A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne forces. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during World War II for troop distribution and transportation. Paratroopers are often used in surprise attacks, to seize strategic objectives such as airfields or bridges.
Operation Castor was a French airborne operation in the First Indochina War. The operation established a fortified airhead in Điện Biên Province, in the north-west corner of Vietnam and was commanded by Brigadier General Jean Gilles. The Operation began at 10:35 on 20 November 1953, with reinforcements dropped over the following two days. With all its objectives achieved, the operation ended on 22 November. Castor was the largest airborne operation since World War II.
The 1st Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment or 1er RPIMa is a unit of the French Army Special Forces Command, therefore part of the Special Operations Command.
The 3rd Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment is a one of the airborne force regiment of the Troupes de Marine. It is heir to the 3rd Colonial Commando Parachute Battalion created in 1948 and the 3rd Colonial Parachute Regiment. The regiment is part of the 11th Parachute Brigade.
The 11th Parachute Brigade is a one of the French Army's airborne forces brigade, predominantly light infantry, part of the French paratrooper units and specialized in air assault, airborne operations, combined arms, and commando style raids. The brigade's primary vocation is to project in emergency in order to contribute a first response to a situational crisis. An elite unit of the French Army, the brigade is commanded by a général de brigade with headquarters in Balma near Toulouse. The brigade's soldiers and airborne Marines wear the red beret (amaranth) except for the Legionnaires of the 2ème REP who wear the green beret.
The 6th Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment is an airborne infantry unit of the French Army.
The 8th Marine Infantry Parachute Regiment is an airborne regiment of the Troupes de Marine. The 8e RPIMa was created on 28 February 1951 and the men wear the red beret. It is part of the 11th Parachute Brigade.
The 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment was an airborne regiment of the Foreign Legion in the French Army which dated its origins to 1948. The regiment fought in the First Indochina War as the three-time reconstituted 1st Foreign Parachute Battalion, the Suez Crisis and Algerian War, but was dissolved along with the 10th Parachute Division and 25th Parachute Division following the generals' putsch against part of the French government in 1961.
Jean Marcellin Joseph Calixte Gilles was a French Army general who served in World War II and several colonial conflicts.
The 9th Parachute Chasseur Regiment was an airborne unit of the French Army that was part of the French Airborne Units and all three histories of the 10th Parachute Division, 25th Parachute Division and the 11th Parachute Brigade. It was formed during the Algerian War and fought its most notable engagement at the Battle of Frontiers in 1958 at Souk Ahras during which the sacrifice of Captain's Beaumont 3rd combat company earned naming the garrison of the 9th Parachute Chasseur in his honor. During the Algerian War, the 9th Parachute Chasseur Regiment relieved the 1st Parachute Chasseur Regiment and became part of the 25th Parachute Division. The regiment did not take part in the 1961 Algiers Putsch. The regiment took part in numerous overseas operations before merging in 1999. The regiment was the heir to the traditions, battle honours and decorations of the 9th Infantry Regiment created during the Ancien Régime.
The 1st Parachute Chasseur Regiment is the oldest and among the most decorated Airborne forces regiments of the French Army. Established in the French Army in 1943 and formerly part of the French Air Force since 1937, the chasseur distinguished its Regimental Colors during the campaigns of the Liberation of Paris, the First Indochina War in 1947, 1950, 1953, 1954 and the Algerian War. This elite regiment is part of the 11th Parachute Brigade.
The 10th Parachute Division was a formation of the French Army, part of the French Airborne Units. It consisted predominantly of infantry troops, and specialized in airborne combat and air assault. Established in 1956, it fought primarily in the Suez Crisis and the Algerian War. It was dissolved immediately after the Algiers putsch of 1961.
The 3rd Parachute Chasseur Regiment or 3e RCP was a French unit of Second World War known in the British Army as the 3rd SAS Regiment and originally named the 3rd Air Infantry Battalion. Involved in the operations of the Liberation of France and The Netherlands, the unit was temporarily dissolved at the end of the conflict and was reorganized between 1979 and 1998.
The 2nd Parachute Chasseur Regiment or 2e RCP, is one of the most decorated French units of the Second World War, the only land unit awarded the red fourragère in that war, including six citations at the orders of the armed forces. The French Navy 1500-ton class submarine Casabianca also accumulated six citations at the orders of the armed forces and therefore its crewmen were entitled to wear the same fourragère.
The 25th Airborne Division was an airborne unit of the French Army. Constituted at the end of 1945, the division was created on February 1, 1946 and was dissolved during the Indochina War in June 1948; it did not serve in Indochina as an entire division.
The 24th Airborne Division, was a unit of the French Army, infantry dominated, specialized in airborne combats and air assaults. Constituted in July 1945, the Division existed ephemerally and during the dissolution in October of the same year, a significant amount of the Division's constitution would be seen transferred to the 25th Airborne Division in lieu recently of being constituted.
Colonel Frédéric Cyrille Jules (Fred) Geille was a French military officer. Frédéric was the 1st French paratrooper and a Fighter pilot of the French Air Force as well as a commander and founder of various units and initiatives. He is also considered as the Father of French paratroopers and the inventor of French High-Altitude Operational Jumpers.
The 1st Airborne Shock Infantry Regiment, then named the 1st Shock Regiment, is a former parachute unit of the French Army, created on 1 October 1945 and dissolved on 1 February 1947.
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