7th ( Light Infantry ) Parachute Battalion The 7th ( Light Infantry ) Parachute Battalion was an airborne infantry battalion of the Parachute Regiment , which was formed by the British Army during the Second World War . The battalion was raised by the conversion of the 10th Battalion , Somerset Light Infantry to parachute duties . It was initially assigned to the 3rd Parachute Brigade , but moved to the 5th Parachute Brigade of the 6th Airborne Division soon afterwards . The battalion saw combat in the Normandy Landings on 6 June 1944 , the Battle of the Bulge and the River Rhine crossing . After the war ended in Europe , the unit was sent to the Middle East to undertake operations against the Japanese Empire . However , the war ended just after the men had started jungle training . Moving by sea , the battalion took part in the reoccupation of Malaya and Singapore . Problems in Java resulted in the battalion being sent to Batavia ( Jakarta ) to control the unrest , until relieved by a Dutch force . The battalion then rejoined the 6th Airborne Division in Palestine . Post war army reductions saw the battalion amalgamate with the 17th Parachute Battalion , but remaining the 7th battalion . But further reductions eventually saw the battalion disbanded . Formation . 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 . On 22 June 1940 , 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 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 . The 7th ( Light Infantry ) Parachute Battalion was formed , in November 1942 , by the conversion of the 10th Battalion , Somerset Light Infantry to parachute duties . The battalion was assigned to the 3rd Parachute Brigade 6th Airborne Division . When the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion arrived in Britain , it was assigned to the 3rd Parachute Brigade and the 7th ( Light Infantry ) Parachute Battalion was transferred to the 5th Parachute Brigade , which was still part of the 6th Airborne Division . In 1942 , a parachute battalion had an establishment of 556 men in three companies ( three platoon s each ) supported by a 3 inch mortar platoon and a Vickers machine gun platoon . By 1944 , a support company to command the battalion ' s heavy weapons was added . It comprised three platoons : a Mortar Platoon with eight 3 inch mortars , a Machine Gun Platoon with four Vickers machine guns and an Anti - tank Platoon with ten PIAT anti - tank projectors . Normandy . On 6 June 1944 , the 7th Parachute Battalion landed in Normandy . Many men of the battalion were scattered or landed on the wrong drop zone . So badly scattered were they that , by 03 : 00 , Lieutenant - Colonel Pine - Coffin in command had only around forty percent of the battalion at the forming up point , although men continued to appear throughout the day . Relatively few of their supply containers had been found , meaning that they possessed few heavy weapons or radio sets . However , the Battalion managed to rendezvous with the coup - de - main forces of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry at the Caen and Orne bridges . They then set up a defensive perimeter against German counter - attacks . The first German assault on the bridges came between 05 : 00 and 07 : 00 and consisted of isolated and often uncoordinated attacks by tanks , armoured cars and infantry , which grew in intensity throughout the day . The Luftwaffe attempted to destroy the Caen bridge with a bomb , which failed to detonate , and two German Navy coastal craft , which attempted to attack the bridge , were also repelled . Despite the ferocity of the attacks , the battalion and the coup - de - main forces were able to hold the bridges until 19 : 00 , when leading elements of the British 3rd Infantry Division arrived and began to relieve the battalion . By midnight , the battalion was being held in reserve behind the 12th Parachute Battalion occupying Le Bas de Ranville and the 13th Parachute Battalion holding Ranville . Ardennes . The 6th Airborne Division was called to intervene in the German offensive through the Ardennes on 20 December 1944 . On the 29th of that month , they attacked the tip of the German thrust and the 3rd Parachute Brigade was given responsibility for the Rochefort sector , which they took after meeting stiff resistance . After several months of heavy patrolling , in Belgium and , in February , Holland , the Division was withdrawn to England . Post Second World War . With the war in Europe over , the battalion moved to the Far East with the 5th Parachute Brigade between 1945 – 1946 . Thereafter , it returned to the 6th Airborne Division in Palestine and was incorporated into the 17th Parachute Battalion in July 1946 while retaining its name . After the 5th Brigade was disbanded , the men of the battalion were reallocated among the remainder of the division and the unit re - designated 3rd Battalion , The Parachute Regiment at Itzehoe in July 1948 .