Air landing is a designation formerly held by glider-borne infantry units of the British Army. Air landing units included infantrybattalions and light armoured regiments together with combat support and combat service support units and sub-units. The Glider Pilot Regiment provided the aircrew to fly the gliders into battle (who were trained to fight alongside them on the ground thereafter). Although combat support and combat service support units had the term air landing as part of their unit title, for example 1st Air landing Light RegimentRoyal Artillery, infantry battalions' names remained unchanged. All units wore the maroon beret of airborne forces with their own regimental capbadge.
The 1st and 6th Air landing Brigades formed integral parts of the 1st and 6th Airborne Divisions. Paratroopers tended to become scattered over a wide area on landing. This meant they took some time to compose a useful force, once on the ground. Although gliders needed a certain amount of ground to land, the soldiers aboard arrived in larger groups (the Horsa glider carried a complete platoon) and ready for combat.
The British Army had been inspired in creating both glider-borne units and parachute units by the example of the German Luftwaffe's Glider Troops which had played a major role in Germany's invasions of the Low Countries, and Crete.
History
Two Horsa gliders used by air landing units in seizing the bridge over the Caen Canal, at Bénouville, are visible beyond the bridge, in June, 1944. The bridge was renamed Pegasus Bridge after the mythical winged horse on the formation sign of British airborne forces.
Five of the Ox and Buck's gliders landed very close to their objectives at 16 minutes past midnight and poured out of their battered gliders, surprising the German defenders, and taking the bridges within 10 minutes. They lost two men, Lieutenant Den Brotheridge and Lance-Corporal Greenhalgh. One glider, assigned to the capture of Horsa Bridge, was landed at the bridge over the Rives Dives, some 7 miles from where they were meant to land. The soldiers captured the bridge, then moved through German lines towards the village of Ranville, where they eventually rejoined the British forces. The Ox & Bucks were reinforced half-an-hour after the landings by 7th Parachute Battalion, and linked up with the beach landing forces with the arrival of the British Commandos of the 1st Commando Brigade under the command of BrigadierLord Lovat.
Airborne forces are ground combat units carried by aircraft and airdropped into battle zones, typically by parachute drop. Parachute-qualified infantry and support personnel serving in airborne units are also known as paratroopers.
Operation Tonga was the codename given to the airborne operation undertaken by the British 6th Airborne Division between 5 June and 7 June 1944 as a part of Operation Overlord and the D-Day landings during World War II.
Pegasus Bridge, originally called the Bénouville Bridge after the neighbouring village, is a road crossing over the Caen Canal, between Caen and Ouistreham in Normandy. The original bridge, built in 1934, is now a war memorial and is the centrepiece of the Memorial Pegasus museum at nearby Ranville. It was replaced in 1994 by a modern design which, like the old one, is a bascule bridge.
The 1st Airborne Division was an airborne infantry division of the British Army during the Second World War. The division was formed in late 1941 during the Second World War, after the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, demanded an airborne force, and was initially under command of Major-General Frederick A. M. "Boy" Browning. The division was one of two airborne divisions raised by the British Army during the war, with the other being the 6th Airborne Division, created in May 1943, using former units of the 1st Airborne Division.
The 6th Airborne Division was an airborne infantry division of the British Army during the Second World War. Despite its name, the 6th was actually the second of two airborne divisions raised by the British Army during the war, the other being the 1st Airborne Division. The 6th Airborne Division was formed in the Second World War, in mid-1943, and was commanded by Major-General Richard N. Gale. The division consisted of the 3rd and 5th Parachute Brigades along with the 6th Airlanding Brigade and supporting units.
The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry was a light infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1881 until 1958, serving in the Second Boer War, World War I and World War II.
Major Reginald John Howard DSO was a British Army officer who led a glider-borne assault that captured the Caen canal and Orne river bridges on 6 June 1944, as part of the D-Day landings during the Second World War. These bridges spanned the Caen Canal and the adjacent River Orne, and were vitally important to the success of the D-Day landings. Since the war, the bridge over the canal has become known as "Pegasus Bridge," a tribute to the men who captured it. The bridge over the River Orne later became known as Horsa Bridge after the Horsa gliders that carried troops to the bridges.
