France Operation Biting, also known as the Bruneval Raid, was the
codename for a raid by
Combined Operations in 1942. On the night of 27 February, 'C' Company, 2nd Parachute Battalion, under the command of
Major John Frost, parachuted into France a few miles from the installation. A technician that had come with the force partially dismantled the
Würzburg radar array and removed several key pieces to take back to Britain; the raiding force then retreated to the evacuation beach. The detachment assigned to clear the beach had failed to do so, however, and another brief fire-fight was required to eliminate the Germans guarding the beach. The raiding force was then picked up by a small number of landing craft and transferred to several
Motor Gun Boats which brought them back to Britain. The raid was entirely successful. The airborne troops suffered only a few casualties, and the pieces of the radar they brought back, along with a German radar technician, allowed British scientists to understand German advances in radar and to create counter-measures to neutralise those advances.
Norway Operation Freshman was the first British airborne operation conducted using gliders, its target was the
Vemork Norsk Hydro chemical plant in Norway, which produced
heavy water for Nazi Germany. By 1942 the German
atomic weapons programme had come close to being able to develop a
nuclear reactor, but in order for the reactor to function it would require a great deal of heavy water. The source of this water was the Norsk Hydro plant, which had been occupied in 1940; when the British government learned of the German nuclear developments, it was decided that a raid would be launched to destroy the plant and deny the Germans the heavy water. Several tactics were discussed and discarded as impractical, and it was finally decided that a small force from the 1st Airborne Division, comprising 30
sappers from
9 Field Company RE (Airborne),
Royal Engineers, would land by glider a short distance from the plant, and demolish it with explosives. The second pair fared even worse, with both aircraft and glider crashing into a mountain for unknown reasons; the aircrew and several men were killed outright, and those who survived were taken prisoner. None of the prisoners survived for very long, being either poisoned or executed as a result of
Adolf Hitler's
Commando Order, which stated that all
British Commandos personnel were to be killed immediately when captured. The mission was undertaken by the division's
glider pilots and
No. 295 Squadron Royal Air Force, as part of the preparations for the invasion of Sicily. The Horsas were needed to complement the smaller American
Waco gliders, which did not have the capacity required for the planned operations. During the mission two German
Condor patrol aircraft located and shot down a Halifax-and-Horsa combination. Altogether five Horsas and three Halifaxes were lost, but 27 Horsas arrived in Tunisia in time to participate in the invasion of Sicily. preparing to take off on
Operation Ladbroke, with a
folding airborne bicycle in the foreground Operation Ladbroke was a glider assault by the 1st Airlanding Brigade near
Syracuse, that began on 9 July 1943 as part of the invasion of
Sicily. The brigade were equipped with 144 Waco and six Horsa gliders. Their objective was to land near the town of Syracuse, secure the Ponte Grande Bridge, and ultimately take control of the city itself with its strategically important docks. On the way to Sicily, 65 gliders were released too early by the towing aircraft and crashed into the sea, drowning around 252 men. Of the remainder, only 87 men arrived at the Pont Grande Bridge, which they successfully captured and held beyond the time they were to be relieved. Finally, with their ammunition expended and only 15 soldiers remaining unwounded, they surrendered to the Italian forces. The Italians sought to demolish the bridge after regaining control of it, but were unable to do so because the airborne forces had removed the explosive charges. Operation Fustian, the division's second mission in Sicily, was carried out by the 1st Parachute Brigade. Their objective was the Primosole Bridge across the
Simeto River. The intention was for the parachute brigade, with glider-borne forces in support, to land on both sides of the river. While one battalion seized the bridge, the other two battalions would establish defensive positions to the north and south. They would then hold the bridge until relieved by the advance of
XIII Corps, part of the
Eighth Army which had landed on the southeastern coast three days previously. The start of the operation was a disaster. Many of the aircraft carrying the paratroopers from North Africa were shot down, or were damaged and turned back, due to both friendly fire and enemy action. The evasive action taken by the pilots scattered the brigade over a large area, and only the equivalent of two
companies of troops were landed in the correct locations. Despite this and the defence by German and Italian forces, the British paratroops captured the bridge. Resisting attacks from the north and south, they held out against increasing odds until nightfall. By this time, with casualties mounting and supplies running short, the brigade commander, Brigadier
Gerald Lathbury, had relinquished control of the bridge to the Germans. The following day the British units joined forces, and the 9th Battalion,
Durham Light Infantry with armour support attempted to recapture the bridge. It was not finally secured until three days after the start of the operation, when another battalion of the Durham Light Infantry, led by the paratroopers, established a bridgehead on the northern bank of the river. The mission had been planned at short notice, following an offer by the Italian government to open the ports of Taranto and
Brindisi on the
heel of Italy to the Allies. The 1st Airborne Division was selected to undertake the mission, but at the time they were located in North Africa. Instead, the division had to be transported across the
Mediterranean by ships of the
Royal Navy. The landing was unopposed, and the airborne division successfully captured the ports of Taranto, and later Brindisi on the
Adriatic coast, in working order. The only German forces in the area were elements of the
German 1st Parachute Division, which engaged the advancing British in ambushes and at roadblocks during a fighting withdrawal north. By the end of September, the 1st Airborne Division had advanced to
Foggia. Reinforcements from two infantry divisions, the
8th Indian and
British 78th, had by then been landed behind them, which allowed the airborne troops to be withdrawn back to Taranto. Despite casualties for the 1st Airborne Division in Italy being relatively light, the
General Officer Commanding (GOC),
Major General George Hopkinson, was killed while watching an assault by the 10th Parachute Battalion where he was mortally wounded by a burst of machine gun fire. He was replaced by Brigadier Ernest Down, previously the commander of 2nd Parachute Brigade.
