Reginald J Giles | ParaData

Reginald James Giles served with The Royal Warwickshire Regiment when in November 1942 The 8th (Midland) Parachute Battalion was formed from the 13th Battalion The Royal Warwickshire Regiment. The 8th (Midland) Parachute Battalion was part of the 3rd Parachute Brigade of the newly formed 6th Airborne Division in 1943.

After training at Hardwick Hall he attended Parachute Training Course 44 which ran at RAF Ringway from 28 December 1942 to 8 January 1943. The course notes record "L/C Giles: Performed well. A good NCO and is fully recommended’

Sgt Giles served in HQ Company of 8th Battalion. He served in Normandy, where records show he was injured in the drop.

He was demobbed in August 1946.

Date not known
8th (Midlands) Parachute Battalion
Date not known
8th Parachute Battalion (Sergeant)

Operations

Event

Advance to the Baltic

The airborne soldiers were well suited to exploit the fluid situation that occurred following the collapse of the Rhine barrier defence. Short fierce actions were fought from the tanks of the 4th Tank Battalion of the Grenadier Guards and whatever transport could be purloined.

Event

Ardennes

After the Allied landings in Normandy and subsequent advance through France and Belgium, the German Army had succeeded in stalling the Allied offensive along their line of defence at the German border - the ‘Siegfried Line’.

Event

Normandy (Operation Overlord)

Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of occupied Europe commonly known as D-Day, saw the 6th Airborne Division for the first time.

Event

Palestine

Arab intransigence over the surge of Jewish immigration that followed the Holocaust in Europe led to the forming of extreme dissident Zionist groups such as IZL (Irgun Zwai Leumi) and the Stern Gang, all seeking to promote their aims through violence.

Event

Rhine Crossing (Operation Varsity)

Operation Varsity was the largest single airborne operation in history. On a single day, over 16,000 men were inserted by glider and parachute into western Germany. Around 8000 of those came from the British 6th Airborne Division, flying aboard 243 C47 aircraft and 440 gliders.