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.
During the Normandy landings of 6 June 1944, the brigade took part in Operation Mallard, holding the southern flank of the Normandy bridgehead over the River Orne. In August 1944, during the final stages of the Battle of Normandy, along with the rest of the 6th Airborne Division, the brigade took part in the advance to the River Seine. Withdrawn to England in September, the brigade, with the rest of the division, returned to mainland Europe in December to counter the German Army's surprise offensive in the Ardennes, better known as the Battle of the Bulge. Their final airborne mission of the war was Operation Varsity in March 1945, an airborne assault crossing of the Rhine, after which they advanced through Germany, reaching the Baltic Sea at Wismar by the end of the war.
The brigade was withdrawn from Germany at the end of May 1945 and was sent to Palestine with the rest of the division to provide internal security. Following the arrival of the 1st Parachute Brigade, however, the 6th Airlanding Brigade was no longer needed there and was returned to normal infantry duties, and renamed the 31st Independent Infantry Brigade.
Background Impressed by the success of German airborne operations during the Battle of France, the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, directed the War Office to investigate the possibility of creating a force of 5,000 parachute troops.Otway, p. 21 As a result, on 22 June 1940, No. 2 Commando assumed parachute duties, and on 21 November was re-designated the 11th Special Air Service Battalion, with a parachute and glider wing.Shortt and McBride, p. 4Moreman, p. 91 This later became the 1st Parachute Battalion.
On 21 June 1940 the Central Landing Establishment was formed at Ringway airfield near Manchester. Although tasked primarily with training parachute troops, it was also directed to investigate the use of gliders to transport troops into battle.Otway 1990, pp. 28–29Smith, p. 7 At the same time, the Ministry of Aircraft Production contracted General Aircraft Limited to design and produce a glider for this purpose.Flint, p. 73 The result was the General Aircraft Hotspur, an aircraft capable of transporting eight soldiers, that was used for both assault and training purposes.Lynch, p. 31
The success of the first British airborne raid, Operation Colossus, prompted the War Office to expand the airborne force through the creation of the Parachute Regiment, and to develop plans to convert several infantry battalions into parachute and glider infantry battalions.Harclerode, p. 218 On 31 May 1941, a joint Army and RAF memorandum was approved by the Chiefs-of-Staff and Churchill; it recommended that the British airborne forces should consist of two parachute brigades, one based in England and the other in the Middle East, and that a glider force of 10,000 men should be created.Tugwell p. 123
Formation On 23 April 1943, the War Office gave permission to raise a second airborne division, the 6th Airborne.Harclerode, p. 223 The division comprised the 3rd and 5th Parachute Brigades and the 6th Airlanding Brigade, giving it two parachute and one airlanding brigades, which became the standard British complement for an airborne division. In May 1943 Brigadier Hugh Kindersley was appointed as the airlanding brigade's first Commanding Officer (CO). Under his command he had two experienced battalions transferred from the 1st Airlanding Brigade: the 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (2nd OBLI) and the 1st Battalion, Royal Ulster Rifles (1st RUR). They were joined by a unit newly transferred to the airborne forces, the 12th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment (12th Devons), a hostilities-only unit formed during the war, as the brigade's third infantry battalion.Harcerlode, pp. 223–224 Other units assigned around the same time were the 53rd (Worcestershire Yeomanry) Airlanding Light Regiment, Royal Artillery, the 249th (Airborne) Field Company, Royal Engineers and the 195th (Airlanding) Field Ambulance, Royal Army Medical Corps.
The airborne brigade was a crucial component of the airborne division because of its strength, which was nearly equal to the combined strength of the two parachute brigades.Guard, p. 37 In particular, its infantry battalions were the "most heavily armed in the British Army." Each airlanding battalion had an establishment of 1034 men, serving in four rifle companies, a support and a headquarters company. A rifle company was sub-divided into four platoons, the support company into six: two anti-tank platoons with four 6 pounder guns in each, two mortar platoons with twelve 3 inch mortars between them, and two Vickers machine gun platoons with four guns in each platoon.Peters and Buist, p. 55 The headquarters company had signals, assault pioneer, transport and administration platoons.Gregory, p. 50
Air transport for the brigade was normally the Airspeed Horsa glider, piloted by two soldiers from the Glider Pilot Regiment.Tugwell, p. 39 With a wingspan of and a length of , the Horsa had a maximum load capacity of —space for two pilots, and a maximum of either 28 troops or two jeeps, one jeep and a 6 pounder gun, or one jeep with a trailer.Fowler, p. 9Peters and Buist, p. 9 It required 62 Horsas and one General Aircraft Hamilcar glider to transport an airlanding battalion into action. The Hamilcar carried the battalion's two Universal Carriers, which were used to support the mortar and machine-gun platoons.
