1st Airlanding Light Regiment

1st Airlanding Light Regiment
Crest of the Royal Artillery.
Active	1943–1945
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Artillery
Role	Airborne forces
Size	Regiment
Part of	1st Airborne Division
Motto(s)	Ubique (Everywhere)
Engagements	Operation Slapstick Italian Campaign Battle of Arnhem Operation Doomsday
Commanders
Notable commanders	Lieutenant Colonel W. F. K. Thompson
Insignia
Emblem of the British airborne forces

The 1st Airlanding Light Regiment was an airborne forces unit of the British Army's Royal Artillery during the Second World War.

The regiment was raised in 1943, by the expansion of an existing airborne artillery battery. Attached to the 1st Airborne Division in 1943, the regiment landed in Italy as part of Operation Slapstick—part of the Allied invasion of Italy—and then, when the division was withdrawn, it stayed behind to support other divisions of the British Eighth Army in the Italian Campaign until the end of the year. In 1944 the regiment rejoined the 1st Airborne Division in England and, in September 1944, took part in Operation Market Garden, which was the airborne assault in the Netherlands. During the battle of Arnhem that followed the regiment was one of the divisional units that formed a defensive ring around Oosterbeek.

Reformed after Arnhem, the regiment never fought in another battle. They did, however, take part in Operation Doomsday, the repatriation of the German occupation army in Norway in May 1945. After this the regiment returned to England and was disbanded in December 1945.

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 corps of 5,000 parachute troops. In September 1941 the 1st Parachute Brigade began forming, comprising three parachute infantry battalions. In keeping with British Army practice at the same time as the brigade's infantry battalions were forming, airborne supporting arms were formed including men from the Royal Artillery.