March 2024 Newsletter

Posted on 29 Feb 2024

Please click on the link below to view the latest Newsletter from The Parachute Regimental Association HQ. There are also details of the Regimental Commemoration Day at the National Memorial Arboretum on Saturday 6 July 24 and the Regimental Day in Colchester on Wednesday 24 July 24.

The 6th Airborne Division was tasked to seize the high ground of the Diersfort Wood, overlooking part of the Rhine to be crossed by the British 21st Army Group. 540 aircraft towing some 1,300 gliders flew into the teeth of German defensive fire, enveloping enemy defences and gun emplacements from above and suffering initial heavy casualties as a consequence. Within five and a half hours all objectives were taken. Despite tenacious resistance from the German 1st Fallschirmjäger Army the link up with ground forces ferrying the river was achieved. Prisoners at first came in hundreds then thousands.

Following the link-up the 6th Airborne Division took the lead in a 300 mile advance through Germany, marching 11 miles per day until they captured enemy transport. Within weeks they linked up at the Baltic port of Wismar with advancing Russians coming from the east.

The events page on the website is as up to date as it can be at the moment so please take a look and try and attend something this year to support the association.

The newly formatted newsletter has been designed to match the website. With the Pegasus Journal now only being produced only once a year, it provides a platform for branches to showcase what they have been involved in on a monthly basis.

If you are the organiser of any event or involved in any way, please let us know. If you have anything you would like to advertise, please send the full details to us and we can help advertise and place them on our social media platforms.

The PRA is the official Association of the Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces. Its continued success is down to the members. Please get in touch with your nearest Branch and maybe take an Airborne friend along. Meetings are normally informal, depending on the occasion. They would be very pleased to see you and you will meet old friends and make new ones in the process.