The Parachute Regiment, known colloquially as the Paras, is the airborne and elite infantry regiment of the British Army. The first battalion is part of the Special Forces Support Group under the operational command of the Director Special Forces. The other battalions are the parachute infantry component of the British Army's rapid response formation, 16 Air Assault Brigade. Alongside the five regiments of Foot Guards, the Parachute Regiment is the only infantry regiment of the British Army that has not been amalgamated with another unit since the end of the Second World War.
The Parachute Regiment was formed on 22 June 1940 during the Second World War and eventually raised 17 battalions. In Europe, these battalions formed part of the 1st Airborne Division, the 6th Airborne Division and the 2nd Independent Parachute Brigade Group. Another three battalions served with the British Indian Army in India and Burma. The regiment took part in six major parachute assault operations in North Africa, Italy, Greece, France, the Netherlands and Germany, often landing ahead of all other troops.
At the end of the Second World War, the regiment was reduced to three regular army battalions first assigned to the 16th Parachute Brigade and later the 5th Airborne Brigade. The reserve 16th Airborne Division was formed using the regiment reserve battalions in the Territorial Army. Defence cuts gradually reduced the TA formations to a parachute brigade and then a single reserve battalion. In the same time period, the regular army battalions have taken part in operations in Suez, Cyprus, Borneo, Aden, Northern Ireland, the Falklands, the Kosovo War, the Balkans, Sierra Leone, Iraq and Afghanistan, at times being reinforced by men from the reserve battalion.
Formation
Impressed by the success of 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.Shott & McBride, p.4Moreman, p.91 It was these men who took part in the first British airborne operation, Operation Colossus, on 10 February 1941.Guard, p.218 In September, the battalion was re-designated the 1st Parachute Battalion and assigned to the 1st Parachute Brigade. To fill out the brigade, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Parachute Battalions were raised by calling for volunteers from all units in the British Army.
The first operation by the Parachute Regiment was Operation Biting in February 1942. The objective was to capture a Würzburg radar on the coast of France. The raid was carried out by 'C' Company, 2nd Parachute Battalion, under the command of Major John Frost.Harclerode, p. 208
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 in April 1942, and creating the Parachute Regiment as well as converting a number of infantry battalions into airborne battalions in August 1942.Harclerode, p. 218 The 2nd Parachute Brigade was then formed from the 4th Battalion, transferred from the 1st Para Brigade, and two of the converted infantry battalions, the 5th Battalion from the 7th Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders and 6th Battalion from the 10th Royal Welch Fusiliers. The Army Air Corps was created as the command formation of the Parachute Regiment and the Glider Pilot Regiment. With two parachute brigades now in the order of battle, the 1st Airborne Division commanded by Major-General Frederick Arthur Montague Browning was formed. By the end of the war, the regiment had raised 17 battalions.
In India, the 50th Indian Parachute Brigade was raised on 27 October 1941, comprising 151 (British), 152 (Indian) and 153 (Gurkha) Parachute Battalions along with the brigade signals, sapper squadron and 80 Parachute Field Ambulance. 151 British Parachute Battalion moved to Egypt and then to England where it was redesignated 156 Parachute battalion and joined the 4th Parachute Brigade, 1st Airborne Division. The British battalion was composed of volunteers from the 27 infantry battalions of the British Army in India. The 2nd/7th Gurkha Battalion was converted en bloc to the airborne role and renamed 154th (Gurkha) Parachute Battalion. Later, when the formation was to expand, 14th and 77th Indian Parachute Brigades from the Chindit operations were converted and comprised one airborne battalion each of British, Indian and Gurkha troops. They were part of the 44th Indian Airborne Division.
Training
Parachute training was a 12-day course carried out at the No. 1 Parachute Training School, RAF Ringway. Recruits initially jumped from a converted barrage balloon and finished with five parachute jumps from an aircraft. Anyone failing to complete a parachute jump was returned to his old unit. At the end of the course, new Paras were presented with their maroon beret and parachute wings and posted to a parachute battalion.Guard, p.224Guard, p.226 Parachute training was not without its dangers; three men were killed in the first 2,000 parachute jumps at Ringway.
Airborne soldiers were expected to fight against superior numbers of the enemy equipped with artillery and tanks. So training was designed to encourage a spirit of self-discipline, self-reliance and aggressiveness. Emphasis was 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 battalion would march back to their barracks. An ability to cover long distances at speed was expected: airborne platoons were required to cover a distance of in 24 hours, and battalions .
