195th ( Airlanding ) Field Ambulance The 195th ( Airlanding ) Field Ambulance was a Royal Army Medical Corps unit of the British airborne forces during the Second World War . The 195th was the second airlanding Field Ambulance formed by the British Army . Once raised it was assigned to the 6th Airlanding Brigade , which was part of the 6th Airborne Division . It accompanied the brigade on operations , seeing service in the Normandy landings in 1944 , and the River Rhine crossing in 1945 , after which they remained in Germany following the advance until the end of the war . At the end of May 1945 , the 195th was withdrawn back to England , but by the end of the year had moved with the 6th Airborne Division to the British mandate of Palestine in an internal security role . The 195th served in Palestine until the 6th Airlanding Brigade 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 were glider borne the 181st and the 195th . While the other five were parachute trained the 16th , 127th , 133rd , 224th and the 225th . On 1 October 1943 , the 195th ( Airlanding ) Field Ambulance was formed under the command of Lieutenant - Colonel Maurice Anderson , by the conversion of the 195th Field Ambulance to parachute duties . The 195th was the second airlanding field ambulance unit formed . It was then assigned to the 6th Airlanding Brigade , part of the 6th Airborne Division . Training for the 195th as an airborne force was arduous , and designed to ensure they were at the peak of physical fitness . It also comprised glider training , accustoming them to the hardships and problems associated with travelling by gliders . To complement their glider training , some of the unit also completed parachute training . The war establishment of an airlanding field ambulance consisted of 204 all ranks , consisting of ten doctors in two surgical teams and five sections . 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 included a sergeant sanitary assistant , a masseur , and a RADC orderly . These were assisted by five stretcher bearers , one of whom was trained as a shoemaker . The rest of the headquarters comprised 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 as well as 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 . Operations . Normandy . The 6th Airborne Divisions two parachute brigades landed in Normandy in the early hours of the 6 June 1944 , in Operation Tonga . The 195th would land from around 21 : 00 that evening in Operation Mallard , the plan for the unit was flexible and the location they would establish their Main Dressing Station ( MDS ) would be decided after they had landed . To carry the 195th to Normandy they were assigned ten Horsa gliders ; on board there were the MDS staff , with the two surgical teams and Nos . 3 and 4 Sections . At total there were eleven officers , 109 other ranks , nine Jeeps and five trailers . The remainder of the unit would arrive by sea . The commanding officer with No . 3 Section would land at landing zone ' N ' , while the MDS with No . 4 Section landed at landing zone ' W ' . By 22 : 30 they had cleared the landing zone and stayed the night at Bas de Ranville and the following morning set up the MDS at Mariquet , which was receiving casualties by 11 : 00 . By midnight 7 June they had treated 154 wounded and the surgeons had performed twenty - three operations . By 07 : 00 8 June a secure route to the landing beaches was formed and the wounded were evacuated to England . Later that afternoon the seaborne party arrived , reinforcing the MDS staff . In the evening the MDS , which had been under mortar fire , received a direct hit and one of the surgical teams was moved into the buildings basement . Throughout the day they treated 163 wounded and performed eleven operations . On 9 June the MDS was still under intermittent mortar fire but managed to treat 156 wounded and perform eleven operations . By now a blood bank had been established for the British forces at Le Deliverande but supplies were still short and volunteers were asked to donate blood . One volunteer was a captured German non - commissioned officer medical orderly , who not only gave blood but assisted at the MDS . For his conduct during this time the second in command Major Young wrote out a citation for the Iron Cross , which was passed to the German authorities . From 18 June an exhaustion ward was set up at the MDS ; men identified as suffering were sedated for forty - eight hours and then returned to their units . By the end of June the 195th had admitted 1 , 687 men to the MDS and performed 127 operations . On 19 August the 6th Airborne Division crossed the River Dives and advanced north along the coast of France . In the advance No . 2 Section was attached to the 2nd Ox and Bucks Light Infantry , while No . 3 Section was attached to the 12th Devonshire Regiment and later the 1st Royal Ulster Rifles . The MDS at first remained where it was and casualties were evacuated from the front line back to the MDS by Jeep . The following day it was moved across the River Dives to the Château de Villers , and in 26 August to the Manor de la Pommeraye . The division was withdrawn to England in September 1944 ; during the advance , the 195th had treated 332 casualties , performing nineteen operations . Germany . In England the 195th were refitted and reformed then in December sent back to Europe in response to the surprise German offensive in the Ardennes , arriving at Calais on 24 December . The division remained on the continent carrying out patrols until February when once again they were withdrawn to England . The second airborne crossing of the River Rhine , Operation Varsity took place on 24 March 1945 . Involved were the British 6th and the American 17th Airborne Division . With the 6th Division landing in the area around Bergen and Hamminkeln . As in Normandy the two parachute brigades would land first followed by the airlanding brigade . The gliders carrying the 195th started crossing the River Rhine from 10 : 30 ; in the face of prepared German defences the airlanding brigade suffered forty per cent casualties in the landings . The following afternoon the troops involved in the assault river crossing the 15th ( Scottish ) Infantry Division linked up with the airborne troops , who by then had taken almost 3 , 000 casualties . On 26 March the 195th followed up the divisions advance into Germany , passing through Rhade , Limbeck and reached Coesfeld on the 30 March . Reaching the River Weser the 195th established their MDS at Petershagen , they did not remain here long with the speed of the divisions advance , they were soon at the River Elbe . At Wismar the 195th set up a refugee reception centre , and started treating German civilians and refugees fleeing west from the advancing Russians . Here they remained until the end of the war . Palestine . At the end of May the division was withdrawn to England , it had been intended for them to go to the Far East for operations against the Japanese Empire . The dropping of the atomic bombs changed the War Office plans and instead the division was sent to Palestine as the Imperial Strategic reserve . On their arrival in Palestine the 6th Airlanding Brigade was concentrated in the Gaza area while they acclimatised to the conditions . When the division deployed at the end of October the 195th moved to the Samaria district . On 15 April 1946 , 6th Airlanding Brigade left the division and was renumbered the 31st Independent Infantry Brigade . However the 195th remained with the 6th Airborne Division , and retained as a parachute unit being renamed the 195th ( Parachute ) Field Ambulance . On 31 October the 195th suffered its first casualties , when two men were killed by a mine exploding under their vehicle . In January 1947 the division relocated to the north of Palestine and the 195th moved to the Galilee sector . In 1948 the British mandate in Palestine ended . At the same time it was decided to disband the division and all its units . Leaving in small groups the last men of the 195th left Palestine in March 1948 .