page_title: 13th (Lancashire) Parachute Battalion
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: 13th (Lancashire) Parachute Battalion / Formation history / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: Parachute troops, bare-headed and wearing 'jump jackets', in Norwich during exercises in Eastern Command, 23 June 1941.
context_page_description: The 13th (Lancashire) Parachute Battalion was an airborne infantry battalion of the Parachute Regiment, raised by the British Army during the Second World War. The battalion was formed in May 1943 by the conversion of the 2/4th Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment to parachute duties and was assigned to the 5th Parachute Brigade in the 6th Airborne Division.
  In June 1944, the battalion took part in Operation Tonga, the invasion of Normandy on D-Day, and the 6th Airborne Division advance to the River Seine, before being withdrawn back to England. Three months later they were sent to Belgium to help counter the surprise German Ardennes offensive, which became known as the Battle of the Bulge. Later, in March 1945, the battalion took part in the last airborne operation of the war: the River Rhine crossing in Germany. After the war in Europe ended, they were sent to India to conduct operations against the Japanese Empire, however, the war ended before they could begin. As a result, the battalion was sent to British Malaya, Singapore and Java to help disarm the Japanese occupiers and restore law and order.
context_section_description: Impressed by the success of German airborne operations during the Battle of France, the then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Winston Churchill, directed the War Office to investigate the possibility of creating a corps of 5,000 parachute troops. The standards set for British airborne troops were extremely high, and from the first group of 3,500 volunteers only 500 men were accepted to go forward to parachute training.
  Additionally on 22 June 1940, a Commando unit, No. 2 Commando, was turned over to parachute duties and on 21 November re-designated the 11th Special Air Service Battalion, with a parachute and glider wing. It was these men who took part in the first British airborne operation, Operation Colossus, on 10 February 1941. The 11th SAS Battalion later became the 1st Parachute Battalion The success of the raid prompted the War Office to expand the existing airborne force, setting up the Airborne Forces Depot and Battle School in Derbyshire in April 1942, and creating the Parachute Regiment as well as converting a number of infantry battalions into airborne battalions in August 1942.
caption: British paratroops wearing 'jump jackets', in Norwich during exercises 23 June 1941
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