DID Michael Taylor, British 6th Airborne Division, Red Devils 1/6 Action Figure K80052

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On 23 April 1943 the British War Office ordered that a second airborne division be raised to supplement the original British 1st Airborne Division. The new division consisted initially of key personnel reassigned from 1st Airborne. The core of the new 6th Airborne Division was formed from the 3rd Parachute Brigade and 1st Airlanding Brigade. Both were reassigned from 1st Airborne. The 3rd Parachute Brigade included the 7th, 8th and 9th Parachute Battalions. Each battalion had been recruited regionally. The 7th had been formed from the Somerset Light Infantry. Many paratroopers of the 8th were from the Midlands. The 9th was formed from the 10th Holding Battalion, The Essex Regiment.

In August 1943, the division was reorganized. The Canadians were attached to 3rd Parachute Brigade and the 7th Battalion was assigned to 5th Parachute Brigade. In September 1943, the 6th Airborne Division was almost at its full complement of about 8,500 men. Each parachute battalion consisted of about 650 men. The airlanding battalions were slightly larger with about 750 men each. In February 1944, Parker was made second-in-command of the 6th Airlanding Brigade and Lieutenant Colonel A.P. "Johnny" Johnson assumed command of the 12th Parachute Battalion.

During the last hours of 5 June 1944 as part of Operation Tonga, transport aircraft and towed gliders carried units of the 6th Airborne to Normandy where they would land just prior to the D-Day landings that took place on the morning of 6 June. They were to land behind Sword Beach and secure the eastern flank. Some of the objectives included the seizure of the Pegasus bridge over the Caen Canal and the Horsa bridge over the Orne River by D Company, 2nd Ox & Bucks. And also the destruction of the Merville Battery by 9 PARA, both of whom were some of the first units to land and achieve their objectives. The landings proved successful, though many units were scattered across much of Normandy.

The area around Pegasus and Horsa were successfully defended until they were eventually relieved, having repulsed numerous counter-attacks by the Germans, later on 6 June by 1 Special Service Brigade, followed later by elements of the British 3rd Infantry Division. From June to August the Division successfully defended the area to the east of the Orne river. On 2 August 1944 the division became part of the First Allied Airborne Army. In mid-August the division took part in the advance towards the Seine and early in September it returned to Britain to recuperate and reorganise, having suffered over 4,000 casualties (killed, wounded, and missing). The 6th Airborne was disbanded on 1 April 1948 just before the British left Palestine. In the present-day British Army the 16 Air Assault Brigade is numbered in honour of the 1st Airborne and 6th Airborne divisions.