England By December 1943 the division had returned to England and begun training for operations in North-West Europe under the supervision of
I Airborne Corps. Although the 1st Airborne Division was not scheduled to take part in the
Normandy landings, a contingency plan, Operation Wasteage, was drawn up whereby the division would be parachuted in to support any of the
five invasion beaches if serious delays were experienced. This plan turned out not to be required. While the 6th Airborne Division were still fighting in Normandy, numerous plans to parachute the 1st Airborne Division into France were formulated, all to no avail. In June and July 1944, the plans included Operation Reinforcement, which was a landing to the west of
St Sauveur-le-Vicomte to support the
US 82nd Airborne Division, and Operation Wild Oats that would have seen the division land south of Caen to meet the advancing 7th Armoured Division moving from Villers-Bocage and the 51st (Highland) Infantry Division and 4th Armoured Brigade advancing south out of the Orne bridgehead in a move to encircle and capture Caen. Such an airborne operation was vetoed by Trafford Leigh-Mallory, as being too risky for the aircraft involved. At any rate, the land portion of the attack (generally considered to be part of
Operation Perch) bogged down due to German resistance and the delayed deployment of troops to Normandy. There was also Operation Beneficiary, intended to support the American
VIII Corps in capturing
St Malo, and Operation Lucky Strike which had the objective of seizing bridges across the
River Seine at
Rouen. In Operation Sword Hilt, the division was to isolate the port of
Brest and destroy the
Morlaix viaduct. Operation Hands Up was intended to support the
US Third Army by seizing the
Vannes airfield. By August the division was still waiting to be deployed, but now plans envisioned using them as part of a larger force. Operation Transfigure involved the division, the
52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division, the
US 101st Airborne Division, and the 1st Polish Parachute Brigade landing at
Rambouillet St Arnoult, to close the gap between
Orléans and Paris. Operation Axehead, using the same force, was to seize the bridges over the River Seine in support of
21st Army Group. Operation Boxer, with the same force, was to seize
Boulogne and assault
V1 flying bomb sites. Near the end of the month, Operation Linnet, with the same units as before, was formulated to seize crossings over the Escaut. Operation Infatuate, drawn up in early September, involved the entire I Airborne Corps landing in Belgium to trap the retreating German armies in the
Scheldt estuary, as well as aiming to threaten
Antwerp. Finally, in September, there was Operation Comet, in which the division's three brigades were to land in the Netherlands and each capture a river crossing. The first of these was the bridge over the
River Waal at
Nijmegen, the second the bridge over the
River Maas at
Grave, and the last was the bridge over the
River Rhine at
Arnhem. Planning for
Comet was well advanced when on 10 September the mission was cancelled. Instead, a new operation was proposed with the same objectives as
Comet but to be carried out by three divisions of the
First Allied Airborne Army. in
Oosterbeek, where the majority of 1st Airborne Division became trapped
Arnhem Operation Market Garden was an airborne assault by three divisions in the Netherlands in September 1944, including the British 1st and the American 82nd Airborne Division and 101st Airborne Division, to secure key bridges and towns along the expected Allied axis of advance. Farthest north, 1st Airborne, supported by the 1st Polish Parachute Brigade, landed at Arnhem to secure bridges across the
Nederrijn. Initially expecting an easy advance,
XXX Corps, under
Lieutenant General Brian Horrocks, to reach the airborne force at Arnhem within two to three days. Only a small force was able to reach the
Arnhem road bridge, while the main body of the division was halted on the
outskirts of the city. After four days, the small British force at the bridge was overwhelmed and the rest of the division became trapped in a pocket north of the river, where they could not be sufficiently reinforced by the Poles, or by XXX Corps when it arrived on the southern bank. The division maintained law and order until the arrival of the occupation force, Force 134. During its time in Norway, the division was tasked with supervising the surrender of the German forces in Norway, as well as preventing the sabotage of important military and civilian facilities. The
German Instrument of Surrender was delivered on 8 May to General
Franz Böhme, the commander of all German forces stationed in Norway; the 1st Airborne Division landed near
Oslo and
Stavanger between 9 and 11 May. The division encountered little of the expected German resistance. Operational duties included welcoming back King
Haakon, looking after Allied ex-prisoners of war, arresting war criminals and supervising the clearing of minefields. While in Norway, the division was also able to investigate what happened to the airborne troops who had taken part in Operation Freshman. The division returned to Britain, and was disbanded on 26 August 1945. ==Commanders==