The British 2nd Parachute Brigade was part of the Operation Rugby airborne landings in August 1944. The operation was carried out by an ad hoc airborne formation called the 1st Airborne Task Force. Operation Rugby was itself part of the Operation Dragoon invasion of Southern France by the American 7th Army. The airborne task force landed in the River Argens valley with the objective of preventing German reinforcements from reaching the landing beaches. The landings were mainly an American operation and the brigade was the only British Army formation involved.
The brigade's pathfinders landed accurately and set up their homing beacons, but the main body of the brigade landed over a large area, some away. The following glider force also had problems; weather conditions forced the brigade's anti-tank unit to turn back for Italy and return with the second wave later that day. Eventually the brigade captured their primary objectives, but the lack of manpower meant that their secondary objective of Le Muy was given to the American airborne forces. The seaborne and airborne landings linked up within two days, and the brigade became the reserve formation for the operation.
As a British withdrawal from France at the earliest opportunity had been the original intent, the brigade boarded ships bound for Italy eleven days after landing. The operation had cost the brigade 362 casualties, but this did not hinder their next mission in Greece two months later. Only 126 replacements were required to bring the brigade back up to full strength.
Background
2nd Parachute Brigade
Commanded by Brigadier Charles Hilary Vaughan Pritchard, the 2nd Parachute Brigade formed in 1942 and was assigned to the 1st Airborne Division. It comprised three parachute battalions, with their own artillery and engineer support. Although the brigade had not been involved in the division's operations in Sicily, it took part in Operation Slapstick, the landing at Taranto in Italy. At the end of 1943, when the 1st Airborne Division returned to the United Kingdom, the brigade remained behind fighting in the Italian Campaign. Since then, the brigade had taken part in patrols probing German lines, and the battles at Cassino and along the Sangro river at the Bernhardt Line. Previously, their only parachute mission had been Operation Hasty, which required only sixty men from the brigade.
Operation Dragoon
The Allied invasion of Southern France during the Second World War was given the code name Operation Dragoon. It would take place in the South of France, between Cannes and Toulon in August 1944. The landings would be undertaken by the U.S. Seventh Army, with the French First Army landing after the beachhead was secure. Following the success of the Normandy airborne landings, Allied planners wanted to use an airborne force to support the invasion. However the divisions in Europe, the American 82nd and 101st Airborne Division, had participated in the Normandy landings and were refitting for further operations to support the advance in France and the Low Countries. The two British divisions were also unavailable; the 1st Airborne Division was preparing for operations in Northern Europe and the 6th Airborne Division was still fighting in Normandy.
The only other Allied airborne divisions were three American units. However, the 11th Airborne Division was fighting in the Pacific War, while the 13th and 17th Airborne Divisions were back in the United States training.
Prelude
1st Airborne Task Force
Lack of an available airborne division forced the Allies to assemble an ad hoc formation, the 1st Airborne Task Force, in Italy on 1 July 1944. Its objective was to land in the River Argens valley between Le Muy and Le Luc to prevent any German reinforcements reaching the landing beaches.