Organization of the
British Parachute Battalion
1941 to 1945
The British Army raised its
first Parachute Battalion in late 1941, and by the end of 1943 there were five
Parachute Brigades in the British order of battle. Each Brigade contained three Parachute
Battalions, one of which was the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion,
which will be detailed separately.
Below are links to the files
that make up this study. The first is a
brief narrative of the Battalion organization and how it evolved between 1941
and 1945. This includes a few details on
ammunition allocation and signal equipment.
There are then separate
files detailing in full the information as found in the War Establishment for
the unit concerned. This gave the
authorised numbers of personnel, transport and weapons for the unit at full
strength and in all cases is derived from copies of the original War
Establishment tables. Please note that
the tables issued in 1944 and 1945 did not give details of individual weapons
(pistols, rifles and Sten guns), only support weapons.
All files in the below links
are in PDF.
British Parachute
Battalion organization 1941 to 1945
British Parachute Battalion September
1941
British Parachute Battalion May 1942
British Parachute Battalion February
1944
British Parachute Battalion March 1945
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