Equipment
The Parachute Regiment had their own distinctive uniform: the maroon beret at first with the Army Air Corps cap badge and from May 1943 the Parachute Regiment cap badge which is still in use today.r Ferguson, p.16 Parachute wings were worn on the right shoulder above the airborne forces patch of Bellerophon riding the flying horse Pegasus.Guard, p.227 On operations, Paras wore the airborne forces pattern steel helmet instead of the normal Brodie helmet. Initially they wore a 'jump jacket' modelled on the German Fallschirmjäger jacket. After 1942, the Denison smock was issued as the first camouflaged uniform for the British Army.Guard, p.232 In 1943, a green sleeveless jacket was designed to wear over the Denison smock when parachuting. British Paras did not use a reserve parachute, as the War Office considered the £60 cost a waste of money.Guard, p.220
The Parachute Regiment were not issued any special weapons. Their small arms were the same as the rest of the army's: the bolt action Lee–Enfield rifle and the Enfield or Webley revolver or the M1911 pistol. For a submachine gun, they used the British Sten in Northwest Europe, which was issued in higher numbers than to a normal infantry battalion.Guard, p.228 Paratroopers attached to Eighth Army used the Thompson submachine gun in the North African and Mediterranean theatre and during Operation Dragoon. Each section had a Bren light machine gun and the platoon had a 2-inch mortar. The only battalion heavy weapons were eight 3-inch mortars, four Vickers machine guns and after 1943, ten PIAT anti tank weapons.Rottman and Dennis, p.49
Post-war formations and reductions
The airborne divisions were disbanded after the Second World War, with only the 2nd Parachute Brigade (1st, 2nd and 3rd Battalions) remaining. In February 1948, it was renumbered the 16th Parachute Brigade and posted to the British Army on the Rhine.Watson and Rinaldi, p.3 The brigade remained in Germany until October 1949, when it relocated to Aldershot, which became the home of the Parachute Regiment for the next 50 years.Watson and Rinaldi, p.4 The Territorial Army (TA) reformed after the war and raised the 16th Airborne Division with nine parachute battalions (10th to 18th) in three parachute brigades.Norton, p.218 The division was disbanded in the 1956 defence cuts, leaving the 44th Independent Parachute Brigade as the only reserve parachute formation. The remaining reserve battalions were the 10th (City of London), 12th (Yorkshire), 13th (Lancashire), 15th (Scottish) and 17th (Durham Light Infantry). Further reductions resulted in the amalgamation of the 12th and 13th Battalions soon afterwards. In 1967, the TA battalions were reduced again, the 12th, 13th and 17th being amalgamated to reform the 4th Battalion. The 44th Independent Parachute Brigade was disbanded in 1977, leaving the reserve parachute battalions as independent units.Watson and Rinaldi, p.124 Following the Falklands War, in November 1983 the 5th Airborne Brigade was formed for out-of-area operations. The brigade consisted of two of the parachute battalions and its own parachute trained artillery, engineers, medics, signals and logistics units. The Options for Change restructuring after the Cold War again reduced the number of TA battalions. The 4th and 15th Battalions were amalgamated in 1993 as the 4th Battalion, and the 10th Battalion was disbanded. The 5th Airborne Brigade lasted until the 1999 Strategic Defence Review, which recommended that the 5th Airborne and 24th Airmobile Brigade be amalgamated as the 16th Air Assault Brigade.
Operational history
Second World War North Africa
In November 1942 the British First Army, with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Parachute Battalions (1st Parachute Brigade) attached, invaded French Morocco and Algeria (Operation Torch).Ferguson, p.9 The British airborne operations in North Africa started on 12 November, when the 3rd Battalion carried out the first battalion sized parachute drop, on Bône airfield between Algiers and Tunis.Ferguson, p.10 The remainder of the brigade arrived by sea the next day. On 15 November, the 1st Battalion were ordered to parachute and capture a vital road junction at Béja west of Tunis. The battalion captured both Béja and Mateur after an attack on a German armoured column and an Italian tank position. The 2nd Battalion, now commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John Frost, carried out a parachute drop on Depienne Airfield south of Tunis. The airfield had been abandoned, so they marched to capture Oudna Airfield. There, they were supposed to have been relieved by advancing British forces, but they had been held up by unexpected German resistance. Frost contacted First Army, only to be informed that, as they were trapped behind the lines, they had been written off. The battalion headed for the British lines, but lost 266 men under constant German attack by the time they reached safety at Medjez el Bab.
In February 1943, the brigade deployed as normal infantry, serving in the front lines for the rest of the Tunisian Campaign. They fought notable actions at Bou Arada and Tamerza against their German counterparts, the Fallschirmjäger, where they earned the nickname "Die Roten Teufel" (the Red Devils).
Sicily