Israeli Parachute Battalion

Israeli Paratrooper 35th Brigade

Another spring project is to complete my Israeli Paratroopers and a few support element for them, a helicopter or two, tank company and half tracks. I will use these units for 6 day War, Yom Kippur war and Lebanon.

Six day War 

During the Six-Day War, the paratroopers fought on all fronts: the Sinai Peninsula, Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights. Paratroopers and armor broke through the Rafah positions heavily defended by the Egyptian 7th Division from behind, with the unit suffering heavy losses. Many troops were further killed in action during the evacuation of the wounded. The following day, the unit entered Gaza. Paratroopers made a helicopter landing at the Um Katef artillery positions in the enemy's rear line. A battalion raced against the 7th IDF Armored Division for the honor of being the first to reach the Suez Canal, paratroopers reached Sharm El Sheikh and likewise participated in the attack on the Golan. During the recapture of East Jerusalem from Jordanian annexation. Reconnaissance paratroopers equipped with Jeeps mounting 106mm recoilless rifles waged a campaign of destruction against Egyptian armor formations. During the Battle of Firdan Bridge the paratroopers destroyed dozens of T-55 tanks right off the freighter in Alexandria harbor.

Yom Kippur War 

The Yom Kippur War saw the paratroopers fighting in some of the most difficult battles of the war. In the Sinai, paratroopers assigned to armored units rescued the beleaguered 'Budapest' outpost and destroyed the Egyptian forces. Paratroopers armed with LAW missiles helped contain an Egyptian armored thrust. Paratroopers of Danny Matt's brigade crossed the canal, as the spearhead of General Sharon's divisions, and established a bridgehead. Others, attempting to break open a route for them, ran up against the massive "Chinese Farm" fortifications. For three days, paratroopers and armored corps of General Sharon's and General Adan's divisions made repeated attempts until they finally succeeded in breaking through and rescuing their comrades. The battles for the "Chinese Farm" prevented the Egyptians from closing in on the bridgehead and eventually succeeded in opening an access point to it. On the West Bank of the Suez Canal, paratroopers fought in the city of Suez and advanced upon the city of Ismailia. On the Syrian front, paratroopers captured the peaks of Mt. Hermon in a heliborne operation. Other troops conquered Quneitra in the Golan Heights and Tel Shams and acted as armored infantry in the thrust into Syrian territory.

During an operation known as Operation Nightgown Sayeret Tzanhanim paratroopers were dropped off at a grassy opening near Kasr al-Hayr on the main Baghdad-Damascus Highway. They headed for a bridge where a brigade of Iraqi T-62 tanks was about to cross en route to the Golan Heights battlefield. The paratroopers attacked the Iraqi armor from the front causing a bottleneck. The Sayeret Tzanhanim paratroopers also attacked the trapped brigade from the rear with machine gun fire and RPGs destroying the brigade. The paratroopers then placed explosive charges underneath the bridge full of destroyed Iraqi tanks destroying the bridge. This prevented crucial Iraqi reinforcements from ever reaching the Golan Heights front destroying an Iraqi tank brigade in the process. Operation Nightgown was one of the smallest Israeli special operations ever mounted and also one of the most important. Approximately a dozen paratroopers destroyed the Iraqi tank brigade.

Entebbe Rescue Operation 

On the morning of the fourth of July 1976, a team of crack Israeli troops headed by Paratroop Officer Dan Shomron succeeded in rescuing the 87 passengers and crew of a hijacked Air France airbus at Entebbe, Uganda. The force, transported in four Hercules aircraft, succeeded in landing undetected at Entebbe's airport, and in taking the 13 terrorists and their Ugandan collaborators by surprise. 

Lebanon War 

The paratroopers were an important component of the First Lebanon War. The war in Lebanon proved the IDF's fighting ability and tested Paratroop combat doctrine, which had been revised as a result of the lessons of the Yom Kippur War, Operation Litani and other operations. Paratroopers fought in every sector of the war against Syrian troops and paratroops, both in built-up and mountainous areas. One of the better known operations was the amphibious landing at the mouth of the Awali River, north of Sidon, from where the paratroopers advanced to the outskirts of Beirut through the mountains. In their advance, they engaged Syrian commando forces.

Organisation

The Parachute brigades had 3 infantry (or parachute) battalions, plus a number of individual companies (reconnaissance, anti-tank, engineering, communications), as well as a support battalion of 120-mm towed mortars or vehicle mounted M3 mortars. In the case of a large landing operation, paratroop brigades received reinforcement in the form of a battalion of 122-mm howitzers D-30. In 1967 the reconnaissance company of the 80th paratrooper brigade was armed with 10 reconnaissance jeeps, 5 anti-tank jeeps (106-mm BO).

There were 6 companies in the parachute battalion; headquarters, fire support and 4 parachute infantry companies.The company of fire support consisted of a platoon of six 81mm mortars, reconnaissance platoon, anti-tank (jeeps with 106 mm BO) and heavy machine guns (12.7 mm М2НВ).

35th Brigade

101st Paratrooper Battalion "Cobra"
202nd Paratrooper Battalion "Viper"
890th Paratrooper Battalion "Echis"
5135th Paratroopers Reconnaissance Battalion (Gadsar Tzanhanim) "Flying Serpent"5173rd Reconnaissance Company "Palsar"
5174th Anti-Tank Company "Orev"
5105th Engineer Company "Palhan"
"Palhik" Signal Company.

Rapid Fire Able archer Organisation

My build will be a single battalion to start with and brigade recon company, plus one H34 Sikorsky helicopter, with plans to add at least one Huey so I can use one for 67 and for 73 war also.


101sr Paratrooper Battalion “Cobra” Elite morale 

HQ coy
Co,radio, sniper, medic, 52mm mortar 2 crew, 2 jeeps 

1st coy

8 figs, lmg 2 jeeps

2nd coy

8 figs lmg 2 jeeps 

3rd Coy 

8 figs lmg 2 jeeps

5173rd  Recon coy “Palsar”

2 x jeeps 6 figs MMG vehicle mounted

5174th AT coy “Orev”
Jeep 106mm recoilless 

Air support

H34 Sikorsky helicopter 124 squadron

Bell UH1 Huey helicopter 123 squadron