanised detachments of the Soviet 1st Army for the capture of the towns, the airborne forces were employed: one airborne brigade and other smaller formations.¹⁴ After two days of fighting the enemy abandoned Harbin and Kirin. In the Manchurian fighting, the parachute airborne forces employed on occupying and peacekeeping tasks during the Japanese surrender contributed successfully to the rapid conclusion of the fighting. In the town of Mukden two Soviet parachute battalions disarmed fifty thousand Japanese.¹⁵ At the capture of Changchun, the parachute battalion dropped onto the town's airfield captured General YAMADA and his entire staff. Another airborne force, dropped at Sengjan airfield, took prisoner Henry Pu Yi, the emperor of Manchukuo. The effective paralysing of the military and political command system accelerated the collapse of the Japanese forces. During the Manchurian operation, airborne forces were employed on numerous further occasions besides the operations described above.

Conclusion

The employment of airborne forces during the Second World War, in the solution of tasks connected with law-enforcement activity and the fight against terrorism, can be traced back to two principal reasons.

The first reason was the requirement for rapid intervention. This was the characteristic capability for which airborne forces were employed on tasks of this kind. In the Soviet airborne operations in Bessarabia and Manchuria, and in the employment of British parachute forces at Athens, the aim was that the presence of armed force should be realised in the area of the towns to be secured as rapidly as possible. The light-infantry-type parachute forces were able to solve these tasks even without heavy weapons, since they were of a policing rather than a conventional military character. The fastest form of demonstrating the presence of armed force was then, as now, realised by the technical means of air transport.

The other reason was the requirement for surprise, for which airborne forces were employed on tasks connected with law enforcement and the fight against terrorism. In the execution of actions such as the release of MUSSOLINI, surprise played a significant part, thanks to the assault landing operation carried out with small gliders. At most one minute could elapse between the observation of the gliders and the storming of the building, which virtually excluded any effective counter-action. Equally, the airborne operation was an instrument of surprise in the German action aimed at eliminating a partisan group in the Yugoslav mountains. The parachute formation, employed by surprise and dropped directly onto the partisans' base, in practice deprived the light partisan forces, otherwise effective at manoeuvring in mountain terrain, of their freedom of movement.

One important characteristic of the airborne operations listed was that the group carrying them out was in many cases a special operations force operating under some intelligence service — such as the SAS, or the Brandenburg and Friedenthal commandos — or carried out the operation jointly with some intelligence body, as did the American forces at Manila and the German forces for the release of MUSSOLINI. The role of the intelligence services remains crucial in waging the fight against terrorism today.¹⁶ All this suggests that it is above all the special-warfare forces operating by the airborne method that can be drawn into the sphere of activity of the fight against terrorism. In this connection attention must also be drawn to the importance of the Second World War experience, since with the creation of the British special-warfare forces, and within them the raising of the SAS operating by the airborne method, the British armed forces not only achieved outstanding successes in the support of airborne operations, but at the same time created a unit that plays a significant part in present-day counter-terrorist activity,¹⁷ and which numerous countries regard as a model to follow.

Finally it can be stated that the employment of parachute forces, and of special-warfare forces delivered to the target area by the airborne method, on law-enforcement and counter-terrorist tasks during the Second World War is explained by the requirements of rapid intervention and surprise. In operations of this kind the importance of close cooperation with the intelligence services was already demonstrated in that period.

It can therefore be established that the special operations forces operating by the airborne method, on the basis of the Second World War experience as well, attained an important role in the solution of the tasks of law enforcement and the fight against terrorism.

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The [n] markers in the body text refer to this note numbering. Latin abbreviations (Loc. cit.) are not translated and appear in their original form. The author-name abbreviations (GOSZTONYI, WHITE, MCNAB etc.) are resolved in the file turcsanyi-hegedus-02-roviditesek.en.md.

Abbreviations in the notes: p. = page · évf. = year of a periodical · sz. = number, issue · ford. = translated by · (a szerk.) = editorial note · Loc. cit. = loco citato, in the place cited (Latin)

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Notes

1 ↩ RYAN – MANN – STILWELL

2 ↩ GOSZTONYI 126 p.

3 ↩ WHITE 120 p.

4 ↩ MUCS – KOVALCSIK 59 p.

5 ↩ MCNAB 12 p.

6 ↩ KŐSZEGVÁRI 1984, 27 p.

7 ↩ GREGORY

8 ↩ CRAVEN – CATE 237–281 p.

9 ↩ SCHEICH 35–36 p.

10 ↩ KESSLER

11 ↩ SAS

12 ↩ The formation was raised at the end of 1943 from soldiers who had been court-martialled and convicted. Part of its personnel were brought to the unit from the military prisons at Gdańsk-Matzkau and Dachau. The soldiers had their appointments and ranks restored to them, on condition that they undertook a number of "special" airborne operations.

13 ↩ SZAGAJAK – CIGANOK

14 ↩ TÓTH 17 p.

15 ↩ GOSZTONYI 230 p.

16 ↩ KŐSZEGVÁRI 2003

17 ↩ Loc. cit. 34 p.

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Latin abbreviations used in the notes

In accordance with international scholarly practice, the Latin reference abbreviations are not translated; they are left in their original form. Those occurring in the notes of the present volume are listed below; the full list is given in the list of abbreviations.

