63rd Parachute Battalion

63rd Parachute Brigade
A group of unit members during the Belgrade Military Parade, 2014
Active	Since 14 October 1944
Country	Serbia
Branch	Special Brigade
Type	Paratroop
Garrison/HQ	Niš
Motto(s)	"For fatherland, for comrade, for rifle, for soldiers and warriors honor, parachutists of 63. paratroopers battalion, WORK!" Serbian: "Za otadžbinu, za druga, za pušku, za vojničku i ratničku čast, padobranci 63. padobranskog bataljona, RADE!"
Commanders
Current commander	Lt. col. Nenad Bulatović
Insignia
Patch

"For fatherland, for comrade, for rifle, for soldiers and warriors honor, parachutists of 63. paratroopers battalion, WORK!"

The 63rd Parachute Battalion (Serbian: 63. Падобрански батаљон/63. Padobranski bataljon) is one of the battalions constituting the Special Brigade of the Serbian Army. It used to be of brigade-size, but it has the status of a battalion within the restructured Serbian Army. It is intended for special, reconnaissance and diversionary operations deep behind enemy lines.

When the competences of the 63rd Paratroop Battalion members are analyzed, the point to underscore is the safety coefficient of parachutist training, a parameter which, in spite of several tens of thousands of dives made in the last 15 years, is by far better than the comparable safety indicates for parachute units of the world's most powerful armies. This speaks for the high training standards and competence of the parachutists and a high degree of safety in training. In turn this suggests that strong work discipline, excellent abilities of officers and parachute instructors, highest-quality psycho-physical and expert coaching of the men, thorough checkups and perfect condition of parachute accessories, together with high morale of individual and units, reduce risk.

The first parachute jump in Yugoslavia was taken at the Novi Sad Airport on 2 September 1926. Second Lieutenant Dragutin Dolanski was dropped from an altitude of 650 meters (2100 feet). The year 1938 was particularly significant for the Yugoslav parachuting, since that was when the First International Aircraft Exhibition was staged in Belgrade. The Exhibition at the Zemun Airport included a combined jump of 10 parachutists, including Katarina Matanović, the first and only woman parachutist in Yugoslavia prior to the 1941 war.The Yugoslav Army had realized the significance of parachute units, and a school of parachuting was opened at Pančevo on 1 October 1939. The School was moved to Novi Sad in 1941, where it remained stationed until the outbreak of the war, whence a move to Niš was scheduled. The fate of the School of Parachuting in the April War has not yet been ascertained. In the Second World War, paratroop raids had a significant role in almost all major military operations. In mid-1944, the Supreme Headquarters requested help from the Allies to form a parachute unit. After the transfer of the Supreme Headquarters to the Island of Vis, urgent orders to lower-level commands were delivered by parachuted messengers.