, prior to take off for Normandy 5 June 1944. On 23 December 1943, the division was told to be prepared for active service from 1 February 1944. Training intensified and in April 1944, under the command of
I Airborne Corps, the division took part in Exercise Mush. Held in the counties of
Gloucestershire,
Oxfordshire and
Wiltshire, this was an airborne
military exercise spread over three days involving both the 1st and 6th Airborne Divisions. Unknown to the 6th Airborne, the exercise was a full-scale rehearsal for the division's involvement in the imminent
Normandy invasion. During which, the division's two parachute brigades would land just after midnight on 6 June, while the airlanding brigade arrived later in the day at 21:00. 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. This included the capture of two bridges crossing the Orne river and canal; destroying the
Merville Gun Battery, which was in a position to engage troops landing at the nearby
Sword Beach; and destroying bridges crossing the Dives, to prevent German reinforcements approaching the landing beaches from the north.
D-Day The
invasion of Normandy started just after midnight 6 June 1944. The first units of the division to land were the
pathfinders and six
platoons from 'D' Company of the 2nd Battalion,
Ox and Bucks Light Infantry, from
Brigadier Hugh Kindersley's
6th Airlanding Brigade. While the pathfinders marked the division
drop zones, 'D' Company carried out a
coup de main glider assault on the two bridges crossing the River Orne and the
Caen Canal. Within minutes of landing, both bridges had been captured and the company dug in to defend them until relieved. The
company commander,
Major John Howard, signalled their success by transmitting the
codewords "Ham and Jam". Shortly afterwards the aircraft carrying Brigadier
Nigel Poett's
5th Parachute Brigade arrived overhead heading for their
drop zone (DZ) to the north of
Ranville. The brigade were to reinforce the defenders at the bridges, the
7th Parachute Battalion in the west, while the
12th Parachute Battalion and the
13th Parachute Battalion dug in to the east, centred around Ranville, where brigade HQ would be located. Brigadier
James Hill's
3rd Parachute Brigade had two DZs, one in the north for the
9th Parachute Battalion who were tasked to destroy the
Merville Gun Battery and the
1st Canadian Parachute Battalion who would destroy bridges over the River Dives. The
8th Parachute Battalion would land at the other DZ, and destroy bridges over the Dives in the south.
Normandy Breakout With the capture of Breville the division was not attacked in force again, apart from an almost continuous artillery bombardment between 18 and 20 June. Further reinforcements arrived east of the River Orne on 20 July; the
49th (West Riding) Infantry Division moved into the line between the 6th Airborne and the
51st (Highland) Infantry Division. Then on 7 August the 6th Airborne Division was ordered to prepare to move over to the offensive, with its objective being the mouth of the
River Seine. The three divisions east of the Orne came under command of
British I Corps, part of the
First Canadian Army, and when issuing his orders
Lieutenant-General John T. Crocker, aware that the 6th Airborne had almost no artillery, vehicles or engineer equipment, did not expect them to advance very quickly. To reach the Seine the division would have to cross three major rivers, and there were only two main lines of advance; one road running along the coast and another further inland from Troarn to
Pont-Audemer. The division returned to England in early September, having suffered over 4,500 casualties since D-Day.
Ardennes In England the division went into a period of recruitment and training, concentrating on house to house street fighting in the bombed areas of
Southampton and
Birmingham. The training programme culminated in Exercise Eve, an assault on the
River Thames, which was intended to simulate the
River Rhine in Germany. By December the division, now commanded by Major-General
Eric L. Bols, was preparing for Christmas leave, when news of the German offensive in the
Ardennes broke. With 29 German and 33 Allied divisions involved, the Battle of the Bulge became the largest single battle on the
Western Front during the Second World War. As part of the
First Allied Airborne Army, the 6th Airborne Division was available as a component of the Allied strategic reserve. The division was shipped to the Continent by sea, through Calais and Ostend. Together with the other two reserve formations, the American
82nd and
101st Airborne Divisions, already at
Rheims in northern France, they were sent to Belgium. On
Christmas Day the 6th Airborne moved up to take position in front of the spearhead of the German advance; by
Boxing Day they had reached their allocated places in the defensive line between
Dinant and
Namur, with the 3rd Parachute Brigade on the left, the 5th Parachute Brigade on the right, and the 6th Airlanding Brigade in reserve. Over the next days the German advance was halted and forced back until, at the end of January 1945, the brigade crossed into the
Netherlands.
Rhine crossing of the 1st Battalion,
Royal Ulster Rifles digging in on the banks of the
River Issel,
Germany, after landing, March 1945. Whereas all other Allied airborne landings had been a surprise for the Germans, the Rhine crossing was expected, and their defences were reinforced in anticipation. The airborne operation was preceded by a two-day round-the-clock bombing mission by the Allied air forces. Then on 23 March 3,500 artillery guns targeted the German positions. At dusk
Operation Plunder, an assault river crossing of the Rhine by the
21st Army Group, began. For their part in Operation Varsity, the 6th Airborne Division was assigned to
Major General Matthew Ridgway's
U.S. XVIII Airborne Corps, serving alongside Major General
William Miley's
U.S. 17th Airborne Division.
Far East The 5th Parachute Brigade was sent to the Far East arriving after VJ Day, they were sent to protect and secure Dutch East Indies interest and property, as well as dealing with internal security in Java and Singapore, whilst disarming members of the Japanese Army till 1946. By this time they were sent back to Palestine to take part in peacekeeping with the rest of the 6th Airborne Division.
Palestine In late 1945, the 6th Airborne Division deployed to
Palestine as the
Jewish insurgency against British rule there intensified. Its duties included enforcement of curfews and searches of cities, towns, and rural settlements for arms and guerrillas. In late 1947, as the British withdrawal from Palestine began, it was involved in the
1947-48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine between the Jewish and Arab communities, and engaged both Jewish and Arab forces. The division's units gradually departed the country, with the last of the division's troops leaving
Haifa on 18 May, only a few days after Israeli independence. Between October 1945 and April 1948, the division's losses to enemy action were 58 killed and 236 wounded. Another 99 soldiers died from causes other than enemy action. During searches of Jewish and Arab areas for arms, the division's soldiers had uncovered 99 mortars, 34 machine guns, 174 sub machine guns, 375 rifles, 391 pistols, 97 land mines, 2,582 hand grenades and 302,530 rounds of ammunition. ==Order of battle==