Abbreviation	Latin term	Meaning
Loc. cit., l. c.	loco citato	in the place cited — a work already given, at a specified passage
p.	pagina	page

Abbreviations of Hungarian origin used in the apparatus: i. m. = the work cited · i. h. = the passage cited · uő = the same author · szerk. = editor · (a szerk.) = editor's note · ford. = translated by · évf. = volume year · sz. = number · skk. = and the following · csomó = archival bundle · ülései = sessions of

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The bold code is the abbreviation used in the notes; it is followed by the full bibliographic entry. Hungarian titles are retained in the original (they are the search keys of Hungarian scholarly literature) with an English translation in square brackets. Latin abbreviations (Loc. cit.) are left untranslated.

Conventions: p. = page · évf. = year of a periodical · sz. = number, issue · köt. = volume · ford. = trans. · szerk. = ed./eds. · Kiadó = publishing house

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Monographs

CRAVEN – CATE — W. F. CRAVEN – J. L. CATE: The Army Air Forces in World War II. Chicago, 1958, The University of Chicago Press.

SCHEICH — Vilmos SCHEICH: Gerillák, diverzánsok, szabotőrök, különleges erők [Guerrillas, saboteurs, diversionaries, special forces]. Budapest, 1971, Zrínyi.

GREGORY — Barry GREGORY: The British Airborne Troops 1940-1945. Garden City, 1974, Doubleday.

KŐSZEGVÁRI 1984 — Tibor KŐSZEGVÁRI: Diverzió [Diversion]. Budapest, 1984, Zrínyi.

TÓTH — Loránd TÓTH: Ejtőernyős deszant [Parachute assault landing]. Budapest, 1987, Zrínyi Kiadó. /Haditechnika fiataloknak [Military technology for the young]./

WHITE — Terry WHITE: A világ elit katonái [The Making of the World's Elite Forces]. Trans.: Imre PORKOLÁB. Budapest, 1992, Zrínyi.

GOSZTONYI — Péter GOSZTONYI: A Vörös Hadsereg. A szovjet fegyveres erők története [The Red Army. The history of the Soviet armed forces]. Budapest, 1993, Európa.

KESSLER — Leo KESSLER: Kommando. A Brandenburg zászlóaljtól a Jagdkommandóig [Commando. From the Brandenburg Battalion to the Jagdkommando]. Debrecen, 1998, Hajja és Fia Könyvkiadó [Hajja and Son Publishers]. /20. századi hadtörténet [Twentieth-century military history]./

MCNAB — Chris MCNAB: Fallschirmjäger. A német ejtőernyős haderő képes története a II. világháborúban [German Paratroopers. An illustrated history of the German parachute force in the Second World War]. Trans.: Béla SZILÁGYI. Debrecen, 2000, Hajja és Fia Könyvkiadó.

KŐSZEGVÁRI 2003 — Tibor KŐSZEGVÁRI: A nemzetközi terrorizmus elleni harc katonai területei és feladatai I [The military spheres and tasks of the fight against international terrorism, I]. Budapest, 2003, Zrínyi Miklós National Defence University.

RYAN – MANN – STILWELL — RYAN – MANN – STILWELL: A világ különleges katonai alakulatai [The Encyclopedia of the World's Special Forces]. Trans.: Júlia BÍRÓ. Budapest, 2003, Ventus Libro Kiadó.

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Studies

MUCS – KOVALCSIK — Sándor MUCS – József KOVALCSIK: A légideszant csapatok fejlődésének áttekintése a két világháború között és alkalmazásuk a második világháborúban [A survey of the development of airborne forces between the two world wars and their employment in the Second World War]. Hadtörténelmi Közlemények [Journal of Military History], year LXXVII (1962), no. 2, pp. 3–72.

SZAGAJAK – CIGANOK — P. SZAGAJAK – A. CIGANOK: Légideszantok alkalmazása a Nagy Honvédő Háborúban [The employment of airborne assault forces in the Great Patriotic War]. Hadtörténelmi Közlemények [Journal of Military History], year LXXVII (1962), no. 1, pp. 46–82.

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Encyclopedia

SAS — A SAS Enciklopédia [The SAS Encyclopedia]. Budapest, 2000, Zagora Kft.

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Latin abbreviations resolved

In accordance with international scholarly practice, the Latin reference abbreviations are not translated; they are left in their original form. The list below is provided for the reader's convenience.

Abbreviation	Latin term	Meaning
cf., vö.	confer	compare; see also
Ead.	eadem	the same — referring to a female author
et al.	et alii, et alia	and others; and co-authors
etc.	et cetera	and so forth; and the rest
ib., ibid.	ibidem	in the same place — same work, same passage
Idem, Id.	idem	the same — the author given in the preceding note
i. e.	id est	that is
Loc. cit., l. c.	loco citato	in the place cited — a work already given, at a specified passage
op. cit.	opere citato	in the work cited — a work already given in full
p.	pagina	page
pp.	paginae	pages
passim	passim	here and there — at various points throughout the work
q. v.	quod vide	which see — a cross-reference to another entry
s. a.	sine anno	without year — year of publication unknown
s. l.	sine loco	without place — place of publication unknown
s. n.	sine nomine	without name — publisher unknown
s. v.	sub verbo, sub voce	under the entry …
sc.	scilicet	namely; that is to say
sq., sqq.	sequens, sequentes	the following page; the following pages
viz.	videlicet	namely; that is to say

Abbreviations of Hungarian origin used in the apparatus: i. m. = the work cited · i. h. = the passage cited · uő = the same author · szerk. = editor · (a szerk.) = editor's note · ford. = translated by · évf. = volume year · sz. = number · skk. = and the following · csomó = archival bundle · ülései = sessions of

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