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The 6th Airborne Division in Palestine was initially posted to the region as the Imperial Strategic Reserve. It was envisioned as a mobile peace keeping force, positioned to be able to respond quickly to any area of the British Empire .
On 18 February 1947, it was announced that the 6th Airborne Division would be disbanded when they left Palestine. [21] Gradually the division's units left the country and were disbanded, the last ones comprising part of divisional headquarters, the 1st Parachute Battalion and the 1st Airborne Squadron, Royal Engineers , departed on 18 May 1948.
In the immediate post war period the 1st Airborne Division was disbanded leaving the 6th as the only airborne division in the British Army. [3] Near the end of 1945, the division was named the Imperial Strategic Reserve and posted to the Middle East and deployed in an internal security role, during unrest in the British mandate of Palestine .
The battalion was then assigned to the 3rd Parachute Brigade in the 6th Airborne Division and served with them in Palestine. The battalion was disbanded in 1948, but was reformed by the re-numbering of the 7th (Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion as the 3rd at Itzehoe in July 1948.
After the war the battalion was sent to Palestine on internal security operations with the rest of the 6th Airborne Division in Palestine. Post-war army reductions in 1948 saw the battalion being amalgamated with the 8th (Midlands) Parachute Battalion (which had served with the 9th in 3 Para Brigade) as the 8th/9th Parachute Battalion, but by ...
The 6th Airborne Division was to capture a number of bridges over the river Orne and the Caen Canal and hold the nearby surrounding areas, to destroy the bridges over the river Dives, and, finally, to destroy the Merville Gun Battery by the coast. [44] Major-General Richard Gale, GOC 6th Airborne Division, addresses his men, 4 June 1944.
Midnight to 2 a.m.: 180 paratroopers from the British 6th Airborne Division land by gliders east of Sword Beach and seize two bridges across the Caen Canal.
After the Second World War, with the immigration of Jews growing, tensions increased further and 1st Infantry Division (United Kingdom) arrived in Palestine. [1] Later 6th Airborne Division was dispatched as the Imperial Strategic Reserve. The two divisions faced the Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine.