By Glider into Battle

The 12th Battalion The Devonshire Regiment was raised for coastal defence in the West Country during the invasion scare of 1940, but when infantry brigades were reorganised in 1943, the Devons became ‘spare’. Confidently expecting to be disbanded, it was a surprise for the battalion - and for General Gale as well - to be posted to Bulford on Salisbury Plain to join the 6th Airborne Division. The transformation into glider infantry, wearing the maroon beret of Airborne Forces, was a period of turbulence, but the ‘Swede Bashers’ retained its distinct West Country flavour. However, despite training hard there were simply not enough aircraft to fly more than a company of Devons into Normandy. Nevertheless, on the evening of D+1 they were pitched into battle, but losses to the division during D Day and subsequent attacks meant that there was little scope for a gentle introduction to fighting. Coming of age, 12 Devons fought in the bocage on the British left flank and the pursuit to the Seine, but expectation of an early operation to cross the Rhine was dashed after Arnhem. An autumn of training culminated with an unexpected deployment over Christmas to face Hitler’s last great offensive, followed by a return to the UK and hasty preparations for the battalion’s first airborne operation, Operation VARSITY.