British 1st Airborne Division
| 1st Airborne Division | |
|---|---|
Men from the 1st Airborne Division during Operation Market Garden fighting in the battle of Arnhem, September 1944.
|
|
| Active | 1941–1945 |
| Country |
 United Kingdom
|
| Branch |
 British Army
|
| Type | Infantry |
| Role | Airborne forces |
| Size | Division, 12,148 men |
| Part of | I Airborne Corps |
| Nickname(s) | Red Devils |
| Engagements |
Operation Biting Operation Freshman Operation Turkey Buzzard Operation Ladbroke Operation Fustian Operation Slapstick Battle of Arnhem Operation Doomsday |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Frederick A.M. Browning Roy E. Urquhart |
| Insignia | |
| Identification symbol |
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The 1st Airborne Division was an airborne infantry division of the British Army during the Second World War. The division was formed in late 1941 during World War II, after the British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, demanded an airborne force, and was initially under command of Major-General Frederick A. M. Browning. The division was one of two airborne divisions raised by the British Army during the war, with the other being the 6th Airborne Division, created in May 1943, using former units of the 1st Airborne Division.
The divisions first two missions–Operation Biting, a parachute landing in France, and Operation Freshman, a glider mission in Norway–were both raids. Part of the division was sent to North Africa at the end of 1942, where it fought in the Tunisian Campaign, and when the Allies invaded Sicily in July 1943, the division undertook two brigade sized landings. The first, Operation Ladbroke, carried out by glider infantry of the 1st Airlanding Brigade and the second, Operation Fustian, by the 1st Parachute Brigade, were far from completely successful. The 1st Airborne Division then took part in a mostly diversionary amphibious landing, codenamed Operation Slapstick, as part of the Allied invasion of Italy in September 1943.
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