225th ( Parachute ) Field Ambulance The 225th ( Parachute ) Field Ambulance was a Royal Army Medical Corps unit of the British airborne forces during the Second World War . When raised the Field Ambulance was assigned to the 5th Parachute Brigade , which was part of the 6th Airborne Division . As such they participated in Operation Tonga part of the Normandy landings . The unit remained in France until September 1944 , when they were withdrawn back to England to rest and rebuild . They then took part in the last and largest airborne mission in the war , Operation Varsity , the River Rhine crossing in 1945 . After the war in Europe ended they were sent to the Far East for operations against the Japanese however the war ended before they could be deployed . Instead they were sent to Malaya and Singapore to assist in the restoration of British control . Later in the year they were sent to Java , where the brigade had to maintain law and order until a Dutch force could arrive to relieve them . The Field Ambulance then returned to Singapore , for a short time before leaving to rejoin the 6th Airborne Division , now serving in Palestine . However shortly after arriving the 225th ( Parachute ) Field Ambulance was disbanded . Background . 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 . In September 1941 the 1st Parachute Brigade began forming , comprising three parachute infantry battalions . In keeping with British Army practice at the same time as the infantry battalions were forming , airborne supporting arms were formed including Royal Army Medical Corps volunteers . Of the seven airborne field ambulance s formed during the Second World War , two , the 181st and the 195th , were glider borne , while the other five , the 16th , 127th , 133rd , 224th and the 225th , were parachute trained . 225th ( Parachute ) Field Ambulance . On 7 June 1943 the 225th ( Parachute ) Field Ambulance was raised at Castle Cary , using the number 225 from a disbanded unit from the Guards Armoured Division . On formation the Field Ambulance was assigned to the 5th Parachute Brigade , initially in the 1st Airborne Division and later the 6th Airborne Division . The war establishment of a parachute field ambulance , consisted of 177 all ranks . With nine doctors in two surgical teams and four sections . Together they could deal with 330 cases in twenty - four hours . With the surgical teams completing 1 . 8 operations an hour , but if they were required to operate the following day had to be relieved after twelve hours . It was commanded by a Lieutenant - Colonel , with a Major second in command and a Regimental Sergeant Major as the senior non commissioned rank . Medical staff included two specialist surgeons and a specialist anaesthetist , a pharmacist and a Royal Army Dental Corps ( RADC ) Dentist . To assist with operations there were six operating room assistants , a sergeant nursing orderly and six nursing orderlies . Other medical staff were a sergeant sanitary assistant , a masseur , a RADC orderly . These were assisted by five stretcher bearers , one of whom was trained as a shoemaker . The rest of the headquarters consisted of a Quartermaster , clerks , cooks , storemen , an Army Physical Training Corps instructor and a barber . The four sections each comprised an officer ( Doctor ) in command and a staff sergeant ( nursing orderly ) second in command . Three nursing orderlies , a clerk , a dutyman and thirteen stretcher bearers . The last component of the Field Ambulance was the Royal Army Service Corps detachment , commanded by a Captain , with a Company Sergeant Major as second in command . They had fifty men under them , including thirty - eight drivers , four motorcyclists and five vehicle mechanics . Operational history . Normandy . On 6 June 1944 , the 6th Airborne Division , took part in Operation Tonga during the Normandy landings . The 5th Parachute Brigade landed on their own drop zone to the north - east of Ranville . The brigade had to capture two bridges crossing the Caen canal and the River Orne and hold them until relieved by forces advancing from the British Sword beach . At the same time they had to secure the landing zone for the division ' s glider borne forces arriving later that day . Under the command of Lieutenant - Colonel Bruce Harvey , the 225th ( Parachute ) Field Ambulance , landing with the brigade were to establish their Main Dressing Station ( MDS ) at Le Bas de Ranville . Leaving England at 23 : 45 5 June , the aircraft carrying the field ambulance troops crossed the French coast at from 01 : 00 the unit started landing in Normandy . Unlike other units involved that night by 02 : 30 most of the unit had arrived at their rendezvous , which was under German mortar fire . Following at the rear of the 12th ( Yorkshire ) Parachute Battalion , they arrived at Le Bas de Ranville . The MDS was established in a Chateau called Chateau de Guernon - Ranville by 04 : 00 and within half an hour the first of the brigades casualties arrived . During the morning the RACS , commander