Operational History
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 1st 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 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. Capture two bridges crossing the Orne river and canal, destroy the Merville Gun Battery, which was in a position to engage troops landing at the nearby Sword beach and destroy bridges crossing the Dives, to prevent German reinforcements approaching the landing beaches from the north.
Read more about this topic: 6th Airborne Division (United Kingdom)
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