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 Parachute Brigade and the 6th Airlanding Brigade.
The brigade first saw action in the British airborne landings on D-Day Operation Tonga, where it was responsible for capturing the Caen canal and Orne river bridges. The brigade remained in Normandy until September 1944, by which time it had advanced to the mouth of the River Seine. Its next engagement was in reaction to the surprise German offensive in the Ardennes, the Battle of the Bulge. This was followed by Operation Varsity, the last Allied airborne mission of the war. After this, the brigade advanced across Germany, reaching the Baltic Sea by the end of fighting in the European theatre.
The brigade was then sent to India as the division's advance party, but the war ended before it could begin operations. Instead the brigade became involved in disarming the Japanese forces in Malaya and Singapore, to restore British sovereignty. Its last operation was in Java, where it remained until a Dutch force arrived to take over. The brigade then rejoined the 6th Airborne Division, which was serving in Palestine, but was disbanded almost immediately afterwards.
Background Impressed by the success of German airborne operations during the Battle of France in May–June 1940, the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, directed the War Office to investigate the possibility of creating a force of 5,000 parachute troops.Otway, p.21 As a result, on 22 June 1940, No. 2 Commando assumed parachute duties, and on 21 November was re-designated the 11th Special Air Service Battalion, with a parachute and glider wing.Shortt and McBride, p.4Moreman, p.91 This later became the 1st Parachute Battalion.
On 21 June 1940 the Central Landing Establishment was formed at Ringway airfield near Manchester. Although tasked primarily with training parachute troops, it was also directed to investigate the use of gliders to transport troops into battle.Otway, pp.28–29Smith, p.7 At the same time, the Ministry of Aircraft Production contracted General Aircraft Ltd to design and produce a glider for this purpose.Flint, p.73 The result was the General Aircraft Hotspur, an aircraft capable of transporting eight soldiers, that was used for both assault and training purposes.Lynch, p.31
The success of the first British airborne raid, Operation Colossus, prompted the War Office to expand the airborne force through the creation of the Parachute Regiment, and to develop plans to convert several infantry battalions into parachute and glider battalions.Harclerode, p.218 On 31 May 1941, a joint Army and RAF memorandum was approved by the Chiefs-of-Staff and Winston Churchill; it recommended that the British airborne forces should consist of two parachute brigades, one based in England and the other in the Middle East, and that a glider force of 10,000 men should be created.Tugwell, p.123
Formation On 23 April 1943 the War Office authorised the formation of a second airborne division, which would be numbered the 6th Airborne Division. Under its command the division would have the existing 3rd Parachute Brigade, along with two airlanding battalions transferred from the 1st Airborne Division to form the nucleus of the new 6th Airlanding Brigade. To fill out the division, a new parachute brigade was raised on 1 July by the redesignation of the 72nd Independent Infantry Brigade. Numbered the 5th Parachute Brigade, it was initially commanded by Brigadier Edwin Flavell, but on 5 July he was given command of the Airborne Forces Depot, and Brigadier Nigel Poett took over the brigade.Harclerode, pp.223–224 In 1945, while the brigade was serving in the Far East, the brigade's last commander, Brigadier Kenneth Darling, took over from Poett.
The parachute battalions in the brigade were the experienced 7th (Light Infantry), which was transferred from the 3rd Parachute Brigade, and two new parachute battalions, the 12th (Yorkshire) Parachute Battalion and the 13th (Lancashire). These were standard line infantry converted to parachute duties, and had to undergo airborne forces selection and training at the Airborne Forces Deport. On formation, each battalion had an establishment of 556 men in three rifle companies; the companies were divided into a small headquarters and three platoons. Each platoon had three Bren machine guns and three 2-inch mortars, one of each per section. The only heavy weapons in the battalions were a 3 inch mortar platoon and a Vickers machine gun platoon.Peters and Buist, p.55 By 1944 a headquarters or support company was added to the battalion, comprising five platoons: motor transport, signals, mortar, machine-gun and anti-tank. This company had eight 3 inch mortars, four Vickers machine guns, and ten PIAT anti-tank projectors.Guard, p.37
The brigade was supported by the 4th Airlanding Anti-Tank Battery from the Royal Artillery. This battery had three troops, equipped with four Ordnance QF 6 pounders each, and provided the brigade's only anti-tank guns. Later in the war, the battery was increased to five troops, three of them retaining the 6 pounder,Peters and Buist, p.328 while the other two had four Ordnance QF 17 pounders each. While the 6 pounder could fit inside the Horsa glider, the size and weight of the 17 pounder and its Morris C8 tractor unit required the larger Hamilcar glider.Peters and Buist, p.327 The 591st (Antrim) Parachute Squadron, Royal Engineers. and the 225th (Parachute) Field Ambulance of the Royal Army Medical Corps completed the brigade formation.Ferguson, p.16
'D' Company, commanded by Major John Howard, from the 2nd Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (OBLI), of 6th Airlanding Brigade, also served with the brigade for a one off mission in Normandy.Ambrose, p.27 At the end of the war, while serving in the Far East, the pathfinders of the 22nd Independent Parachute Company, and the Parachute Platoon from the Light Composite Company, Royal Army Service Corps, were attached to the brigade.
