Peter Gerahty

Colonel Peter Gerahty CBE (1 September 1921 – 15 November 2013) was one of the last surviving British Army officers to have served with 6th Airborne Division in Operation Varsity on 24 March 1945: the largest airborne operation in the history of warfare, part of Operation Plunder: the Rhine Crossing in March 1945. He was later awarded the CBE for his work on combat development with the Ministry of Defence.

Peter Echlin Gerahty was born in Cyprus, the eldest son of Sir Charles Gerahty QC. He was educated at Malvern College, Malvern, Worcestershire. Gerahty was commissioned into the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in September 1941 and was posted to the 5th Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. He served with 9th Parachute Battalion from July 1944 to September 1944 when he transferred to the 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (the 52nd) and joined the battalion at Bulford, Wiltshire.

He served with the 2nd Ox and Bucks in the Ardennes and the Netherlands from December 1944 to February 1945. Gerahty took part in Operation Varsity: the gliderborne air assault landing over the River Rhine on 24 March 1945 which was the last major battle on the Western Front in the Second World War. He commanded the recce platoon, Letter C Company, 2nd Ox and Bucks, whose objective was Hamminkeln railway station; the scene of some of the fiercest fighting during Operation Varsity. He then took part in the advance across Germany to the Baltic Sea. In August 1945, Gerahty led the advance party of 2nd Ox and Bucks in India, preparing for an airborne assault in the Far East, when the Japanese army surrendered.

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