The 4th Parachute Brigade was an airborne, specifically a parachute infantry, brigade formation of the British Army during the Second World War. Formed in late 1942 in the Mediterranean and Middle East, the brigade was composed of three parachute infantry units, the 10th, 11th and 156th Parachute Battalions.
The brigade was assigned to the 1st Airborne Division, just prior to the Allied invasion of Sicily, but played no part in the invasion. Instead the brigade first saw action in September 1943, during Operation Slapstick, an amphibious landing at the port of Taranto, as part of the early stages of the Allied invasion of Italy. Largely unopposed, the brigade captured the ports of Brindisi and Bari before being withdrawn. By the end of the year, the 4th Parachute Brigade was in England, preparing for the Allied invasion of North-West Europe. The brigade did not see action in France, being instead placed on standby for an emergency during the Normandy landings. Between June and August 1944 the speed of the subsequent Allied advance obviated the need to deploy airborne forces.
In September 1944, the brigade formed part of the second day's parachute landings at the Battle of Arnhem, part of Operation Market Garden. Problems reaching the bridges in Arnhem forced the divisional commander, Major-General Roy Urquhart, to divert one of the brigade's battalions to assist the 1st Parachute Brigade. After a short delay the brigade headed out for its objective. When only halfway there, however, the remaining two battalions were confronted by prepared German defences. The brigade, having suffered heavy losses, was eventually forced to withdraw. The next day, weakened by fighting at close quarters and now numbering around 150 men, the brigade eventually reached the divisional position at Oosterbeek.
After a week of being subjected to almost constant artillery, tank and infantry attacks, the remnants of the brigade were evacuated south of the River Rhine. During the battle of Arnhem, the brigade's total casualties amounted to seventy-eight per cent, and the 4th Parachute Brigade was disbanded rather than reformed, the survivors being posted to the 1st Parachute Brigade.
Formation
Impressed by the successful German airborne operations, during the Battle of France, the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, directed the War Office to investigate the possibility of creating a corps of 5,000 parachute troops.Otway, p.21 On 22 June 1940, No. 2 Commando was turned over to parachute duties and, on 21 November, re-designated the 11th Special Air Service Battalion, with a parachute and glider wing.Shortt and McBride, p.4Moreman, p.91 This was later to become the 1st Parachute Battalion. It was these men who took part in the first British airborne operation, Operation Colossus, on 10 February 1941.Guard, p.218 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, and creating the Parachute Regiment, as well as converting a number of infantry battalions into airborne battalions.Harclerode, p. 218 These battalions were assigned to the 1st Airborne Division with the 1st Parachute Brigade and the 1st Airlanding Brigade. The first general officer commanding (GOC) of the division, Major-General Frederick "Boy" Browning, expressed his opinion that the fledgling force must not be sacrificed in "penny packets" and urged the formation of more brigades.Ferguson, pp.7–9
The 4th Parachute Brigade was formed at RAF Kibrit in the Middle East on 1 December 1942.Rosignoli, p.24 Upon formation it consisted of the brigade headquarters, signals company, defence platoon and three parachute battalions.Guard, p.37 The battalions assigned were the 156th Parachute Battalion (156 Para), raised from British servicemen in India, the 10th Parachute Battalion (10 Para), formed around a cadre from the 2nd Battalion, Royal Sussex Regiment, and the 11th Parachute Battalion (11 Para), created from a cadre of 156 Para.Ferguson, p.9 The brigade's battalions all had the same composition: three rifle companies, each comprising a company headquarters, and three platoons. Each had a Support Company of mortar, machine gun and carrier platoons, along with a Headquarters Company.Powell, p.19 The brigade's first commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Kenneth Smyth, was replaced by Brigadier John Hackett on 4 January 1943.
Facilities and weather conditions at Kibret proved to be unsuitable for airborne operations, so the brigade moved to RAF Ramat David in Palestine to continue their training. The brigade came to full strength in May 1943, and in June was sent to Tripoli, where it joined the 1st Airborne Division. Also assigned to the division were the 1st and 2nd Parachute Brigades and the glider infantry of the 1st Airlanding Brigade.
