Paras: The Birth of British Airborne Forces from Churchill’s Raiders to 1st Parachute Brigade

The British Airborne Forces as we know them today began life as a small handful of parachute raiders in 1940. Prompted by the groundbreaking German use of airborne troops in the Low Countries in May 1940, Winston Churchill had ordered the creation of a raiding force that included a parachute capability. William F. Buckingham charts the early history of the air transportation of troops and material, from their first use by the British following the end of the First World War, to “Churchills Raiders” of the Second World War and their first missions into occupied Europe.