At the end of the war in 1945, the 12th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment, formed during the war, was disbanded, and replaced by the 1st Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, of the Regular Army.Wilson, p. 5 Brigadier Roger Bower was also appointed to command the brigade for service in Palestine.Wilson, p. 32
The 6th Airlanding Brigade had always been an integral part of the 6th Airborne Division, but when the 1st Airborne Division was disbanded, and its 1st Parachute Brigade was assigned to the 6th Airborne Division, the 6th Airlanding Brigade became surplus to the division's requirements. On 15 April 1946, the brigade ceased being part of the British Army's airborne forces, and was renumbered the 31st Independent Infantry Brigade.Wilson, p. 43
Operational history From June to December 1943, the 6th Airlanding Brigade, as part of the 6th Airborne Division, prepared for operations, and trained at every level from section up to division by day and night.Harclerode, p. 225 Airborne soldiers were expected to fight against superior numbers of the enemy equipped with artillery and tanks. So training was designed to encourage a spirit of self-discipline, self-reliance and aggressiveness. Emphasis was given to physical fitness, marksmanship and fieldcraft.Guard, p. 225 A large part of the training consisted of assault courses and route marching. Military exercises included capturing and holding airborne bridgeheads, road or rail bridges and coastal fortifications. At the end of most exercises, the troops would march back to their barracks, usually a distance of around . An ability to cover long distances at speed was expected: airborne platoons were required to cover a distance of in 24 hours, and battalions .
In April 1944, under the command of I Airborne Corps, the brigade took part in Exercise Mush. This was a three-day exercise in the counties of Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire, during which the entire 6th Airborne Division was landed by air. Unknown to the troops involved, the exercise was a full-scale rehearsal for the division's involvement in the imminent Allied invasion of Normandy.Gregory, p. 100 In the invasion, the 6th Airborne Division's two parachute brigades would land in the early hours of 6 June in Operation Tonga; the 6th Airlanding Brigade would not arrive until almost dusk on the same day. Their objective was to secure the left flank of the invasion area, between the rivers Orne and Dives.Gregory, p. 101
Normandy
One of the first Allied units to land in Normandy was 'D' Company of the 2nd Ox and Bucks Light Infantry, commanded by Major John Howard. The company, attached to the 5th Parachute Brigade, captured the Caen canal and Orne river bridges via a coup de main assault.
Almost 21 hours later the 6th Airlanding Brigade's main air assault on Normandy, Operation Mallard, began. Included in the operation was the brigade, the 6th Airborne Division's reconnaissance regiment, and one of its howitzer batteries. The combined force crossed the English Channel in 250 gliders, arriving at their landing zones at 21:00 6 June 1944.Tugwell, p. 218
The gliders carrying the brigade headed for two separated landing areas, Landing Zone 'W' (LZ-W) to the east of Saint-Aubin-d'Arquenay and Landing Zone 'N' (LZ-N) to the north of Ranville.Ford and Zaloga, pp. 216–217 The gliders landing on LZ-W contained the remaining men of the 2nd OBLI, and 'A' Company, 12th Devons landed at LZ-W. Given the limited availability of aircraft, the remainder of the Devons battalion and the divisional troops were transported by sea, arriving at Sword Beach on 7 June. The brigade headquarters and 1st RUR landed at LZ-N.Morgan and Hughes, p. 95 LZ-N was still within range of the German defenders, and the disembarking troops were subjected to light machine gun and mortar fire. However, they only lost one man, who was killed by a sniper.Morgan and Hughes, p. 96
At 22:30 Brigadier Kindersley briefed the two battalion COs ordering the 2nd OBLI to capture the village of Escoville to the south of Ranville, and the 1st RUR to capture Longueval, south-west of the Le Bas de Ranville, and Sainte-Honorine.Harclerode, p. 338
By 04:30 7 June 2 OBLI had reached Herourvillette. Finding the village unoccupied they left a company behind to defend it, and at 08:30 the rest of the battalion headed for Escoville. They arrived at the village at 11:00 having only been confronted by sniper fire.Harclerode, p. 339 The Germans assembling on the heights overlooking the village attacked at 15:00. Fighting at close quarters and house to house, by 16:00 the battalion was forced to withdraw back to Herourvillette. The battle cost them 87 casualties, including the CO.
It was not until 09:00 that the 1st RUR were in position to carry out a left flanking attack on Longuerval. The village was clear of Germans so they pressed on towards Sainte-Honorine. When between the two villages, the battalion was engaged by German mortar, artillery and assault gun fire, and suffered several casualties. Two companies managed to reach Sainte-Honorine, but with no artillery fire support of their own, and out of radio contact with their battalion headquarters, they were forced to withdraw back to Longueval.Harclerode, pp. 338–339
Around the same time, the 12th Devons had arrived in the divisional area from the landing beaches and were ordered to take over the defence of the Bas de Ranville from the 12th Parachute Battalion.Harclerode, p. 340 Because they were positioned behind the brigade front line, they were not directly attacked, but from 11:00 to 18:30 on 8 June they were subjected to a constant artillery bombardment.Harclerode, p. 341