The 7th (Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion was an

airborne Airborne or Airborn may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Airborne'' (1962 film), a 1962 American film directed by James Landis * ''Airborne'' (1993 film), a comedy–drama film * ''Airborne'' (1998 film), an action film sta ...

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions ...

of the Parachute Regiment, formed by the

British Army during the Second World War At the start of 1939, the British Army was, as it traditionally always had been, a small volunteer professional army. At the beginning of the Second World War on 1 September 1939, the British Army was small in comparison with those of its ene ...

. The battalion was raised in November 1942 by the conversion of the 10th Battalion,

Somerset Light Infantry The Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Albert's) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army, which served under various titles from 1685 to 1959. In 1959, the regiment was amalgamated with the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry to form the Som ...

to parachute duties. It was initially assigned to the 3rd Parachute Brigade, part of 1st Airborne Division, but moved to the

5th Parachute Brigade The 5th Parachute Brigade was an airborne forces formation of brigade strength, raised by the British Army during the Second World War. Created during 1943, the brigade was assigned to the 6th Airborne Division, serving alongside the 3rd Parachu ...

, alongside the 12th and 13th Parachute battalions, of the

6th Airborne Division The 6th Airborne Division was an airborne infantry division of the British Army during the Second World War. Despite its name, the 6th was actually the second of two airborne divisions raised by the British Army during the war, the other being ...

soon afterwards. The battalion saw combat on

D-Day The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

in Operation Tonga on 6 June 1944, the

Battle of the Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted from 16 December 1944 to 28 January 1945, towards the end of the war in ...

in December and the River Rhine crossing in March 1945. After the war ended in Europe, the battalion, with the 5th Parachute Brigade, was sent to the

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to undertake operations against the

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. However, the war ended just after the men had started jungle training. Moving by sea, the battalion took part in the reoccupation of Malaya and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. Problems in

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resulted in the battalion being sent to Batavia (Jakarta) to control the unrest, until relieved by a Dutch force. The battalion then rejoined the

6th Airborne Division in Palestine The 6th Airborne Division in Palestine was initially posted to the region as the Imperial Strategic Reserve. It was envisioned as a mobile peace keeping force, positioned to be able to respond quickly to any area of the British Empire. In fact the ...

. Post war army reductions saw the battalion amalgamated with the 17th Parachute Battalion, but still remaining the 7th Parachute Battalion. But further reductions eventually saw the battalion disbanded.

Formation

Impressed by the success of German airborne operations during the

Battle of France The Battle of France (french: bataille de France) (10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign ('), the French Campaign (german: Frankreichfeldzug, ) and the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France during the Second Wor ...

, the

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, directed the

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to investigate the possibility of creating a

corps Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

of 5,000 parachute troops. On 22 June 1940, No. 2 Commando was turned over to parachute duties and, on 21 November, redesignated the 11th Special Air Service Battalion, with a parachute and glider wing. It was these men who took part in the first British airborne operation,

Operation Colossus Operation Colossus was the codename given to the first airborne operation undertaken by the British military, which occurred on 10 February 1941 during World War II. The British airborne establishment was formed in June 1940 by the order of t ...

, on 10 February 1941.Guard, p. 218 The battalion was later redesignated as the 1st Parachute Battalion. The success of the raid prompted the War Office to expand the existing airborne force, setting up the Airborne Forces Depot and Battle School in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

in April 1942, and creating the Parachute Regiment as well as converting a number of infantry battalions into airborne battalions in August 1942. British parachute training 1942

The 7th (Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion was formed, in November 1942, by the conversion of the 10th Battalion,

, a war service battalion created two years earlier, to parachute duties. The battalion was assigned to the 3rd Parachute Brigade, originally part of the 1st Airborne Division but later transferred to the

. When the

1st Canadian Parachute Battalion The 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion was an airborne infantry battalion of the Canadian Army formed in July 1942 during the Second World War; it served in North West Europe, Landing in Normandy during Operation Tonga, in conjunction with the D-D ...

arrived in Britain, it was assigned to the 3rd Parachute Brigade and the 7th Parachute Battalion was transferred to the

