The official history of Russian and Soviet airborne forces began on August 2, 1930, when 12 parachutists were dropped during maneuvers in the Moscow Military District. Prior to maneuvers, the volunteers conducted several practice jumps during their six days of training under the tutelage of Air Force pilot Leonid Minov. Minov himself had only three jumps under his belt, having received his training in the United States only a short time before.
This experiment created excitement among Soviet military theoreticians and commanders. The vertical dimension of airborne operations fit well within the overall framework of the Soviet “deep battle” concept, and the airborne forces expanded rapidly, numbering almost 10,000 men by 1935. That same year, during maneuvers in the Kiev Military District, 1,200 paratroopers were dropped in front of impressed foreign military observers. Airborne soldiers captured an airfield, allowing conventional infantry with light tanks and artillery to be flown in.
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