captured a German supply vehicle and located a vehicle park , which was used to supplement the unit jeeps in bringing in casualties . The fluid situation on the battlefield prevented some casualties from being evacuated to the MDS , and they were treated where they were by the units medics , until it was safe to move them . During the day the field ambulance was under almost constant , sniper and artillery fire , but by 21 : 00 contact was made with the 3rd Infantry Division , and within an hour sixty casualties were evacuated to the beachhead . Another 280 remaining wounded were being treated at the MDS . Fighting in the area continued through the night and by 05 : 00 7 June 380 wounded had been dealt with at the MDS . In the first forty hours of the landings , the unit ' s surgeons had performed forty - three operations . Following the battle of Breville on 12 June , two of the wounded treated by the unit were Brigadier s Kindersley and Lord Lovat , both had been wounded by friendly fire at the start of the battle . Between 14 – 18 June the MDS received casualties from the 51st ( Highland ) Infantry Division , which had taken over the southern sector of the Orne bridgehead . Then of the 18 June , they were withdrawn and sent to a rest area beside the River Orne . On 20 June they moved back to the front line , treated a steady flow of casualties , mostly from mortar fire and small arms wounds . Then on 18 July , they were warned to accept casualties from the 11th Armoured Division taking part in Operation Goodwood . On 8 August they were ordered to move the MDS to Le Mariquet , where they took in casualties from the 3rd Parachute Brigade . The 6th Airborne Division was ordered to advance on 12 August , and the 225th ( Parachute ) Field Ambulance , became responsible for collecting and evacuating all the wounded during the advance . By the 27 August , the 6th Airborne Division had reached the mouth of the River Seine , and was withdrawn becoming the 21st Army Group reserve . Germany . The next airborne operation by 255th ( Parachute ) Field Ambulance , was Operation Varsity in March 1945 . The 6th Airborne Division would land on the east bank of the River Rhine in the area of the Diersfordter woods , near the town of Hamminkeln . The 225th now commanded by Lieutenant - Colonel N . J . P . Hewlings still part of the 5th Parachute Brigade would land to the north of the woods , in daylight and a large number of casualties were expected . Landing on 24 March the 225th established their MDS in some farm buildings at the edge of the woods , and were soon treating the casualties from the landings . The German infantry pulling back from the Rhine actually marched through the farm buildings without discovering the MDS . On the afternoon 25 March the leading units of the 15th ( Scottish ) Division , linked up with the airborne division . The 6th Airborne Division then advanced mostly on foot , from then Rhine to Wismar on the Baltic Sea by 2 May 1945 . During which in April the 3rd Parachute Brigade advanced in twenty - four hours , which included eighteen hours of close - quarters fighting . Later the same month the 5th Parachute Brigade marched in seventy - two hours , during which they also carried out two night time assaults . The quick advance changed the way the 225th operated , by necessity the divisions three field ambulance units had to leap - frog to the front , the leading unit accepting all the division ' s casualties . Between landing and the end of the war the 225th treated 1 , 083 casualties . Far East . Withdrawn back to England , on 19 July 1945 the 5th Parachute Brigade departed for India , arriving on 7 August to prepare for operations against the Japanese Empire . However the dropping of the Atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August ended the war . It had been intended to use the brigade in Operation Zipper , the invasion of British Malaya , instead on 17 September , the brigade travelled by sea to Northern – Malaya and advanced on Kuala Lumpur unopposed . The 5th Parachute Brigade then took part in Operation Tiderace the liberation of Singapore , as part of XV Corps . In Singapore the 225th were quartered in Alexander Barracks , being responsible for the welfare of Japanese prisoners and some Germans who had been part of the German Naval Mission and the crews of two U - Boat s . Then in December 1945 , the Brigade was sent to Java , to help restore law and order until a Dutch force could arrive from Europe . By 25 December the 225th were in Jakarta The Brigade was then sent to Semarang and the 225th became responsible for the medical welfare of the towns 210 , 000 inhabitants . When the Dutch force arrived the 225th returned to Singapore arriving on 2 May 1946 . Two months later the 5th Parachute Brigade were ordered to Palestine to rejoin the 6th Airborne Division arriving on 9 August . The 225th ( Parachute ) Field Ambulance being now surplus to requirements was disbanded on 19 August , the men being posted as reinforcements to the divisions other medical units .