, which was also a part of the 6th Airborne Division. In 1942, a parachute battalion had an establishment of 556 men in three companies (three

platoon A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two or more squads, sections, or patrols. Platoon organization varies depending on the country and the branch, but a platoon can be composed of 50 people, although specific platoons may rang ...

s each) supported by a 3 inch mortar platoon and a

Vickers machine gun The Vickers machine gun or Vickers gun is a water-cooled .303 British (7.7 mm) machine gun produced by Vickers Limited, originally for the British Army. The gun was operated by a three-man crew but typically required more men to move and o ...

platoon. By 1944, a support company was added to command the battalion's heavy weapons. It comprised three platoons: a Mortar Platoon with eight 3-inch mortars, a Machine Gun Platoon with four Vickers machine guns and an Anti-tank Platoon with ten PIAT (Projecter, Infantry, Anti-Tank) anti-tank projectors.Guard, p. 37

Normandy

On 6 June 1944, the 7th Parachute Battalion landed in Normandy. Many men of the battalion were scattered or landed on the wrong drop zone. So badly scattered were they that, by 03:00,

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colon ...

Pine-Coffin in command had only around forty percent of the battalion at the forming up point, although men continued to appear throughout the day. Relatively few of their supply containers had been found, meaning that they possessed few heavy weapons or radio sets. However, the battalion managed to rendezvous with the coup-de-main forces of the 2nd Battalion, Ox and Bucks Light Infantry at the Caen and Orne bridges. They then set up a defensive perimeter against German counter-attacks. The first German assault on the bridges came between 05:00 and 07:00 and consisted of isolated and often uncoordinated attacks by tanks, armoured cars and infantry, which grew in intensity throughout the day. The

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German '' Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the '' Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabt ...

attempted to destroy the Caen bridge with a bomb, which failed to detonate, and two German Navy coastal craft, which attempted to attack the bridge, were also repelled.Otway, p. 178 Despite the ferocity of the attacks, the battalion and the coup-de-main forces were able to hold the bridges until 19:00, when leading elements of the 3rd British Infantry Division arrived and began to relieve the battalion. By midnight, the battalion was being held in reserve behind the 12th Parachute Battalion occupying Le Bas de Ranville and the

13th Parachute Battalion The 13th (Lancashire) Parachute Battalion was an airborne infantry battalion of the Parachute Regiment, raised by the British Army during the Second World War. The battalion was formed in May 1943 by the conversion of the 2/4th Battalion, South ...

holding

Ranville Ranville () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. Ranville was the first French village liberated on D-Day. The village was liberated by the British 13th Parachute Battalion, commanded by Lieut ...

Ardennes

The 6th Airborne Division was called to intervene in the German offensive through the Ardennes on 20 December 1944. On the 29th of that month, they attacked the tip of the German thrust and the 3rd Parachute Brigade was given responsibility for the Rochefort sector, which they took after meeting stiff resistance. After several months of heavy patrolling, in Belgium and, in February, the Netherlands, the Division was withdrawn to England.

Germany

Post Second World War

With the war in Europe over, the battalion moved to the Far East with the 5th Parachute Brigade between 1945 and 1946. Thereafter, it returned to the

and was incorporated into the 17th Parachute Battalion in July 1946 while retaining its name. After the 5th Parachute Brigade was disbanded, the men of the battalion were reallocated among the remainder of the division and the unit re-designated 3rd Parachute Battalion at

Itzehoe Itzehoe (; nds, Itzhoe) is a town in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. As the capital of the district Steinburg, Itzehoe is located on the Stör, a navigable tributary of the Elbe, 51 km (31.7 mi) northwest of Hamburg and 24 ...

in July 1948.

Commanding officers

Notes

References

* * * * * * *

External links

Six Days Adrift in Normandy, June 1944, Personal account of a 7th Parachute Battalion soldier

{{British parachute units of the Second World War Military units and formations established in 1942 Military units and formations disestablished in 1948 British Parachute Regiment Battalions Airborne units and formations of the United Kingdom