Formation
On 23 April 1943 the War Office authorised the formation of a second airborne division, which would be numbered the 6th Airborne Division. Under its command the division would have the existing 3rd Parachute Brigade, along with two airlanding battalions transferred from the 1st Airborne Division to form the nucleus of the new 6th Airlanding Brigade. To fill out the division, a new parachute brigade was raised on 1 July. Numbered the 5th Parachute Brigade, it was initially commanded by Brigadier Edwin Flavell, but on 5 July he was given command of the Airborne Forces Depot, and Brigadier Nigel Poett took over the brigade. In 1945, while the brigade was serving in the Far East, the brigade's last commander, Brigadier Kenneth Darling, took over from Poett.
The parachute battalions in the brigade were the experienced 7th (Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion, which was transferred from the 3rd Parachute Brigade, and two new parachute battalions, the 12th (Yorkshire) Parachute Battalion and the 13th (Lancashire) Parachute Battalion. These were line infantry converted to parachute duties, and had to undergo airborne forces selection and training at the Airborne Forces Deport. On formation, each battalion had an establishment of 556 men in three rifle companies; the companies were divided into a small headquarters and three platoons. Each platoon had three Bren machine guns and three 2-inch mortars, one of each per section. The only heavy weapons in the battalions were a 3 inch mortar platoon and a Vickers machine gun platoon. By 1944 a headquarters or support company was added to the battalion, comprising five platoons: motor transport, signals, mortar, machine-gun and anti-tank. This company had eight 3 inch mortars, four Vickers machine guns, and ten PIAT anti-tank projectors.
The brigade was supported by the 4th Airlanding Anti-Tank Battery from the Royal Artillery. This battery had three troops, equipped with four Ordnance QF 6 pounders each, and provided the brigade's only anti-tank guns. Later in the war, the battery was increased to five troops, three of them retaining the 6 pounder, while the other two had four Ordnance QF 17 pounders each. While the 6 pounder could fit inside the Horsa glider, the size and weight of the 17 pounder and its Morris C8 tractor unit required the larger Hamilcar glider. The 591st (Antrim) Parachute Squadron from the Royal Engineers and the 225th (Parachute) Field Ambulance of the Royal Army Medical Corps completed the brigade formation.
'D' Company from the 2nd Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry also served with the brigade for a one off mission in Normandy. At the end of the war, while serving in the Far East, the pathfinders of the 22nd Independent Parachute Company, and the Parachute Platoon from the Light Composite Company, Royal Army Service Corps, were attached to the brigade.
Read more about this topic: 5th Parachute Brigade (United Kingdom)
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