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Enemy Air-Borne Forces, Military Intelligence Service, Special Series No. 7, December 2, 1942
[DISCLAIMER: The following text is taken from the wartime U.S. War Department publication. As with all wartime intelligence information, data may be incomplete or inaccurate. No attempt has been made to update or correct the text. Any views or opinions expressed do not necessarily represent those of the website.]

6. THE EARLY CAMPAIGNING OF WORLD WAR II

At the outset of the Polish campaign in 1939 the Germans may have used some of their carefully trained parachutists with disappointing results. An engagement, possibly small-scale, has been rumored, in which losses ran as high as 70 to 80 percent. If such an engagement occurred, the Germans have endeavored not to publicize it. During the Norwegian Campaign of the following year, more favorable results were attained. Several air-borne attacks with small isolated units were made, some at the cost of only minor casualties. Supplies and troops were successfully flown to Narvik and dropped by parachute to reinforce the German garrison there. But at Dombas, in central Norway, a force of about 200 German parachutists were killed or captured within a week of their appearance.
 

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