During the Second World War, parachutist and commando units were founded in Great Britain. Today the Para-Commando Brigade operates at a high level of readiness. The brigade can be put into action at very short notice and is therefor well suited to form intervention units. The Para-Commando Brigade is one of the Belgian contributions to NATO and is prepared to participate both in the Immediate and Rapid Reaction Force.
Additionally, a reconnaissance squadron, the 3rd Lancers-Parachutists perform reconnaissance missions for the Para-Commando Brigade. As of 2000, the Belgian army special-operations units, the Pathfinder Detachment and the Long Range Reconnaissance Detachment, have been combined into an 80-man special forces company. Organizationally, the company is within the 3rd Lansiers Paratrooper Battalion, which is the reconnaissance battalion of the army's paratrooper brigade. Functionally, pathfinders usually operate in teams of six to prepare drop zones and landing areas for follow-on forces. Long Range Reconnaissance personnel usually operate in teams of four to gather intelligence in enemy rear areas.
COMMANDO PARAS IN ACTION
On 10 November 1964, the Belgian Parachute Commando Regiment was assigned a daring mission -- THE CONGOLESE RESCUE OPERATION. Some 800 non-Congolese hostages were under threat with death if the Congolese Army mounted an attack against Stanleyville.
C130 aircraft from the U.S. Air Force would be used to ferry the Belgian paratroopers, their equipment, and to make the drop. They would jump into Stanleyville and evacuate hostages taken prisoner by rebel forces. The assault on Stanleyville would include an airdrop and air landings of Belgian troops.
To rescue the hostages before they could executed, the operation would require the rapid ground exploitation from the surprise airborne landings. This meant that the use of pathfinders, panels, and other means to mark drop zones could not be used and thus an easily identifiable golf course at one end of the Stanleyville airfield was chosen for the drop zone.
The OPLAN consisted of four operational phases:
Phase I was the movement to Stanleyville in the Congo using 12 C-130E aircraft to transport 545 paratroopers and their equipment.
Phase II was the assault on Stanleyville. A total of 320 paratroopers were to be dropped on the golf course to clear the airfield for air landings. Once accomplished, the remainder of the paratroopers were then to be parachuted on the golf course or air landed on the airfield. Other USAF aircraft in the area would be ready to provide fire support if needed.
The paratroopers would form into three company size groups to block and control approaches to the airfield, seize its facilities, and clear the airfield.
After clearing the runway of obstacles placed there by the rebels, the troops would seize objectives to provide security for the airfield. With each company leaving a platoon behind for security, the companies would then move into town, flush out the hiding places where the hostages were being held, and seize objectives to block rebel reinforcements form entering the town. While security detachments held these objectives, the bulk of the paratroopers, reinforced by the air landed troops, would conduct a detailed search of the town and release all hostages being held in the area.
Phase III was evacuation of the hostages. Because the Stanleyville airfield could hold no more than three C-130Es at one time, and because each plane could evacuate only 96 hostages, additional C-130Es, part of the American forces stationed in the Congo, would be used to bring in C-rations and to evacuate hostages.
Phase IV involved the task force would return to Europe.
The mission was carried out successfully.
Phase I was completed with the task force arrival over Stanleyville on schedule, at 0400, 24 November, ten minutes before daylight.
Phase II began when 320 paratroopers jumped into the airfield where there was a low hanging ground fog that gave a ceiling of 300 to 400 feet. A half-hour later the airfield was secured and within another ten minutes the airfield was cleared of obstacles, such as gas drums, burned cars and trucks, and other debris that littered the runway.
Belgian troops moved immediately into town, where they were halted by machine gun and small arms fire. The quick arrival of several armored jeeps spread panic among rebel ranks, and the rebels dispersed. One block from the Victoria Hotel, the Belgian troops heard scattered shooting. As they came into view of the hotel, they saw 400 to 600 civilians huddled together in the square. A minute before, a rebel officer had ordered them gunned down, and machine pistols had opened fire-killing 28 hostages, but the remainder were rescued by the paras.
Two and a half hours after the jump, Phase III began when the first of the rescued hostages were being moved to the airfield for air evacuation to Leopoldville. A rebel attack on the airfield was rapidly repulsed.
The air evacuation continued for two days, which concluded Phase IV. In all, about 2,000 hostages were rescued by the paras at a cost of 2 Belgian soldiers killed and 11 wounded.
TRAINING
Two parachute training sites are operated by the Belgium Commando Brigade. Personnel who want to obtain the Belgian "Para Wings" can receive either an "A" or "B" certification. The "A"
parachutist certificate requires a total of 8 jumps from a plane or balloon with and without equipment, and one jump has to be done by night. The "B" certification requires 4 jumps from a balloon. These courses are open to personnel not belonging to the Para-Commando Brigade. The schools also conduct a jump master course
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