The war ended before the battalion was committed to any combat but a number of officers and sergeants parachuted into JapanesePrisoner of War Camps in Java, Sumatra, Bangkok and Singapore to provide aid to the prisoners.[2] After the war, the battalion was reconverted to standard line infantry as the 1st King's Regiment (Liverpool).
During the Royal Indian Navy mutiny of February 1946, HMIS Hindustan was berthed at Karachi, and occupied by mutineers. When ordered to debark the mutineers refused, but finally surrendered after a brief firefight with the 15th (King's) Parachute Battalion, supported by four 75mm pack howitzers of C Troop, 159 Parachute Light Regiment, Royal Artillery.[3]
Territorial Army
The battalion was reformed by the Territorial Army in 1947 as the 15th (Scottish) Parachute Battalion (TA). In 1967 it was re-designated 15 PARA (SV) and came under command of the 44th Parachute Brigade.[4]
In June 1974, Warrant Officer Class 2 John Gordon McRae became the first territorial to be awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal.[5] During a practice parachute jump from a C-130 the parachute of one of his men failed to open. The man crashed through McRae’s rigging and as he did so McRae managed to keep a hold of him and they both descended safely on the one parachute.[6]
During September 1974 the battalion suffered the highest loss of TA soldiers during a major NATO exercise. Dropped off course, six men landed in the Kiel Canal and drowned. Defence cuts in April 1993 resulted in the amalgamation of the three remaining TA parachute battalions. The battalion numbered 4th Battalion, Parachute Regiment, retains a rifle company (15th (Scottish initially, now re-designated A Company) based in Scotland.[4]
The Parachute Regiment, colloquially known as the Paras, is the airborne 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. The regiment, along with the Guards, are the only line infantry regiments of the British Army that have not been amalgamated with another unit since the end of the Second World War.
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The King's Regiment (Liverpool) was one of the oldest line infantry regiments of the British Army, having been formed in 1685 and numbered as the 8th (The King's) Regiment of Foot in 1751. Unlike most British Army infantry regiments, which were associated with a county, the King's represented the city of Liverpool, one of only four regiments affiliated to a city in the British Army. After 273 years of continuous existence, the regiment was amalgamated with the Manchester Regiment in 1958 to form the King's Regiment (Liverpool and Manchester), which was later amalgamated with the King's Own Royal Border Regiment and the Queen's Lancashire Regiment to form the present Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's, Lancashire and Border).
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The 77th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in India in June 1942. The brigade was assigned to the Chindits and organised into eight columns for operations behind enemy lines in Burma. In March 1945, it was converted into the 77th Indian Parachute Brigade and assigned to the 44th Airborne Division.
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The Parachute Regiment is an airborne and special forces regiment of the Indian Army. It was raised in 1945 as part of the British Indian Army but was disbanded after World War II and was re-raised in 1952 as part of the Indian Army. Currently it consists of fifteen Special Forces, two Territorial Army and one Rashtriya Rifles battalions.
The 4th Battalion, Parachute Regiment, is an Army Reserve unit of the British Army. Now recruiting across the United Kingdom originally the Battalion covered the North of England, with its headquarters located in Pudsey, West Yorkshire. Following the Options for Change review in 1993, 4 PARA amalgamated with the 15th (Scottish) Battalion of the Parachute Regiment, which was downsized and became 15 (Scottish) Company of 4 PARA. As part of further changes in 1999, the Battalion also merged with the 10th (Volunteer) Battalion which then became 10 (London) Company.
44th Parachute Brigade was a British Army Territorial Army parachute brigade, active from c.1950 to 1978.
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The 44th Indian Airborne Division was an airborne forces division of the Indian Army during World War II, created in 1944. It provided a parachute battalion for one minor airborne operation, but the war ended before the complete formation could take part..
The 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, is a battalion sized formation of the British Army's Parachute Regiment and is a subordinate unit within 16 Air Assault Brigade.
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Colonel John Llewellyn Waddy OBE was a British Army officer who served during the Second World War, Palestine and the Malayan Emergency before becoming Colonel of the SAS.
HMIS Hindustan (L80) was a Folkestone-class sloop which served in the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) during World War II. Her pennant number was changed to U80 in 1940.
The 17th Parachute Battalion was an airborne infantry battalion of the Parachute Regiment, which was raised by the British Army during the Second World War.
The 16th (Staffords) Parachute Battalion was an airborne infantry battalion of the Parachute Regiment, raised by the British Army in World War II.
The 11th Parachute Battalion was an airborne infantry battalion of the Parachute Regiment, raised by the British Army in World War II.
The 13th (Lancashire) Parachute Battalion was an airborne infantry battalion of the Parachute Regiment, raised by the British Army during the Second World War. The battalion was formed in May 1943 by the conversion of the 2/4th Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment to parachute duties and was assigned to the 5th Parachute Brigade in the 6th Airborne Division.
The 16th Airborne Division was an airborne infantry division of the British Territorial Army. It was first commanded by Major-General Roy Urquhart, and had its divisional headquarters in London.
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