In 1944, the brigade also had under their command 133 Parachute Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps, 2nd Airlanding Light Battery, Royal Artillery, 2nd (Oban) Airlanding Anti-Tank Battery, Royal Artillery and 4th Parachute Squadron, Royal Engineers.Urquhart, p.225
Italy In 1943, the 4th Parachute Brigade, although still part of the 1st Airborne Division, was kept out of the Allied invasion of Sicily by a shortage of transport aircraft. The 1st Airlanding Brigade took part in Operation Ladbroke and the 1st Parachute Brigade in Operation Fustian. Both brigades suffered heavy casualties, so that by the time Operation Slapstick was proposed, only the 2nd and 4th Parachute Brigades were up to strength.Ferguson, p.13 Slapstick was in part a deception operation to divert German forces from the main Allied landings and also an attempt to seize intact the Italian ports of Taranto, Bari and Brindisi.Blumenson, p.94
The lack of air transport meant that the division's two available brigades had to be transported by sea. They would cross the Mediterranean in four Royal Navy cruisers with their escorts. If the landing was successful, the British 78th Infantry Division in Sicily and the 8th Indian Infantry Division in the Middle East, under the command of British V Corps, under Lieutenant-General Charles Walter Allfrey, would be sent to reinforce the landings.Blumenson, p.95
With 11 Para still in Palestine, the 4th Parachute Brigade only had the 10th and 156th Battalion's available to take part in the landings. On 9 September 1943, the same day as the Salerno landings by Lieutenant General Mark W. Clark's U.S. Fifth Army, the brigade landed at Taranto unopposed. Their first objective was the airfield of Gioia del Colle inland. En route to the airfield near the town of Castellaneta, 10 Para came up against a German roadblock defended by a Fallschirmjäger unit of the German 1st Parachute Division.Dover, p. 82 During the battalion's assault on the roadblock, the division's GOC, Major-General George Hopkinson (who had succeeded "Boy" Browning in command back in April), observing the action, was hit by a burst of machine gun fire and killed.Harclerode, p. 262 At the same time, the 156th Battalion San Basilio, carried out a successful flanking attack on Fallschirmjäger defending the town. Two days later, having been only involved in minor skirmishes, the brigade occupied Bari and Brindisi.
By 19 September 1943 the 4th Para Brigade had reached Foggia, the northernmost point of their advance, before being ordered back to Taranto. Playing no further part in operations in Italy, the brigade was withdrawn by sea to the United Kingdom, arriving in November 1943. The 4th Parachute Brigade's casualties during the fighting in Italy amounted to 11 officers and 90 other ranks killed in action.Saunders, p.148 In December 1943, the 11th Parachute Battalion, which had been working independently in the Mediterranean, rejoined the brigade. The only operation they had been involved in was a company sized parachute assault on the Greek island of Kos. The Italian garrison surrendered and the company was relieved by men of the 1st Battalion, Durham Light Infantry and the RAF Regiment.
England
In England the brigade trained for operations in North-West Europe under the supervision of the I Airborne Corps. Although they were not scheduled to take part in the Normandy landings, under Operation Tuxedo the brigade would be parachuted in to support operations if any of the five invasion beaches experienced difficulties.Urquhart, p.16Peters and Buist, p.18 Tuxedo was the only operation planned where the brigade would act as an independent formation whereas 13 other operations were prepared which would have deployed the entire 1st Airborne Division. However, the speed of the Allied advance towards the River Seine and then onwards from Paris northwards, was accomplished without airborne assistance and the plans were cancelled.Peters and Buist, pp.20–26
The brigade's next operation was scheduled for early September 1944. Codenamed Comet, the plan called for the 1st Airborne Division's three brigades to land in the Netherlands and capture three river crossings. The first of these was the bridge over the River Waal at Nijmegen, the second the bridge over the River Maas at Grave and finally the River Rhine at Arnhem.Peters and Buist, p.28 The objective of the 4th Parachute Brigade would be the bridge at Grave.Peters and Buist, p.31 Planning for Comet was well advanced when on the 10 September the mission was cancelled. Instead, a new operation, Market Garden, was proposed whose objectives were the same as those of Comet but would this time be carried out by three divisions of the 1st Allied Airborne Army.Peters and Buist, pp.40–41
Arnhem
Landings by the 1st Allied Airborne Army's three divisions began in the Netherlands on 17 September 1944. Although allocation of aircraft for each division was roughly similar, the U.S. 101st Airborne Division landing at Nijmegen would use only one lift. The U.S. 82nd Airborne Division at Grave required two lifts while the British 1st Airborne Division at Arnhem would need three lifts. Whereas the two American divisions delivered at least three quarters of their infantry in their first lift, the 1st Airborne's similar drop used only half its infantry capacity and the remainder to deliver vehicles and artillery.Tugwell, p.241
The 1st Airborne Division had the required airlift capacity to deliver all three parachute brigades with their glider borne anti-tank weapons or two of the parachute brigades and the airlanding brigade on day one. However, instead the vast majority of the division's vehicles and heavy equipment, plus 1st Parachute Brigade, most of 1st Airlanding Brigade and divisional troops would be on the first lift. The airlanding brigade would remain at the landing grounds and defend them during the following day's lifts, while the parachute brigade set out alone to capture the bridges and ferry crossing on the River Rhine.Urquhart, pp.5–10
On the second day, 4th Parachute Brigade's lift of ninety-two C-47s (for the paratroops), forty-nine Horsa and nine Hamilcar gliders (for the artillery, vehicles and crews), were scheduled to arrive furthest away from Arnhem on Ginkel Heath drop zone 'Y', as early as possible on Monday 18 September 1944.Peters and Buist, p.59 The brigade's objective was to capture the high ground north-west of Arnhem.Peters and Buist, pp.59–60 In their last briefing before departure, Brigadier Hackett dismissed all officers except for the battalion commanders and the brigade staff and told them;"They could forget what they had been told. Being put down where we were, with surprise gone and the opposition alerted, and given the German capability for a swift and violent response to any threat to what really mattered, they could expect their hardest fighting and worst casualties, not in defence of the final perimeter, but in trying to get there."Ferguson, p.27