World War II marks the beginning of modern commando warfare.
Focusing on a way to effectively counter guerilla operations,
the Germans employed a decapitation method in their attempts to
track down the Yugoslav partisan leader Tito. Lack of manpower
and the prospect for immediate results made this option very
attractive to the German High Command. In the sixth year of the
war, with ever increasing casualties in 1944 the German armed
forces were thinning out non front line units and the manpower
shortage became a dominant challenge. After good commando
experiences with the regular paratroopers, the Waffen SS had
started to set up its own airborne division (500/600 SS
Fallschirmjäger) in autumn 1943 and after basic infantry
training the men conducted special parachutist training in
Sarajevo. Its first deployment mission was “Operation
Rösselsprung” (“Knight’s move”) which will be analyzed in the
following and then lessons will be filtered out that retain its
relevance for modern warfare. Picture 1, retrieved fr