1st Parachute Battalion (Belgium)

1st Parachute Regiment (1946-1951) 1st Parachute Battalion (1951-2010)
Soldiers of the 1st Parachute Battalion in action during Operation Dragon Rouge.
Active	1946-2011
Country	Belgium
Branch	Land Component
Type	Airborne
Role	Airborne assault
Part of	Paracommando Brigade
Garrison/HQ	Diest
Motto(s)	Who Dares Wins
Colors
March	March of the Belgian Parachutists
Commanders
Notable commanders	Major Eddy Blondeel
Insignia
Cap badge
Parachute Qualification Brevet

The Belgian 1st Parachute Battalion (French: 1er Bataillon Parachutiste, Dutch: 1ste Bataljon Parachutisten), or 1 PARA, was a military formation of the Belgian Army and part of the Paracommando Brigade from 1946-2011. Its regimental traditions, including its badge and motto, were heavily influenced by the experience of many of its personnel in British SAS during the Second World War.

Many personnel who had served in the Belgian 5th Special Air Service during the Second World War chose to re-enlist in the army following the war. These included the first commander of the unit, Eddy Blondeel, who had served in France and the Ardennes during the war.

During political instability in the former Belgian colony of the Republic of Congo, soldiers from the 1st Parachute Battalion (with an attached company from the 2nd Commando and elements of the 3rd Parachute Battalion) were sent to capture the airfield at Stanleyville. In November 1964, 299 Belgian paratroopers, under Colonel Charles Laurent jumped on Simi-Simi Airport from USAF C-130 aircraft.

After securing the airfield, the paratroopers made their way to the Victoria Hotel, where several hundred (mostly Belgian) civilians were being held by Simba rebels. Though 60 civilians were killed, Belgian paratroopers were still able to evacuate 1,800 Europeans and Americans, as well as 400 Congolese during the operation.

In the period leading up the Rwandan Genocide, soldiers from 1st Parachute Battalion formed the Belgian contingent of the United Nations force in the country, known as UNAMIR which was commanded by the Canadian Brigadier-General Roméo Dallaire, from 1993. UNAMIR was tasked with maintaining the precarious balance between the Hutu-backed Rwandan government and the Tutsi rebels, known as the Rwandan Patriotic Front. As the former colonial power, Belgian forces made up the brunt of UNAMIR (around 400 men), but it also included soldiers from Ghana, Tunisia, Bangladesh, and Canada.