Lieutenant Herbert Denham Brotheridge was a British Army officer who served with the 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry during the Second World War. He is often considered to be the first Allied soldier to be killed in action on D-Day, 6 June 1944. He was killed during Operation Tonga: the British airborne landings which secured the left flank of the invasion area before the main assault on the Normandy beaches began.
Glider infantry was a type of airborne infantry in which soldiers and their equipment were inserted into enemy-controlled territory via military glider. Initially developed in the late 1930s by Germany, glider infantry units were used extensively during World War II but are no longer used by any modern military.
The 5th Parachute Brigade was an airborne forces formation of brigade strength, raised by the British Army during the Second World War. Created during 1943, the brigade was assigned to the 6th Airborne Division, serving alongside the 3rd Parachute Brigade and the 6th Airlanding Brigade.
The 1st Airlanding Brigade was an airborne infantry brigade of the British Army during the Second World War and the only glider infantry formation assigned to the 1st Airborne Division, serving alongside the 1st Parachute Brigade and 4th Parachute Brigade.
The 6th Airlanding Brigade was an airborne infantry brigade of the British Army during the Second World War. Created during May 1943, the brigade was composed of three glider infantry battalions and supporting units, and was assigned to the 6th Airborne Division, alongside the 3rd and 5th Parachute Brigades.
Operation Mallard was the codename for an airborne forces operation, which was conducted by the British Army on 6 June 1944, as part of the Normandy landings during the Second World War.
Al Murray's Road to Berlin is a British documentary television series about World War II, presented by Al Murray. The ten-episode series was produced for the Discovery Channel, and first broadcast in 2004. During the series, Murray travels across the Western Front in a restored Willys MB Jeep, covering the timeline from the Invasion of Normandy to the fall of Berlin, interviewing survivors and showcasing some of the equipment used.
The capture of the Caen canal and Orne river bridges was an operation by airborne forces of the British Army that took place in the early hours of 6 June 1944 as part of the Normandy landings of the Second World War. The objective was to capture intact two road bridges in Normandy across the River Orne and the Caen canal, providing the only exit eastwards for British forces from their landing on Sword Beach. Intelligence reports said both bridges were heavily defended by the Germans and wired for demolition. Once captured, the bridges had to be held against any counter-attack, until the assault force was relieved by commandos and other infantry advancing from the landing beach.
The 7th Parachute Battalion was an airborne infantry battalion of the Parachute Regiment, formed by the British Army during the Second World War. The battalion was raised in November 1942 by the conversion of the 10th Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry to parachute duties. It was initially assigned to the 3rd Parachute Brigade, part of 1st Airborne Division, but moved to the 5th Parachute Brigade, alongside the 12th and 13th Parachute battalions, of the 6th Airborne Division soon afterwards.
The 1st Airlanding Light Regiment was an airborne forces unit of the British Army's Royal Artillery during the Second World War.
Major Richard Arthur Amyas Smith was a British Army officer who served during the Second World War. He was awarded a Military Cross for gallantry and leadership whilst serving as a platoon commander in the gliderborne 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry coup de main operation; tasked to capture Pegasus Bridge and Horsa Bridge during the opening minutes of D-Day, 6 June 1944. The capture of both bridges was considered to be critical to securing the left flank of the Normandy landings area.
Major Dennis Barraclough Fox MBE (1920-1993) was an officer of the British Army. During the Second World War he led the first platoon to land at Horsa Bridge in the gliderborne 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry coup de main operation, during the opening minutes of D-Day, 6 June 1944, which captured the Caen canal and Orne river bridges. These bridges were considered to be critical to securing the eastern flank of the Normandy landings area.
Colonel John Maurice Arthur Tillett was a British Army officer who had a critical role in the planning of the capture of the Caen canal and Orne river bridges on D-Day, 6 June 1944, during the Second World War. He was one of the last surviving British Army officers to have served with the 6th Airborne Division in Operation Mallard, on 6 June 1944, and in Operation Varsity, on 24 March 1945. He later commanded the Ugandan Army.
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