Operational history
From June to December 1943, the brigade prepared for operations as part of the 6th Airborne Division, training at every level from section up to division by day and night.Harclerode, p.225 Airborne soldiers were expected to fight against superior numbers of the enemy, who would be equipped with artillery and tanks. Training was therefore designed to encourage a spirit of self-discipline, self-reliance and aggressiveness, with emphasis given to physical fitness, marksmanship and fieldcraft.Guard, p.225 A large part of the training consisted of assault courses and route marching. Military exercises included capturing and holding airborne bridgeheads, road or rail bridges and coastal fortifications. At the end of most exercises, the troops would march back to their barracks, usually a distance of around . An ability to cover long distances at speed was expected; airborne platoons were required to cover a distance of in 24 hours, and battalions .
In April 1944, under the command of 1st Airborne Corps, the brigade took part in Exercise Mush, in the counties of Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire. This was an airborne military exercise spread over three days involving the 1st and 6th Airborne Divisions. Unknown to the men of the 6th Airborne, it was a full-scale rehearsal for the division's involvement in the imminent Normandy invasion.Gregory, p.100 During the invasion, the division's two parachute brigades would land just after midnight on 6 June, while the 6th Airlanding Brigade arrived later in the day just before dark. The division's objective was to secure the left flank of the invasion area, by dominating the high ground in the area between the rivers Orne and Dives.Saunders, p.143Gregory, p.101 For their part in the operation, the 5th Parachute Brigade had to capture intact the Caen Canal and the River Orne bridges. To assist the brigade in its mission, 'D' Company from the 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry was taken under its command to carry out a coup de main operation on the bridges.
D-Day
Just after midnight on 6 June 1944, six Halifax bombers towing Horsa gliders, with the reinforced 'D' Company from the 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry on board, crossed the French coast.Ford, p.32 Shortly afterwards, the tow ropes were released and five of the gliders landed in the strip of land between the Caen Canal and the River Orne. Major John Howard commanded the company for the assault, which in short order captured the Benouville and Ranville bridges intact, for the loss of two dead and several wounded.Fowler, p.41, p.59 The intention was for this force to hold the bridges until relieved by the 7th Parachute Battalion. Next, Albemarle bombers carrying the 5th Parachute Brigade's pathfinders, a group from each battalion, and the brigade headquarters started to arrive over the drop zone (DZ).Harclerode, p.317 Some planes got lost and failed to reach the DZ or arrived late. Others were damaged before dropping all their paratroops and turned back, and one returned to base after failing to find the drop zone at all.
At 00:50 the brigade started landing at DZ-N, just north of Ranville.Harclerode, p.313 Equipment and navigational failures by the RAF pilots and the division's pathfinders resulted in the brigade being scattered all over the countryside. By 02:40 only around 40 per cent of the 7th Parachute Battalion had reached their assembly point. Unable to wait any longer, the battalion headed for the captured bridges, and established a defensive position in Benouville, the division's only position west of the Caen Canal.Harclerode, p.314 Most of the 12th Parachute Battalion landed on the eastern edge of the DZ, and only around 60 per cent of the battalion arrived at their assembly point. Their objective was to secure the village of Le Bas de Ranville, which was achieved by 04:00.Harclerode, p.315 The 13th Parachute Battalion could also only muster around 60 per cent of its strength on the DZ. This battalion had two objectives; to secure Ranville and to clear the DZ of obstacles for the division's gliders which were to land next.