 Teishin Shudan

The Imperial Japanese Army developed an airborne paratroop force in the late 1930s, but the program did not receive much attention by the Imperial General Headquarters until review of the success of similar German paratroop units during the Blitzkrieg of 1940.Army paratroops were first deployed in combat during the Battle of Palembang, on Sumatra in the Netherlands East Indies, on 14 February 1942.