British Paratroopers make first action jump since Suez

I do love these threads

 

eh ?
I thought the Paras had direct lineage to ...the Paras.
Nothing to do with Commandos


This is a direct quote from the book Prelude to Glory by Group Captain Maurice Newnham

The Prime Minister with his remarkable vision and indomitable courage and optimism, had seen in the German use of parachute troops at Rotterdam a weapon of tremendous potential power if properly developed and employed. He had therefore directed that immediate action to be taken for the raising of a force of five thousand parachute soldiers on Commando lines.

 

Lots of paras do Amphib training as a matter of course
Really? The only army units I know who have done amphib stuff (apart from 3 Cdo Bde guys) are a group of Gren Guards who wanted to make a video and talked the RLC into lending them some craft and some Tankies who did a joint op with the Royals.

I seem to recall the Marines being given the Commando role post war to prevent disbandment!
It doesn't really matter how they got it, they now have that role and are damn good at it.

 

If you want to show a direct Commando link to the Parchute Regiment this from Peggy.
On the 22nd June 1940, Prime Minister Winston Churchill wrote to the War Office and recommended that Britain raise a force of approximately 5000 parachute troops. Almost immediately, one of the newly formed Commando units, No.2COMMANDO, was chosen to undergo conversion to the parachute role. Later redesignated the 11th SAS Battalion, these were Britain's first airborne troops. To test their worth, a detachment of 7 officers and 31 other ranks were dropped over Italy on the 10th February 1941. The mission was codenamed Operation Colossus, and their objective was to destroy the Tragino aqueduct, and then withdraw over 50 miles of mountainous terrain to be evacuated on a submarine waiting to collect them on the coast. Despite numerous problems the objective was achieved, however while attempting to withdraw almost every man was captured. Though the raid had achieved little in terms of strategic value, it did prove how effective parachute troops could be, as well as highlighting a number of potential pitfalls in their deployment.

With the formation of the 1st Parachute Brigade in September 1941, it had originally been intended to divide the 11th SAS between each of its four battalions. However Brigadier Gale felt it prudent to keep all these men together, and so the 11th SAS was renamed the 1st Parachute Battalion and placed under the command of Lt-Colonel Eric Down. No.2 COMMANDO had originally boasted a strong Guards representation, and this character remained with the battalion throughout the war. Some of these original men still regarded themselves as Guardsmen or Commandos, as opposed to the standard private of a parachute battalion. 1st Parachute Battalion

 

CPL ROOTES, "It doesn't really matter how they got it, they now have that role and are damn good at it". Well you could say the same of the PARACHUTE Regiment apart from the fact that thet are all jump Qualified.......and as you say most Marines are........ and wear that Maroon beret, oh and I nearly forgot they landed from the sea during the Falklands campaign

 

I do hope this thread doesn't degenerate into a "Paras V Marines" spat! .
Both are extremely well trained, highly professional and capable units which are a credit to the British Armed Forces. Obviously there is a certain amount of 'cross-over' between the two with many Marines completing "P" Company and many Paras completing the Commando course but I think that there should be room for both within our military.
Whilst I don't think anyone here is naive enough to think that there will ever be another Para operation along the same lines as those of WW2 or even Suez, let's just congratulate the troops that took part in the recent job .

All the best...........