ABSTRACT
The first British parachute units had been formed in June 1940, after Dunkirk, when Churchill ordered the formation of a parachute force of up to 5,000 men to join with the similarly newly formed Commandos to carry out raids on the coast of German-occupied Europe. The units of the 1st Parachute Brigade were the real veterans, not only of the 1st Airborne Division but of all Britain's airborne forces; the original brigade, as one early officer says, 'was a great thing to be in'. The role of such units in airborne divisions was to provide a large lift of infantry complete with most of their support weapons and light transport and without the extra training required by parachute troops. The Hamilcar had been developed to carry the light Tetrarch tank which could drive straight out of the up-tilted nose on airborne operations. The parachute and airlanding brigades comprised about two-thirds of the total strength of the 1st Airborne Division.
